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What's up, Club Lexus Family!
After pushing my 1UZ VVTI GS400 to its reasonable limits (175 Wet shot (sold) - Headers - Gears - Tune - Converter - Pocket ported /Smoothened Heads - Ceramic coated valvetrain and domes - early 1UZ rods) I have decided to yank my nearly 300,000 mile engine out and replace it with an SBE.
For this application, I'll be keeping things relatively mild on the engine side. The goal is to see 550 to the rear tires, and plenty of room to pulley down or swap out cams/lids/bricks and see gains down the line.
To prepare the car, I've ordered Öhlins coilovers to recondition. I obtained the coilovers in trade, and after rebuilding, will cost me about $1700 US. It seemed like a superior option to stance for the same money.
This was complimented with a FIGS 2GS bushing kit. I intend to order FIGS toe links and rear UCAs in the coming weeks.
The rest of the stock suspension will be reconditioned minus those with non servicable ball joints. The steel 1GS front UCA and steel 1IS rear UCAs will be used in place of the 2GS UCAs. They are indeed interchangable.
Moog NOJS ball joints are on hand to replace my 30k mile abused Moog joints.
TOYOTA Avalon vacuum brake booster with MKIV Supra master cylinder, wilwood proportioning valve, LS400 brakes and slotted rotors (Replacing later)
On to the engine:
I chose an iron LM7 to build on. Here comes some LSx talk. First of all, SBEs are not LSx. This is an SBE. For search purposes, this is titled as an LS swap.
I ran a stock 3.622 crankshaft, LS2 connecting rods, and the gen 4 floating 5.3 stock pistons with total seal rings gapped at .022/.024/.024 with main clearance at .0022 and rod bearing clearance at .0018 on green plastigauge.
To maintain low DCRs and keep the engine out of detonation on pump 91, 317 casting heads were purchased, the runners smoothened, and upgraded with:
Ferrea valves, BTR Platinum .660" lift dual springs, titanium locks and retainers, Smith brother's trunion upgrade for stock rockers, hardened pushrods, ARP head studs, and multi layer steel gaskets.
The camshaft was provided by John Bewley at Lil John's Motor Sport Solutions.
The harness for the swap is already completed, and set for a 0411 pcm with drive by cable throttle body on the blower when I finally find one. plenty of pictures coming soon.
I am still searching for supercharger components as well as a transmission core.
Admittedly, I'm a stoner, so things take me longer than expected; the engine will be assembled in the next few days, but I still am finding someone selling a blower assembly to approach and lowball so hard his grandpa will feel it.
Thanks to other LSx GS owners, I'm comfortable with where things will sit and how the install will go. I've LS/TH400 swapped S13's so the big mallet is no stranger to me. I expect a slight clearance issue on the CTSV lid to the firewall regarding the cooling lines for the LSA supercharger, but nothing some AN fittings can't fix.
I am making this thread to demonstrate how simple an engine swap can be. Engine assembly instructions , part numbers, etc will be provided as I have time to update this thread.
Edit - I have decided to throw the 706 castings at this engine that I apparently cannot sell in Arizona whatsoever. I cleaned em up, milled them, and ran a BTR Platinum double spring kit with titanium locks and retainers. I'll take the extra power down low. Hope these Castecs don't become the death of me later! Ugh. Castec.
Last edited by LSX2GS; 11-22-17 at 10:58 PM.
Reason: Head choice changed !
Forgot to add this guy.
Bolt in EBC delete. Takes stock brake lines and all!
Thanks AMS Mike for the idea, y'all should search his threads, it's a gold mine of info.
A quick update!
Things are on pause for the holidays. I sold the 706 casting heads because I was concerned regarding the Castech 706 TSBs from GM on cracking, so I decided to mill 317 to 243 spec and send it.
In the mean time, Jeff Tsai at PowerDynamix will be running a max effort CNC file on my 317 heads. Upon return, it's off to Beck Racing Engines for bronze valve guides, a valve job, and 2.08/1.60 valve fitment!
I have a good friend on the GSx owners groups on social media providing a batch of control arms for the car for me to sand blast, powdercoat, and fit with the FIGS/SuperPro bushings.
The Ohlins are cleaned up and ready to rock, but the last few pieces of the suspension have yet to come in from the land down under.
The shortblock is complete, and I'm looking forward to putting a serious top end on this little 5.3.
My every instinct is telling me to throw another FAST 102 on this engine with a radical grind, but John at LJMS is advising me to run less duration, a bit of overlap, and moderate lift with a stock car [LS6] intake with a throttle body instead.
I'll likely take the man's advice!
Stay tuned for updates in around two weeks when the heads return!
11-20-17, 09:39 PM
Matt's LSA / 4L80E Swap
