how many people have done a 1uzfe rebuild?

I recently picked up a lexus electrical test motor. this motor came from a college and was used to diagnosis different issue's with sensor's or other components of a ls400.
the odometer showed 327 miles on the motor. internals are extremely clean with everything looking new. was told it needed a fuel pump and would run.

installed fuel pump from a ra65 Celica i had here and fired it up. it started but noticed it wasn't running on all cylinder. started the diagnosis and eventually found that two exhaust valves were completely stuck open.

so now I currently have the motor torn apart and the heads are off to the machine shop to have those valves worked. i have a spare motor and can get my hands on two others for around $500. this motor is spotless and the cleanest internal motor i have ever seen so I am absolutely torn between continuing with this motor or sending it to the scrap yard and starting with another.

Wow, that's quite amazing. I haven't done a full rebuild, but I wish I attended that school! 327 miles on a 1UZ-FE is just unheard of, and a school that made a rig like that to bench test it... Just wow

its pretty cool, i did auto in college and remember working on a similar unit (cant remember the engine) before switching to millwrighting.
this unit has full air suspension module/abs sensors/custom driveshaft with a axle stub shaft to fit a stock knuckle in the back with a single caliper to use as a brake (you can see the brake pedal on the bottom right hand of cart along with ebrake) its a pretty cool system and wasn't a terrible deal at $500cad for the complete unit.

If anybody needs anything of the lexus specific parts please let me know. everything is literally brand new on the unit including steeringwheel, cluster, connectors, climate control, wiring etc. shipping would have to be from ontario canada

I would love to see some close ups of those gauges, and the info they're showing. If it's possible to see how they're hooked up to the engine, that would be cool too

I still sometimes ponder adding additional gauges to the engine in a clean manner

thankfully the 1st gen 1uz were non-interference or the stuck valves would have said hello to the pistons!
the question is why the valves stuck! in all my years i've never heard of that happening so perhaps the motor, albeit low miles, saw high RPMs? what oil type was used on it?

with it being on a cart is there any other cooling mods other than the factory fan and radiator setup? these engines are finicky if you don't properly bleed the air out of the coolant to see overheating. pretty cool rig!

The engine shows no sign of overheating but it is a possibility I assume … the motor was used for replicating faults and having students work on it until they figure out what caused the issue. I believe them doing this along with it not being revved very high tells me it built up carbon and never had the chance to blow it out… then the motor sat for a decade. There are stickers stating to never take it about 55mph etc and with a lack of load all its life this engine really hasn’t been used properly.

but we’ll see what the machine shop says about the heads… a couple light taps and the valves went back in, I talked to a couple others that have had a exhaust valve stick from the engine sticking but it’s only really 1 or 2 I’ve been told on a 1uz and I take that with a grain of salt.

I also thought If heat was an issue you would see discoloration… as you can see from the picture of the heads compared to other pictures of 1uz heads .. these are very clean without any discoloration commonly found on them

but this is the first motor I’ve cracked open in a decade and before that it was only Nissan sr20’s so I honestly could be out to lunch

Well, received a call from the machine shop that the heads were done, not bad for only dropping off 24hrs ago.

$113cad was the total, I was correct and it was literally carbon build up that caused the valve to stick.

^wow good price to rework the heads! glad to hear it was a simple carbon sticky situation.

btw, i find it fascinating that even the AC compressor is also on the engine! i suppose AC diagnosing is also par for the course.

yes the stand is pretty cool, if you look closely you can see the 4 abs sensor's and make shift triggers on the far right of the stand. also it has the full air suspension module control in the middle of the stand, and a manual transmission controller under the cluster to simulate different gears. not to mention the working break lights on the wiring panel along with mini defrost window (top corner)

its essentially a complete ls400 on a cart. odometer shows 367 miles on the motor. the amount of ecu plug connection on this unit is also surprising. 3 or 4 male/female ecu plugs just to get the wiring from the switch panel to the motor. perfect for anyone looking to make patch harness's etc

Could you post some photos of the gauges on the stand and what they are displaying? This is incredible

i will forsure, currently waiting on parts (crazy how hard part's are to find in canada with decent shipping times) then ill assemble it and take photo's/video of the complete setup.
just waiting on cylinder head bolts. head gaskets arrived at lexus ($330) on the weekend but the bolts ($37) I am hoping will be here by friday (had to order from two different places as they both only has a single set)
ARP studs could not be found in canada and not a single american supplier would hook me up with fast shipping. RB25 studs i could get but two boxes were almost $500cad.
lexus,canadian tire, parts source, napa, a and a discount auto parts, hamilton discount auto parts all had difficulty finding anything 1uz related locally. told by multiple places it was a dealer item and the dealer basically laughs when I call them.
Head and block specialty that worked on the heads also informed me that i was lucky nothing was wrong in the heads as they could not get parts either.

this has proved to start being a bit unmotivating for me as i already have a ls1 powered 180sx and I am starting to feel like i should of just stuck another ls under the hood of my ra65 celica.