Reincarnation: 1uzfe reanimates 4runner with impending flatline

[earthman]

PRE-CONVERSION WORK ON A341E GEAR BOX​

Probably the most complicated part of the swap (complicated for me anyway) has been the adaptation of a transfer case to the 1uzfe auto gear box. This was achieved by getting a Toyota Surf auto box (the kind with the electric engaging manual shifting transfer case) and joining the transfer case to the 1uzfe auto box.

I followed this process from others who have gone before me and posted their (excellent) ideas on the net. I will go through the process that I followed but I would suggest that you look at the following sites as I basically copied what they did and they have much better info and pictures.

Madmont: http://lextreme.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5906&page=2&highlight=output+rotor

Duza: http://www.4wdmonthly.com.au/forum/showthread.php?p=693678&posted=1#post693678

Some good info from Cebby too at: http://www.lextreme.com/forums/showthread.php?p=34828

There were several major steps to this process. These were:

1. Drilling/locating new speed sensor on transfer adapter housing
2. Cutting the output shaft
3. Cutting and fixing the 4 prong speed sensor rotor
4. Assembling the Gearbox/transfer combination.
5. Creating transfer case relay panel – DISCARDED after installation of manual transfer case
6. Creating Relay wiring - DISCARDED after installation of manual transfer case
7. The decision to switch from electric shift transfer case to manual shift.
8. Transfer case compatibility and adaptation from electric shift Tcase to Manual shift Tcase.
9. Adaptation of Tcase Shifter Levers
10. Adaptation of Speed Sensors
11. Adaptation of speed sensor


The diagram below shows what part fits where. This is a modified picture I pinched from a Lextreme forum member and I am sorry but I can’t remember who submitted it. I hope in the name of the advancement of 1uz knowledge that using it was ok, but if it is yours and you don’t want it on here please let me know!

 

[earthman]

PRE-CONVERSION WORK ON A341E GEAR BOX: Drilling/locating new speed sensor on transfer adapter housing​

A. Removed the speed sensor from the Lexus/Celsior Gearbox tail housing. It is short, fat and 14.9mm in diameter

B. Removed the speed sensor from the Surf transfer adapter. It is long, skinny and 12mm in diameter.

C. Put the Toyota Surf transfer adapter on the rear of the Lexus/Celsior Gearbox and looked into hole to see how the rotor was positioned. It was right beneath the hole.

D. Measured the distance from the hole to the face of the Lexus tail piece and the distance from the hole to the face of the transfer adapter. Almost Identical.

E. Measured distance needed between Speed Sensor Rotor and Speed Sensor, approximately 1mm to 2mm.

F. Drilled hole in Surf Transfer Adapter out to 15mm so that it would accommodate new Lexus speed sensor. Also drilled and tapped a smaller hole near by for the retainer bolt that holds the speed sensor in.

G. Used a piece of blu-tac to see how far away the new speed sensor comes. Pretty close, about 1mm. A pretty low tech method, I know, but it worked. The rotor and speed sensor came within about 1mm to 2mm of each other. I added a 1mm spacer (washer) under the speed sensor just to be sure. I could always remove the spacer and bring them closer if this is too far.

 

[earthman]

PRE-CONVERSION WORK ON A341E GEAR BOX: Cutting the output shaft​

A. Carefully measured output shaft on surf gearbox (68mm for this one)

B. Carefully measured the same distance on the output shaft on the Lexus gearbox

C. Cut output shaft of the Lexus gearbox so that it was the same length as the output shaft on the Toyota Surf gearbox. It was now ready to accept the transfer case.

 

[earthman]

PRE-CONVERSION WORK ON A341E GEAR BOX: Tapping a hole in the gearbox case​

At this stage I should have tapped a hole in the centre of the gearbox shell, as outlined by Madmont in this thread:

http://lextreme.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5906&page=2&highlight=output+rotor

At the time I was a bit lazy and did not bother and as a result there is a tiny tranny oil leak between the gearbox and the transfer case adapter/extension housing as the two bottom bolts are quite far apart, too far in fact to form an effective seal even with decent gasket goop. I later had it tapped and resealed by my mechanics. Absolutely no problems now!

If you are contemplating doing a conversion like this I would recommend you go to the trouble of tapping a hole here and follow the clues as outlined by Madmont in the above thread. I hope the below picture helps explain….

 

[earthman]

PRE-CONVERSION WORK ON A341E GEAR BOX: Cutting and fixing the 4 prong speed sensor rotor​

Again, this is a process I copied from the guys on the above links. Probably a good idea to check them out as well.

1. I removed the tail piece of the Lexus gearbox.

2. Removed transfer case and transfer adapter from the Toyota Surf Gearbox.

3. Measured the distance of the Surf Speed Sensor rotor and cut the 4 pronged Lexus one at the same length(on these boxes it was 38.1mm).

4. Tapped 4 x 6mm holes on the 4 pronged speed sensor rotor and installed 4 hex grub screws so that it would not slip about on the output shaft

5. Installed the Speed sensor rotor back on the output shaft, tightened grub screws up. A Note here: I had the mechanics open it back up during the conversion and put Loctite on the grub screws as they are apparently prone to coming loose. I have had a speed sensor on a Toyota malfunction before and it is not fun and was expensive (See below)

 

[earthman]

With regards to speed sensors, I discovered the hard way how important they are to Toyota engine management systems.

I had a vibration/shudder problem at about 80km and, like many vibration problems, it took me months to chase the problem down. It ended up being something that is easily overlooked when you are checking out drive shafts and the like.

The centre nut on the companion flange where the drive shaft is joined to the transfer case was loose by a very small amount, yet it was enough to create the vibration and I am pretty sure it cost me a speed sensor plus a lot of time and money. This nut is the big 30mm thing right at the centre of the flange that attaches to the output shaft in the transfer case. You can only get to it by removing the 4 drive shaft nuts and taking the drive shaft out.

The vibrations were driving me nuts and I chased everything to find what it was, rotated tyres etc. But I didn’t catch this thing in time and I am pretty sure the vibrations chewed the plastic cog on the speed sensor in the rear of the transfer case. Because I had an auto the damn vehicle lost the ability to select gears going down a gimongous hill in peak hour traffic. When it let rip the old girl would not drive at all unless it was in first gear or reverse, just revved all over the place in the other gears like it had turrets syndrome. Having a speed sensor dependant auto-tranny go in the middle of traffic is one thing but I am glad it wasn’t somewhere else. Being stuck with only first and reverse gears in the middle of nowhere would be second only to having no gears at all on the “pain-in-the-a$$-o-meter”.

Long story short, when the mechanic removed the speed sensor the plastic cog was chewed so it was replaced. I got them to tighten the centre flange nut and the vibration was finally gone.

 

[earthman]

PRE-CONVERSION WORK ON A341E GEAR BOX: Other Gearbox Issues

The oil pan on the Surf gearbox (A340F) is much bigger than the 1uzfe gearbox (A341E) So I tried to replace the oil pan on the 1uz transmission with the one off the Toyota Surf transmission for extra transmission fluid and cooling capacity. Due to differing sized internals/valve body the Surf one did not fit. Bugger. I had the mechanics install a tranny cooler at the back above the gas tank to help compensate and keep the tranny oil cooler.

 

[earthman]

PRE-CONVERSION WORK ON A341E GEAR BOX: Assembling the Gearbox/transfer combination​

1. With the Speed Sensor Rotor fixed on the output shaft and the Speed sensor bolted into the Transfer Adapter, I bolted the transfer adapter to the Lexus gearbox, using the torque specs in a repair manual: 34 N-m (345kgf-cm, 25 ft-lbf).

2. I then Bolted the transfer case back to the transfer adapter using the torque specs in a repair manual: 34 N-m (345kgf-cm, 25 ft-lbf).

3. Finally I installed the Transfer case gearstick and it looked something like this:

(picture courtesy of Lextreme)

 

[earthman]

PRE-CONVERSION WORK ON TRANSFER CASE: Transfer Case and Transfer Case Issues​

When I was first preparing the motor, prior to it being installed, I was going to use the Toyota Surf transfer electric shift Tcase (VF1AM type) as others had installed this with a good success rate. As well as the Tcase the sifter was needed, and also the wiring loom.

After installing this case and having several issues with the 4wd electric motor on the back I ended up swapping in a manual shifting transfer case (VF1A) from a hilux. I am much happier with the manual case as I believe it is a tad more reliable (not having the electric motor to rely on shifting into 4wd). The only drawback is that it needs to be in neutral to shift into 4wd and does not shift into 4wd on the fly.

 

[earthman]

PRE-CONVERSION WORK ON TRANSFER CASE: Creating transfer case relay box and wiring​

The Toyota Surf comes with a 4wd control box to control the motor on the back of the transfer case. Unfortunately I don’t have one of these or the correct loom so I had to make my own 4wd control box out of 6 12v relays. I made use of the sensors on the transfer case to give it the following safety features:

1. 4wd would only engage when the transfer case was in neutral
2. Overdrive would not engage in low range.

I cut up the harness from the Surf transfer case and attached it to the relay control box described above. Finally I reinstalled the breather hoses on the transfer and gearbox cases.

 

[earthman]

PRE-CONVERSION WORK ON TRANSFER CASE: The switch from electric shift to manual shift and why.​

The following process was completed after the engine was installed in the car but I have included it here so this build process story makes sense.

I had originally installed the electrical shifting Toyota surf transfer case (VF1AM type). This type of Tcase is identified by the electric motor on the back that helps it shift from 2wd to 4wd. As I did not have the full wiring loom and computer I made up a system of 6 relays that used the sensors on the transfer case. The motors turned out to be a real problem.

The first motor was already burnt out. I bought another one from the wreckers for about $150 and this one had a warped cog inside (which Toyota made in plastic rather than metal). This warpage meant that electric limit switch contact brushes had inconsistent contact with the metal plate on the surface. These contact brushes act as a limit switch inside the motor and tell the 4wd computer and/or relays when the transfer case has engaged 4wd or 2wd. The computer/relays then stop providing power to the motor so that it does not burn out. See illustrations for more details.

I go bush regularly and after two busted motors I started to imagine the recovery costs of being stuck in the middle of nowhere due to the failure of one of these units.

I did not know why this was; it could have been something to do with the way I set up the relays, although they seemed to work fine for a while. Maybe the 12v I was using to get the motor moving is too much for the motors? I couldn’t figure it out. Maybe someone else out there knows.

I would have included a wiring diagram here for you for the relay system I set up, but as the system was faulty I thought it probably better if I don’t.

Rather than spend another $150 on a third motor that may or may not be burnt out or busted I decided to cut my losses and try to install a manual shifting case (VF1A type) from a manual Hilux. This would mean that I would have to be in neutral when shifting through 2wd and 4wd High and 4wd Low. This was miniscule price to pay for the old fashioned reliability. The thinking was the manual shifting case would be simpler and more reliable and not prone to the problems that electrical systems are subject to off road. There is nothing like the reassuring “clunk” of a gear change on a manual tcase.

 

[earthman]

PRE-CONVERSION WORK ON TRANSFER CASE: Transfer case compatibility and adaptation​

The VF1AM (electric shift) and the VF1A (manual shift) transfer cases are essentially the same, they have the same bolt pattern, similar internals and similar shell. The diagrams in the Toyota manuals show virtually no difference in the gearing internals between the two cases. The Surf VF1AM Transfer fitted up nicely to the 1uzfe gearbox too. So, logically, I assumed that the gearbox output shaft and Transfer case input shaft would be the same for the manual Hilux VF1A Tcase. WRONG!

The input shaft diameters on the two transfer cases (VF1A and VF1AM) were both 23 spline but have DIFFERENT DIAMETERS! The VF1A manual type was 28.2mm in diameter and the VF1AM (Surf) Electrical type was 30.4 in diameter. This was a significant setback. I didn’t want to waste more money on a third Surf Tcase motor, and I couldn’t fit the manual shifting Tcase as the input shaft sizes were very different. The illustrations below show the differences.

I ended up taking a punt that the transfer case input shafts could be swapped. But this was beyond my limited level of expertise, so I took the vehicle to Traction 4 in Artarmon NSW. The guys at traction 4 took both cases apart and Frankensteined the components so that the preferred VF1A manual Tcase housed the much needed VF1AM input shaft. I have gone bush several times since the installation and it works fine. I am sorry I don’t have picks of this process.

 

[earthman]

PRE-CONVERSION WORK ON TRANSFER CASE: Adaptation of Tcase Shifter Levers​

As I had just changed the transfer case from an electric shift to a manual shift, the shifter lever for the Tcase also had to be changed. The Surf VF1AM electric shift type had a plastic ball on the shift pin and a bend to go around the Auto shifter as it came up through the floor of the car almost directly beneath it. The Hilux VF1A manual type had a normal shift pin for the “gate” shifters but the lever was straight and would not fit because it fouled against the Auto shifter as it came up through the floor. At this stage I was lucky enough to find Australian Toyota part number T36360-71120. It was a transfer shifter lever with both a dog leg bend and a shift pin suitable for the Hilux Tcase gear “gate” shift heads. The illustrations show what I am talking about.

 

[earthman]

PRE-CONVERSION WORK ON TRANSFER CASE: Adaptation of Speed Sensors​

There were other small adaptations to be made on the manual shifting VF1A Tcase as well.

Firstly the speed sensor on the back of the transfer case that drives the speedo in the dash was a cable driven one, this had to be swapped for an electrical one. This was not difficult and was a straight swap, as the housing and drive gear are identical. See illustration.

 

[earthman]

PRE-CONVERSION WORK ON TRANSFER CASE: Wiring 4wd Dash light​

This was simple. I wired up the green 4wd dash light to the switch and plug on the top of the tcase. One end was attached to the 4wd dash light wire and the other was earthed. Every time 4wd is engaged the wire is earthed and the friendly green 4wd dash light comes on as per normal.

 

[earthman]

Part 3: ENGINE INSTALLATION PROPER​

Everything I have written about so far (except the transfer case issues) was completed PRIOR to the installation of the engine. It was at this stage that I handed everything over to the mechanics Hi Tech 4x4 in Penrith, NSW.

Before deciding on a mechanic I did some asking around and spoke to several potential mechanics. I almost went with Scott at Venom Cobra’s as I have heard he offers a 1 month drive-in/drive-out conversion for surfs and 4runners (is this correct?). The only problem was he was in Queensland. I finally settled on Hi Tech 4x4 as they had done this conversion before.

I visited and spoke with them 4 or 5 times and smashed them with questions over the course of several months before finally handing everything over to them. This process took them a bit over 4 months altogether.

As they did most of the work for this phase of the job I am not going to go into great detail, but will give a brief overview and give you some pictures instead.

When they had installed the engine and all the major components Sideshow came and wired everything up in a single day for about $900.

 

[earthman]

ENGINE INSTALLATION: Engine Mounting​

Once the old engine was pulled out the mechanics spent numerous hours sitting the 1uzfe in the engine bay and moving it about to find the best possible position. With an engine this size in an engine bay as small as the 4runners you are talking about being millimetre perfect – not exactly easy with a several hundred kilo object. Once this position was found they fabricated and welded up new custom engine mounts and bolted it up to the A341E tranny and transfer case.

They reused the old 3vze mounts so that it would be easy to track down and order new ones at the stealership. The ones you see here are the old 3vze ones and have since been replaced with new Toyota ones.

Now that the rear coolant crossover pipe has no firewall fouling nozzle (see previous post) the final position leaves no engine vibration on the firewall and about 10cm of precious clearance between the pulleys and the radiator. This is just enough clearance for a single 14 inch fan or a couple of 9 inch fans. They originally installed a 14 inch thermo fan but I later had an aluminium radiator shroud bent up and am now running 3 x 9 inch thermo fans. More on that later.

 

[earthman]

ENGINE INSTALLATION: Accelerator Cable/Modifications​

As I had put the American SC400 throttle on then reversed the plenum, the accelerator cables pulled from the correct side. The original cable from the pedal to the throttle was used but for the throttle to gearbox a cable from a Hilux LN series was used.

 

[earthman]

ENGINE INSTALLATION: Exhaust​

Crown “log” manifolds were installed on engine for better clearance of steering column.

I managed to obtain Crown exhaust manifolds from a fellow Lextremer in Perth (thanks Shuey!). These are the smaller log type manifolds and I replaced the original Celsior manifolds. The Crown Manifolds are crap for clearing exhaust gas but great for saving space in the 4runners tight engine bay. They were installed so that the steering shaft is cleared.

The photo below shows the clearance between manifold and steering column.

A 2.5 inch exhaust was installed after the manifolds, with a high flow cat and a resonator near the tip. It sounds pretty good throughout the rev range and is not too droney. New oxygen sensors were also installed.

 

[earthman]

ENGINE INSTALLATION: Transmission Mounts​

A support bracket was welded onto the gearbox support cross member lifting the gearbox two inches to work with the body lift. This is great as it means the transfer and tranny sump are less likely to be smashed by rocks and debris. The plate that the transfer is mounted on was laser cut for accuracy. The photos below show how they did it.

Where the transfer case bolts to the support (4 bolts, 2 on each side) marks the point that normally sits directly over the cross member. As you can see from the photo’s it had to come back a fair way. This meant that the front drive shaft had to be lengthened and the rear one shortened and rebalanced.