1UZ into my Off-Road Long Travel Tacoma

What type of finish for the aluminum parts that are left?

  • A gruelling smooth and shiny polish.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • A nice even and bright abrasive sanding.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • A quick acid wash to bleach them nice and bright.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    0
  • Poll closed .
The 1UZFE EGR Delete Kit is available for sale here.
Awsome job on the install. I love how itsw shaping up to look like a factory hotrod (ala Dodge RAM SRT-10). I notice you never got to sanding off the ribs on the manifold. with your mill i would think you could just "scrape" them of and get a nice flat milled finish. though i suppose its a little late for that now. Also I suppose you'll be cranking down on your front ciolovers to compinsate for the added weight? or are you gonna bump up the spring weight? At any rate as i said in my first post, i love to see someone show that you CAN do it right and make it look OEM and brand new in a garage. it just takes time and patience.
 
Sorry guys been busy overtime'n it lately. I got everything ready to fire up except the radiator. I'm mounting up an aluminum Howe Racing radiator and removing most of the Toyota metal underneath the front end. Replacing it will be tubing from left to right. I'll still have the stock grill and headlights but behind them there will be tubing fabbed up with much more support. This will allow me to mount the radiator further at a slant. An electric fan will mount behind it no problem. The radiator is a thick heavy duty unit that isn't nearly as wide as stock and won't hang down as low either. It's going to be really slick and I will be able to incorporate my AC condenser into the front as well when the time comes. I'm more interested in firing up the truck asap and then I'll get around to welding up all the custom AC lines later on. I'm almost done though. Pics will come soon.

The weight of the 1UZ is REALLY close to the 3RZ that it replaced. I got a printout from a scale showing the weight of my truck with the 3RZ so I'll be going back and getting another sheet with my 1UZ weight. I don't think there will be much difference. The DR coilovers I have up front are valved and sprung for more weight then normal for off-road so they ride tough. I can float over the woop with them. So I'm hoping the ride is a little smoother with the V8 but I doubt it. There is plenty of adjustment left in them and they are rebuildable of course. It will work out perfect.
 
Today I got sidetracked helping a friend assemble the head on his 3RZ Tacoma and fire it up so he could use it for work this week. So tomorrow I'll be back at his shop building some plates with some tubing in between them. The lower support going across will be cut out and replaced with tubing and I'll probably run 1" tubing just under the upper crossbar that the hood latch is mounted on. The tubing will let me push up the radiator a couple inches while retaining the AC radiator as well. Then I will be able to mount an electric fan behind the radiator comfortably. I've been wanting to do this for a long while now, even with my old 3RZ 4cyl.

The truck was jacked up on one side a little during this picture.
tacoma_1uzswap_radiator_02.jpg

tacoma_1uzswap_radiator_01.jpg
 
Keepin it real... clean. Here are a couple shots of assembling engine accessories. This stuff has been done for a while now but I thought I would share with yall.

tacoma_1uzswap_104.jpg

tacoma_1uzswap_wiring_18.jpg
 
Making my custom high pressure power steering line was a lot of fun. Something I thought would be quick (when I started the swap) took more effort than I care to talk about. =] It came out great though so it's all worth it.

tacoma_1uzswap_112.jpg

tacoma_1uzswap_108.jpg
 
I hate to post such a crappy picture but this is the one angle I really liked. Check out my new cross members for mounting my radiator. Tubing will be going across the top from side to side and it will be tied into the frame to stiffen up the whole thing. The piece I made last night already adds tons more strength to the front. It's not a bumper at all. The stock bumper will go in front of it for the time being and I'll be making my own bumper later on of course.

tacoma_1uzswap_121.jpg

I was given the front grill from another Taco owner with a newer body style truck. So this whole operation will also be an updating process for the front end. I might be pushing the grill out forward another inch or two. I wouldn't mind the hood moving forward even though it would mean more work to get the gap taken care of. I can add on more steal to the back of the hood to lengthen it and cover the gap. There will surely be room for the AC components and such. The electric fan will fit right in too. I'm just trying to not get crazy with the tubing. It's hard not to keep running tubing all the way back like I want to.
 
Here I go mounting the electric fan on my radiator. This is how I've always wanted to mount it on my previous one but I knew I wasn't going to use that Tacoma radiator so I had a hard time justifying it. So anyhow here I welded a couple aluminum rails on the end caps that the fan will bolt right on to. I got pretty lucky with the fan matching right up.

tacoma_1uzswap_126.jpg
 
I got all the parts I need for my newer front end conversion or updating. New grill and lights fit up nearly perfectly. I need some mesh for the big hole up front and I'll be coating it black.

tacoma_1uzswap_128.jpg

Yesterday I picked up some more tubing that will be going across the whole front to support the upper radiator. Next I'm going to redo the front body mounts and spend another day adding some more support tubing up from the frame to the stiffen up the whole front end.

Here is a shot from just behind the radiator to show how much space extending the front end has helped out:
tacoma_1uzswap_129.jpg
 
Alright guys another update. Been extremely busy with primary missions in life lately sorry. I've also been taking my sweet time on some very important details: clutch and radiator/cooling. My hydraulic throwout bearing is going to make for some very luxurious shifting action. The radiator is something I've been dreaming of and is finally done. Next I have to take the headers off to weld on the flanges for the v-bands that I acquired. A client of mine gave me a bunch so that makes it easy for me to make up my mind about them. =]

I had to make some shims so that I could get the clutch throw perfectly adjusted.
tacoma_1uzswap_132.jpg
 
A little welding on my radiator to put the inlet and oulets exactly where I want them.
tacoma_1uzswap_136.jpg

The bracing and welds are extremely strong so there won't be any surprises while driving this truck offroad. I'll be using some rubber isolators to mount the whole unit as well. Howe makes a really strong radiator to begin with so I'm really happy with all the overkill that went into this project.
 
Nearly done with all the radiator placement and details. I'm pretty excited to only need a couple really short, simple radiator hoses. I'm putting more tubing in to support the front end once the truck fires up. For now I'll just be pulling the headers for a quick flange replacement and then it's time to fire the sucker up.

tacoma_1uzswap_135.jpg
 
Hey Kyle - It's a 96. The new front piece and headlights are from the 00-04 model. I'm waiting on my friends at the steel shop to get back from out of town. Then the truck is going over there so I can fab a little more tubing and build the rest of the exhaust system.
 
Here is the source of my procrastination. I'm just having too much fun at the end of this summer and being on my back under the truck in the heat bench pressing my transmission isn't very appealing.

tacoma_1uzswap_143.jpg

Making more custom parts.

tacoma_1uzswap_137.jpg
 
It won't be too much longer now. Tomorrow I'll be lowering the transmission down yet again for another adjustment. Then I won't be having to do anymore of the transmission monkey business. I'm ready to move on and work on the top side of the truck for once!

tacoma_1uzswap_142.jpg
 
I don't know what to do with this thing. The inlet is actually the hole on the side that I have sitting on the manifold inlet. Haha it just made me smile when I opened up the big box that it came in today.

:scratchchin:

Time to do some fender choppin! The wheel comes within .5" of hitting the top of the fender when fully compressed so I'm not sure where I'm going to find the room. It's just a challenge. I can easily relocate the ignitors of course. I'm going to build super strong mounts for the body anyways. This was one of the mods on the list that would allow me to get rid of the body lift. The body lift spacers that I made (or any spacers) aren't exactly the best way to hoist an offroad truck body off the frame. So when I made some substantial body mounts I'll bring the body up yet another 1.5" I think. The body is only about 2.25" above stock so it's not hardly noticeable. I can't go with bigger tires unless I lift the body up anyhow so a little higher on the body lift will benefit both the tires, the suspension I have planned for the front and the new intake.

Keep in mind that these first pictures of the intake are just for fun and I'll be doing some heavy body mods and fender cutting really soon. So don't freak out. Or tell me:
:tool:

afe_offroad_intake_inlet.jpg
 


Top