It's too late. 1990 LS400 drivetrain into 1983 Celica parts car

The 1UZFE EGR Delete Kit is available for sale here.

CelicaDreams

New Member
Messages
3
Hello all!

I have an engine building class (currently 5 weeks behind...) and a 1990 LS400 in my garage. I've successfully removed the intake and valve covers and find myself wondering if this will ever find its way into the Celica. I haven't gotten that one into the shop yet, but next week I should have that shell around. My plan is to swap the LS400 into the 83 Celica, from the hubs to the computer. As this may be the final year of this shop class, I'm going to focus on a balanced 8.5:1 compression engine with gasket-matched intake porting to shim-under-bucket conversion. Hopefully this will be spun by a kelford cam for Supercharger use and dump into custom-made collectors shaped for the Celica.

That's a lot of ifs. I've got the 1990 Lexus in the garage already and feel a little guilt about trying to part out the body. I've got the shell on the hook for $0 and really want to put the driveline from this beast into the econobox. I'm currently in the Head portion of the rebuild class, so have the chance to rebuild the whole engine from the ground up. With a cam, new springs in the shim-under-bucket conversion I read about with retainers and measured shims, I'll have built heads (with some port work) ready for a centrifugal supercharger.

In the spring, I'll be checking the block and possibly replacing the sleeves as well as pistons to hit 8.5. Along the way I plan to balance the rod/piston weights in the second portion of the class. What I have is a donor vehicle and possible recipient as well as the opportunity to build the engine fresh and ready for boost.

I don't know what the aftermarket looks like yet for ls400-styled suspension/brakes vs. the 83 celica I want to put the driveline into. The basic plan though is to bring what supports the ls400 into the 83 celica body. I have no idea what the Traction Control System does, but assume I should take anythings the ls400 can do and put it into the Celica shell.

Any information you can offer would be appreciated. I'm invested in the car already, and would welcome attempts to change my mind about boosting and the build!
 
Trying something simple?

Your wants list is pretty long and I think some will be un-achievable.

I don't know of anyone who has tried to replace the sleeves in a 1/2/3UZ. As far as I was aware they are cast into the block. Could very easily be wrong.

Shim under bucket isn't necessary with Kelford Supercharger cams. I had the cams in my engine and ran standard buckets and shims and they worked perfectly.

You appear to be trying to integrate stuff into your conversion that aren't required or essential.

Check out this GT4. https://performanceforums.com/forums/forum/car-corner/pf-racers/151313-uz-celica-aka-gteight

Follow his example and you will have a killer car.
 
Certainly some very lofty goals. Doable, but frankly, unlikely. Have you priced this stuff out, yet? For the cams, supercharger, and supporting parts (ECU, fuel system, probably want to consider transmission modifications) I wouldn't be surprised if you're spending $7500 or more. I would probably recommend just a stock rebuild, in that light chassis will be a blast to drive anyway.

The stock traction control system is over complicated and not very effective. Delete it. Lots of write-ups and videos on removing the extra butterfly from the throttle body.


I'm no expert on the 1UZ, but I've been involved in several builds of various manufacturers (mostly Subaru and Toyota), and 8.5 seems like a very low compression ratio unless you're shooting for a lot of boost.
 
On my engine the supercharger, manifold and intercooler (W2A) owed me well over $12,000 in 2005/6.

The complete engine build was a little over $45,000 in parts and machining.

Building tough 1UZ's isn't cheap.
 
On my engine the supercharger, manifold and intercooler (W2A) owed me well over $12,000 in 2005/6.

The complete engine build was a little over $45,000 in parts and machining.

Building tough 1UZ's isn't cheap.

Absolutely, he mentioned centrifugal, so I assume it would be a more universal application with the stock manifolds, and building in shop class means we're not talking about labor/fabrication costs. $7500 is definitely a very low estimate.
 
Thanks all for replying! I buried my head in the sand for a while there. My plans are altered somewhat as my landlady offered to let us try to buy the house, so I'm minimizing my fiscal impact here.

Numbchux is right on the money as to eventual cost of the parts. I may have misstated my goals here... My intent is to rebuild an engine (start to finish), plan and fabricate the swap, and then learn how to fiddle with: raspberry pi (shift computer), aftermarket ECU (Haltech?), aftermarket sensors (cam position, wideband), coil on plug conversion, et cetera.

I want to learn how to "modernize" the 1uz (or any) platform with regard to sensors/injectors/coils, customize a wiring harness, boost, install sound deadener... I've never worked with the Raspberri Pis but it's my understanding that I can wire my steering wheel horn buttons as shift up/down buttons (one on each side) for a low-buck "paddle shift" effect. None of this is aimed at making a record-breaking vehicle, but rather as a series of personal projects that I'd like to have the experience with. I've been heavily influenced by Mighty Car Mods and YouTube in general, but have a stable family and job now to support the hobby.

I hope that the 1990's 1UZ is strong enough stock to hold up through Stage 1's OEM rebuild, Stage 2's modernization/ecu swap, and Stage 3+ with eventual boosting/tuning. I think 500 horses is ludicrous for the particular platform but well within the design capacity for a 90's 1uz. Am I too far off the mark?

Regards,
Jim
 
500 is very doable with boost. My first 1UZ put 500 to the flywheel with 22 psi of supercharger boost and mistimed cams. Both the block and the heads had been shaved/decked and that greatly affects cam timing - something we didn't think about when it was shooting flames out the exhaust on the dyno...
 
Justen of GT8 fame was getting huge numbers out of junk yard engines with dual turbos and not much else.

Some smart tuning helped a lot.
 


Top