Matts Surf

[jen3ss]

Hi,
I thought it was about time I posted on here.
I bought this 91 Surf in 06, after a few years of driving it the lack of power was starting to drive me nuts, the surf must have known what I was thinking, I started it up one morning and was pleasantly surprised by the knock, knock, knock noise coming from the bottom of the engine, I went straight inside and with the most concerned look I could muster, broke the bad news to the missus, she came out for a listen and decided it must be a big end bearing for sure!
After weighing up the cost of rebuilding vs conversion the only real option she could see was to put a 1UZ in it, I told her if that was what she wanted that's what i would have to do!

So in June 09 I parked it out the back and started pulling it apart.



One last look



Pulling it out



Empty bay



Took the fuse box from here to make way for the airbox



And moved it over here



Have extended half the wiring to the fuse box and ran it inside, and shortened the other half.

 

[jen3ss]

Put in a 50mm body lift, had some problems with the back 4 bolts being to short, apparently some 4runners and surfs have different length rear bolts, It was sorted out with 1 phone call, new bolts turned up over night.





Before



After

 

[jen3ss]

I got a V6 4runner handbrake lever it pretty much went straight in. I just need to trim the bolts and either get some grommets or make a plate to cover the holes.

V6 and 4cyl handbrake levers



Firewall before



Firewall after



Drilled 19mm hole in the firewall and ran the cable through, this would have been a lot easier without the gearbox in the way

 

[jen3ss]

Got the fuel tank drained and out then spent the weekend cleaning and painting the floor and chassis.
I used 4 rattle cans of rubberized undercoat to do the floor

Before



After




The floor was looking good but it made the chassis look worse, so I cleaned and painted it gloss black, I still need to give it another coat and get all the bits I missed.

Before



After



Before



After

 

[jen3ss]

Then I did the outside of the chassis

Before



After



Before



After

 

[jen3ss]

I bought the engine, loom, mounts, radiator, and extractors from Scott at Venom, he couldn't get anyone to freight it for a reasonable price so he drove it down himself, now that's service!.

It's going to take a fair bit of time to get this cleaned up and ready to go in.






About as close as it gets to surf 1uz conversion kit.

 

[jen3ss]

The I started working out the fuel system, in the end I decided to use the diesel lines for the return and carbon can as they are a much neater fit and both run on the passenger side, and the v6 feed line for the high pressure, as I like the idea of having the factory bolt on fittings and fuel filter.

All the lines are a bolt in fit between models and all the fittings and studs are already there, the bracket for the fuel filter bolts to the chassis, also the diesel and v6 feed lines are the same size, and the return and carbon can lines are the same size for petrol and diesel.

V6 lines on the right.




The fuel tanks are fairly similar between models, the only difference is the top, the v6 tank has a bigger hole where the pump bolts in, the sender units are slightly different as well, the v6 has a plastic sender and a different plug. I am going to swap the senders so it will plug into the factory harness as I don't like joining or soldering wires that rely on resistance.

V6 tank on the left



Cleaned and Painted

 

[jen3ss]

Then I got the gearbox cleaned and painted



Its starting to look a bit cleaner



The colour turned out better then what I was expecting, it didn't look that good on the lid, but looks great sprayed on.
I'm going to do the sump black after the box is back in, when I give it a service.

The pic doesn't really do it justice, there is a nice silver metallic through it.

 

[jen3ss]

Then it sat for about 12 months while I was helping a few mates with their cars.

I started working on it again in February

Got the gearbox in.

 

[jen3ss]

I trimmed the support panel to fit the radiator, I will finish mounting it once the engine is in and I can see how much clearance there is.





and started pulling the engine apart to get it cleaned and ready for paint, by the looks of things its going to take a while to get it looking good.















Its no wonder they put covers over everything, there's going to be a bit of work getting this thing tidied up, thankfully only 2 lock tabs broke getting it out.

 

[jen3ss]

The more I take off the happier I am that I didn't just throw it in, the valley was full of sand/dirt, both rotor buttons were cracked and the water bridge had its own little eco system growing inside.







Looks like it is a good idea to flush these engines out properly, and use the right coolant.

 

[jen3ss]

It took a few hours of scrubbing to get it cleaned up

It went from looking like this



To this





http://i654.photobucket.com/albums/uu261/ML01UZ

It's too bad the sun had moved by the time I took the pics, it's a nice colour, but it doesn't photograph very well, the pic of the valley is about the closest one to how it realy looks.

[ATTACH=full]22055[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=full]22056[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=full]22057[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=full]22058[/ATTACH]

I'm planing on getting the rocker covers and manifolds power coated in candy red.

[ATTACH=full]22059[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=full]22060[/ATTACH]

 

[jen3ss]

I'm slowly getting this thing cleaned up and back together.





The new caps and rotor buttons turned up this week, so I got the front finished off, I'm not very happy with the plastic covers, 1 has a crack that has been glued up and the other one has 2 grooves in it.
If anyone has these covers that they want to sell, let me know.







I got the alternator and compressor done yesterday, gave the rear cover and shield a quick polish.

 

[jen3ss]

I got the Rocker covers and manifold stripped and cleaned up ready for powder coat.



I was surprised how clean the engine is inside, I must be too used to seeing hard carbon'd Alloytecs.





I gave the injectors a quick clean as well, so I can send them out to be cleaned/tested.

 

[jen3ss]

I got the P/steer pump finished off today, also gave the reservoir a quick wipe over.

 

[JustenGT8]

Coming along nicely.

Did you use a CRS bell housing to mate engine to the box?

 

[jen3ss]

Thanks mate.
I'm using the Lexus auto, it is the same as the Surf auto, the transfer bolts up with minor output shaft and speed sensor mods.

 

[JustenGT8]

ah nice, i wasn't aware of that...file away for future info

 

[sideshow]

yes its easier to do abit of mechanical work and fit the lexus auto than to use the surf auto as the surf auto is a bugger to set up electrically
even then theres abit of work running wires from old surf auto ecu to the lexus ecu
to get all things working correctly

 

[jen3ss]

I took the easy way out and got Scott to mod the loom.
Just need to hook up the transfer wiring.