Single Turbo 1UZ MKII Supra Project

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

MKII_Supra

Member
Messages
158
Location
Donahue, IA
Hello all!

I have been stalking these forums for some time, always conceiving the idea of replacing my tired 6MGTE turbo motor with a 1UZ. I was able to find a buyer for my old motor, and now have the funds to start my new project! More about my 86 MA61 MKII Supra can be seen through the links in my signature. A quick glimpse at my car:

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I pulled my old motor, which had alot of custom fab and parts done by myself:

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I was running Megasquirt II with 7M 440cc injectors, ct461 (61mm) hybrid turbo, and tons of other goodies. It made good power and noises, but I felt the need for something with a more responsive torque curve and better parts availability.

I recently purchased an 80K mile 1uzfe from a 95 LS400, and it is proving to be quite virgin upon inspection:

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The plan is to go single turbo as of now. I am no stranger to standalones, wiring, or fab work (as you can see), so I look forward to the challenge. I was very happy with the Megasquirt II on my previous engine, so the plan is to continue to use it with EDIS-8 and a set of cleaned and balanced 440's. I am scouting for pre-95 rods, but will most likely fab the car up as is without touching the internals of the motor for now. I am looking for a decent low end response turbo, but something that will let me gently cruise without the need to be in boost at a mere touch of the throttle (to keep some economy). The current contender is a Borg Warner S300sx3 with a .91 divided housing, this should get me the response and power I want, even though a little low in the turbo's efficiency.

I am aiming for a modest 350-400 streetable HP. I am purchasing the full w58-1UZ rig from Quantum-Auto, and have mounts lined up to fit in my MA61 engine bay. Any more power, and I am not worried about the motor or trans hurting, but the suspension and chassis on the car. These cars weren't built to quadruple their original power levels!

I will be stalking and asking Q's here and there. I have PM'd lextreme about acquiring a 36 tooth wheel (to modify to 36-1) that is needed for EDIS-8. I will most likely also be selling the stock harness (almost entirely complete) and most electronics/emissions equipment from the engine, so PM me if you are interested.

Thanks for looking!

-Mike O'Brien
 
I was able to inspect the bottom end yesterday, and I was very happy with the current condition of the crank, and the rod/main bearings.

The engine was in overall very clean shape underneath:

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Have to love 6 bolt mains! (Kind of a pain to carefully squeeze back into place though)

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Crank was in great shape, all bearings looked to be young and clean as well:

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All parts (beside the short block) are being cleaned through a rigorous process. All parts are degreased and dried, media blasted, washed entirely to remove all media, thoroughly cleaned with brake cleaner, and then finished with engine enamel.

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Yes, even the bolts receive this treatment:

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Re-sealing the bottom end. I love it when you get that perfect RTV squish!

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My advertising for Permatex Grey:

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Bottom end completely re-sealed:

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Everything looks great, but will be replacing all the timing components, and of course all needed gaskets.

I am also on the search for black nylon braded hose with a red tracer strand. The only type I can find is the Aeroquip Startlite series:

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I was hoping for something with a thicker tracer, like Russell’s Pro Classic setup:

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Anyone know of any swanky nylon braded line with a nice red tracer?

-Mike
 
Yep grey RTV looks much better than orange to which I used...
Engine looks VERY good and clean..
Low k engine, just run in...
Did you fit an oil return ??
 
I planed to have an aluminum AN fitting welded to the stock oil level sending boss, but am afraid it is too low in the pan for maximum oil draining from the turbo. I would prefer to have the oil return higher on the aluminum cast pan, to make sure the entry is never submerged with oil and the turbo can always gravity drain freely. I will have to judge my options here soon.

Thanks, -Mike
 
oil level sensor plate is pretty high up, shouldn't have problem. The old 6m looks like it had some work.
 
Thanks all!

Some of the other parts are harder to media blast due to bearings and other joints/passageways that no media should be allowed inside. The fan idler bracket and tensioner are such pieces:


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An easy way to seal these surfaces is with hot glue from a craft gun. It is strong enough to hold against the pressure from the media gun, but can be easily peeled off by hand later:

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Media blasting really brings a clean surface back to old, stained and oxidized cast aluminum.

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The front water crossover casting had its original engine temp sensor and gauge temp sensor holes re-drilled and tapped for 1/8 and 3/8 NPT sensors. A generic GM style coolant sensor will provide engine temps for Megasquirt, and the smaller NPT threaded hole will be filled with the water temp sensor for my Autometer gauge.

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Two mist coats and a full wet coat of engine enamel provide continued protection from staining and oxidizing. The paint is very wet here, it will matt down a bit once it dries:

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I started to address the alternator issue. The engine I bought did not come with one, and I need to figure out a belt routing setup that will work with the P/S and A/C removed. Since the alternator is really the only accessory the crank needs to turn, I decided a single belt was the easiest route (around the crank and alternator).

Not having an alternator, and needing to introduce a manual tensioning setup, I looked towards one of my 92 Camry upgrade alternators. The bottom mount is perfect for the 1UZ's factor lower mount size and position, and the plugs/output will obviously be on the correct side for the 1UZ. The top threaded tab on the alternator also swings nicely close to an empty stud on the engine, so I decided to use the Camry alternator and adapt it to the engine. This way the plugs for the MA61 are the same (as is the 92 Camry), and the amperage is the same as the factory LS400 unit (80 amps).

The pulleys lined up quite well (almost perfect in fact, might need to shim the alternator pulley a hair out), using a pulley I ordered a while back through a local machine shop. It has the same ID as the Camry alt and the 6-rib design of the 5m/6m. I picked up a cheapo 4-rib belt at a local store with an estimated length to check belt sizes, I bought the shortest one they had in stock.

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The length doesn't seem bad here, but remember that I want to keep the alternator as close to the block as possible to allow for maximum space for turbo manifold/exhaust on the passenger side. The following picture illustrates that the belt lets the alternator sit too far out:

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This is a 31" 4-rib belt. I did some measuring and decided that a 29.5" belt should get me closer to snugging the engine block. Since no one local has anything shorter, I went ahead and ordered a Goodyear Gatorback 6-rib in 29.5" (4060295)

A spacer and a few washers place the alternator tab and the empty stud in perfect alignment. All that is needed is a slotted adjuster.

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I judged how much travel I think the new belt will need to tighten, and use some 1/8 mild steel square stock to create a slotted tie down. A torch and some well-placed bolts give me the correct form I need:

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I welded the piece to connect the loop, and welded the washers to the spacer also. I haven't welded the slotted adjuster to the washers yet, as I still need to verify that the new belt will work with this setup.

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A bit of paint and it looks like it will work well:

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I have also been looking at blocking all the emissions and extra ports on the intake manifold. I was easily able to block the EGR port by simply cutting off one of the steel flanges, and welding in the center with an old bolt head.

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The other ports will have receive aluminum flanges cut with a plasma cutter, perhaps tomorrow.
-Mike
 
Moving to the cam covers, they seem bulky and a bit boring. Why not open them up a bit for a peek inside?

The top and bottom sections were adhered together with plastic fusing epoxy:

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I judged a good spot to cut the face of the covers off, so that the bottom covers could also be cut in an acceptable way. I cut through the first groove on the covers:

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cutting the lower cover perfectly flat with the top proved to be an issue as I only have a 10" band saw. I decided to use my creativity and secure a fine toothed saw in the vice, and use the wide saw face to keep the piece flat as I drug the part back and forth.

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Test fitting the assemblies:

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Using the cut open faces, the Plexiglas windows are traced onto the protected stock:

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Using a steady hand and my mighty band saw, the faces are cut to a high tolerance fit for the openings:

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I take a time out while plastic epoxy secures the windows in place, and work on the new timing bits:

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A bit better looking than the original timing idler and tensioning set:

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Sans timing components:

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New junk installed:

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Still waiting for the glue to dry on the plexi windows, I went ahead and installed the spark plug tube seals on the valve covers:

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These were a very tight fit, and required the use of a press and seal driver:

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Looking a bit more complete with all new valve cover seals:

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Once the glue has dried on the windows, a rigorous process of prep and finish work occur to remove the seams and prep for paint:

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The finished product is stellar after two mist coats and a full wet coat of gloss black:

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How did that snail get in there?

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Finished products installed:

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The starter was disassembled, cleaned inside and out, and painted to keep corrosion at bay:

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The starter tested well after the rebuild, and was installed:

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These mounts should make life easier. Thanks Nick!

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Heater core tubes are trimmed to be closer to each other, ready to accept a generic U-bent hose:

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Thanks all!
-Mike
 
Thanks everyone!

After pressure washing the intake manifolds, I noticed that they are symmetrical just like the heads and exhaust (i.e., it can be flipped around).

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The stock orientation is for the throttle body to face the passenger side:

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But the upper manifold (or lower, or both) can be flipped around so that the throttle body faces the driver’s side:

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This is great! As long as the hood will close, it will be easier and more efficient to run the intercooler pipes on the driver’s side from the throttle body to the intercooler. This way I will avoid the hot turbo, and I can go straight to the driver's side intercooler end. (The turbo will be in the passenger front corner of the engine bay, and a short intercooler pipe will go from the compressor outlet to the passenger intercooler end)

I debated using a Ford 5.0 Throttle body to easily adapt the PWM idle valve for megasquirt, but was turned off after seeing how restrictive and poorly designed the units are. (At least from the foxbody 5.0) I instead decided to modify the throttle body that came with the 1UZ. The car the motor came with had traction control, and therefore had an extra throttle plate with positioning sensor and electric actuator at the body entrance. I wanted to eliminate all this junk and make the TB look alot sleeker, and possibly shorten it if needed for hood clearance.

The entire unit was stripped down to just the casting (and pressed pieces), and the traction control sections were removed with a sawzall:

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The casting stubs left over were removed with a rough file, and then sanded down with 120 grit for an even finish:

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The unit's exterior is media blasted, cleaned, and the bore is polished:

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The plan is to have the traction control holes tig welded shut along with the oil return adapter that needs to be welded to the OEM oil level sending unit flange.

Via popular request, I have mocked up the stock manifolds to the engine in the flipped orientation for reference:

Driver's Side:

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Here you can see that the flange interferes with the factory oil filter mount, and will not seat to the head.

Passenger's Side:

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Note how close the pipes are to the alternator plug and outlet:

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Also note that the alternator is already as close as possible to the engine block:

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The flange was cut off the driver's side manifold (flipped passenger manifold), and the tubes were cut close to the collector for the passenger's side manifold (flipped driver's manifold):

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Now the manifolds will seat, and will clear all the other components with some creative bends and piping.

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-Mike
 
this is awesome, and well written too (or not written ;))

I might have a get a few parts in for sandblasting, they come up so well.
 
honestly best 1uzfe-T build thread i have seen to date. so thorough! so clean! so fresh! mad props to you and you have inspired my build to be on a whole new level.
 
The oil filter mount looks different. I noticed you are front sump, maybe the SC and LS have different mounts?
 
Thanks all, I have been deemed "OCD" many times in my life! :)

Yes, the oil filter adapters are different from the SC and LS motors.

I am waiting on more parts to arrive, so I have been working on the little projects. The throttle body has been shortened, and the extra holes from the vac port and traction control will be coverd by the silicone coupler. The throttle body has had all components media blasted, cleaned and coated in enamel (that apply). New stainless hardware and polished bore/throttle plate liven things up quite a bit:

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The internal return springs were added to the throttle pin and body, and the throttle plate was installed. Thread locker was used on the new bots to assure that they don’t get eaten by the hungry V8:

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All of the throttle linkages and hardware were added to the body, and the unit looks as good as it performs:

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Also, the heater tube on the rear water crossover was shortened to clear the reversed fuel rail's opening for the AN fittings it will receive. A pre-molded U-bent hose joined the heater core tubes together:

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I am still debating what to do about manifolds. If the engine fits between the rails with the stock reversed manifolds, I am tempted to just radius a few of the bad primaries (and make room for the dipstick) and use them. I can't believe Toyota/Lexus engineers got away with the design on these things!

-Mike
 
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me too! its crazy how crappy the design is. any radiused bend will out flow the stock. i also will be making my collectors a v-band connection.
 


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