V8 Cressida

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Oranges

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42
Location
Melbourne Australia
Hey guys, I currently own a MX83 Cressida (1992, late model) and it has already (since jan this year) destroyed one engine, and its quickly working on its second... I am of course, speaking in terms of BHG ):
But I plan to end it's shenanigans! And I intend to do that by administering a nice 1UZ in it. :p
I've got myself, a SC400 1uz, auto, ecu, blah blah blah.
I think the car it was from was a 1996 model... so smaller rods ): but oh well.

This will be my first swap, and I am gathering as much information as possible before I start it. So far I've figured out the following:
- Sump.
The Soarers were the only 1uz's with rear sumps... And unfortunately, I need a front sump. I have found a front sump, so for anyone interested, I have a rear sump setup for sale. :p
- Engine mounts.
This is the only part I am truely still lost about. I'm thinking about doing it shonky and all... but I would prefer to have proper custom ones made... I just don't know if it's going to be worth the money.
- Exhaust Manifold.
The drivers side hits the steering column, so I am going to go all out and just get custom extractors made up. Will cost an arm and a leg, but I think it's alright, I can think of it as being all the money I saved on other areas.
- Tail Shaft.
From quick inspections, it looks like I can just keep the rubber donut, and replace the front section of the stock 2 piece tail shaft in the MX83 with the front section of the soarer's shaft. They appear to be exactly the same length, if not, damn close to it.
- Oil Filter.
The Oil Filter Housing is right where the sway bar is, I am thinking I could either get a housing from an LS400 or crown, or get a relocation kit. I guess whichever is cheaper will be my choice.

I have a few questions though.
- The late model Cressida's use an electonic speed sensor. What do the soarers have? (I really don't know much about this stuff...)
- My car has ABS... Will I need to rip that out? or is it possible to maintain ABS with the soarer tranny?
- I don't actually have a SC400 AFM, I have an LS400 AFM. Are they the same?
- Transmissions. The cressida has the A340E, and (I think) the tranny with the 1UZ is a A341E. Physically, are they pretty similar? and is the shifter much the same? Just by looking at them, they seem to be hunky dory, but I haven't actually had them side by side to know 100%.
- Brake booster. Will it clear? I haven't really researched this... just sorta, was gonna cross my fingers with it. :p

Currently the car isnt anything special... Duct taped and siliconed a pod filter on it, but otherwise, its a boat.
Would I be correct in assuming that the lighter v8 will help understeer and general handling, thanks to the fact its more "back heavy" and lighter than the 7M (lemon M). Because in stock form... Cressidas love to understeer...

I also plan on painting it black, swapping the tail lights for wider early model tail lights, some decent rims, nothing ridiculous (16/17s would be good) and tinting the windows.
The plan is for a nice cruiser, not enourmous power, but plenty if you need it.

Pictures to come when I get a free moment.
 

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- I don’t think the engine mount will be a problem if you use the LS400 mounts ..
- if you did not buy the transmission yet … get crown transmission .. and that will save your time doing the tail shaft and alignment .
- for the ABS .. but your old speed sensor into the 1uz transmission .. and every thing will be fine " don't remove the old ECU"
 
LS400 mounts? Will they fit no hassles?
I do already have the transmission though.
What exactly needs to be "done" with the tailshaft? I have the soarer tailshaft also, and I sat it up against my MX83 tailshaft last weekend (I was changing my rear main seal, so I had the shaft out) and the first sections looked pretty much identical in length.
Can you elaborate on "for the ABS .. but your old speed sensor into the 1uz transmission .. and every thing will be fine " don't remove the old ECU""?
Dont remove which ECU? The MX83 ECU? or the ABS computer? (I think that might be a stupid question, but I honestly don't know)
And to clarify, I have all the following already:
-Complete SC400 engine and transmission,
-tailshaft, ecu, full exhaust (manifolds, cats, all the way to the chrome tips),
-ECU,
-fuel pump and its computer, another computer (of some sort... not sure about it..?),
-Tranny crossmember (LS400),
-LS400 AFM.

I'm sorry if I'm not the most educated person here, but I'm certainly keen to get my hands dirty and learn. I will get pics of everything up when I get a chance.
 
I know there have been a few mkIII supra's running around with 1uz's, forgive me for my noob-ness, but wouldn't that mean that you would pretty do the same thing for a MKIII, because MKIII's and cressida's share the same powerplant?
 
Im not so sure about the ls400 mounts. but the cressida v8 swap is very similar to the supra swap.

heres my 1uz supra.
EngineNight1-800.jpg
 
ABS will be a tough one. Soarer tranny has a 4 tooth wheel on it, I'm not sure if the Cressida has a 4 tooth or a 32 tooth.

I'm also not sure if the Cressida runs a hall effect sensor (3 wire) or a reluctance sensor (2 wire). The Soarer runs a reluctance sensor.

The Crown gbox runs a 32 tooth wheel and a hall effect sensor, so I'd guess the Cressida would be the same, but I'm not sure.

Getting the ABS working would be as easy as using a Crown autobox and wiring it up correctly to your existing ABS computer. However in doing this your Soarer ECU won't work with this sensor.

Tough call.

Get as many diagrams as possible, and spend a few hours reading them and comparing them to what you have in front of you. Trace as many wires in your Cressida as possible. The more time spent now will make it easier later.


Getting the engine in and getting it running is the easy part, making everything work like factory (ABS, Cruise etc) is the difficult and challenging part.

It may be easier for you to use the Soarer ABS computer (it has traction control too). Thats something to look in to.



As for comparing it to the Supra swap, don't bother. The engine and gbox are the only things that are similar between the cars. Everything else mechanical differs (suspension, diff, tailshaft, crossmembers, mounts etc).



Back to your questions, the Soarer runs an electronic speedo sensor, so thats easily sorted. Both will be 3 wire jobbies.


I'm not sure if the LS400/Celsior mounts will be any good to you. Every MX83Cressida conversion I've known has had to make custom mounts. I don't know of anything that fits. Keep searching though, I could be wrong.

The tailshaft is your call. Some people have modded their original tailshaft to suit the rubber donut, some people have modded the 1UZ tranny to suit the original tailshaft.

The A341E is near, if not exactly, physically identical to the A340E.
Obviously the bellhousing is different, and the rear section.

Brake booster, should do, but depends where you put the motor.


Oil filter, try the LS400/Celsior mount, it may fit. I used a 100 series Land Cruiser 2UZ one on my MX73, cost about $100 new.


LS400/Celsior AFM will be fine.


FYI, you have Soarer gear, not SC400 gear. SC400 is limited to USA only.
 
okay... i thought soarers were sc400s or whatever, i am obviously mistaken however.

anyways, I think i've figured out mounts, and a front sump. so tail shaft/tranny is my final (main) concern (i think?). i think, seeing as i already have the soarer tranny, I'll just get my tail shaft modified to suit the rubber donut, as its what ive got already.

and i wasnt sure about the soarers having abs... any chance i can get a pic of the abs computer? because i have a bunch or computers from the doner soarer, and i can pick the ECU, and fuel pump ecu, but there is a 3rd computer that I am not sure about, its about half the size of the ECU. Better yet, Ill get pictures of the v8, and all the stuff i have up tomorrow night.

Really, I dont care if i dont have abs or traction control working immediately (or ever to be honest). Once the car is mechanically running, I can slowly sort out the rest of it. I would prefer to retain traction control and abs and cruise control and so on, as i just hate having things that dont work 100%... but with time :p

thanks again for the help, will get pics up tomorrow.
 
I can't explain the things in English very will

For the ABS:
- remove the LS speed sensor "2nd one" in the end of the transmission and but your old speed sensor with its gear to fix the ratio.
- Don't care about the 1st sensor if its 4 or 32 tooth because its give the signal for the LS ECU.
- Leave all of your old 7M ECU's and connect the –IG from the old harness to the new harness.

For the Traction control:
- its better if you forget about it and leave the wheels spanning to feel the power …. Hehehe.

For the cruise control:
- you have to connect your old wire to the 1UZ throttle.

Tail shaft:
- I lost a lot of money trying to align my fabricated rubber donut.
- Finally I change the tranny to Crown one. And its ok now.



 
HOLY CRAP! i am so stupid................ Just looking at those pictures now, to see if they came out good enough or not (crappy phone pics) I noticed the letters "A B S" on that one I had no idea about... lmao... im stupid.
god...

Okay then... so my question then is, how do I keep abs? What is the thing thats in the engine bay? I gotta do some thinking again now...
Im supposing the thing im referring to is the mechanism or thingo that actually causes the pulsing of the brakes... soooo... my guess is it works like so..
ABS computer recieves signals from tranny, and wheels, and when it detects that the wheels are locked up, it sends a signal to the "thingo" in the engine bay, to pulse the brakes.

Is that close? If so... can I then, use the current wheel sensors i have on the cressida?

also, with the sensors, I dont know from looking at them, what is what. Im pretty new to this stuff, and this is my first experience with a lot of it!

whats a hall effect sensor? and whats a reluctance sensor? and which would the soarer box be running?


in my head, the idea is, for the car to be mechanically and electonically, a soarer, just in a cressida shell. obviously, its not that simple, but the way i see it, the less i modify, the simpler it should be?

again, thanks for the info, Ill do my research still. :D
 
Havent really moved ahead with anything still... but I gots a question. If i pull off the rubber donut crap on the a341e soarer box, is the output shaft the same as the a340e cressida box? obviously its shorter (not sure how much, ill measure it up this week.)
is it possible at all to pull it all off and then just whack the cressy shaft in? is there enough length on the output of the soarer box to facilitate the cressy tailshaft properly?
this would be awesome, but i somehow feel doubtful about it. luckily for me though, because i rooted my cressy's box, and replaced it, i now have a spare a340e to play around with, so i might pull it apart and see what i can do. I dont know if this is a crazy thought, but is it possible to swap the output shafts completely? i gots no idea how different the insides are, but could i swap over all the internals that fit on the shaft and get it working?
my only concern with that is, i dont want to wreck my good soarer box.

about to make up my engine mounts, then ill get my sump, and clean it up, and change all the seals, and hopefully ill be ready to chuck it in. fingers crossed nothing goes pear shaped.

all the while, I've started painting the car black. not going to be awesomely perfect, but it shouldnt look too bad :p
 
yeah i had a quick look at the lenth of the two shafts today, and it appears that the output shaft is much too short on the soarer box for it to work. so i believe i will need a custom tailshaft no matter which way i go about it.
 
beware if u goswapping boxes from one 1uz to another just cause of the stupid output shaft problem

make sure they both have same solenoid plug and also a kickdown or pressure cable runing of the throttle

im doin a cressida in few weeks and will try to get abs to work

ive done 5 1uzs into cressidas and none of them wanted to pay for abs to work

this one soon wants everything to work he is willing to pay extra for it

u have to use the cressida abs and try to replicate the orig abs signal of the back of gbox

its not hard but if u dont know difference between hall effect and analoge sensors then go do some more reasearch

i just sent a 1uz into cressida loom for a shop in melb doing one up

i managed to get it all to just plug stright in by cutting apart the 7m ecu and using bits of it

the soarer box has a stumpy end and a big rubber y **** thing so u need to get a modded tailshaft with a slip yoke somehwere in the shaft

or u can use a crown box only diff is no oil temp sensor in box but i guess u can trick it and also soarer has 4 teeth on reluctor and crown has 32

the boxes with a slip yoke have a big thin brass bush that sits around the outside of the yoke

the boxes with the y piece rubber dong i think doesnt have this i might be wrong but im sure u cant slide a yoke in the back of the soarer box no matter what outputshaft u use

unfortunately having done so many 1uzs there is still no simple way

except for a slip yoke tailshaft its expensive but its the right way and less fiddly
 
I dont intend to swap any boxes around. Worst case scenario is, I am going to get a custom tailshaft made up.
I dont need to play with sensors and **** if i am using all the original soarer computers do i?
like I've said before, the way I want to build it is, use all the soarer bits and peices, electrics, computers, loom, and just have it in a cressida shell.

the only part of the ABS im iffy about is how its connected to the unit under the hood. but thats low priority, so ill worry about it later.
 
well the onlypartofthe abs u need to work out is the abs speed sensor on back of the original cressida box

u just have to repicate that signal somehow but using the soarer speed sensor on gbox
 
well the onlypartofthe abs u need to work out is the abs speed sensor on back of the original cressida box

u just have to repicate that signal somehow but using the soarer speed sensor on gbox

I am not exactly sure what your telling me there...
My plan is to use the soarer box, soarer sensor, soarer ABS computer, and cressida wheel sensors.

Are you telling me that if i used the 32 tooth gear and cressida sensor in the soarer box, i could use the cressida abs computer and so on? because if so.... thats piss easy.
I just have to rip off the extension housing on the box, pull off the 4 tooth gear, chuck on the 32 tooth gear, and shove the cressy sensor in there.

anyway, I'm going to stick to the original plan, and if that fails, I'll try that second idea. Failing that, if I have money, I'll pay someone to suss it out, or if im broke, **** it, abs is gay anyway :p
 
u cant use the sarer abs ecu

soarer has 4 abs wheel sensors one per wheel

cressida has 3 2 front and one rear on back of gbox

unless u plan to wire everythig from abs on the soarer which will be a big job

just leave the abs out dont use it if u think its gay

but if u change the 4 pulse to the 32 pulse u also have tochange from the 2 wire to the 3 wire sensor on it

then u will have a problem cause the 4 pulse sensor is a speed sensor that goes straight to the ecu for the auto so it has to be 4 pulse

anyway i would not touch gbox and leave abs out

u r making it sound to complicsted and if u go moddifying stuff u wul stuff up how the engne and gobx runs in factory trim

anyway good luck with it
 


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