1uz.fe into ra60

[GSMnow]

Hi Heartland.
I got the 1UZ under the hood of my RA65 Celica, but I am running into a problem. I know you are right hand drive, and I am left hand drive, but I am curious if you ran into the same (other side) issue. The steering shaft coming out of the rack is running right into the exhaust manifold. I think we are going to have to cut up the manifold and re-weld it so the pipe exits higher up and further out to clear the steering shaft. The way it sits right now, we had to move the rack 3 inches to the left to hook it up and make it so we can push the car around and steer it, but it does not turn very sharp to the left as it is neer the end of travel, about 1 full turn left just to go straight. We can fix that with different length tie rods, but I don't want the resulting bump steer. I might be able to modify the rack a bit, but I think modding exhaust manifolds will be alot easier and safer. I would love to see a couple more pics of your swap. Especiall where the exhausts go from the heads to under the car.

Gary M.

 

[heartland]

ra 60 1uz.fe

how ya going mate have photo if loads up hade to make one up man beds re using the 1uz.fe flange had to cut of ex manifold made it into 3 peace so could get out if needed do not change rack mount work around steering shaft see how i go for photo regards heartland...

 

[heartland]

ra 60 1uz.fe

hello here is some old photos of conversion hope they are a help will get some new ones soon the car goes realy good all up and runing still cleaning some small things up im like them neat as possable better than a 21 r 4cly 60hp ....

 

[GSMnow]

Thanks for the pics. That doe slook just like a mirror image of what we are running into. Right now they are pulling the exhaust manifold off and putting the steering rack and motor back into proper position. He is going to cut the manifold and re-shape it to clear outside of the steering shaft. We will also have to re-route the power steering hoses as they go right where the pipe has to. My friend doing the welding has done several custom manifolds for turbos using stainless steel, so he is confident he can make it fit and work. I will be posting a few more pics soon on my progress thread. There is already one pic up of a side view.

Gary M.

 

[elhsupra]

This may help too.



Not the most optimum design but definantly fit in my MA61.

 

[GSMnow]

Eric, your headers look pretty good. Are those stock flanges? Were you able to weld to them easilly? What size pipe did you use for the primaries? I am picturing a 4 into 2 setup on each side like Heartland did, and I have to make them small enough to fit under the stock heat shields as hand made won't pass the silly California visual inspection, even if they were quieter and made the exhaust cleaner than stock.

Gary M.

 

[elhsupra]

Actually I got a set of old tundra manifolds. The shop cut them off about an inch from the engine then welded new pipes to the tundra flanges/pipe stubs. I have to check my notes but I think I went the larger 1-5/8" primaries. I do remember the collectors and dual cats are both 2-1/2". Then it Y's to a single 3" and a single magnaflow in the stock location.
How stock do the heat shields have to appear? Possibly use just the top half of the heat shield for appearance only?
4-2-1 setup would be like Peewee. Might wanna take a look at his design since the Cressida is similar to the MA/RA 60 series.

 

[GSMnow]

From the firewall back, the MA60's and RA60's are virtually identical, the problem in the celica is that the cross member and steering rack is aout 6 inches closer to the firewall. The steering rack out of the LS400 is about 6 inches wider than the Celica one so the exhaust fits between the engine and the steering shaft. On my Celica, the steering shaft is only about 1.5 inches off the side of the cylinder head and block where it joins the universal joint at the rack. There is room (not alot) between the outside of the steering shaft and the frame rail. On your Supra, those 4 into 1 headers must make use of that space. I am suprized you could fit four 1 5/8 inch pipes in there, even with the length of the Supra. I am hoping to have pictures of the offending area soon. My car got pushed aside for some real paying customers.

I think the referee will be fairly easy on the exhaust manifolds as long as they still look similar to stock with only the re-shaping needed to make it fit. But if I made complete new headers they would scream. I know they will look under the car as well, but I think the heat shields only covered the top. I have read all about the "referee visit" but have not seen one done yet. I have tried to contact a referee station to ask how and what they look for, but the only way I have found to talk with them is to schedule a visit, and you have to pay for the time. It seems like they dodn't want you to know what they will look for. Is that a way of reducing the cheating? So people can't hide the bad things? Maybe, I don't know. I want to do the car right and not sneak around rules, but I can't get the rules. All the vehicle code says about "engine change" is that "The replacement engine must be newer and that all of it's emissions devices must be complete and functional as if it was in the newer car. Any component that could effect emissions must either be stock or a California Air Resource Board (CARB) approved part with an Exception Order EO number listed with the state, for the car/engine it is designed and tested for." I think re-shaping the manifolds is okay, replacing them is not. I thought about using Tundra headers, but the EO listing is for a truck, not a car, so they won't be allowed with the current EO listing. It certainly does get silly.

Gary M.

 

[elhsupra]

Wow. Sorry to hear about it. Kinda glad I'm in TX now. If you need more pics or a spare set of LS400 manifolds to help, let me know.

 

[GSMnow]

I may take you up on the LS400 manifolds. How much do you want for them? I talked with another guy driving an "engine change" car here in Cali and he did mod the rear manifold and "Y" pipe a bit for clearance (Transverse Camry V6 in a front drive Celica) and they let it go since evrything was just to make it fit without altering function. Same size pipes, same O2 sensor and cat location. I think these should be safe things to do.

Gary M.

 

[elhsupra]

I'll shoot some photos tonight for you. Since it helps another conversion $10 and shipping.

 

[GSMnow]

Sorry it took so long to write back. I worked 53 hours of OVERTIME the past two weeks.

For $10 + shipping I will certainly take those manifolds off of your hands. You can contact me directly at [email protected]. I will send you my shipping address and once I have your address I will send you a check. Try and get me an estimate for the cost on UPS ground. I will try to look it up if I find time.

I will post another update under my thread, but basically, the car is still in a holding pattern while my friends shop got real busy with nice paying jobs.

Gary M.

 

[heartland]

got 14.3s at drags not to bad for stock diff..

 

[GSMnow]

I forgot if your car was IRS or solid rear axle. It makes a big difference on what you need to do for traction. My car is IRS and it puts very equal power to both tires, even when the LSD is fried. When I have tried to do a burn out, the black streaks from both tires are very close to the same length. With a live solid axle, that is never the case as the drive shaft torque is pushing the left side tire into the ground while lifting the right side tire up. This results in a long skid from the right tire and the left tire never brakes loose. I did run into a different problem when I lowered my car though. The car ends up squatting down in the back under acceleration. This greatly increases the negative camber making the tires ride on just the inner 1/3 if their width at the extreme. My front drive GrandAm turbo laid down better 60 foot times. Live axle cars like a Mustang can take advantage of the axle torque to help load both rear tires. The serious drag guys also pre load the right rear to help keep it from spinning. This is usually done with an air bag stuck in the right rear spring so they can adjust the pre load and release the pressure for normal driving off of the strip. On my Celica, if I do go to the strip with the V8, I can adjust my rear coil over springs to raise the rear end up to reduce both the squat and static camber for a better contact patch. and the higher ride height will actually increase the weight transfer onto the rear tires under acceleration.

Gary M.