1UZ into my Off-Road Long Travel Tacoma

[Smitherz]

Just messing around here in this video... actually it's really a sound clip cause I had to keep my hands on the wheel. Mud tires on wet asphalt don't grip well especially since my truck hardly weighs anything. =]

Slippery slippery: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1_yaBpMGFk

I've been working a ton and I'm designing some cross members underneath the chassis for the transmission and carrier bearing position right now. When they are cut on the waterjet I'll weld everything together and post an update again then. But for now it rolls down the road just fine. I'm gathering up parts for the new rear end and it's not going to be cheap. I obviously need new gears, Detroit Locker and all that stuff. Once the gearing it correct this thing should fly. New wheels will be here this week too. Sadly they aren't coming with new tires on them though... so I have to be nice to the ones I have on there now until I can afford new ones. Anyone want to sponsor me? BFG? Nitto Tire can you hear me out there? haha

 

[Hiluxus_CW]

NICE....keep em coming!!!!

 

[Smitherz]

Had a great day today. Don't ask what happened. Now looking for another transmission. This won't happen again and I'm actually working on a completely different transmission with an Atlas transfer case so things might get interesting. I'm contacting a few people that have transmissions laying around and I just need some parts even so a used one will get me back on the road quick. Fun fun fun.

 

[cribbj]

What happened

 

[toy4whatever]

Wasn't that a W series transmission? Might want to look into getting a R series. Lot of guys have been running them for years at least that's what I've read.

 

[Smitherz]

Notice how the gears on both ends are black because they have oil on them? And the gears near the middle of both shafts are lighter in color (no oil). I let the transmission fall over on it's side when I was doing my swap and I didn't think that much oil drained out of the shifter hole. Well it did drain more than I thought and my transmission was way low on oil. That transmission can take the abuse no problem... once it has oil in it! I'm picking up another on up north next weekend for so pennies and it's in perfect working condition with bellhousing as well. And I'm going to tear it down for inspection before I put it under the truck. I have some adjustments to make and I'm going to slap my modified bellhousing to the Bridgeport and and true it up a little... probably take a few 1000'ths off of it. I'll continue to abuse the transmission and with the oil in it I expect it to do good. Trust me... I have all sorts of ideas in my head if this one doesn't work out in the long run. I have ideas about modding this one to last longer as well so it's just fun for me and not some big issue.

I'm being watched by lots of people who do this stuff for a living and they are already throwing me bones about what would hold up the abuse. But I'm going to fully test this transmission first because making more adapters and trying other transmissions is big bucks. I can throw these W trannys away and find used ones for hardly any $. I've thought about doing the R series but I'm not convinced that they are much stronger. I'll tear one down if I come across one but no one has shown me any proof.. and I've been talking to builders about it. Until I split the casing of a W transmission I'm confident that it will take a beating and smile. I don't trust anything I read on the internets. I'm a fan of doing it yourself and doing it right. A lot of people told me that a 1UZ in a Tacoma would be impossible... lots of people tell me that welding a bellhousing can't be done... blah blah blah. Don't listen to anyone. This isn't rocket science. More to come.

And seriously if I have to go to another transmission (partly because I will go forced induction at some point) then it will be overkill, I'll make a steel bellhousing and it will be right from a competition vehicle. I already have people offering to practically donate units but I'm trying to keep this NORMAL and not full race. And keeping it 4wd is also a challenge so I'm holding out as long as I can. Next is race Ford 9" full floating axle and full race Brembo 2 pc. hats and calipers.

 

[Smitherz]

Went and picked up another transmission over the weekend that looks to be in great condition. I've also been meaning to put the bellhousing back on the mill to true the mating surface between the housing and the adapter. The transmission noise was really annoying and I knew it wasn't perfectly flat. The welding all the way around the housing warped the surface just a tiny bit in a couple areas and I also found a couple other tiny details that were contributing to the misalignment of the input shaft. Here's a pic of my transmission collection taking up valuable real estate in the garage. I worked the whole day yesterday cleaning the new transmission and getting things adjusted right. But I got it done in time for a quick test drive in the evening and now there is not one hint of transmission noise and it drives amazingly smooth. I'll get a video up sometime soon when I can get someone to hold the camera while I'm cruising down the road.



And I ended up putting a smaller Flowmaster on it because it was insanely loud like a race car before. I had that particular Flowmaster from my old 3RZ setup so I threw it behind the 1UZ because it was free and welding it to the exhaust system wasn't the hard part... it was making the custom Y-pipe that goes back and over one of the crossmembers for the driveline. So once I finished the Y-pipe and routed it back then welding the free Flowmaster on it was easy. I have a new one now that I'll install sometime soon that will be much better sounding.

 

[Smitherz]

Built a new crossmember that the transmission rests on top of. Since the transmission now sits in a different spot I finally got around to making a permanent solution.



And here is a video testing it out the other night after I went and got some grade 8 hardware to hold it all in place. Works great.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eF8bkjsjnW4

 

[Smitherz]

Installed some billet upper control arms over the weekend. These aren't being produced anymore so I'm pretty lucky to have them I think. When I go to a long travel from suspension these will not be used but for the time being I thought it would be fun to put them on.



Also got my new wheels. Just deciding on what tires to put on them. Now that I got some real power I can actually turn some larger rubber.



Now I just need to paint the frame and make it presentable!

 

[spf_lexus]

looks great. Are you planning on fabbing your own LT kit when the time comes?

 

[Smitherz]

I'm debating that issue right now. The thing is that if I make my own I'll be up a creek if something happens like someone hits me in traffic or I stuff the front end offroad. =] So if I make my own I'll have to make 2 sets of control arms just in case. This isn't a big problem but I have so much other stuff to build I'm not sure I'll have the time. Hmmm..

 

[spf_lexus]

full chromo steel + heims + boxed arms = bulletproof =)


Give this site a look. ESB makes some insane tacoma kits but your wallet will cry hehe. I would drop them an e-mail because they dont have the tacoma kit listed vbut I know they make it. From what I remember, 18"-20" front travel (with straps), heim joint uppers, lowers and steering ends, and custom spindles for around $4500 total.

http://esbfabrications.tripod.com/esbfab.htm

 

[Smitherz]

Yeah I know he did a couple Taco's in the past but he pulled completely out of doing fab for a while. I can make my own and once my design is right I'll just punch out 3 more sets with a friend for all our trucks.

 

[Shrocktaco]

count me in bud if u get it down pat.

 

[Smitherz]

I'll keep you in mind. I'm going to meet with my buddy later to talk about such a thing over a few beers.

 

[Smitherz]

I finally am happy with how the truck sounds with the V8. It was way too loud at first and then when I put another muffler behind it - way too quiet. I chopped that off last night and then just ran more tubing behind the first mufflers to dump it out further back and it's sounding much better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0P3vxr_Anjw

I am having a new clutch disc made for a new flywheel so once that's all done I will have the clutch adjusted perfectly. For now I'm just driving it until then and the clutch slips when I put down the power. I wore that V6 clutch disc out in a hurry!

And yes I know... tach isn't hooked up. It'z just a matter of hooking up a wire but if I take the instrument cluster out again it's getting replaced by a set of Autometer guages I have sitting in my garage. The only time I need to see the RPMs is when I'm tuning the Adaptronic and when my laptop is hooked up it shows every reading you need on the screen anyways. All in good time! Enjoy the music. More to come.

 

[Hiluxus_CW]

what are you using for diff gears? im changing mine out and debating on 4.88 or 5.28.

Also , is your tranny a W56? wana check the ratios compared to my R150F. thanks

BTW, your vids are sick !!!

 

[Hiluxus_CW]

Notice how the gears on both ends are black because they have oil on them? And the gears near the middle of both shafts are lighter in color (no oil). I let the transmission fall over on it's side when I was doing my swap and I didn't think that much oil drained out of the shifter hole. Well it did drain more than I thought and my transmission was way low on oil. That transmission can take the abuse no problem... once it has oil in it! I'm picking up another on up north next weekend for so pennies and it's in perfect working condition with bellhousing as well. And I'm going to tear it down for inspection before I put it under the truck. I have some adjustments to make and I'm going to slap my modified bellhousing to the Bridgeport and and true it up a little... probably take a few 1000'ths off of it. I'll continue to abuse the transmission and with the oil in it I expect it to do good. Trust me... I have all sorts of ideas in my head if this one doesn't work out in the long run. I have ideas about modding this one to last longer as well so it's just fun for me and not some big issue.

I'm being watched by lots of people who do this stuff for a living and they are already throwing me bones about what would hold up the abuse. But I'm going to fully test this transmission first because making more adapters and trying other transmissions is big bucks. I can throw these W trannys away and find used ones for hardly any $. I've thought about doing the R series but I'm not convinced that they are much stronger. I'll tear one down if I come across one but no one has shown me any proof.. and I've been talking to builders about it. Until I split the casing of a W transmission I'm confident that it will take a beating and smile. I don't trust anything I read on the internets. I'm a fan of doing it yourself and doing it right. A lot of people told me that a 1UZ in a Tacoma would be impossible... lots of people tell me that welding a bellhousing can't be done... blah blah blah. Don't listen to anyone. This isn't rocket science. More to come.

And seriously if I have to go to another transmission (partly because I will go forced induction at some point) then it will be overkill, I'll make a steel bellhousing and it will be right from a competition vehicle. I already have people offering to practically donate units but I'm trying to keep this NORMAL and not full race. And keeping it 4wd is also a challenge so I'm holding out as long as I can. Next is race Ford 9" full floating axle and full race Brembo 2 pc. hats and calipers.

the pros of the 1uz swap are the Australians bar non, thay put anything in anything with any combo you can imagine and have all the company's to do so. there are 3 swap specialist that i know of there, Dellows (by far the best), Castlemans and i forget the last one. thay all have kits for the R series and iv heard menny people advise to go with this one due to its strength over the W ( the best would be to go with the R151F witch is the one out of the turbo 4runner). the V6 model is the R150F. i myself am not one to argue with the guys who have been doing this for over 10 years. i just dont know why no U.S. company is getting in on this popular swap. i e-mail Advanced Adapters and thay have no plans , nor are thay interested in this swap. so im stuck with getting a fit kit from the Aussies. also i dont have accesse to the machining tools you have/had to do yours.

 

[Hiluxus_CW]

hey Smitherz, forget my last 2 posts, i just went back on the tread to see if you mentioned your Diff gears and saw what i wrote was already mentioned and talked about. my bad. but i still didn't see if you told what your Diff gears are...? any info on that would be appreciated.

thanks

 

[Smitherz]

Hey Hiluxus_CW I've been overwhelmed with work and projects but I have no problem getting back to you. I forgot exactly what the 2.7L Taco gears are.. I counted them at one point but all I know is they suck. I don't even need 5th gear. I can pull it on the freeway but I know 4th is giving better fuel mileage. I want 4.88 gears bad. I have 2 9" rear ends I'm deciding which to use. One is original and the other is a brand name racing axle that's set up for a stock car and I would need to convert it to use on my truck which just is a matter of time. The problem is if I want to go wide track to match long travel front suspension I still need to buy. OR I could just cut the stock 9" down and buy new axles and be happy with the width it is at right now. So it's either spend a whole lot of money on my whole truck or just cut down the factory 9" and drive it like it is. Either way I'll be using new gears. My rear end is on it's last leg as it is now - I know it's not going to last too much longer before those gears give out. Plus I got some really sticky new tires so I'm not doing any more burnouts.. it would just snap the rear gears or axles haha.