Lexus V8 into Mk2 Zephyr ute

[kpwemu]

Hi, I'm new online to the 1UZ online forum and I'm looking for some info to help me out with my project.

I currently have a 302 Windsor in my Mk2 Zephyr ute but I've seen the light and intend to put a Toyota V8 in its place. With the Windsor, the deep part of the sump is at the front. I understand that one particular model Toyota V8 has the deep part of the sump at the front. Can anyone tell me which one this is? Also, of the half cuts I've seen advertised, some are from Crowns and some from a Lexus.

Are there any differences?

Is one better than the other. Correct me if I'm wrong, but is there a difference to which side the throttle body exits (the piping to the air intake). I've seen pictures where it exits to the left but others exit to the right.

Can anyone enlighten me on this?

 

[Zuffen]

Hi and welcome aboard,

Interesting swap. Do you have room between the towers for the engine. You need 700mm (min) between the towers to fit it in. The Windsor is very narrow by comparison.

If you need a front sump you are better off chasing the right engine to start with. You need an LS400 or Clesior engine to get this sump. An aftermarket sump will cost you $600.00 if you get a different engine.

Crown engines have the sump in the centre and SC400 has the sump toward the rear. Crowns have a separate ECU and ECT so if you want a manual the Crown an easier option. Other than that there are minor differeces like oil filter position, engine mounts (there are 3 different types), method of driving the cooling fan & exhaust manifold shape.

One consideration is the transmission. The Crown uses a normal sliding spline at the rear of the auto whilst the SC and LS use a large rubber doughnut driving a two piece driveshaft.

The plenum chamber can be reveresed to swap the inlet from the drivers side to the passengers side if room is tight.

There is a very low milage (12,000 km I think) front cut from an Australian delivered LS400 for sale in Sydney. PM me if you want to know more about it.

Buy a half cut and not just an engine, whilst it costs a little more you'll find you get a lot more. Ensure the engine starts and runs before you take delivery. This way you'll know it has everything you need to make it run.

 

[kpwemu]

Hi Rod, Thanks for the reply. The LS400 sounds like it's the one I need. The Zephyr engine bay is quite large, almost 900mm between the top of the strut towers, narrowing to 700mm between the chassis rails. Height is over 900mm from bottom of sump to under side of bonnet. Depth is a bit of a squeeze at 800mm from firewall to radiator support panel. I was expecting to have to do some surgery to the transmission tunnel so the firewall may need some work as well. Although I'm not quite ready to buy a half cut, if the one you know about in Sydney is the right price, and could be sent to Melbourne, I may be able to juggle things and get it now. With such low klms, I expect it to be fairly pricey but I would appreciate it if you could find out more. Regards, Kevin

 

[Zuffen]

Kevin,

I'll make enquiries as to what price the man wants and PM you.

With 700mm at the rails you could run headers without too much trouble as they tend to tuck in under the heads.

Old school street cars are cool and old ute's are hard to find. You need to post a photo so our US freiends know what we are talking about.

 

[kpwemu]

Thanks Rod, I'll get a photo attatched shortly. Kevin

 

[hafftrak]

You need to post a photo so our US freiends know what we are talking about.

What is a Zephyr? The only thing here in the States called a Zephyr is a bus!

 

[hafftrak]

Found one... pretty cool! Never seen one of those before.

 

[deankdx]

Thanks Rod, I'll get a photo attatched shortly. Kevin

i heard about an enquiry regarding 1UZ into zephyr last week from hoppers crossing the guy saw my XF Falcon and was supprised how wide the 1UZ is.
is this the same car i heard about or could there be two?
good luck with it, i've got a trans problem to get sorted then i can start with the RWC and engineers saga
regards Dean

 

[kpwemu]

Hi Dean, The black Zephyr ute in the photo comes from Adelaide and has a 289 Windsor and 5 speed Celica box. I know the bloke who built it. I also have a similar ute that is currently yellow with a white bonnet, 302 Windsor and 4 speed single rail. It is going to get the 1UZ treatment. The one you heard about in Hoppers Crossing was probably mine because all of my work putting in the Windsor etc has been done at Hopper's Stoppers. They will also be doing the 1 UZ conversion. One of the staff there Gary is confident it can be done. If you've been to Hopper's Stoppers lately, you may have seen a black Mk1 Cortina out the back. That is mine also. It is being converted with Commodore V6 running gear. When that is finished (about 3 months) the Zephyr ute goes in for surgery. Regards, Kevin

 

[deankdx]

thats the one, the guy was from hoppers stoppers i work around the corner i might stop in and ask about brakes soon and check out the Mk1 Cortina, sounds like a good conversion as those V6s have lots of low end GRUNT i'd say more than a 1UZ under 2000rpm.

 

[kpwemu]

Hi, Here are some pictures of my Zephyr ute which is in line for a 1UZ conversion. Although the engine bay picture is not very clear, you can see how small a Windsor looks in it. It has had a Cleveland in it and that fits easily as well. The space between the top of the strut towers is 900mm and it narrows to 700mm at the chassis rails. From radiator support panel to firewall is 800mm so a bit of surgery may be required to the firewall. The trans tunnel will need to be enlarged to take the Toyota auto. What side is the starter motor on the 1UZ? I need to do some more homework but at this stage there doesn't appear to be too many huge dramas. If you can think of any, please let me know. Kevin

 

[thefastj]

starter motor is located in the middle of the engine between the heads.
takes up no room AT ALL outside the motor, so ignore it when thinking about space.

you can see it in this pic, the round looking thing in the middle of the engine.

 

[deankdx]

as for length i'd guess the 1UZ is shorter than a cleveland looking at the 1UZ from a crown fitted to my falcon, as for the trans, i'd be supprised if its any bigger than a C4/C10(smaller than an FMX)

windsor with a 425 gas carby would be a good thing i would have thought, thats almost what i was going to do with my falcon exept using a T5, but the all alloy revving to 6500rpm is the go.

 

[kpwemu]

Hi deankdx, This is good to hear as my ute at one stage was trial fitted with a Cleveland and 4 speed single rail and it fitted nicely. Fitting a C4 behind the Windsor in a manual body Zephyr ( which mine is ) fits with very little modification as well. I used to have another Zephyr ute with this set up. This is sounding better each time. As you can see from the engine bay photo the brake booster sticks out a long way. The only reason it is in that spot was so that the clutch master cylinder could be fitted, so with auto conversion it the clutch master cylinder is no longer required so the booster can now be repositioned up against the fire wall. The ute is currently running straight gas and you can see that the gas converter is in an arkward spot. The 1UZ will be running on petrol only so the converter will be removed. Even the heater ( black box above the engine ) doesn't have to be in that spot. Overall I'm starting to think that this won't be a nightmare afterall. Kevin

 

[oldskool]

just wondering how the 1uz transplat is going? I have a mate who is currently taking measurements to do the same thing. they plan to use the whole front subframe/suspension from the crown and transplant that to the ford. Seams like a hard way to go, but these guys know best. have you crossed any bridges these guys should know about before they start?

 

[kpwemu]

Hi oldskool, I think your reply actually belongs in another post I started in "General Discussion" on this forum titled "Grafting Lexus front onto Zephyr" but in answer to your question I haven't actually done anything yet, just doing my research as to whether it's possible. The guy who will do the work says it's cheaper to do it this way when I am being charged an hourly rate for labour, eg less measuring, trial and error fitting, fabricating bits and pieces, scrounging for those missing bits and pieces, trying to squeeze everything in. It all takes time and therefore money. He says if the chassis rails can be joined, the rest is easy. Naturally the benefit of using all the Lexus parts that are all compatible with each other makes sense as well. Is your mate also doing it to a Zephyr? If so, what sort? Regards, Kevin

 

[deankdx]

Gday Kevin,

just wondering the progress of the cortina, and lexus Zephyr idea? still havent been to hoppers stoppers yet myself, a bloke at work has seen it while enquiring for brakes for his ute and he thinks your cortina is MAAAD he loves it
also, was your car or yourself ever living in Yarraville? i remeber seeing one there a few years ago same colour?
and those number plates, i also remember over ten years ago of a car show that had them in reverse eg RYHPEZ
i'm getting close to pulling apart my sedan ready for the transplant. might build a garden shed to house the V8, all the falcon sixes just live outside with a tarp on them(just used one been sitting for a year in the girlfreinds car and it still worked fine..LOL)
catch ya Dean

 

[kpwemu]

Hi Dean, The Cortina is at the stage where it is just fine tuning now, getting the motor running properly etc and then it's ready for the engineers inspection, RWC and rego. I've never lived in Yarraville so there is possibly another like mine out there somewhere. I'm glad to see you decided to continue with your project. Once the pain starts to reduce, hopefully the inspiration returns. As for the ute, I'm still can't decide which way to go. It is now officially off the road. The Windsor, transmission, cross members, gas system etc has been removed and been sold for not much less than the cost of the 1UZ half cut. I keep changing my mind, information overload maybe. Plan A is to keep it simple and just put the 1UZ into the Zephyr engine bay. The only proviso is that it has to have power steering. Most of that has already been done. Plan B is to cut off the ute at the firewall and graft on the lexus front cut so as to use all the front end gear, suspension, brakes etc. Plan C is far more radical and it involves removing the Zephyr firewall and grafting everything from the front cut including dash, the works. At the moment, the guys at Hoppers Stoppers have a slope back Ford that is getting the 1UZ engine treatment. They also have a Ford Pilot that is getting the whole 1UZ front end graft. That means that somebody else is paying to have all the homework and planning done at the standard hourly rate to nut out exactly how this will be done. I don't think Hoppers have done this before so it will take a lot of trial and error. Better that somebody else pays for the hours this will take. I think my best move is to sit back and watch how they approach these jobs so that they will be much wiser from experience when it comes to tackling the ute. Maybe they will have fine tuned a lot of the procedures required, therefore being much more cost effective for me. I'm in no hurry so I reckon that's what I'll do for now. Get stuck into your conversion. One day you will be glad you continued. Regards, Kevin

 

[deankdx]

Gday Kevin,

just wondering how your zephyr project is going? also hows the cortina V6.
the weather is getting good now so i am going to start again with mine VERY soon, been looking at an AU falcon radiator as i already have twin thermo fans and the outlets and size look like a good fit in my application, just trying to source a radiator for trial fit. . bought my 5 speed supra box and just a matter of time till i buy the Bellhousing an flywheel kit.
thanks Dean

 

[kpwemu]

Zephyr ute conversion update

Hi Dean, The ute conversion has come to a bit of a standstill. All the Windsor running gear, cross members, exhaust etc has been removed and sold to a bloke who is building a ute like mine. The ute is looking very lonely in my garage. The V6 Cortina was registered and on the road 2 weeks ago. It was fully engineered by a bloke organised by Hopper's Stoppers. He virtually went over it with a magnifiying glass, doing all these complicated torsion tests, chassis rigidity tests, beaming test (whatever the hell that is). I **** myself, but to the credit of the workmanship of the guys at Hoppers, there was only a few minor issues which he knocked back, petty in fact, not related to the structural engineering. It only needs a few more interior trimming bits done and the paint needs to be top coated again to bring it back to its former glory.
As regards the ute, I've spent the last 3-4 years trying to rebuild 2 cars at the same time and as as a result have only ever had 2 half cars at any one time. I've decided to focus on completing the Cortina before attacking the Zephyr. I still haven't made a final decision how to go about it. At one stage I considered grafting the Lexus front onto the Zephyr but the problem was that the front end was 22cm wider than the Zephyr. The engineer said he would allow the front end to be narrowed by the cut and shut method. The problem with that is you shorten everything and lose the turning circle, the wheels won't turn as sharply. The width is too much to simply use different offset wheels. A new alternative is to use the Mitsubishi L300 front end which most hot rodders use which is only 10 cm wider than the Zephyr and may be overcome with different offset wheels. Coincidentally the same stud pattern as Ford and Lexus 114.3 x 5. Plus they are dirt cheap, axle rated to carry a big weight being from a commercial vehicle, plus Hoppers can do a big brake upgrade. I'm leaning toward this option at this stage. I still have my doubts about grafting the Lexus front after seeing how the engineer did all those tests on the Cortina. It may be better to not alter the basic structure of the ute, especially considering they are a very strong car in the first place and being a ute have even more strength. I'm not worried about chopping up the actual engine bay, eg inner guards, fire wall etc if that's what it takes to fit the Lexus motor, but it means paying more $ per hour fabricating brackets, trial fitting, take it out again, modify again, re fit etc etc = $$$. I'm sure you and anyone else who has modified a car knows exactly what I'm talking about.
For now, I'll concentrate on finishing the Cortina before sitting down with the guys at Hoppers and coming up with a final plan for the ute. Plus, I just bought my son a car which has put a hole in the cash reserve. How far are you of getting mobile again? Kevin