1995 Camry Coupe Restomod

Here is some insight into my mount-designing process. The whole point of test-fitting the engine last weekend was to fab up these "templates" for motor mounts. With the engine suspended into position, I hastily cut and tack-welded a bunch of scrap into place to capture the positional data. Then I took these templates off, took measurements, and made CAD models using the data. 

For the rear mount, I hacked off the studded feet of the original mount, welded some steel to span them, and welded more steel from that to the CV bearing mount. There was not enough room for the original mount since it was hitting the 2GR exhaust manifold.

I can use the front mount but with a different bracket, I am pretty sure. 

With the engine out, here is what the templates look like in the chassis:

The front mount was easy enough to design a simpler version. It even has some self-fixturing tabs and slots for easier welding.

The rear mount is more complicated. Not only can I not use the OEM mount due to space, it also has to house the CV axle bearing. I found some generic motor mounts from Speedway that are small enough to fit this space. 

I wanted the mount as close to the engine as possible, since that's a long lever arm to get past the CV bearing. It's an awkward, heavy design and I am taking no feedback since I already placed the sendcutsend order 

In the meantime, I am de-looming the engine bay harness and cleaning it up in here. The more I study the wiring diagrams, the easier this is looking. It's like 5 wires from the interior and another 7 or 8 from the engine bay fuse box. Also collecting some missing parts here and there, like broken connectors, missing O2 sensor, power steering hoses, etc. 

I'm really enjoying this swap project. All the 2GR swap stuff like wiring diagrams is well-documented, and all the 3rd-gen Camry stuff is abundant and cheap. There's even a write-up on which resistors to replace in the cruise control switch to make that work. The motor mounting brackets are the only real thinker so far. 

I get pretty excited when I see this thread has updates...

which is weird because I've never cared about a Camry before lol

Swapped out the old fuel pump for one from a 2GR junkyard car. They are identical in form factor, including the electrical plug. I presume the 2GR one flows more, plus it's newer.

Parts cannon has been fired at adjustable regulator, fittings, and hoses to adapt this return system to the 2GR's returnless fuel rail.

Electrical progress is good too. I've been studying the diagrams of the two cars and it's looking pretty straightforward. I will be deleted all but a few wires from the old Camry's engine harness, and re-using the fuses and relays with the 2GR harness.

2 chassis plugs and 2 ECU plugs, and the engine harness can be passed through the firewall for further pruning. I am pretty sure I'll remove the ECU and Cruise Control computer completely. I haven't found a reason to keep either one yet.

Those few wires dangling in the middle of the engine bay plus a handful going through the firewall should be all I need to integrate with the 2GR harness. It basically boils down to relays and main power fuses on the engine side, and switched inputs (key, A/C, cruise) on the firewall side. I think.

I've lived vicariously through several of your build threads now.

Carry on!

Front mount turned out great! It welded up easily and attaches to the stock XV10 chassis motor mount. I don't know if anyone has used this part of the block for engine mounting, but I guess I'll find out if it's strong enough. It uses the M10 stud originally for holding the stock manifold cat, so I don't know if it will be compatible with stock manifolds. 

Rear mount works too but I'm not as happy with it. I might switch to a tubular bushing style mount. I pressed the 3 old studs out of the stock chassis mounts and pressed them into this 1/4" plate. The 4th hole is shared with the rubber mount, so it's 3/8" instead of M10 like the others. 

The bearing carrier part of this mount is much better now that I opened up the clearance a little bit. 

I left this piece unwelded until I fit the engine again, then tacked it into place.

I'm sure it will work just fine but I might try a design like this using some universal tube bushings.

Anyway I probably  have at least 3 or 4 more engine in-n-outs before I'm happy with this. 

Fantastic design and fab work!

I've never liked a Camry so much. 

Dude this rules, great work!

Engine mounts finished, old studs pressed into the new plates, and painted with the new Rustoleum "engine enamel". Test-fit the engine and it went right into place. I also re-booted and greased the CV axle I had been using to align the bearing holder and pressed a new OEM carrier bearing on it. So now I can use the old, worn out bearing as a welding fixture. 

Both sides have plenty of room for exhaust routing. The front exhaust has to go down then rearward, between subframe and oil pan.

The rear exhaust goes slightly forward and down, between subframe, axle, and shifter cables, then turning 90 degrees rearward and going straight back.

I am using stock manifolds with the header-cats cut off. This leaves a 2.5" collector outlet on each manifold. With each down-pipe routed under the subframe and ending parallel to each other, I can merge them with a 2-into-1 stamped y-pipe. 

After the 2-to-1 merge, I have plenty of 2.5" and a big perforated core resonator from the 2GR donor car. I'll see what that sounds like before adding a muffler behind it.

Love seeing this back up top, nice work! 

Exhaust progress. I added a little length of 2.5" to the cut-off headers and put the V-bands there. Then a hundred cuts of mandrel bends to make it work. I was also able to re-use the factory hanger under the subframe.

You can see the passenger CV axle installed in the motor mount next to the rear exhaust flange.

CV axle still spins smoothly without binding. I think I got it right.

The exhaust is mostly 304SS with some aluminized mild bends and the y-pipe. The flex joints and V-bands are stainless too. I tacked it in place with the MIG and I am tig'ing this together with 308 SS filler. It will be plenty nice for this car.

Engine is installed, I think for the last time! Somehow the rear mount ended up taller than expected, so a corner of the intake manifold is touching the bottom of the hood at a brace. I can probably remove the hood insulation and grind away some clearance, then re-install the insulation and you'd never know. It will latch right now, but puts more tension on the latch than I'm comfortable with.  

The to-do list has suddenly fanned out into many parallel paths. 

I have almost everything finished except wiring. Next post is hopefully a first start.

With everything off the engine I ran a compression test with the starter hooked up. I had a hard time sealing my tester against the spark plug holes due to all the dirt and grime, so I cleaned it out best I could and got readings all between 175 and 190 PSI, except for cylinder 6 which I could only get 150 PSI. The more I cleaned and oiled that spark plug hole, the higher it climbed, so I think it just needs to be ran to seal again.

Coolant and heater hoses were easy, just cut the stock ones until they fit. PCV and vacuum hoses routed. Intake torqued down. Shifter cables hooked up. Clutch line bled.

Had to hose-clamp the shifter cables together to keep them off the exhaust. I need to come back through and insulate everything.

Also had to heat and bend the power steering line. It still doesn't fit very well, but it'll work. Probably.

Also got the fuel pressure regulator installed. This is my 2nd project car using the amazon knockoff "PQY" regulator, which means Step 1 is disassemble it and clean out all the machining shavings, just like I found last time. That's consistent quality you can rely on!

Fuel flows from the in-tank pump, which was swapped with a 2GR pump (no external differences), then goes into the bottom of an OEM-style fuel filter in the engine bay. I installed a -6AN to M12x1.25 adapter directly into the top of the fuel filter, then it's all -6AN and ORB fittings for the regulator. There is one short AN hose from regulator to fuel rail, which needs a -6AN to 3/8" Quick Disconnect fitting. The bottom port of the regulator was adapted to 1/4" hose barb and connected to the stock return line back to the tank.

The fuel pump relay in this car uses two triggers - one from starter so it's always pumping while starting, and one from the ECU to keep it pumping while running. So to pressure test my fuel system without the engine and ECU wired up, I simply disconnected the starter and held the key in "start" to turn the pump on. I had one leak from a loose fitting, then got the fuel pressure adjusted to roughly 3 bar (42 PSI). It will need finer tuning once the engine is running because the ECU is expecting 3 bar with no vacuum compensation.

The stock airbox almost fits, but the helmholtz resonator (boxy looking thing built in the hose) gets squished by the hood. I think it would have fit if I made the rear motor mount a little shorter. I have plenty of space to spare between engine and firewall to rock the engine back and down. Oh well, guess I'll delete that silencer.

I did this same thing to the 2GR Lotus Europa and filled in the holes with JB weld, with the inside taped up.

So now I'm just wiring. I have to use 3 diagrams. The 1995 Camry for chassis, 2007 Camry for engine harness, and 2011 Sienna for the tuned Frankenstein Motorworks ECU pinouts, because of course those changed. It was pretty daunting at first, but I'm going slow and labeling everything. I think I got this.

Why didn't you just cut it shorter and zip tie melt/weld it back together?

Very excited to see this coming to life soon!

First start!!!

To make my 2007 Camry harness work with my 2011 Sienna ECU, I basically had to re-pin both ECU plugs. For these 2-plug ECU's, the "A" plug connects to the chassis and the "B" plug connects only to the engine harness, which is pretty convenient. Unfortunately this meant I had to document a complete pinout table of both cars' ECU's and methodically switch my harness pins over to match the 2011 Sienna, which was tedious and kinda stressful, because if I mess up there's potential to fry the computer. Luckily everything went well and I only missed one battery powered pin, but it still started without it but wouldn't rev. Once I fixed that pin, it started and revved freely! There is much to do before driving, such as moving the accelerator pedal and OBD2 port from the engine bay to the footwell (I quickly twisted wires together for a first start).

2007 Camry and 2011 Sienna ECU pinout spreadsheet:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cwlkgoYyGQApvtgbztOI5VljIMAbeaJOwjRelcUBLXU/edit?usp=sharing

These pins are pretty challenging to figure out the first time. There is a faceplate on the mating face of the connector you can remove which allows better access to the pin release levers.

I am trying to keep as much of the 1995 Camry wiring intact as possible, for things like dashboard lights, A/C, radiator fans, etc, and connectorizing the 2GR engine harness where needed for easier engine removal.

success!!!!  This is awesome!  

This thread delivers! Keep up the great work!

Wiring is also the most frightening part of my impending 2GR things so I'm very relieved to see you go from dangling wires to first start in a week.

In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :

It really isn't that bad if you have the full wiring diagram. Toyota documentation is pretty good. If you want to avoid repinning your ECU connectors, I recommend buying a harness to match whatever ECU you end up with from Marc (Frankenstein Motorworks). He is very helpful and won't steer you wrong. It can be made to run virtually "standalone" which is probably what you need.

In reply to maschinenbau :

Yep- I've got a "minimal integration" pin-pin scheme I made for the BRZ harness but I'll probably be gutting that down to almost nothing too so, trying not to think about it too hard just yet.

It's ALIVE!

Since the test-fire, I've been making the wiring nice and tidy. Not much visual progress but it's pretty close to driving.

I heard about this vendor calls Corsa-Technic that sells all the OEM connectors and terminals. They had the actual rubber plugs used to fill blank slots in the ECU plugs. I alos bought some mated pairs of connectors for cleaning up my harness.

Left is the accelerator pedal harness with a brand new OEM-quality 6-pin connector. Bottom is the OBD2 port, which makes this probably the only 1995 Camry with one. Bottom right is "misc" brand new 10-in connector for stuff like cruise control and fuel pump relay. The top two connectors going into the white plastic piece are original, but spliced into the 2GR ECU harness. It looks so simple now, but many hours were spent combing through the diagrams to get to this point.

The 1995 Camry uses a separate coolant temp gauge sender from the ECU's sensor, but on the 2GR they are the same part because CAN-bus. Luckily there is an OEM Toyota part that is a digital temp sender but with a 3rd pin for an analog temp gauge. This was used in the early 2000's on cars such as Corollas, Matrixes, NB Miatas, Scions, and even some GM products.  https://www.mr2oc.com/threads/3-pin-coolant-sensor-for-2gr.671689/

The P/N is 19322820 and the harness plug is 90980-11451. It threads right into the place of the 2GR sensor.

Final wiring task is greating a single conneciton between the engine harness and the chassis engine bay harness. Originally I was using a bunch of crappy amazon knockoff weatherpak connectors, but I found a single 12-pin weather-sealed connector on Corsa-Technic that should do the job much more cleanly and appear OEM. This will allow the engine to removed by simply unplugging the ECU and this connector while leaving the engine harness on the engine. 

It runs, it warms up, I can read the OBD2 port, it doesn't throw codes yet (eventually will for cats/emissions once driving), and it goes into gear and spins the wheels on jack stands. So far so good. Really needs a muffler though!

maschinenbau said

It runs, it warms up, I can read the OBD2 port, it doesn't throw codes yet (eventually will for cats/emissions once driving), and it goes into gear and spins the wheels on jack stands. So far so good. Really needs side pipes though!

Fixed that for you.

Here is a rough diagram of what I've done.

The green harness is original to the 1995 car and stays in the engine bay. It is wired directly to the engine bay relay box, but otherwise is removable through the hole in the firewall. I was able to reuse the firewall grommet for it. I spliced into this harness for powering the 2GR ECU's A-plug and added circuits to it such as the accelerator pedal, OBD2, and everything the ECU needs from the car's interior.

The red harness is just the engine harness that came with the 2GR engine and is mostly unmodified. The side that connects to the ECU B-plug was re-pinning due to my mis-matched ECU. The side near the relay box has dozens of unused circuits for stuff like the automatic trans and evap system, but it also has all the power circuits for critical engine components like injectors, ignition coils, and A/F ratio sensors. I connected these to the 1995 Camry's circuits and added a connector to keep it removable. 

Is this magic yellow elixir the secret to 350k mile transmission life? Probably not, so 2.5 quarts MT90 went in place of the 1 quart of honey mustard that came out.

I think I'm driving it this week, for real this time.