toyota 1uzfe v8 into an old Malibu

In reply to malibuguy :

I was thinking more in terms of clutch pedal, and maybe linkage bits, etc, not the actual transmission! 

In reply to bradyzq :

They use mechanical linkage thats not exactly any good and wouldn't work for the hydraulic throwout bearings if modern transmissions.

There is a guy that makes a lovely hydraulic clutch pedal assembly that I plan to use if I were to ever go that route.

LOL at "not exactly any good!" 

I may have to borrow that expression. 

In reply to bradyzq :

I love these cars to death...and I can say they aint great by any measure.  BUT they do have character and also be molded into any form of greatness.

Ive owned 8 gbodies (6 of them Malibus) and are always around them (dad has an elco and mcss) and alot of friends had and still have them.  I can comfortably affirm their short coming lol

Put in some work.  Started diving down the wiring hole and discovered many broken connectors, damaged wiring and busted vacuum lines.  It amazes me how well this ran in the donor car.  

So I yanked the motor to get better access to everything and just bite the pillow and go in dry.

malibuguy said:

In reply to bradyzq :

I love these cars to death...and I can say they aint great by any measure.  BUT they do have character and also be molded into any form of greatness.

Ive owned 8 gbodies (6 of them Malibus) and are always around them (dad has an elco and mcss) and alot of friends had and still have them.  I can comfortably affirm their short coming lol

You said it perfect. Ive owned 2, and loved em both. I'd still own the '80 sport wagon classic, but my wife (new at the time) hated it! Lots of shortcomings, and lots of solutions for greatness for each one.

nothing new to report at the moment other then this thread being in GRM magazine, so thats really awesome.

I got a few other projects going on at the moment then Ill be back into engine work.

Sadly nothing really new in 2 years.  My other cars took priority unfortunately.

However!  About a month ago I acquired another 1UZ driveline out of my buddies t-boned 94 LS400.  It has like 30k more miles but in recent, current service.  Got that and trans and ecu.  Plus the wiring is not trashed like the sc400 wiring was.  So I switched the pans and I am selling off the SC 1UZ.

In reply to malibuguy :

Nice! I totally get other things taking over. 

Welp.

A hard decision was made.

Ive listed the Malibu for sale along with both my 1uz engines.  I am moving away from the project.

Once its all unloaded I am planning to aquire a red NA Miata for my wife.  Shes always wanted one.

I have enough personal projects and TBH I do not have space for it once its completed.  

Sorry to hear that, but sometimes you just have to cut your losses when you don't have the time, money, or energy for the project. Now's probably a good time for a Miata - I doubt NAs are going to get any cheaper.

MadScientistMatt said:

Sorry to hear that, but sometimes you just have to cut your losses when you don't have the time, money, or energy for the project. Now's probably a good time for a Miata - I doubt NAs are going to get any cheaper.

Thats for sure.  I missed the cheap years by about a decade.

malibuguy said:

Welp.

A hard decision was made.

Ive listed the Malibu for sale along with both my 1uz engines.  I am moving away from the project.

Once its all unloaded I am planning to aquire a red NA Miata for my wife.  Shes always wanted one.

I have enough personal projects and TBH I do not have space for it once its completed.  

Better to make that decision now, than to pour more time and money down the rabbit hole.

The Miata is a good decision. Buy her the best you can afford that has not been bastardized by a teenager and take good care of it. You will be guaranteed to get your money back when you are done with it.

Things change.

Car never sold.  I decided to keep it and get it running and try to drive at least a good warm season before considering anything else.

I did sell off the bulk of my spares.  So I only have the 1uz out of my friends 1994 ls400 that has been well cared for, it did come with a reconditioned ecu and a lower mileage transmission.  I still have the trans from the SC400 as a spare, thats it.

I set some short term and yearish out goals for the car, one of those is just taking my dad for a ride in it fully working before I cant.

Monday, I rearranged my lot and moved it inside on the lift.  Blew out any cobwebs and spiders I could find.  Touched the modified, welded sections of my frame with a wire wheel and a lick of chassis paint.

Stuffed the driveline into the car and got a driveshaft measurement, and placed an order for a custom driveshaft.

I also did things like measure out a new belt and routing since I am not using an AC compressor.  Eyeballed where I may route the harness thru the firewall.  Ordered vbands for the manifolds I am going to run, which are ported and smoothed SC400 units.  Also noted shift linkage and other little things.

Today I took my pressure washer to my shop and sprayed the gunk and moss off then hit it with a foam cannon and promptly shredded my microfiber sponge on the heavily contaminated paint.  

With it being clean and I was stuck waiting on FedEx to deliver a gasket for a customers car I pressed on and swapped in my lock cylinder into the trunklid and then mounted my spoiler.  I still need to get some foam/gasket material for the center and some speednuts.

This gets me excited.  I also stayed up to 3am last night chasing wire diagrams for this 94 LS400 wiring and ecu.

More soon...

berkeley yeah! 

Aw berkeley yeah bud!

Nice!!!

I like this plot twist way better than the last one. 

Yeehaw!

GS430 radiator and some new seals showed up.

Unfortunately just found out the thermo fan will hit the steering box.  So electric fans it is.

Installed the oil filter adapter.

New driveshaft came in and fit spot on.  However the adapter at the end of the trans needs some machining to be perfect.  The lugs to properly engage the output flange are too large.

Not pictured, I also got the manifolds ready for Vband connetions.

Is that a custom dri;veshaft? Where's it from?

In reply to buzzboy :

DriftMotion

Latest round of work.

Had to get the driveshaft adapter machined slightly to fit the trans correctly as apparently there is a slight difference between the 1uz and JZ based a340s.  No big deal, buddy favor type job. 

New valve cover gaskets and cam plugs.  Re-sealed the half moons.  Some cleaning and degreasing.  Not bad at all for 235k.

Replaced the steering shaft with a shortened Jeep unit.

Also had some used Bilsteins from a customers car that went coilovers so I swapped them in.  

New speedometer arrived from SpeedHut.  The rest of my gauges were an older style they dropped at some point.  However I reached out and they glady matched the new speedo for me!

Not pictured, eeGeeRr delete plate.  Mapped out where the ecu and wiring will pass thru the firewall.  Cleaned up frame rails a little and dusted with paint.

Swapped my hood for a better unit (saved from a car I parted out 20-21years ago) along with the passenger fender.

Before sorting all that out, I got the harness routed thru the firewall thru the factory existing hole.  Just had to drill 2 new holes for the retention bolts, and trim the flange and gasket to fit around the contours of the firewall.

Took a chance on the cheapest fuel sending unit I can find ($70) and it fits flawlessly.  Its a Regal T/GN standard replacement unit.  Even came with a fuel pump, but I will replace that with a new Delphi unit (for a Typhoon) Ive been saving for this conversion that a friend gave me.