Another V8 Swap

[villainous_frx]

Haven't tuned in for a bit, solid updates. Super excited to see this machine on the ground and rolling under it's own power!

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by villainous_frx

Haven't tuned in for a bit, solid updates. Super excited to see this machine on the ground and rolling under it's own power!

I just applaud him for sticking with it for 6 years. I bet 99.9% of the projects like this end up behind the garage covered with a tarp after the first year or so! After 6 years most end up as rat and mouse condos.

[DustinS]

Didn't get as much done on Sunday as I had hoped, but getting closer.

4" downpipe started. I think I am going to have a 3.5" made after the car is up and running. This will at least let me get the idle fuel ratio set.









My block had a broken alternator stud, which is common in vehicles that were involved in a wreck (like is300 I got this engine from). I drilled and tapped a new bolt hole planning to use the LS alternator. Since I switched to the Tundra alternator, the hole no longer lined up/work. So I had to make a small bracket. (Correct hardware incoming)



Got my lower radiator hose made. Didn't have the correct fitting for the upper, but should be here Wednesday. Will need to hammer down the lower rad support flange more. It will be wrapped in a heat shield tube as well because the elements ruin this hose super quick.







Running the "shark bite"/plastic hardline vacuum tubing. Will be throwing heat shielding over this as well.

[DustinS]

Plan was to get a bunch of wiring done yesterday, but got sidetracked with helping my Grandpa on his truck. I did get my second canbus system up and running (sort if. short of Canbus programmed). Also got my paddles wired up. Seems I can’t use them to send over Canbus to GCU, or I have them wired incorrectly. ECU doesn’t show them activated. Anyway. Short video of keypad and dash powering on.

[DustinS]

Long time no post, mostly because not much has progressed. I am having a terrible time getting the car to run correctly. Misfires randomly and won't idle at all. I need to triple check wiring and I have an evap smoke tester on the way as well. Car has really been kicking my butt. On to pictures.

I wasn't happy with the Silver on the front calipers and black rears, so I powder coated them Illusion Cherry from Prismatic Powders. I tried putting the clear coat over the white vinyl and it did not work. So It's doubled up the front, and I learned the lesson for the rears.



Slightly crooked, but will be hard to tell from behind the wheel.





I had also misplaced the rear pistons some how. Luckily new stainless pistons were only $70 and look great.





Along with the missing pistons, I was also missing a rear caliper pad wear plate. These are actually quite hard to get a hold of from what I experienced. So instead of buying a single caliper for a single wear plate, I drew it up in CAD and shot it over to Send Cut Send to be remade. I tried to get them to bend it for me, but I couldn't get it the work in their system. I have 28 of the them to try and get 1 bent correctly. Should arrive sometime this week.



While wiring up the alternator and cooling fans I noticed one fan not working. I figured it was software side/my wiring. Come to find out it had filled with water and rusted solid. I was able to take it apart and clean it decently well. Haven't seen if it works quite yet. It spins freely though.







Got the belt figured out. Had to swap the tensioner pulley from a smooth idler to a ribbed pulley. (I need to take care of the rust on the water pump snout)



Upper rad hose finished up:



I ended up having three coolant leaks. One at the upper rad hose engine side (just didn't tighten it enough), one on the coolant temp sensor adapter, and one at the plug for temp sensor port. Took manifold off to fix these and...



Didn't even get tight before breaking I read a lot of reviews that said they had them break before getting tight enough not to leak. Ordered what I thought was a stainless one to replace it and it came in aluminum. To save time I added a bunch of thread sealant and cleaned the head port out real well to help it seal. Also tightened the plug down a tad.

Cleaned out the intake as it somehow had quite a bit of oil inside. I can't figure out where it came from, but it's cleaned out now. Apparently need to spend more time in the gym, can still fit my whole arm in the intake:



I got everything back together, coolant added back in, and it still leaks from both... So I have to remove the intake again

I am going to try and have the intake flange milled/sanded flat as I think I have a vacuum leak from the flange contributing to the poor running conditions.

I unfortunately removed my coil brackets and installed a PHP coil bracket as I found the brackets to be getting soft enough for the coils to start pulling up off the plug. It shouldn't have been an issue especially with only idle time, but fix it now than have issues down the road.


I currently have the smoke machine on the way, as well as the flex pipes for the downpipe so I can get the exhaust worked up. At the least I can get the exhaust under the car and not open downpipe so I can hear the engine.

Still need to get the diff reinstalled and measure for a driveshaft. The trans controller has been a pain and has been unplugged for now. Can't seem to get it to read correctly. I need to move the keypad from can1 to can2 as my ECU isn't easily compatible with it. I have also sold the Haltech IC7 as that wasn't compatible with my ECU either. I am having a hard time deciding between Aim MXP or ECUMaster ADU 5" to replace it. I really need to update this more often as I feel I miss a lot, but it is what it is.

[DustinS]

Finally got my wear shims in, though ended up being a tad thicker than stock stuff, so needed a tiny but of sanding. Especially with my not-so-precise bending. After I got the first one done, I designed up a bending jig which did a much better job.









If anyone needs one let me know.

Caliper color really pops in the sunlight



I got the Evap smoke machine in on Friday afternoon, and decided to try it out on my lunch break. Discovered 0 leaks which is good, but I did discover something I think is worst...



This was the cause of the issues after re-installing the intake manifold after "fixing" the coolant leaks. I guess this fell further in the intercooler pipes and I missed it pulling the rest out. Haven't had time to recheck how the car runs since removing it, but should be worlds better. I got lucky it didn't get sucked further in and cause even bigger issues.

[DustinS]

Small updates as it's been super cold lately. Flex pipes came in. I forget how large the 4" downpipe actually is.





Quick exhaust mount tabs from send cut send with ebay bushings.



and one of my favorite updates so far...



Turns out the Haltech IC7 is a good dash if you have a haltech ecu but a not so great choice if running something else. Emtron is working on getting it running correctly but it's proving to be a challenge and they recommend switching to something more "robust" (I'll use nicer words than they did).

Still working on a good mounting solution. Key start cars require the factory dash be plugged in for the security check to pass and the car to start. This causes some fitment issues with the AIM dash wiring harness.





Great thing is this dash is pretty much plug and play with the Emtron. So much nicer than all the hoops I was having to jump through to try and get the IC7 to work.



This will also double as a backup camera. Instead of the $150 AIM kit, I bought a camera off Amazon that had good reviews (and happen to have a $30 off coupon making it $10) and I am going to try and make my own harness if possible.

[DustinS]

Consider me a glutton for punishment... Just purchased a T56 Magnum F... tired of trying to get everything going on the DCT. So my full 2jz DCT kit is for sale. Unfortunately I just don't have the time dedicated to getting it running. Will be an awesome swap for someone though. Ready to drive this car already

[alex87f]

Originally Posted by DustinS

Consider me a glutton for punishment... Just purchased a T56 Magnum F... tired of trying to get everything going on the DCT. So my full 2jz DCT kit is for sale. Unfortunately I just don't have the time dedicated to getting it running. Will be an awesome swap for someone though. Ready to drive this car already

Are you reverting back to a V8?

[DustinS]

Originally Posted by alex87f

Are you reverting back to a V8?

No. Keeping the 2j. Just the trans set up for a 2jz is being sold.

[BRX]

I know this might be a bit late, but why not go with a ZF 8HP? There are many sitting behind a 2JZ and at least one in a BRZ. You can even install a clutch pedal and drive it like a manual.

I'm currently in the process of swapping an 8HP90 from a Hellcat into my Twin Turbo Tundra. I already have everything I need except for an adapter from Domi-Works. If this proves successful, I will be swapping an 8HP50/51/70 into my 86 which has a Tundra engine mated to a Magnum F already. I'm hoping by the time I started the swap on my 86 there would be an H pattern shifter similar to how the Koenigsegg CC850 works.

Look up ZeroTo60 on youtube. Those guys have them dialed in with the TurboLamik TCU in trucks and drift cars. Stay away from HTG though, they have a very bad reputation with customer service and support.

[DustinS]

Originally Posted by BRX

I know this might be a bit late, but why not go with a ZF 8HP? There are many sitting behind a 2JZ and at least one in a BRZ. You can even install a clutch pedal and drive it like a manual.

Stay away from HTG though, they have a very bad reputation with customer service and support.

I currently have the HTG, and I would still need all the current input, which is what I am having issues with. I have wired my paddles two different ways and they still don't work. My brake light input finally started working and is setup identical to my paddles, and I can't track down why it started working randomly. The Blink Marine keypad that was suppose to be plug and play is definitely not "plug and play". Still working on getting that running.

On to pedal input. The HTG needs a pedal position input, I have tried to get the info to have this read over canbus to no avail. The answer I get is to have Emtron output raw pedal position and have the HTG read it, but no info on what the address's of said info is. Which means I have to sniff the canbus data and narrow down the pedal voltages. I tried DBW mod which routes the physical wires through the HTG and back to ecu, but this led to crazy fluctuations in pedal voltages sent to ecu and car wouldn't run.

Add all the wiring/tuning issues with the HTG plus the fact the transmission sits extremely low in this chassis (mostly my fault with how far back I have the engine shoved with the large v8 bellhousing) and I am just tired of dealing with it. The car would have been driving months ago had I kept my T56.

[BRX]

Originally Posted by DustinS

I currently have the HTG.

I hate to say it but that's your problem right there. I initially found HTG a few years ago as they seem to have a bigger presence online compared to Turbolamik. Looking into the swap recently, it's very clear HTG has customer support and technical issues.

Turbolamik on the other hand seems to be more user friendly from what I've read/seen online with very good results. They even have a somewhat active forum with some useful information and their TCU seems just as capable as other popular Engine standalone ECUs.

They also keep rolling out updates regularly with new features (most recently launch control/bump) and their pinouts and tuning guides are clear enough even with the language barrier.

A T56 is definitely simpler and gets the job done. I somewhat daily my swapped 86 and it's fine even in traffic. but due to the size of the 3UR housing, you're limited to 9-10" clutch disks which makes twin disks the only option. I kind of regret getting the Mcleod RXT, the RST might have been less harsh and required less revs to get the car going, I might even give it a try before swapping the T56 out. But if the 8HP swap goes as it should in the truck, I'll get rid of the T56 and never look back.

I'll post my experience once I complete my swap, I'm very optimistic about it and it seems 8HP transmissions are going to be (if not already) the new go-to transmission for car projects.

[DustinS]

Long time no update... I have been busy playing with the car and dealing with life.

Transmission came in:





Good news is I finally got to use my 2jz to t56 clutch kit I had purchased over a year earlier and was having no luck selling.


Sikky Master relocation kit.


I should have done this with the engine out of the car, but I really didn't feel like trying to get it out again.



I have seen a lot of people recommend the T56 Mangum F as having the "optimal shifter location", but I have the engine darn near touching the firewall and it is still too far forward. Unfortunate thing is I had to move the whole engine/trans package forward as I didn't have room for my fuel feed line.



Semi-new, very ugly, but strong trans mount.



Things are very tight with the fuel feed and clutch line, but not much movement in the engine means it all works out.



4" to 3" to oval



Sits way lower than I was expecting/wanting...



Had to have a new driveshaft made as my old was just a touch too short. They thankfully re-used my ends to help cut the cost a tad.



First drive and took it directly to the car wash before going to the dyno. My eyes were stuck to the dash the entire time watching for anything weird. Mostly just odd spots in the very much untouched ve table.







Gave me a good look at the underside. Might notice the small drop of oil on the bellhousing... Rear main seal is leaking, but not enough to even drip... just sits there. So at the moment I have decided to leave it to button up a lot of other stuff.



At the end of the session, it ended up making 245whp and 190ftlbs of torque... at 5lbs... Didn't reach 5lbs until after 5k rpms.

I wasn't happy with the results, but It didn't blow up, which is all I could really ask for. In the end I Found that without the vvti activated, it retards the intake cam all the way and makes the car awful to drive. I spent a good week hunting down what it could be before finding that info out. Once I plugged it in and got it setup, car was so much better to drive. So after a couple weeks I took it back to the dyno to play tuner again...







I had upped the base spring pressure to 11psi and it was making a good 400whp and 300ftlbs. Still only hitting it by 5k rpm, but HP was still climbing, so as soon as I am ready to add more RPM I should be good. I also have a lot more room for improvement on my vvti table. No boost control either.





I still log every drive with the car, revise the tune and reload. I need to see if there is a way to check how many updates have been made. All going relatively good, getting better and understanding ve changes, and making timing changes. Playing with my VVTI map to help off boost driving and getting the boost to come on earlier, I also hooked up my boost controller and I am easing into adding boost.

Coming home from the gym one evening, I did a quick third gear pull at like 60% throttle and was greeted with oil all over my windshield. I quickly got out of it, but oil pressure still looked good. I babied it home and started tearing into it.

Oil everywhere





Front Main seal had sprung a leak, which is quite common with a modified GTE pump on a GE bottom end. So replaced the front main seal with some RTV on the outside edge to help keep it in and sealed. At the same time I replaced my unknown mileage vvti gear and solenoid with the new items as my gear had developed a really bad knock.





I have also swapped my .96 AR housing for a .82AR housing, cerakoted it, and added an EMAP bung to my manifold.





I found at some point I had dropped a piece of shrink wrap on my spark plug, it could have ended much worst.



I currently have just over 500 miles on the setup. The last oil change was done around 350 miles when the vvti gear had started knocking and I was making sure it wasn't rod knock. I am playing with boost control and touching on 20psi (when it doesn't blow an intercooler pipe or hit boost cut from a boost spike).