1UZFE vvti into GT86 - vids, pics, comments
 

Hi. With my project pretty much done, I thought I'd put all the info into a central location to make it easy to read through. Facebook didn't prove very useful for this.

Videos of the conversion as it progressed:
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RU0wPr28trM"]Beginning of my 1uz-fe V8 GT86 project - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VZWtN_ppqc"]V8 Toyota GT86 - Vid 1 - Dummy fitting - GT86 + 1UZFE - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2MrGWaYBX0"]V8 Toyota GT86 - Vid 2 - Mounting - GT86 + 1UZFE - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrLnFojCZEQ"]V8 Toyota GT86 - Vid 3 - Headers - GT86 + 1UZFE - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PneIHuhisqE"]V8 Toyota GT86 - Vid 4 - Startup - GT86 + 1UZFE - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzzwLD7AI14"]V8 Toyota GT86 - Vid 5 - More revs - GT86 + 1UZFE - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oZ8wGUmnTA"]V8 Toyota GT86 - Vid 6 - First dyno run - GT86 + 1UZFE - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3q2UvYn_9RI"]V8 Toyota GT86 - Vid 7 - First drive - GT86 + 1UZFE - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6jzOnzo7JI"]V8 Toyota GT86 - Vid 8 - Second drive - GT86 + 1UZFE - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqloAAp2n5Q"]V8 Toyota GT86 - Vid 9 - AP Racing brakes - GT86 + 1UZFE - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aOnw5ozzTI"]V8 Toyota GT86 - Vid 10 - First drift session - GT86 + 1UZFE - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcjRcAZvWRE"]GTV86 - Let's go drifting - Extended version - YouTube[/ame]

Videos from High Performance Academy about the Motec and wiring etc.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDYIgBnYvi4"]Wiring and Tuning Project "Panhard" - Part 1 1UZFE V8 Powered Toyota 86 / Scion FRS - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEB1U1C5FLU"]Wiring and Tuning Project "Panhard" - Part 2 1UZFE V8 Powered Toyota 86 / Scion FRS - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wpr2W_77W-4"]Wiring and Tuning Project "Panhard" - Part 3 1UZFE V8 Powered Toyota 86 / Scion FRS - YouTube[/ame]

Why I did the swap
 

In all seriousness, in my opinion, it was the best bang for buck when I weighed up all options. Bang being 300-350whp, and buck being long term, not just initial cost.

For the fa20 to be OEM reliable at that power level, the motor needs $10k thrown at it. Probably $5k on the box (or adapting another) as well.
And then, you're still left with a puss 2 litre when off boost.

I'd worked out that if I blew my fa20 and or box at the power above I was going to spend x amount on it to rebuild and strengthen them.

But if I sold my fa20, box, turbo kit, and added the same x to the value, that is a reasonable budget to allow for the motor swap, which is exactly what I did.

So then it became a choice of what would be better, a built fa20, strong box (eg what I would consider OEM reliable) 350whp, or a motor swap that could achieve the same power.
I weighed up several options, 2GR, 1UZ, 2JZ, 2UR, and LS. Based on the factors and considerations that were important to me, the 1UZ proved the best option.

The fact the 1UZ has little e-cred I saw as a huge positive. It keeps their resale value very low, when compared to the other options above, and the fa20. This equated well for long term economics, which as I've said was a major consideration.

I've been down the rebuilt/forged motor path several times already, on other platforms. People believe that once a motor has "600HP rods yo" that it will never blow, I've never found this to be true. I've had $15k motors last less than 1000kms (albeit race conditions).

Experience has taught me to be realistic with both power requirements (I know that 350whp in a 1200kg car will be plenty) and related to that, reliability expectations. While a 1UZ is an overbuilt motor, as are some of the others above, I accept now that motors are in fact consumables and its best to plan as if it will need replacing often.

Oh, then there's the sound of the thing.

I have a 1UZ in my daily now, an Altezza. I love the car. And its only a stock non-vvti 1UZ. Everytime I drive it I think of what it will be like with 100 more whp and 400 less kg to haul around.

At the end of the day, a high proportion of motor swaps are done for the "look at me" factor. I'll admit I've done it myself. This time I worked out was important to me and made my decision based on that.

No argument that for say another $5k, I could've bought a 500whp capable motor package, with gobs of reliability (put probably not as much as a 1UZ at 350) but I just don't need it. My race car has (well had, I just recently sold it) 400whp in a 1100kg frame, and it didn't need the last 50whp. So I don't see the point in paying for power (and sacrificing reliability) that I don't want/need.

The idea with this build, is that when this wiring is done, the car is done. No on-going forever project that never gets driven because its always getting another thing done (been there). No "shit whats wrong with the motor/turbo/box" No "I wish it had more power". All I need to do once it's tuned is put in my DSS axles that are sitting infront of me, put the Meisters back on, wind the suspension down, put on the trd bumper and vertex sides and ends, put on the endless brakes, and the PBM super angle kit. Then its just a mountain road cruiser for the weekend with the occasional drift track day thrown in; with very minimal (fingers crossed) ongoing cost / issues.

Bliss.

Car specs as it sits
 

2013 Toyota 86 NZDM

Engine / electronics
1UZ-FE vvti from UCF20
LS3 throttle body
OTR airbox
OEM aircon retained.
Engine conversion mounts by Surfab
Motec M150 ecu
Custom wiring harness by High Performance Academy
Otherwise standard

Drivetrain
Manual conversion kit from Niteparts/Convert NZ. Included clutch setup, flywheel and bellhousing.
R154 gearbox from a JZX110.
Shifter linkage housing extended by Surfab
Shortened GT86 2 piece driveshaft
OEM diff casing
TRD 2 way mechanical LSD
3.727 Final Drive, from RC spec GT86
Driveshaft SHop "600hp" axles
Subframe raised and solid mounted, by Surfab.
Whiteline diff into subframe mounts.

Exhaust
Tubular headers - fab'd Surfab, calcs by Kelford. Equal length, expansion chambers disguised as catalytic converters.
Dual 2.5" to single 3" piping.
3" rear muffler by Perrin

Suspension / Bracing
MCA Coilovers. 10kg spring rates F/R. Valved to suit,
Part Shop Max super angle kit. Includes replacement FLCA's, tie rods and tie rod ends, and knuckles.
Rear arms (UCA LCA Toe Traction) rosejointed items by Racefab
TRD underbody brace set

Wheels / Tyres
215/45/17 Bridgestone RE003 on 17x8.5+16 Work Meister S1R - Front
225/40/18 Linglong Crosswind on 18x9.0 +22 Work Meister S1R - Rear

Brakes
Essex AP Racing "Sprint" BBK with MXRS Endless pads - Front
Stock rear discs with ME22 Endless pads - Rear

Aesthetics
TRD rear lip
Toms tail lights
15% tints

Interior / sounds
Standard

Thanks to:
Beau Cogle for the mechanical work and general problem solving
Simon @ Surfab for the fabrication work
Nick Chiew @ North Shore Toyota for supply of genuine Toyota parts and info.
Brendan @ Niteparts for manual conversion kit
Andre and Ben @ HPA for all the electronic work and tuning

Reserved for pics / text 2

Reserved for pics / text 3

Reserved for pics / text 4

nice work and congrats. enjoy that beast

Amazing swap. Thanks for documenting so much of the work and sharing. I may have missed it, but what did you dyno at? Do you plan to see what your 1/4 mile trap speed is?

Final tune happening this coming week. Might take it drag racing at some point, but no immediate plans.

Added about 500 pics to my fb page today. Next step is linking them into here. Ugh..

Just went through your pics. Incredible. And comparing to most "swaps", yours was finished quickly.

I'm not much of a drag racer, but trap speeds are convenient to compare/confirm engine output.

I'm not to familiar with the 1uz family. Are there any advantages to going with the 4.3 bottom end? wikipedia saws they have the same hp. I'm guessing torque curve is moved a bit to the left for the 4.3?

I think I read you mentioned you didn't need to extend the shifter if you ground the engine webbing to move it further back. Did you decide against that or did you still need to extend the shifter after grinding the engine webbing?

Curious if they will make that harness available for sale....

They definitely won't. When I approached Andre about doing the swap, he still had his performance shop and did this type of work all day. Their "teaching the tuners" business was only part time. Then he decided to focus on that business full time and he sold the performance shop. I'd already started the swap and was concerned when I heard this as I wasn't confident in anyone else in the country doing the job, so if he wasn't going to be in a position to do the work I would've bailed on the swap, and the car.
To his credit, he saw the bind I was in and agreed to still do the work from his new business. Turns out his new business is doing quite well, and like any new business, takes a lot of his time. My project was the last thing he needed/wanted, but he saw it through anyway. Instead he used it as an opportunity to document some of the work he did and use them as information / tutorials, which is what his new business is all about.
The work I saw him put into that loom alone was unreal. I didn't expect anything like that, but again I think he saw it as an opportunity to show his stuff.

Re:the 1uz vvti and 3uz vvti differences. There is varying info on the internet about the differences. One website in .co.za? lists them out quite thoroughly. Another, clublexus? I think, is quite critical of the later engines, mostly down to the size of the rods. What they fail to mention is that the later engines have forged rods, so while looking smaller, are stronger.
As to why I went with the 1uz vvti over the 3uz, the 3uz didnt appear to have enough gains to justify the risk of it. The risk being that I didn't know anyone first hand that had put a 3uz into anything and really beat on it, where as I knew a few people that had done so with the 1uz vvti. I didn't want to be the one to find out the 3uz wasn't as good etc. Plus, the 3uz was twice the cost, which while still cheap, I just couldn't see the gains from using it. The price difference, for example, would go along way to paying for cams etc.

Re: the engine placement. There's a whole yarn about that, that I havn't mentioned yet. Basically we had everything in and set, made the exhaust and then saw how low a 3" pipe was sitting. Because I intended on slamming the car out, we knew this wasn't going to cut the mustard. So, we started again. In the gearbox tunnel (which is quite large) there is a reinforced insert where the OEM box is mounted. This becomes a significant pinch point in the tunnel that up until that point we had not modified and just worked around it (the idea being to retain the ability to return the car to stock). Anyway, we removed this and trimmed it. This meant the box could sit much higher, and also the box and motor could move further back. Before we did this work, we intended on using the jzx100 box, which had the longer shifter housing of any r154. But, this housing was also taller. When we trimmed the tunnel piece, we couldn't raise the box much before this fouled. Swapping back to the jzx110 r154 meant it could go a lot higher. With the jzx110 r154 box sitting higher, and the tunnel pinch point no longer an issue, the whole setup could also slide further back. This solved a lot of issues. We didn't end up having to cut the webbing on the motor at all. There is also now enough room for the swaybar to still go behind the rack. The motor, having moved back, and because the rear of the box raised up, the front of the throttle body moved down, meant we didnt have to do any trimming of the bonnet, which up until then we thought we'd have to. With the box mounted higher, we modified the box mount to also sit higher. Now the 2x2.5" piping passes under the gearbox mount and (from memory) ended up being above the floor line, if not it was certainly close to. We ended up having to extend the shifter housing of the jzx110 because it was shorter than the jzx100 one, but used it because it had less height to it.
It meant redoing alot of the fab work, but the end result was worth it.

Finally took the car for a hoon today!

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3q2UvYn_9RI"]V8 Toyota GT86 - Vid 7 - First drive - GT86 + 1UZFE - YouTube[/ame]

LOVE the sound of that V8 - absolutely PERFECT for the car! Going to watch that video again!