Let's Get This 1UZ Tacoma Swap Started

[Smithers]

Today I wired up the MAP sensor, no problems here. I was happy to find a brand new one for a GM application for $40 at Carquest (#31390 btw). These have been tried and true by a LOT of other people apparently so this version comes heavily recommended instead of paying twice the price for some other type of MAP sensor. There are a couple very informative websites the break down different MAP sensors and tell you everything you need to know about them but I can't find the links this week. I'll post them when I do find em.



So the leads that needed to be wired in were the ground, MAP signal wire and MAP +5V wire. No sweat. Then I just had to run a hose to the manifold somewhere and I had an available inlet right on the front so that's what I used. There is a larger vent on the rear but I'll adapt the smaller hose from the MAP later on sometime.

[Smithers]

Here is a picture of the distribution block I used. Each terminal here is isolated thus, the jumpers you see connecting different poles. One thing that is pretty interesting is the fact that the Adaptronic ECU (and other brands) want you to wire different ground wires from different plugs to the engine NOT the battery or just the firewall. This provides the computer with accurate signal and feedback from the engine itself with minimal interference from other accessories or sources of static. Here in this picture you can see the large red wire (which is the ground going to the engine block) providing a signal for the two poles which distribute the signal to the ECU leads. Then on the right you see the direct ground from the battery being fed to other grounds that are intended to be straight grounds strictly to provide negative power only. It's a good idea to put ground straps on 3 or 4 different locations on the engine. I'll be doing this in the near future. In my experience with race cars I've seen solid results showing better spark, smoother power and smoother running engines.

Also the wideband LC-1 O2 sensor will require a ground to the engine as well. I'll probably run it straight to the engine block and not to this distribution center. Giving the LC-1 brain the cleanest electrical signal as possible is ideal.

I am arranging all of the wiring somewhat loose and easy to see incase I need to change anything around while I'm getting things in order. I'll have it all wrapped and sealed up to length once things are running right.

[Smithers]

A huge step in this build is also putting fluid in the engine which I did for the first time today! I filled up the oil and I bought a few gallons of distilled water and poured that into the radiator. And of course I had a leak... apparently a dirt weld in the aluminum is porous enough to allow water to seep out. Also I have another leak above that one which is a crack inside a seam so I'll be sealing that off with a weld tomorrow as well. Both of these are simple to fix. The radiator was donated to me but if I had to do it over again I would SURELY buy a new one. A used radiator is considered contaminated for welding and it's really miserable to weld on! Plus I got the radiator because it was slightly abused in a race car thus, the crack in the seam. I welded a couple cracks shut previously so this one I found today is a new one. Oh well it's extremely strong and everything has been welded over to the point that I'm really confident that it will stay sealed.

So I hooked up the battery, grabbed my multimeter and proceded to confirm some wires that were to be "hot" when the ignition was on. Then I thought to myself, "why not turn it over a couple times and pump some oil through?". So I pushed in the clutch and cranked it over for a few seconds... and it cranked! That's a good thing because I had to join the starting and charging Lexus wiring leads with the Tacoma chassis wiring harness. It's not exactly the same and it's not at all obvious which wires need to be joined. But I got it right on I think... we'll see how much power output I get when the engine is running. For now I'm thinking I nailed it though. And boy does it sound good to hear the healthy starter cranking over the bigger engine!

And another note... this is the first time I engaged the starter with the new flywheel too! It cranked just like it should so I have confidence in the setup. Now for the whole ignition part. Tomorrow I plan on spending the morning pulling out the radiator first to let it dry out before I take it to my friends shop. Then I'll be plugging in the Adaptronic for the first time and booting it up. I'll surely be spending a couple hours uploading the new firmware and checking the sensors and how they are registering. I also have a couple more wires to connect that give the signal for the wideband o2 sensor. Yeah that should also be fun.... easier said than done type stuff. Time will tell...

[Smithers]

So I realized I need the brain to convert the wideband Bosch sensor signal into a voltage signal for the Adaptronic computer. I have everything but the LC-1 itself so I'll be ordering that as fast as possible. I've seen people hook regular narrow band O2 sensors to it and they seem to "work" but of course you want the wideband connected to get the proper control of the system. I'm not sure if I was to even bother connecting a narrowband but I can start the engine and run it without either of them of course. I'm not in that big of a hurry but it has crossed my mind.

Here is my box of wideband Innovate system components I have as of now - something missing? yep :`(


And the Bosch O2 waiting for the LC-1 brain to decipher the signal and output it to the Adaptronic ECU:


Well that Bosch o2 plug certainly won't just plug into the Adaptronic 420.... crap! Time to read the damn instructions. >:-\


Looks like the 1UZ project wants more money. :`(

[Smithers]

I got the Adaptronic e420c all wired up and powered on today. This was the first time I even powered it on since I bought it so it was good to know that it works. Now if I could only get the Belkin serial to usb adapter to work with Windows 7 64bit. I have another hard drive for my laptop with a Windows XP installation so I'll swap that one in this morning and that will get things up and running.

[Smithers]

Here I just uploaded a basic map to have a look at the different tabs and available settings. The program responds well and looks very polished. Of course this is the new WARI 2.000 software that was just released a month ago I think. I'm pretty impressed with all the features and flexibility that I have seen in my inexperience with it so far. For such an inexpensive unit it sure does a lot. OK well it's not doing anything right just yet but it will when the serial port connects! :P

[Smithers]

I have a LOT of updates to post but first -

IT LIVES!!
I love it when a plan comes together!!

Have a look at me starting up the engine for the second and then the first time. The 1UZ sounds healthy for sure! How do you like the sound of the straight headers? Ahhhh I like it. It smells great too.

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Here I am for the first start up. Kinda recording what's going on with the Adaptronic ECU while I fire the engine.

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A big thanks to David for putting up his forum www.lextreme.com/forums up on the web with his website http://www.lextreme.com/ and bringing us all together to share info on these machines. Lextreme.com is basically what encouraged me to do something that I really thought was just a dream. Thanks to everyone who has helped me and basically everyone who takes part in this forum. Ahhhh I'm ready to drive my truck almost. What a feeling to hear a project fire to life. I'll post pics of course but here's a link to the video of it idling for a bit. It idles and then dies... but this is just standard practice for using a standalone ECU for the first time. I'm getting the hang of the Adaptronic and I have a lot more to learn.

A little history on how this all started:
I REALLY never considered using the Lexus V8 when I thought about putting more power in my truck. I considered finding a Toyota 3VZ V6. I actually started building a header for a turbo but gave up on that real quick when I found out how much the computers would be to run the turbo system. SO I started to think about the possibility of a V8 350ci or an LS1. The LS1 would have been just TOO much engine IMO and the 350 is a heavy piece of iron. I just laughed when I joked to my friends about someday putting a Toyota/Lexus V8 into the Taco but then I found Lextreme.com online and I knew that was the answer!

[Smithers]

I haven't posted in the last couple days because I've been working as fast as I can. Today I had a fun day of studying the computer software and trying out different modes and tuning settings. This Adaptronic is pretty intense. It's must more adjustable than I thought and for that reason I must emphasize that only people who are really dedicated to this sort of thing need apply. To make matters worse there are so many variables in the equation of a proper tune that you can't tell if what changes you made are helping you initially when you are just trying to get your engine running! This in one hell of a computer. I'm really impressed but it's turning out to be a serious undertaking to learn the software and the Adaptronic ECU's demands and capabilities.

I'm taking pictures and notes of everything I'm doing. Recording your work and changes while troubleshooting is a must or you will have nothing to refer to when you forget everything in a week. So much information...

['00_taco]

Well i'm very impressed you finally got everything done, well not everything these projects never end. But its looking really good. Best of luck to you on tuning

[Smithers]

Yeah tons of fun! More like tons of frustration! The fuel map is so off (thanks to the heavy porting done that when it begins to run it's just starving for fuel I think. The computer won't begin to "learn" how to smooth out the fuel delivery until it runs for a bit. As long as it will RUN then the computer will help me a TON. But right now it won't keep running enough to get to that point. And what's even better is that it runs straight from the values programmed into it which is "open loop" mode. I need it to kick into "closed loop" in order for the computer to adapt to what the engine needs AND it needs to be in this mode for the wideband o2 to even begin to give me any readings. Basically I have to do this manually for now which I'm making progress.

Sound fun? It's all about having patience but it's hard not to spaz out on this thing because I'm so close. I feel like I'm making a little more progress than this cat here... but not much:

[Smithers]

Oh by the way I read on another forum that a guy was putting down 350ft lbs of torque through a W59 without any problems. I'm not worried about breaking mine. Of course it's all in how you treat your throttle. Romping on it all the time will have some bad effects on any transmission. I will be borrowing a laser temp reader to monitor how the transmission is doing when I start pushing things a bit. I guess I could just install a temp gauge too.

[Smithers]

All done with the exhaust for now. If I like the way this works I'll weld on some more muffler tube to the outlets of the mufflers and run them back and dump them out in front of the tires. But for now I just needed the exhaust done so I could get the o2's warm and be able to tune the engine computer. If anyone cares I put more pictures of the exhaust over here on an exhaust thread.

[Smithers]

I had the pleasure of trouble shooting all day long and I was victorious in solving my problems. Here is a video I shot while working through a couple problems with the fuel pump signal. I hard wired the fuel pump while I was reading the computers fuel output signals. I got it working properly at 10pm tonight. This stuff ain't easy. I'm liking the Nascar sound! My neighbor txt messaged me when he heard it start up from the next house over. Ahhh sweet music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtFTWxuVim0

Been trouble shooting and setting up the ECU for 2 straight days now. Tomorrow I'll be making the wiring more permanent / pretty in the morning now that I'm getting ready to take it for a drive.

[Smithers]

Here is the big update and this is no joke.



My MLS head gaskets are leaking. Awesome.

This is NOT installer error - I have pictures of EVERYTHING going together and the torque specs are EXACT to Lexus factory service manual spec. I wasn't playing around while putting this engine together people.



I'll be calling Cometic in the morning. I've read that some builders put copper silicone on them when installing them. Seems the all metal gaskets can be real finicky when it comes to surface imperfections (which there are NONE on the heads) so I'll be getting out a magnifying glass to inspect the block in the area that I saw water leaking when I pressurized the coolant system.

Many more details are to come of this. I already have some factory Lexus gaskets on special order so in the meantime I'll be wrapping up all of the custom ECU wiring loom and replacing some of the fuel injector plugs that I think could be in better condition. The good thing is that this engine is fit to eat dinner off of so it will merely be a pit stop in which I'll be pulling the heads really quick. No big deal.

This is another reason why I don't recommend anyone do an engine swap like this unless they won't mind this kind of stuff. Most people would freak out and not be able to troubleshoot this type of thing so you really have to have extreme patience. At this point I can pull the heads off in under an hour without a problem. Of course having the fenders removed from the engine bay helps a lot. I love this thing.

['00_taco]

Look on the bright side at least you caught it before the motor hydrolocked and broke a rod or the crank. Sucks you have to pull the motor half way apart now that you have it running.