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LEXUS 1UZ-FE Engine Swap My blood sweat and tears. It will be worth it!!

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  #1  
Unread 01-03-2010, 10:47 PM
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Default My Custom Lexus V8 Exhaust

I thought I should go ahead and start a thread for my headers and exhaust. This is a pretty hot topic and I don't mind sharing. It's such a labor intensive process that I recommend anyone attempting this kind of work make friends with professionals in their area that do this type of work. I didn't do this all myself. There are much better TIG welders in my area that were happy to help out. I'm "ok" at welding but learning to do precision TIG welding on curved surfaces is just banging your head on the wall. So enjoy the pictures and I hope they give you some ideas on how to arrange your own exhaust system on your 1UZ-FE powered project.

I'll be posting pictures later. I have detailed pics of working on the headers to get them to wrap around the steering shaft and also to point downward from the collector in order to point down before the firewall. I'll also make sure to get some good video and sound of the music it will put out.
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Unread 01-17-2010, 02:08 AM
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Not sure if I want to do the side exhaust thing. It would probably be louder compared to having these mounted inside of the frame which is something I'm not really going after.



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Unread 01-17-2010, 02:14 AM
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Messing around some more. I'm kinda leaning towards putting them on the inside of the frame and having them slant downwards. I would like to put a down tip on the ends of them but that would just take more time.



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Unread 01-17-2010, 02:21 AM
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Just getting things in a pile ready to begin piecing things together tomorrow. And yes these mufflers are Aprilia 2.5" titanium motorcycle mufflers. I used to run one of these on my streetbike. I replaced it with a carbon fiber one and I always knew I would find a good use for it one of these days!

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Unread 01-17-2010, 10:58 PM
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It was raining this morning but that's not stopping me from working on the last chapter in this V8 Tacoma build. I went over to my good neighbors house and borrowed his chop saw and went to work. The goal with this system is to keep it lightweight and simple. If I really like the sound of it then I'll weld some outlets to the ends of the cans and run those back down the frame and then over and have them dump out in front of the rear wheels. But for now I want to make sure they work ok.

Cut a couple radius's, tack'd em up and all ready to weld them up.


And the end result
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Unread 01-17-2010, 11:05 PM
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And here is a shot showing the general angle that they had to be made to follow. On the drivers side the one side must go out and around the transfer case a little more and the fuel tank limits how far back I could run it. I have these tucked right up close to the cab so that there is NOTHING hanging down below the frame. A great benefit of the cab lifted a bit off the frame is that I can raise everything up and after I build a new cross member for the transmission there won't be anything hanging down past the frame so I could seriously build a flat belly pan/ skid plate like an RC or race truck. I'm sure that would afford me a couple more MPG which would be a fun experiment... in all my free time, yeah right.

These pipes don't weigh hardly anything! The next time I have these off to weld on the hangers I'll put them on a scale.
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Unread 01-17-2010, 11:09 PM
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Here is a shot showing everything underneath now that I'm nearly ready to roll. I'll be building a trick heavy duty crossmember sometime soon and I'll just extend the posts up on the crossbar that is closest to the camera in this picture. I had to put this patchwork crosspiece in a long time ago because jumping the Tacoma and offroading it hard causes the cab to sag in the middle. The best way to fix this is with a whole rollcage that is welded to the body at the top and bottom. I'll have to fix it the right way this summer.

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Unread 01-17-2010, 11:15 PM
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Also you can note the transfer case that is offset to one side. This is normal and you can also see how I moved the whole transmission and case upwards a couple inches above the stock location. This is why I'll be fabbing a new crossmember to allow the whole mounting system to be between the main frame rails and not hang down underneath it. This arrangement worked out great because it allows for the best positioning of the V8. Factors in the exact engine placement include, being able to have room for the front sump oil pan, being able to still remove the oil drain plug from that pan, being able to use the factory oil filter mount, the wide overhead cam heads will interfere with the shock towers, the two piece drive shaft is very well built and allows for great flexibility, room for exhaust headers, room for ventilation around the front and rear of the engine and a few other things that I'm sure I left out.

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Unread 01-17-2010, 11:20 PM
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Passenger side view. I can't be happier with the amount of room I have to work in around the engine and exhaust. I hated those fenders but of course I'll have to make some custom aluminum ones in the near future. This project will probably never end. :\

As soon as the engine fires and runs in a somewhat normal state of tune I'll quickly size up the wiring harness and clean all of that spaghetti up nice and tidy. Of course I need to go buy a handful of weather proof fuse holders and a spool of heat shrink.
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Unread 01-17-2010, 11:24 PM
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Without the wires on the drivers side it looks much better. All you can see are fuel and brake lines. I really need to reinforce the spindles. I can't believe they have held up all these years!

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Unread 02-18-2010, 03:17 PM
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I really like this independent setup, but it looks like you have a ton more room in front of your gas tank up to the header down pipe than on a 4Runner. Don't think there's enough room for a cat then muffler this way.

Where's your fuel filter at? Is there any issue with having mega hot exhuast pipe near the fuel lines?
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Unread 02-18-2010, 04:23 PM
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Well I'm getting exhaust gas in the cab so I am changing things here real soon. I haven't been driving it hardly at all cause I need to tune the computer and build a real exhaust. It sounds awesome though.

On the 4 cyl Tacomas the fuel filter is bolted on the engine right up against the intake manifold. So I simply moved it up and mounted it to the wall on the drivers side. The truck has so much air running under it heat isn't an issue even when the exhaust is so close to the fuel lines. It would take some catastrophe for anything to happen with the fuel. The lines are super strong and bendable for safety reasons. Hopefully soon I'll have time to build a header back system with the new Tundra muffler I have waiting.
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Unread 02-24-2010, 03:53 PM
Jay351 Jay351 is offline
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Make sure you get a video clip with the muffler, so we can hear that thing sing!
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1991 toyota pickup - 3.0 - 4x4 - SR5.

Stage 1 cams, exhaust work, 4.5" combined lift, 4.88's with a lockright in the back, 33's, some hellas etc. etc.... Needs a 1uz!!!
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Unread 02-24-2010, 05:11 PM
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Oh yes I'll get more video. Here is all I have so far just incase anyone missed the first good one. :]

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Unread 02-25-2010, 12:34 AM
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So tonight I worked late when I had a chance just to get this thing closer to being a daily driver. I just continued on from the back of those mufflers and made some pipe to go over the carrier bearing crossbrace and then made a y-pipe to join into the Flowmaster muffler I had behind my old engine. The stock Tundra muffler was just too long and would have been a really tight fit but the smaller Flowmaster is an easy fit. Making the Y was a chore but I just made a rough one to get the thing installed and on the road. I was shocked at how much quieter it is now. Oh well I just need to be able to drive it comfortably which it sure is now.

Nice and simple.


So I guess this is my street exhaust system and I'll be building a different one that is louder when I go ahead and build the roll cage. It's really quite nice driving a quiet truck and you can definitely still hear the engine. I'll just be adjusting the clutch so I can get on the gas now and see what it's got.

The Flowmaster Muffler hangs exactly where it did behind my 4 cylinder.
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