Project: V8 My Daily... 3UZ Altezza Sportcross

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dale_b

#DriftFactory
Yo dudes..

Been thinking about this for a long time.. Got an Altezza Gita(IS200 Sportcross) quite a while back, its 100% standard and just used as an A to B car/van.. Recently got the hump with my 1G engine, rattles it's tits off and overheats sometimes.. It also uses an obscene amount of fuel and doesn't go fast while using an obscene amount of fuel..


So iv been keeping an eye out for a cheap 3UZ conversion.. Picked up a GS430 with a broken engine.. Also bought a decent tall block..
The GS has been stripped for the parts I need.. I'll then strip the other good engine down and refresh it before fitting..

There's an hard way to do this conversion, then there's a ridiculous way to do it... Im doing the latter...

I could just wire the new ecu into the IS loom, but that'd be to easy..

Iv taken the entire wiring loom(s).. So 2 fuse boards (1 in each footwell) with main hench loom running between them.. Another fuse box in engine bay, Ecu box in engine bay, Relay boxes x2 in engine bay.. Then 1 loom down each side of the car, then engine loom, and finally 4 door looms.. Iv also got heater controls, instrument cluster, all control units, whole dash board, just about everything..
This all works on a multiplex system, it's pretty much a case of all or nothing.. It is possible to make the ecu and engine work without all the extra bumpf, but I want the instrument cluster, so I need everything else too..

I'm basically going to transplant the whole GS loom into the IS.. It will need some wiring work to quite a few areas, but should be pretty easy for me..
I'm going to cut the dash board down the middle of the glove box and make it the right width to fit, then stick it back together and flock it..

Engine will be completely standard running the 5spd auto box(I like auto in daily!), only thing I might do is make some headers, this'll be done at a later date though.. Not doing the conversion to get mega power, im mainly just doing it because I can.. Going for the plush OEM look

My 1G is still running so iv got time to build the engine up so it's ready to drop in when the time comes, iv also got a load of alterations to do to the loom before its ready to plug straight in.

Anyway.. That's the plan.. It's not going to be done anytime soon as iv got loads of work on at the moment, but will be pretty unique when I get round to it.


So this is basically day1 and where I'm at..

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This doesn't look much wiring in the picture.. But in real life this is a pretty hench heap..
 
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my sportcross is the is2 and uses an obscene amount of fuel without being fast also... looking forward to watching this progress....
 
Just what I want to do.
But I want a manualised 3uz in an already manual is200 sportcross.
I have the clutch and flywheel for it already.
 
twiglett said:
Just what I want to do.
But I want a manualised 3uz in an already manual is200 sportcross.
I have the clutch and flywheel for it already.
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I can't be arsed to change gear...lol


el_bandido said:
IS300 1uzfe Motor swap/FAQ - ISfanatics.com

might help. Unfortunately his old site has now gone down by the look of it.
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I don't need anymore info, if I do I'll need to be looking for GS info rather than IS. The mechanical stuff is the easy part, it'll be the wiring the takes the time..
Iv actually made my own ECU Pinout for the IS200 now, got every last pin.. Won't need any of it though.. Lol


chidley said:
you need more sleep dale, i think youve finally lost it
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Definatly do!! It's a nice change from JZ's.. Iv done nothing but 1j's for the past year, need to broaden my horizons..


el_bandido said:
A Harrop TVS charger would be a nice extra on top.
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Was thinking about a charger.. But don't really want it to be a fast car.. Just doing it because I can, and want a pimp daily and to show what I can do..
 
Iv made a small amount of progress..
Couple of mates came down my shop last night and we bust the rest of the engine apart to find out why it wouldn't turn over.. It was seizes solid.. A 4ft bar wouldn't turn it over.. Stopped trying before i snapped the bolt in the crank..

Guy I bought the car from said he thought timing was out.. Don't actually think it was, obviously couldn't check timing due to being seized..
Chopped the timing belt and slowly turned each cam over, they went round fine.. Was expecting it to hit a piston and stop, but it didn't.. So I thought I defo had bent valves..

We took the heads off to find none of the pistons at TDC, and no bent valves or any evidence of contact.. Pretty sure it didn't go out of time..

So on to the bottom end... I needed the front sump anyway so off it came.. There was bearing material in the sump..
Cyl Nô2&4 pair of big ends have spun.. They are dark blue while all the other 6 are not discoloured.. I havnt taken the crank out yet but I'm pretty sure it's dead, that pair of rods are obviously dead too..
If the block is ok I might find a cheap ass 97> LS400 engine which has same crank, and presumably conrods I can use too..

Don't know what caused the failure yet, there was plenty of oil in it.. The oil didn't look great, the heads and sump are quite badly coked up with crusty deposits of carbon, it's possible a chunk of this crusty crap fell into the oil, got picked up and circulated through the oil galleries and into the crank, wouldn't take much to get lodged in the little lubricating hole of the shell and block it..

But who cares anyway... My new Tall Block will be here Thursday with a bit of luck:thumbs:
This will then get stripped down, heads skimmed, valves lapped, gaskets and seals top to bottom.. Not decided if I want to refresh the bottom end or not, probilly won't if it's reasonably clean and not wobbly..

Will start getting interesting soon:thumbs:
 
A 3UZ Auto Altezza will be a good and quick car, seems a good idea to me.

Fuck charging it though, 3UZ internals are great at stock power, but they're no good for more. Skinny rods and paper thin liners.
 
This is the bottom end.. Can see how much darker the second pair down got..

And yeah I wouldn't charge it on stock internals.. The sleeves are about 2mm thick.. You can buy hench sleeves from the US for about $50-60 each, then machining work to fit them.. Then buy hardcore ConRods and forged pistons..
Would probilly be easier to swap bottom end to 1uz?
Infact, you interested in the pair of vvti heads Stav?


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fitting vvti heads to 1uz bottom end has been tried before, and was a cunt to get apparently. in the end cost more than the gains were worth.

Nice project, a nice v8 in a nice shell.
 
The second engine turned up today.. Will try and get it stripped down tonight if I get time..

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Edit..

I stripped it down tonight.. Head gasket on one bank definitely gone, not sure on the other side, i beleive it could be due to DET.. The head gasket shows signs of DET round the edges, it's also got hot between the bores..
I presume this is down to the melted knock sensors...

I'm not sure how the 3UZ ECUs work but I presume they pile on the ignition until it hears knock, if the knock sensors are shagged it won't be hearing any knock and continue piling on maximum timing leading to detination.

I don't think it's done any damage, I'm going to take sump off and inspect the bottom end, then I'll take it to my local machine shop and get them to check it over and see whether they think it's worth doing the bottom end shells.. Trouble with this is, if you really want to know if it's ok you need to remove the rods and inspect the shells, but then you've disturbed it and shouldn't really put it back together without at least polishing the crank and replacing shells.. Then if you are doing that, should you hone the bores and replace rings.. Don't know if I want to open that can of time consuming expensive worms..
 
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I think the knock sensors melt when the engine overheats. On soarers with 1UZ's its pretty common for the radiator to go which leads to engine overheating which in turn melts knock sensors. ECU then retards timing right back when it gets no signal from them, basically puts the car into a limp mode afaik.

Gonna be a cool project, would like to undertake the challenge of mixing the engine/car/looms together though!
 
twiglett said:
how is this coming along Dale?
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Bail procedure initiated..

I'm not happy to build an engine without refreshing the bottom end, and to do that will cost about £800 in parts and machine work. That's plus £300 work on the heads.. Plus £800 for cam belt/Tentsioner/idlers, water pump, gasket kit and few other bits and bobs..
So it'd cost £2k before I even start fitting it..

That, and some douche bag crashed down the side of my car.. It's not that bad but it's scuffed from front to back..

So if anyone wants any 3uz parts, Iv got many forsale..
 
JsyPhil said:
Hi,
I know it's been a while but have you still got any 3uz stuff for sale ?
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Yes I do! Got loads.. Please take the lot.. Got 2 bottom ends, 4x cylinder heads, all the bits out the engines, most the Auxillaries, wiring loom, ECU, front sump.. Give me £250 and take the lot..
There's enough there to build a good engine out of all the bit..
 
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