Complete: 1MZ-FE V6 engine swap - For Sale

Now that our local auto-cross season is over (and I won the FSP club champ), I am starting my winter project of swapping in a 1MZ-FE 3.0 V6. The inspiration for this project came from Adrian (on this board) who did this swap to his 5th gen Celica a few years ago. I believe his car is CA smog legal. My car is only used for auto-cross racing, but that may change after I get the swap complete, so I have all the smog equipment for a ’95 model year Avalon, a car with this motor.

In this thread, I will give details of how I am doing this as I go and provide pix as well. Below I have listed the parts I have collected so far and their source and any notes about the parts. I will add to this thread as time goes by and work continues on the swap. (There will be some time gaps between posts as I am in the middle of doing a bathroom remodel on my house and if I finish that before starting my car, my wife will be much happier.)


The engine I will be using is from a ’02 Camry that had about 67k miles before it was rolled. The wrecking yard I bought the motor from sponsors our club and said they would give me whatever I needed for the swap. Here is what I have so far:

’02 Camry:
• Engine, complete with all ancillaries and belt, throttle body to exhaust manifolds.
• Starter
• Flywheel
• ECU – 5 plug, 3 connect to the engine harness
• Complete harness
• An air tub from a Lexus ES300 with a free flowing MAF

Notes:
The ’02 Camry has drive-by-wire, so I will need a mechanical throttle body.
The exhaust manifolds have integrated cats, so I need different manifolds.
The fuel-rails are non-return style, not sure I’m going to use these.
The MAF has 5 wires but a smaller connecter than the one on the Camry harness, I’ll have to see if the pin-out is the same since it is very free-flowing.
I have requested the following parts from the Camry; the fuel pump assembly (to get the fuel pressure regulator), fuel filter (to get the support bracket incase I use the non-return fuel-rail), the fuse/rely box that should have come with the harness, exhaust manifolds without the cats and the O2 sensor and wire which is located just behind the cat.

’95 Avalon parts car (had bad motor but otherwise complete):
• ECU – 4 plug, 3 connect to engine harness
• Igniter
• Complete harness with fuse/rely box
• Complete intake manifold, both pieces
• Throttle body, mechanical
• Fuel-rails, return-style and injectors
• Fuel filter with bracket, has banjo style connector
• Charcoal canister(s), incase I want the car to be smog legal
• Air tube with a very restrictive MAF
• Exhaust manifolds, shorty header style tube manifolds, with mounting for the air/fuel sensors
• “Yâ€

 

Car weight – before swap:

I took the car to a local truck scale that weighs by the axle. The areas around the scales are flat so I figured I could also get corner weights. As you can see from the weights below, the total of the corner weights don’t equal the total of the axle weight. Tried approaching the scales from both directions and the weight was always the same. I just wanted a reference point of before and after the swap, so as long as the scales are consistent, I’ll get a good comparison.

The weights are of the car as I race it, no spare tire, jack, tools, AC, CC, with a quarter tank of gas, helmet and me @ 150 lbs.

FR axle 1750
RR axle 1050
Car total 2800

RFR corner 740
LFR corner 800
FR axle total 1540

RRR corner 470
LRR corner 420
RR axle total 890
Car total 2430

So far, I have read 2 different weight differences. One person says the engine is 30 lbs lighter than the 2nd Gen 3S-GTE and another says his 2nd Gen MR2 weighed 100 lbs lighter after swapping his 2nd Gen 3S-GTE for the V6. Either way, I'll be adding more weight up front, but less than going with a turbo motor. I'll weigh the car after the swap to find out what the difference is.

 

pix

Engine shots:
front side:

drivers side:

back side:

passenger side:


Exhaust:


Y pipe. notice how the primary pipe on the back side goes down under the motor then u-turns back into the exhaust? this was done to keep the primarys equal length.


MAF:
'95 Avalon to ? Lexus ES300:

Lexus ES300:

'95 Avalon:

'95 Avalon inside air box:


Back side motor mount. A bracket for this mount will need to be fab'd. I will be using the mount that is part of the carrier bracket:
Motor mount, '02 Camry:

Motor mount on carrier bracket. 2 "L" shaped brackets will be fab'd that will bolt to the suspension crossmember and connect to this mount.

This photo shows the "L" brackets I will need to make. (This photo was "barrowed" from Adrian, hope it's ok):


Fuel rail comp, return style vs non-return style:
'95 Avalon, return style:

'02 Camry, non-return style:



ECU's:


Pile of parts:

All parts '95 Avalon except were noted
1. air tube
2. air box
3. intake base
4. intake upper
5. exhaust manifold – front side
6. engine harness
7. fuel rail – return style
8. fuel filter
9. Lexus air tube and box

 

Starter comparisons

Here is a comparison of a few different starters I have, thanks to this project. The small starter used on my '02 1MZ-FE motor will bolt right up and work on a 3S-FE, which means it will work on s 5S-FE and 3S-GE motor as well. So if you want a smaller and lighter starter, just use the one for an '02 Camry.

 

Throttle body comparison.

Just for the heck of it, I thought I would compare the tb of the 3S-GE to the V6. The 4 bolt holes that hold the tb to the manifold are the same, which means the V6 throttle body will bolt to the 3S-FE manifold. The V6 tb has a little bigger openning and the configuration is the same except that the cable connects on the opposite side of the throttle lever.

Added 2/25/07:
The bore size at the blade of the 3S-GE is 2.165" and on the V6, it is 2.360", .195" larger.

The stock Celica throttle cable could be used by routing the cable straight out from the firewall towards the front of the car then curl it back to the TB. I did resently look at the Avalon that I took a lot of the parts from and the cable is much shorter and would look much cleaner on the Celica. Most likely, any cable from a Camry/Avalon/Solara should work.

 

Things to consider

In this post I'll try to document as many of the things you would need to consider when doing this swap. Most of the information here will be stuff I learn as I do the swap.

First, the motor. Obviously you are going to want to get the newest motor you can find. Mine is a '02 motor from a Camry with about 67k miles. One thing to keep in mind is that the newer the motor, usually the more electronic controls that will need to be replaced with manual controls.

The motor has a drive-by-wire throttle body. Part of the deal I have with wrecking yard where I bought the motor was that they are going to include everything I need to do the conversion, within reason. So they gave me a manual TB off an older model. I also have the manual TB from the Avalon.

The motor also has an electronically controlled EGR valve. I plan to just remove the EGR valve and components since I only race the car, but have a manual EGR valve setup off the Avalon incase I decide to drive the car on the street (which is not even necessary since I don't have to smog my car were I live).

The motor also had catalytic converters integrated into the exhaust manifolds. The yard did not have the older style manifolds, the shorty header style, but I was able to trade my manifolds for a pair that the local Toyota dealer had on a 1MZ-FE display motor in the service writer's area. They have a sludged up motor on display.

The motor also has a non-return style fuel rail, so I have one of 2 choices. I could easily leave the non-return fuel rail on the motor and install the FPR on the fuel pump assembly. I have the whole fuel pump assembly from the Camry which includes the fuel pump and the FPR. You will also need a higher pressure fuel pump as the ECU is expecting 50 psi. I could also go with the return style fuel rails so the fuel system would work as the 3S motor does. The return style fuel rails have the FPR as part of the fuel rail. I will still need a higher pressure FP, which I have from the Camry. I also have the return style fuel rails from the Avalon. It appears that the bolt pattern to hold the fuel rails to the intake is different between the two types of fuel rails I have. Luckily I took the whole intake manifold from the Avalon.

Motor mounts. Looking at different models and years of cars with the 1MZ-FE, I have noticed there are a few different motor mount configurations. Most have a mount of the very front of the motor that connects to the passenger side of the engine bay. This appears to be more of a torque dampener (?) as it is not really a mount that supports the engine, but rather a way to restrict the twisting movement of the engine. I plan to fabricate a bracket that adapts this mount on the motor to the stock 3S motor mount. My motor also has a rubber mount on the front of the motor, seen in the pictures below the power steering pump). This will be removed as there is no way to attach it to anything. What I will do instead is replace the idle axel shaft support mount with a mount that has a motor mount integrated, as seen in the pictures above. This will allow me to fabricate 2 "L" brackets that will attach to the suspension cross-member.

Transmissions. There are a few options for transmissions. From what I've read, but the E and S series transmissions will bolt right up. For a daily driver or a car that will be driven on a road course, the best choice will probably be a Camry V6 or Solara manual trans as the gearing is more suited for the low RPM of the 1MZ-FE. I have a '96 S54 trans and plan to try that trans first. The gearing of these transmission are better suited for the higher revving 3S-GE motors, but since I use the car for auto-cross racing, which is much slower than a road course, the gearing may be better. If not I'll go with the Camry trans. If you use an S trans with this motor, you will need to use the clutch disc from the S trans and a pressure plate for an E trans. The flywheel for the V6 has a different pressure plate bolt and dowel pin pattern. I suppose you could re-drill the flywheel if you wanted. From what I have read about using an E trans, you will need to use the inner axle on the drivers side and the intermediate shaft (the parts that bolt to the trans output flanges, similar to the 3S-FE auto trans) from an "E" series trans and the axle shafts from an Alltrac. You will also need to use the trans mounts from an Alltrac and an Alltrac cross-member. When using the S trans you can just use the S series mounts and cross-member. The intermediate shaft will need to be machined. Below is the best description of what needs to be done that I have been able to find.

You will need to move the axle carrier bearing inboard about 1/8", or 3mm. This will require that you cut a new groove for the c-clip, install a custom spacer between the bearing and outer side of the axle, and press it all back together. Test fit and make your own measurements as there seems to be some difference in the mounts. Some have used 1/4" spacing for new '93+ MR2 LSD trannies.

While installing the motor, I attempted to bolt the S54 tranny to the V6 and here's what I found. The tranny doesn't directly bolt up. The top 2 larger bolts line up and the 2 dowel pins line up. Another bolt hole in the tranny just below the dowel hole on the front side of the tranny needs to be drilled out to install a bolt. Another hole on the back side of the tranny lines up, but the hole in the tranny and the engine are threaded. The hole in the engine is larger, so I was able to thread in a smaller bolt into the tranny. There’s another threaded hole in the tranny that lines up with a hole part way drilled in the motor and has a flat surface on the back side. I could drill the hole through the motor and install a small bolt. There’s also a hole in the trany that lines up with another in the motor that is partly drilled. I would have to finish drilling the hole and then tap it. I believe I could end up with 6 bolts plus the 2 dowel pins which should be enough.

While installing the motor, I attempted to bolt the S54 tranny to the V6 and here's what I found. The tranny doesn't directly bolt up. The top 2 larger bolts line up and the 2 dowel pins line up. Another bolt hole in the tranny just below the dowel hole on the front side of the tranny needs to be drilled out to install a bolt. Another hole on the back side of the tranny lines up, but the hole in the tranny and the engine are thhreaded. The hole in the engine is larger, so I was able to thread in a smaller bolt into the tranny. Theres one more

Another thing I found out while installing the motor is that the trans cross-member needs to be notched a little to clear the engine. I’ll post pix of the modified cross-member when complete and pix of it installed. It also looks like the rear side stock exhaust manifold may dump right into the trans cross-member. I’ll find out once the cross-member is modified and I can install it.

Electrical. I’m saving this one for a separate post in this thread. I will be using the ’95 Avalaon ECU and harness though.

Water flow through the engine is “backwardsâ€

 

2/13/07 - Official start of project.

Today I finally started my project! I didn't have a lot of time, so I only got a few things done. I drained all fluids except the power steering fluid, removed the battery, air box and tube, fans, radiator, overflow tank and the lower engine covers. Hopefully I'll get everything else disconnected and/or removed tomorrow and the motor will be ready to pull.

Here's a couple (boring) pix of the before:

 

Another evening spent getting the motor and trans ready to pull out. About another hour and it will be out. I have a club meeting tomorrow, Thursday, and I am off work Friday. Friday I plan to pull the motor and trans out and put in the V6 to mock up the 2 motor mounts I have to fabricate. I can't wait to just see the motor sitting in the engine bay.

Both the weights I got of the car include my weight of 150 lbs, so 2800 - 150 would be 2650, or the 2430 - 150 would be 2280, which is too light.

Stay tuned for more details.

 

Electrical stuff

Electrical. Since I had some time before I actually started this project, I downloaded the electrical manuals for the ’02 Camry and the ’95 Avalon, form the Toyota tech site, which I recommend anyone do before they attempt this swap.

For the engine management, I will be using the ’95 Avalon ECU and harness as it has less electronic controls. The ECU I have is for an automatic, but from everything I have read, it shouldn’t matter. It will throw some CELs, so if you need a smog legal swap, you will have to deal with the CELs.

The ECU has 4 connectors, 3 of which are on the engine harness. I read through the manual to find all the destinations of the wires from the 4th connector. Of the # wires, I only need to deal with # wires, # go to the O2 sensor and the other # go to the ?. Simple enough.

Some of the wires on the engine harness connect to 3 different connectors in a fuse/relay box, which has a total of # connectors. Of the other # connectors that I don’t have, # wires are used on2 different connectors of the radiator fans. (Next change I get, I am going to get the relay box from the Avalon that has the other 2 fan relays so I have all the connectors and wiring). I am going to try to bypass all the factory wiring for the fan relays as there are a total of 3 relays used, which also receive input from the A/C circuits. I am going to try to use 1 relay triggered by the engine temp which and I will have a manual override switch to turn the fans on whenever I want, like after a hard run and the motor is shut off.

Other things I need to look at electrical wise are the items that have a fuse/relay in the box that the main harness of the Celica connects to, like the head lights, etc.

Guages…

 

some pix to drool over

Here's a few pix of the motor being installed.

The motor is not all the way bolted in yet, I need to modify the trans mount cross-member. I've added more notes to the consideration post.

Here's the S54 tranny bolted to the V6 ready to be installed.


Here's the motor on it's way in.


Almost in.


The motors in position now but not bolted in.


Here's a few pix of the clearance with the V6 in.




More pix and info to come. I'll have detailed pix of the 2 mounts I need to fab.

 

Clearance issues

Now that I have the motor in place, I found that the only clearance problems I've had is with the tranny cross-member, which I will take pix of once I remove it to add some bracing where I cut it, and the stock rear exhaust manifold. The stock manifold angles down towards the driver’s side and points right at the tranny cross-member. Also, the O2 sensor fitting is too close to the steering rack to allow the installation of the O2 sensor. I can cut the manifold and position it to point straight down and at the same time rotate the pipe to point the O2 sensor in a position where it can be installed. I’ll have pix for comparison. Otherwise there is plenty of room all around the motor.

 

Carrier bearing/motor mount

Here's a comparison of the carrier bearing mounts. The mount on the left is the mount with the integrated motor mount. This is the mount I used. The mount on the right is the mount that came with the motor.

 

For the HP, I'm starting out stock, so something like 194 HP and 214 tq., at 10.75:1 compression. I am already thinking about bumping up the compression with custom pistons. I've read that Eagle 22R forged rods will work if you narrow the big end a bit. I definitely plan to keep the car N/A since I auto-cross race the car.

 

2/2/07: finally more progress

Tonight I finally made some more progress on my car. Last weekend I was out of town and this week I spent a bunch of time doing some finishing work on my master bathroom remodel. I also have a habit of over-engineering things I built.

Right now I am fabricating the front motor mount, the motor mount that attachs to the passenger side of the engine bay. I'm using the stock round rubber mount, which I cut off the bracket with the 2 studs, and am welding some new metal to bolt the bracket that attaches the motor to the mount. I'll have some pix of the finished product tomorrow after I finish welding it up.

 

3/3/07 - Progress report

This morning I finished the front motor mount (passenger side) and now the motor is sitting inside the engine bay on its own. Below is a pic of the mount. When I pull the motor back out, I'll get detailed pix of the mounts I fab'd.

I started assembling the rest of the stuff. Looks like the Camry power steering pump will work. The inlet hose fits right onto the fluid reservoir. The pressure hose is one long hose from the pump to the hard line on the rack. The fitting on the end of the pressure line is the same as on the Celica. The only problem is the Camry line is about 9" too long. It looks like the line from the Celica pump may work on the Camry pump.

The alternator is much larger than the Celica and barely fits. I changed the fuel rails and realized both types of fuel rails have the same bolt patterns, which I mistakenly thought was different. The fuel line from the rail just barely reaches the filter. I have to bend the hard line a little to make it reach.

I had to modify the rear exhaust manifold, a lot (pic below). Basically, I had to shorten and straighten the collector, point the O2 a different direction and rotate flange. Unfortunately, one of the shifter cables hits the manifold. I'm going to have to pull the cable away from the manifold and hope it doesn't bind the cable. I have the '95 upper intake on along with the VSV switches. Using this, I'll be able to use the Celica canister.

I started stripping the 3S-GE harness to get the "open circuit relay" for the fuel pump and the headlight retractor thingy.



Front motor mount:


Modified exaust manifold:

 

Here's the pin-out for the 4th connector on the main engine harness. This is the connector that connects to the chassis harness next to the ECU. Some of these wires will need to be integrated into the V6 harness.

1 BL/W - goes to ECU "SPD" (big conn. #6)
2 BK/Y - goes to Alt "IG"
3 Y - goes to EFI Main #1
4 Y/GR - water temp sender - to combo meter for water temp gauge
5 X - not used
6 Y/BL - not used
7 BL/GY - not used
8 R/BL - goes to reverse switch on tranny
9 R/BK - goes to reverse switch on tranny
10 BL/BK - goes to Circuit Open Relay & Diagnostic port (this wire goes to the fuel pump
11 OR - goes to ICS VSV & ECU (med conn. #7) & Circuit Open Relay
12 Y/BK - goes to oil pressure sender - to combo meter for oil press gauge
13 GR - goes to ECU (big conn. #19) "W" for C.E.L.
14 X - not used
15 X - not used
16 BK - goes to igniter & others
17 BR - goes to ground
18 X - not used
19 X - not used
20 X - not used

 

It's either 30 or 100 lbs lighter than the GTE. My guess is about 30 lbs lighter, but the motor is really small, so counting the turbo, ic, piping, etc., it may be 100 lbs lighter.

The 7tgh gen rims were my street rims and I ran 205-50 16's. They've been sitting in my garage since last summer. Once I get the car running, I'll probably want to start driving it on the steet again, on weekends and go back to using them. I wouldn't mind trading them for a set of the 15" 7th gen rims. I don't think I'd have enough sidewall if I used the 16's for auto-cross.

 

Update: 03/28/07

After spending countless hours looking through the wiring diagram for the Avalon and tracing wiring on the Celica, I am just about done with the wiring! I think the only thing left is the fuel pup (open circuit relay) and the radiator fans. I have a ton of notes that I will be compiling into some PDF documentation that I will post that should be useful to anyone interested.

 

Thanks, I didn't mean I was having problems figuring it out, thats just 1 of the few things left on my list to wire up. I'm using the wirign from the V6, which is a little different. I got it done tonight. I think I have just about all the wiring done. I need to find somewhere I can post a PDF file I am creating that has all the Celica wiring I've documented. www.photobucket.com doesn't like file with a non-image extension.