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

Update: 03/29/07

Well, I think I have all the wiring figured out and connected. Right now everything is connected temporarily by twisting the ends together and taping them off. Once I get the car running and tested I'll connect everything properly with soldier and shrink tube. Must of the wires are abot 6" to 8" too long anyway, so most of them will be cut and shortened.

So far I've tested the fuel pump, headlights, dome light, hazard lights, horn and ignition switch. I have no extra wires left over from the fuse/relay box. Now I just need to verify the extra wires coming from the Avalon fuse/relay box.

 

Update: PDF of wiring posted.

Thanks to Isgheero, I have posted a PDF with the wiring info I compiled while merging the V6 and Celica wiring. This PDF is a compilation of my notes (which have a few blanks I need to fill in) and can be used doing a non plug-and-play swap, plug-and-play being something like from a 3S-FE to a 3S-GE. The file should contain all the wiring that connects to the main engine harness that would be left un-terminated when the engine, ecu and harness are removed. The file is not specific to my swap. You would still need to figure out were the wiring from your swap would join to the wiring of your Celica. I can provide some info specific to my swap, but it would probably only apply to the V6 with the same ecu/harness I have used. I think I will add some info that is generic enough to help figure out how to wire your specific swap. For example, I could explain where I wired the starter from the ignition switch, the AM1 fuse, the RTR fuse, etc.

Let me know if I should include anything else to this PDF while things are still fresh on my mind and my wiring is still somewhat exposed.

PDF: http://lanspeed-fun.com/st162/4th_gen_wiring_info.pdf

 

Update: 04/12/07

Well I've been busy this week and last, but not much time spent on the car. I did waste about 3 evenings trying to reconfigure the back side exhaust manifold only to realize all I had to do was to change the direction of the O2 sensor and pull the shifter cables into the cabin a little by separating them a little. I'll also put the heat shields back on the manifolds and wrap the shifter cables to insulate them. I removed the Camry fuel pump from the assembly, so it's ready to be swapped into the Celica. Hopefully tomorrow I will have my tranny issue resolved. I don't think Toysport is going to come through, what a surprise. The local yard I bought my S54 tranny from is going to give me full credit on a Camry/Solara tranny. I'll just have to pay the difference of about $150 or $200. Still won't have an LSD, but will have a tranny with a diff. that has gearing to match the motor. I can get an MR2 tranny later to take the LSD out and put in the Camry tranny. Using the Camry tranny, I'll need to use Alltrac axles and rear and side tranny mounts. I wont need to modify the intermediate shaft (moving the bearing inbound).

 

Update: 04/13/07

I had a couple hours this morning to work on my car before our company woke up. I got the heater hoses set up. Turns out the Celica and the V6 both use 5/8" heater hose. I just bought a 5' length and cut to length. I need a new return fuel line as the one from the GE is about 2" too short. I started removing the fuel tank to swap in the Camry fuel pump. I'm barrowing Adrian's idea for routing the radiator hoses by using 1 1/4" copper pipes and 90* fittings. On the V6, the water outlet is on top between the front 2 cylinders and the inlet is at the rear of the engine (tranny side) towards the top. So the outlet has to be routed to the center of the top of the radiator and the inlet needs to be routed down, above the tranny mount and in front of the exhaust manifold, to the lower right side of the radiator. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get the fuel pump swap completed, and the copper pipes soldiered together.

 

Update: 04/14/07

Well, I spent half the day getting the Camry fuel pump setup in the fuel tank and the other half looking for a short stick of 1 1/4" copper pipe. Looks like I am going to have to buy a full 10' stick, even though I only need about 4'.

 

Update: 04/15/07 & 04/16/08

Yesterday I got the fuel tank reinstalled and pick up a 5' stick of 1 1/4" copper pipe. Turns out I only needed a 16" peice and a 17" peice and 3 90* street el bows. I also finally installed the GTS 3 peice rear spoiler that I've had sitting in the garage for a while.

Tonight I soldiered up the copper pipes. I have some pipe insulation tape I'll wrap the copper with to help insulate the pipe. I got the copper pipe idea from Adrian. Since I'm pretty much just waiting for a tranny, I started working on my strut tube project I've been waiting to do. I think I'm just going to use my existing tranny, or trade it for a Camry tranny, which has a better final drive ratio for the engine.

 

I know, I'm really getting impatient myself. I should have the tranny issue resolved in the next day or 2. That's the big hold up right now. Once I get the tranny, I can order the clutch, axles, mounts, etc. I would suggest visiting the MR2 owner's forum. They have a V6 sub-forum. You could probably get some info for comparisons between your 2 motor choices. I would say that the V6 swap would be just as easy or difficult as a turbo motor swap. I have most if not all the wiring necessary documented.

 

Update: 04/22/07

I haven't updated my progress in a couple days, so here goes:

The other day, after I put the new cooling lines on, I put the hood on to make sure it fits under the hood and it does.

Here's a shot of the top cooling line:


Here's a few pix of the firewall clearance, which is plenty:

 

Side project

While I'm waiting for my tranny, I took the opportunity to do one of my projects I have wanted to do. For the front struts, I wanted to lower the tube 1"to give an extra 1" of travel to the dampener. This mod only applies when using a stock length dampener.

This pic shows the strut tubes with all the parts removed. The tube on the right is a mock-up of where the hub mount will go. To do this mod., I had to sacrifice a set of front tubes to get the hub mounts from. Basically to do this, I cut the bottom of the strut tube through the side of the weld at the bottom. Then I drilled the 3 spot welds on the side of the hub mount. You can see the 3 holes I drilled in the center hub mount in the pic. If you look at the hub mount on the right, you can see the 3 factory spot welds. I also ground 1 of the 2 spot welds that attach the brake line bracket. This will also need to be moved up 1". And of course I removed the stock spring mount, which is not needed with the "coil-overs". To remove the hub mount on the final strut tube, I cut it just above the weld on the bottom, and then cut along the length of the mount to split it, as can be seen on the bracket on the left.


In this pic., you can see the hub mount and brake line bracket reattached to the strut tub. This took some time to get right as I needed to make sure the mount was attached straight. What I did was to mark the tube were the top of the mount should be, and then installed the strut tub onto the hub by bolting it on. When I had everything lined up correctly, I spot welded the bracket in place, removed the tube and welded it up. I reattached the brake line bracket as well. I also cut a slot in the bracket line bracket to allow for the removal of the strut tube assembly without disconnecting the brake line.


I am currently working on a peice of metal to weld around the outside of the strut tube to support the "coil-over" threaded collar. when I get that done, I'll weld it on and paint the tub, and do this to the other side.

 

Well, for the timing belt, there's more room in front of the motor than the 4, so theoretically, it should be easier, or at least no more of a pita than the 4.

The rear 3 spark plugs will require removing the upper intake manifold, which you have to do on the Camry (and others) anyway. So that would be typical for this motor. The upper intake is attached with 4 bolts on the front of the intake which makes it easy to remove. There's no distributor, so no cap/rotor/wires to replace.

It's hard to see in the pix, but there is really a lot of room around the motor. It's almost like this motor was made for this car.

 

Update: 04/29/07

Well, I finally decided to stop waiting for a tranny and just use my S54. So now I'm going to start making progress again. So now I need to get a new pressure plate, some gaskets, some exhaust work, modify the intermediate axle shaft and install some gauges. There's a bunch of a little things to do as well. This weekend was an auto-cross race, so I got no work done. Next weekend, I'm taking my wife down to the CA for to stay for 2 weeks, so that weekend is shot, but for the next 2 weeks I'll be able to work late without my wife calling me in from the garage at a reasonable hour. The weekend after next is our next week, which I'm hoping to debut my car. If not, for sure for the June event.

 

Great catch on the electrolysis, I completely forgot about that. I'll have to keep that in mind when I fill up the engine with coolant. My plan is to someday have a custom aluminum radiator built with 1 extra row and the inlet and outlet in the correct spots so I can use factory Camry hoses.

 

Update: 05/03/07

As much as I hated to do it, I pulled the motor out, and it actually was easier to pull than the 3S motor. Probably because it is shorter. Now I can bolt on the flywheel, the clutch, my trany and then put it back in, this time for good. After spending about 5 months trying to getting a converted turbo MR2 trany with an LSD and then a Camry trany, I decided to use my S54 trany for now. The only cost will be a new pressure plate for the V6 flywheel, the passenger side intermediate shaft modified and a different carrier bearing. I'll need a bearing with a larger outside diameter to fit into the carrier bearing support. I'm also looking at getting the Findanze aluminum flywheel, which weights half as much as the cast flywheel.

My front strut tubes are painted and ready to be installed. I'm modifing the rears by removing the stock lower spring mount

 

I'm back off track again. Monday I bolted on my S54 tranny and tried to install the intermediate shaft only to find that it is about 1/4" closer to the side of the block. This means the carrier bearing does not line up. I could have the bottom of the carrier bearing support machined, but I'm not sure of the exact amount I would need to remove. I don't want to take a chance of getting it wrong and binding the bearing. So I'm back to looking for a Camry/Solara 5-speed tranny. If anyone knows where I can get one, I would greatly appreciate knowing about it.

 

I have thought of that and I am probably going to look into that some more. One thing I need to be sure of is that the axle is only closer to the block and not off center also, like up or down. I have an extra carrier mount that I can mock-up to figure out exactly what would need to be machined. Doing this is far less expensive than going with the Camry tranny.

 

I measured it last night and the amount I would have to remove is just a few .001s more than the thickness of the mounting "flange" of the support. So the only way to make this work would be to cut off the flange, remove the required amount and then have someone weld the flange back on, since it's cast iron and I dont have a way to weld cast iron. So it's back to looking for a Camry/Solara tranny. Anyone know were I can get a E153 tranny? I have a really nice S54 I could do a part trade with (maybe 2 S54 trannys if the spare in my garage doesn't get picked up by its owner).

 

Hmm, that might be a better option since it's pretty rare to find a Camry/Solara manual trans. At least with the axle support, those are the same between auto and manual, if it gets messed up, I can easily get another one. Besides shipping, how much is this going to cost me?