MickyG's MX-73 to 7M-GE Swap

[IJ.]

Oh Mickey You're so fine,
Youre so fine you blow my mind.
Hey Mickey
Hey Mickey
Oh Mickey Youre so Fine,
Youre so Fine You Blow My Mind
Hey Mickey
Hey Mickey

 

[mickyg]

Not only has he spoken, he's... SUNG!

Not sure what you want pics of - the lines in question? I can re-highlight the diagram from a few pages back but that's the best I can do when I'm at work.

 

[IJ.]

Yep just circle the suspect areas Micky

 

[mickyg]

Will do!

 

[mickyg]

How bout these:

The top shows the "end of line" connection I mentioned (and yes Ian, you did advise about this one the other day but I already have two lines going to the vacuum reservoir). The bottom one shows the fitting on the top of the plenum. Sorry they're so small!

 

[IJ.]

Trace the hardline from memory it goes nowhere at it's other end.

NFI on the other one sorry!
(it's been so long since I was na)

 

[mickyg]

Hardline goes to BVSV on the thermostat housing, which goes to just before throttle plate. If I recall correctly, there are no other taps on that line at all. I'll need to look at the emissions section of the TSRM to see if that other end goes to the charcoal canister. It has to be that though, cause what does the BVSV do otherwise?

 

[mickyg]

OK, BVSV is definitely for the charcoal canister. If the routing is as it shows in the diagram, the only other port on the whole line is the one I've circled at the "end" of the hardline. So this has to be where the canister connects.

I'm still not clear on the top port though - my guess was climate control stuff but this doesn't appear to use an engine vacuum source from the diagrams I've got access to. I spose if in doubt, cap it off!

Last but not least, if I eliminate the fuel pressure VSV, can I just route a soft line in its place? That will give the regulator a constant feed to the vacuum on that line. The only other option was to cap it off, which means there's never vacuum applied to the regulator.

 

[mickyg]

Here's what I've been up to the last few days:

One of about 3 broken parts that had to be fixed (thermo sensor, TPS, knock sensor lead was cut about 1 inch from the loom, the oxy sensor wire broken, etc...):

Temporary VSV mounting while I come up with a better way to mount it (can't decide if remotely mounting the vsv with the tank is the best way to do it - I didn't want to extend yet another wire if I could help it!):

Trans connectors are swapped over and heat shrinked (then taped for good measure). The six pin one was a simple repin and then an extension of two wires that aren't on the A340 loom but are on the A43 (just the dash lights for P and D actually). The 4 pin required replacing wires:

And the in cabin part - this is the big one! That opaque white connector (I'm calling it B2) is the only connector besides B1 in the cressy. All of the Supra B2 connectors go to it, as well as a few from the Supra B1. I have all the Supra B1 swapped to the Cressy one, except 2 that I still have to sort. Then the M1 connections will be spliced in:

So not a whole lot left really! As soon as it's running and I have wheels again, I'll replace the temp stuff (add fuel pressure VSV, add power steering hardline, more securely mount the vacuum reservoir, etc...).

 

[mickyg]

Today:

Wiring is 100% done! Only thing left is to recheck everything (for about the 5th time it seems!) and put her in.

Also got my throttle/transmission cable bracket mod done. I've offset the bracket by about an inch to get my cables positioned correctly. Not that difficult really, just used some all-thread instead of the stud and bolt on the stock one, then fashioned a simple metal bracket to hold it away from the TB (don't worry, pics are coming to help explain).

Tomorrow should be the day but no promises - I don't want to jinx myself!

 

[mickyg]

FRUSTRATION!!!

Never have I had such bad luck with anything! Today I've managed to get the engine in the car, get the wiring all done and yet I still manage to get delayed by about 3 hours with stupid, retarded, assenine things.

Let's see, I:

• Lost half the contents of my petrol tank (most of it ended up on me, of course)
• misplaced multiple tools, resulting in at least an hour of mind numbing searching
• could not for the life of me get the air conditioning compressor bolts to accept anything other than a plain old spanner, resulting in 10 minutes per bolt!
• and finally, the best of all - the heater hose to firewall refuses to go on the pipe! I've pushed, twisted, cursed, pulled, poked, sworn some more and it's still only just barely started!!!

 

[mickyg]

OK. Now that I've vented, I can take a step back and report on what's left.

I've done everything except:

• reinstall the bottom engine tray (don't remember what it's called and I'm wrecked)
• Put exhaust back on
• Reinstall tailshaft
• fill coolant and flush

The good news is that the starter works! I turned it over without the igniter plugged in, just to get fuel back in the rail and oil into the passages.

I'm hoping for a first start this week!

 

[JustAnotherVictim]

Don't let it get to you now, finish up that sucker.

 

[mickyg]

Don't you worry about that, it's my mission in life at this stage!

 

[IJ.]

Running yet?

 

[mickyg]

Tonight:

• Found out my new 7M fan is just slightly too big in diameter, and just that little bit lower on the engine, that it hits the bottom of the fan shroud. So remove shroud or revert to smaller fan? I chose to remove the shroud, for now.
• Discovered my power steering lines are dangerously close to aforementioned fan, but don't have any idea how to route them any differently without completely replacing them.
• Reinstalled tailshaft but will need to move the car off the ramps before I can tighten one last bolt.
• Put exhaust back on.

 

[mickyg]

Running yet?

Oh, and ah, yeah - It is!!!

SUCCESS, My Friends!!!

Vids will be up soon but I primed the fuel system, checked for leaks, saw none and about the 4th key turn it stayed running on it's own!

It's idling terribly but it's likely timed just as badly so tomorrow I'll fix that up. For now, it's off to bed with a huge sigh of relief!

 

[IJ.]

Well Done Micky!

 

[mickyg]

Thanks man - could not have come even remotely close without you!

I hope to get the last few things done tonight so I can start driving it. I still need to fill the transmission with fluid and have no idea where you obtain a small enough funnel to make that happen. The filler neck is microscopic!

I'm contemplating putting the shroud back on with the original fan (but with the new clutch) but am a bit worried about the allignment again. The 7M has the pump shaft about half an inch lower than the 5M, by just eyeballing it. No idea why but there must have been a design reason for it.

Also found my overflow bottle on the radiator comes very close to the alternator pulley. I've bent the mount enough that there's a gap but I don't much like it. I think the main cause is a non-standard alternator. The one I've always had was a 5 groove pulley type and the std 5M is meant to be 7. I always just assumed it was from a later model cressida but after looking at numerous pics of MX83 and MA70 7Ms, I think it's just a totally different alternator! As a result, the pulley sits lower and the belt length is shorter than what's required stock. So if I were to break down and get the proper alternator, the overflow bottle issue would likely resolve itself.

That leaves the power steering lines. I really don't know what I'm going to do there. The 5M mounts the pump up high, so the lines are necessarily long. With the new location of the pump, I've got this massive bend. It looks like the hard lines and soft are one piece though so it's not a simple matter of cutting the rubber down (at least as far as I know).

When this is all done, I plan to do a proper writeup and identify all the pitfalls that I didn't know about prior to diving in!

 

[IJ.]

Lines might end up being custom ones using parts from PirTek, Allan can tell you the part numbers as he's just done it.