Labor Day weekend proved to be all that was needed to put the wraps on my 1JZ swap project. Its been a looong road, but I intended to go slow and figure each problem out and find the best solution that would give me the best result. I think I have achieved that.
Looks
The engine bay looks beautiful. I wish I had a digital camera. With the battery and fuse block relocated to the rear of the car, there isn't a lot of wiring in the engine bay. Just the FAL electric fans, a couple grounds, and the wiring harness. No bling, just pure function and no clutter. Its beautiful!
The front-mount intercooler looks mean without the bumper on. If I saw that thing driving down the street, I wouldn't mess with it.
The rest of the car needs work. The previous owner didn't take care of the body and its not in the greatest shape. No rust, but there are dings, scratches, broken panels, and peeling paint everywhere. I'll have to start saving for some body work... ugh.
How It Drives
The starter doesn't like life right now and turns over less than half the time you turn the key. But once it starts, the growl of the engine is mean. It sounds different from the V6's I am used to. Not good, not bad, just different.
The RPS 6 puck clutch is easy to drive compared to the ACT 6 puck I am used to on my turbo Stratus R/T. The engagement point on the clutch pedal is very low and the clutch pedal is a bit mushy. I had to adjust the pedal already, but I don't think it was enough. I'll have to look more into that tonight.
With the power steering removed, the steering effort is pretty intense. My arms are gonna get buff from driving this thing
Once it gets moving, the steering becomes tolerable. However, the power steering rack leaves little feedback for the driver. I'll have to look into other options for manual steering racks.
Being 100% stock, the engine is very responsive. Revs quick and spools quicker. I think the response was diminished ever so slightly by the intercooler and piping that I fabricated, but its still OEM quick.
Torque is fine. I was afraid by some posts on this forum from guys saying the 1JZ was torqueless that it would be a peaky engine that needed to be revved high to get any power. But I was able to turn corners at 10-15 mph and stay in 4th gear without lugging the engine badly.
Amount of Work
Now that the swap is complete, I can look back on all that I have done and review whether it was all worth it. I believe that it was. My expectations were for a car with 300hp, OEM driveability, and the sky as the limit for modifications in the future. I believe that goal has been met.
I spent about $4000 on the swap (ordered full clip from Venus Auto), with the clip being about $2,000 and the intercooler, RPS clutch, FAL fans, alternator, water pump, piping materials, silicone couplers, battery box and lines, etc making up another $2,000 or so.
I fabricated my own engine mounts out of 3/8" steel, which was a pain, and fabricated my own intercooler pipes, which wasn't bad at all. I own a business doing performance fabrication and wiring for people, so I have experience in those areas. Newbies shouldn't try doing any of that.
The wiring was the worst part. Of course, I chose to go the extra mile and remove all the unnecessary wires from the car and moving the battery and fuse block to the rear of the car. To do all of that, I had to identify and locate every wire in the car with fairly inadequate wiring diagrams. Some were in japanese, others were hard to read. Some wires are different from my 86 to the 91 model year in some of the diagrams. But if you have a multimeter, you can usually figure it out by testing. I don't recommend attempting the wiring if you can't at least hook up a car stereo or A'pex-i S-AFC or equivalent. You'll need to be able to read wiring diagrams.
Overall
The engine bay looks great, everything works, and the drive is good. For a total cost of about $5,000 (including the donor 86.5 N/A chassis with blown engine) I have one mean machine. I would recommend the swap to anyone that has a do-it-yourself attitude and good strong mechanic/wiring abilities. Its no Honda engine swap, but its not that hard either. Especially if you have the money to buy the engine mount adapters and other items to make your life easier.
Looks
The engine bay looks beautiful. I wish I had a digital camera. With the battery and fuse block relocated to the rear of the car, there isn't a lot of wiring in the engine bay. Just the FAL electric fans, a couple grounds, and the wiring harness. No bling, just pure function and no clutter. Its beautiful!
The front-mount intercooler looks mean without the bumper on. If I saw that thing driving down the street, I wouldn't mess with it.
The rest of the car needs work. The previous owner didn't take care of the body and its not in the greatest shape. No rust, but there are dings, scratches, broken panels, and peeling paint everywhere. I'll have to start saving for some body work... ugh.
How It Drives
The starter doesn't like life right now and turns over less than half the time you turn the key. But once it starts, the growl of the engine is mean. It sounds different from the V6's I am used to. Not good, not bad, just different.
The RPS 6 puck clutch is easy to drive compared to the ACT 6 puck I am used to on my turbo Stratus R/T. The engagement point on the clutch pedal is very low and the clutch pedal is a bit mushy. I had to adjust the pedal already, but I don't think it was enough. I'll have to look more into that tonight.
With the power steering removed, the steering effort is pretty intense. My arms are gonna get buff from driving this thing
Once it gets moving, the steering becomes tolerable. However, the power steering rack leaves little feedback for the driver. I'll have to look into other options for manual steering racks.Being 100% stock, the engine is very responsive. Revs quick and spools quicker. I think the response was diminished ever so slightly by the intercooler and piping that I fabricated, but its still OEM quick.
Torque is fine. I was afraid by some posts on this forum from guys saying the 1JZ was torqueless that it would be a peaky engine that needed to be revved high to get any power. But I was able to turn corners at 10-15 mph and stay in 4th gear without lugging the engine badly.
Amount of Work
Now that the swap is complete, I can look back on all that I have done and review whether it was all worth it. I believe that it was. My expectations were for a car with 300hp, OEM driveability, and the sky as the limit for modifications in the future. I believe that goal has been met.
I spent about $4000 on the swap (ordered full clip from Venus Auto), with the clip being about $2,000 and the intercooler, RPS clutch, FAL fans, alternator, water pump, piping materials, silicone couplers, battery box and lines, etc making up another $2,000 or so.
I fabricated my own engine mounts out of 3/8" steel, which was a pain, and fabricated my own intercooler pipes, which wasn't bad at all. I own a business doing performance fabrication and wiring for people, so I have experience in those areas. Newbies shouldn't try doing any of that.
The wiring was the worst part. Of course, I chose to go the extra mile and remove all the unnecessary wires from the car and moving the battery and fuse block to the rear of the car. To do all of that, I had to identify and locate every wire in the car with fairly inadequate wiring diagrams. Some were in japanese, others were hard to read. Some wires are different from my 86 to the 91 model year in some of the diagrams. But if you have a multimeter, you can usually figure it out by testing. I don't recommend attempting the wiring if you can't at least hook up a car stereo or A'pex-i S-AFC or equivalent. You'll need to be able to read wiring diagrams.
Overall
The engine bay looks great, everything works, and the drive is good. For a total cost of about $5,000 (including the donor 86.5 N/A chassis with blown engine) I have one mean machine. I would recommend the swap to anyone that has a do-it-yourself attitude and good strong mechanic/wiring abilities. Its no Honda engine swap, but its not that hard either. Especially if you have the money to buy the engine mount adapters and other items to make your life easier.
