A little bit different "What Car" thread - 1UZFE swap candidates

I believe I am pretty close to retiring the '92 LS400. My plan when I bought this car for $500 almost 5 years ago was to replace the timing belt and swap the drivetrain into a Volvo 242 for the GRM challenge and potentially daily driver duty. However, the car turned out to be really nice and everything worked great, and my wife liked it. Well - happy wife, happy life, so it became her daily driver. Now I've fixed up a Volvo 850 turbo wagon and hope to make it her daily driver, it's in the "test" phase right now. Which means the LS400 gets to either be sold on or fulfill it's initial destiny. Since it has a salvage title and some (mild) body damage, I can't imagine getting more than $1000 out of it, and I can get close to that if I part it out and keep the drivetrain. Certainly enough to get the drivetrain to "free."

I've been having some trouble deciding on the destination for this sweet ass v8. The drawback is that it's Automatic only without a lot of expense. My skill level is medium to advanced, I can weld, wrench, and own a bizarre swapped car - the Chevonda from past Challenges - and so am somewhat familiar with the risks. My goals with this swap could be: (1) Lemons, (2) GRM Challenge, or, the wildcard - (3) Tow vehicle.

Wait, what? That's right, I currently have a C2500hd that I tow with, gets 12mpg empty or 8mpg towing. I've been thinking about something smaller and/or cooler than can still tow ~6k pounds. One of my thoughts was to use the Lexus drivetrain to restomod an older pickup into a tow vehicle. That seems less likely since it would be outside this engine's forte.

What say ye? Where do you think I should put this engine/auto transmission? What use should I put it to?

A small Toyota truck that's had a supra rear suspension conversion and dropped. Box flares. Lots of tire.

Miata.

Celica.

They are putting those motors in front of W5x boxes with an adapter plate. You could make your own adapter plate if you were super low budget.

I think it would tow great. I had a fuel pump issue with my RN Truck and Dr.Linda flat towed me 14 miles home with the LS400. She said that besides an occasional nudge from the tow strap taking up slack, she couldn't tell it was back there. I'm kinda tempted to put a hitch on the LS400. I mean, if you're going to tow, may as well be comfortable.

Small Toyota Truck: Good idea! Hard to find around here without rust, but I'll keep looking around.

Miata: I had thought of that, but for Lemons that would be too expensive. Amazingly, it has been done before! Not that I mind, this isn't going to be some trailblazing build for ego purposes. Just for fun.

@Hess, that would be awesome. I do wonder how it would hold up long term. The problem with using it for Lemons tow duty is you need room to haul spares, too! Maybe I should turn the LS400 into an LSamino.

Hmm:

http://columbus.craigslist.org/cto/2556807911.html

Why don't you just use the LS400 in Lemons and the Challenge? FMV it, nitrous, slicks, hang on.

Your typical V-8 swap candidates apply here for Challenge work: 1st & 2nd gen. RX-7, 1st gen. 240SX, Datsun Z-car, etc. You could also do a swap into a AE86 if you're feeling adventurous:

E30

Does this engine have any advantages over the 4.8 LS engine? Can it hold a turbo? Can the transmission handle increased power? GRM needs to know.

cwh wrote: Does this engine have any advantages over the 4.8 LS engine? Can it hold a turbo? Can the transmission handle increased power? GRM needs to know.

They are easily available for half the price, and catch on fire less? Other than that idk.

I've always wanted to swap a 1UZ into an old C10 Chevy truck. Not sure why and doesn't quite make sense for your purposes but I can't get the idea of a patina'd '67-'72 C10 with high revving import power out of my head.

I do dig the little yota truck with an IRS rear idea. I had a SC400 with a hitch and it towed really well. Got lots of looks when I used it to take loads to the salvage yard.

Second Gen Supra.

First Gen Celica.

Done.

Would one use MS or is there a carb for it... I've got on old 55 Dodge pickup....

dculberson wrote: Small Toyota Truck: Good idea! Hard to find around here without rust, but I'll keep looking around.

I just sold my '84 P/U with a bad motor last week. It was "relatively" rust free and the reason I didn't just scrap it. $325. To a guy in Columbus.

Oh well, I'm sure whatever you find will appreciate the transplant!

Another vote for the Toyota pickup. Being that they are relatively light, I bet you could have a tremendously fun little pickup and knock down mid-20s mpg. I'd start with the engine swap, add a rear sway bar and lowering blocks, and crank down the front torsion bars a bit. With a well sorted suspension I bet you wouldn't give up too much to the IRS set-up.

yet another for a toyota pickup...

'70s era "mini Mustang" Celica.

cwh wrote: Does this engine have any advantages over the 4.8 LS engine? Can it hold a turbo? Can the transmission handle increased power? GRM needs to know.

They'll hold a turbo. Or two. Or two with a supercharger on top. (Celica above is currently a twin turbo supercharged 1uzfe, motor is still stock, and making over 600whp.)

'32 Ford w/ engine bay side panels removed to show off cool V8.

I love the idea of an early Celica or even Corolla. They're tough to find around here, but I have had one before, until it got totalled being backed into. :-(

I'll start the hunt, it may be that the truck ends up being more likely due to availability.

@cwh: The main advantage over a 4.8LS is that I have one. It's aluminum, about 260hp 400 pounds, quad overhead cams, sounds really sweet with an open exhaust and intake. Very, very tough engines with a forged crank, 6-bolt mains, etc.

@4Msfam: There may be carb setups out there for them, but I would run stock fuel injection to start with and maybe MS later.

@92Celica: That's actually my plan for the '95 LS400 that I have, but the '92 I want to use for a swap. The '95 is more suited for Lemons/Challenge duty with larger brakes and lighter structure. (They used aluminum subframes, suspension uprights, etc starting in '95.) The '92 could be upgraded to the later brakes, but since I already have a '95, there's no sense in my doing so.

RexSeven wrote: Your typical V-8 swap candidates apply here for Challenge work: 1st & 2nd gen. RX-7, 1st gen. 240SX, Datsun Z-car, etc. You could also do a swap into a AE86 if you're feeling adventurous:

Ever seen Youtube videos of these things running?

http://youtu.be/b0TxISi6W0o

http://youtu.be/VDtNJ52SG84

A friend of mine is swapping one into an 86 cressida. He bought cad drawings online for motor mounts and a w5x trans adapter plate. He's going ms3 with it as well. If all goes reasonably well, i'll do the same into my mk2 supra.