eng1nerd

iTrader: (2)

After my buddy showed up this morning first stop was picking up the clutch from being reworked, and the fly wheel/pressure plate from being resurfaced. It went together pretty easy.



Dropped the old oil pan and windage tray in favor of one that agrees with the cross member. Took a look at the bottom end while it was apart and everything looks good.




I'll throw this out there for anyone interested in this swap. When putting the motor in REMOVE THE INTAKE. We didn't and while it fits it is a huge PITA. It didn't occur to either of us until after it was in that we would have had a lot more room with that out of the way.



The other part that is pretty tricky is getting the headers installed. The passenger side wasn't bad other than having to drop the k-member to get it in. To get the driver side in we had to pull the steering knuckle (need to anyhow since is runs through the header) and the fuel lines to get it in.


Here is how it sits now.



I still have a lot of work to do in details and wiring but the heavy lifting is all out of the way. I also started looking at how I was going to get cruise control routed and working...for now I think that is going to be on hold. I'm going to get the swap done and the car back on the road then dig into adding cruise back in later. I'll leave all those pieces of the harness in place for later.

eng1nerd

iTrader: (2)

I forgot to mention that I had to plug the F-body dipstick hole in the block too. I ran an M10 tap down it while the pan was still off and loctite'd a flat head bolt in there. Looked like a pretty clean fix when I was done.

omc8

iTrader: (7)

Which walbro did you get ?

eng1nerd

iTrader: (2)

I missed that question before. I picked up a GSS342 since it works with the Lexus sending unit.

I'm not sure what I'm doing for a file pressure regulator. Would the one on the trans am work or am I going to need something else?

omc8

iTrader: (7)

Thanks for the reply back , Im trying to figure what walbro to use in my swap is why I ask. I guess Im going to have to pull sending unit out and take a look to see.

eng1nerd

iTrader: (2)

This is where I got my info and the instructions I am going to use when I actually pull the old fuel pump.

http://my.is/forums/f221/diy-walbro-...s-alot-409785/

Like I said before though I don't know what I'll be doing for a fuel pressure regulator. Still need to figure that out.

eng1nerd

iTrader: (2)

While the car doesn't look much different I got several things done today. After work I dropped off the drive shaft to be lengthened (as it turns out you can lengthen a drive shaft). It should be ready tomorrow even though I am leaving town for the holiday and can't pick it up until next week.

Here are the Trans Am (aluminum) driveshaft, and the Lexus (2 piece) driveshaft).


I was also able to get my adapter for the master cylinder made at work today. I am incredibly spoiled and I know it! One of our machinists at work had some open time on the CNC mill so he helped me out a bit.

Instead of using studs or long set screws we decided to counter bore and locktite bolts into the adapter.

Here is a shot of the old and the new.

Once I got home from the driveshaft shop I started in on installing the master cylinder.





Once the MC was in an hooked up to the pedal I figured I should finally get the steering knuckle back in. With it living inside the driver side header this was a challenge. I ended up having to drop the steering column to get enough clearance. While I was able to pull this off on my own I would really recommend getting a second set of hands to put this together.

You can kind of see how little room there is to work in there.


On to the third and final task of the night...make the shifter fit the tunnel. We had pulled the top of the shifter assembly when the motor and trans went in. I marked roughly where I was going to notch.

And here is how it looks now.

red04montels

iTrader: (1)

this is absolutely badass!

You don't happen to be selling any parts off the donor car do you? If so pm me, may be interested!

eng1nerd

iTrader: (2)

Once I get to the point I know I won't need any other parts from it the TA is getting parted out.

Stancel

iTrader: (8)

Is the header touching the chassis on the drivers side?

eng1nerd

iTrader: (2)

No, there is a shadow under that line that is deceiving. There is clearance between both headers and frame rails.

red04montels

iTrader: (1)

keep me in mind! haha

can't wait to see some updates on this bad boy!

D_Eclipse9916

I never knew these things were swappable. Awesome.

ig109

Looks sweet.. would love to build something like that for the wife to DD.. Perhaps one day US cars will carry the same quality of the Japan cars and we can stop swapping..

Thumper28

iTrader: (4)

Nice progress. You have been working a nice rate, about 10x faster than my swap. The master cylinder adapter looks great.

eng1nerd

iTrader: (2)

Thanks man. I told my wife I figured I could do the swap in 3-4 weeks so I have some real incentive there to get it done. That and with the recent weather I haven't been riding the bike to work like I planned, instead it is the 3/4 ton, 11 mpg truck everyday...more reason to finish.

Oh and if you liked that adapter you will like the intake I'm working on to use the IS MAF.

eng1nerd

iTrader: (2)

One of my buddies at work lives just around the corner from the drive shaft shop so he picked it up for me last night and brought it to work. Here you can see the difference between the stock IS300 drive shaft and the "new" aluminum one.


It fit perfect and was actually really easy to get in.


You can see where the exhaust comes out in this pic.


The rear end is pretty beefy too! I don't think I'll have any issues with this set up.


While I was under the car I got the K-member bolted back up since it was still hanging from getting the headers in. I'm hoping this week (after work of course) I can get all the hoses/lines figured out and ordered. Then Saturday is dedicated to wiring. Wish me luck with that.

ig109

Good luck!! for me the fun part was always what you have done.. the mounting and hard part building.. I hate the wiring and hoses.. seems that is the part that has taken the most time on my build..

eng1nerd

iTrader: (2)

So this is my "study" session for tomorrows big test. I have more wiring diagrams and pinouts than I know what to so with. It looks like a LOT of stuff is just getting cut out and a hand full of wires need to get hooked up. I just need to be sure I get the right hand full before soldering.

eng1nerd

iTrader: (2)

Today was a long day, but very productive. I probably could have gotten all of the wiring done today if I wasn't so picky about the way I do things. Since this is my car and I plan to keep it for quite a while I not only want it to be right but I want to be able to work on it later on.

First step was to pull the Lexus ECU and harness to strip some wires.



Here is the engine harness out of the car "pre-diet".


All this crap (and more later) came out of that harness.


This is all of the 2JZ motor harness that went back in, it has connectors for MAF, A/C, Ambient air temp, starter, and some trans stuff I need to sort out for back up lights.



Re-installed with the thinner harness, and done with this portion.



When we moved over to the GM side of things the intake came back off to get to the loom on the back of the motor.


I didn't get any pictures of the LS1 harness but it was a giant mess of wires that got thinned out similar to the 2JZ.

This is what took so much longer but makes the swap serviceable. Any place where the two harnesses were soldered together and or loomed together I added connectors to be able to pull the motor with less hassle should I ever need to.
Here is where the Lexus MAF meets the GM loom to run over to the passenger side.


This is right below that connecting the Lexus ECU (piggyback) to the GM temp sensor. Since they use the same voltage range I am using one to run both for the LS ECU and IS gauge.


This one isn't quite finished up yet but ties the MIL, Tach, Fuel Pump, Brake Switch, OBDII, Switched Ignition, and maybe back-up lights. The connector is on the firewall just over the passenger side header.


To keep the factory look (and save me from having to but some) I cut connectors out of the Trans Am body harness to splice all the harnesses together.