My 944 1uz-fe V8 swap
- Thread starter Eldavo
- Start date
Cheers Ross. Today the V8 arrived, a bit manky but hey it's spent its whole life in an unloved LS400 engine bay, i'll make it good as new again.
I got to business and fitted the Fidanza flywheel, i have also removed the sump pan and lower sump casing in preparation for the first dummy fitting this weekend.
Once the dummy fitting and basic fabrication is out of the way this engine will get a complete teardown, overhaul and rebuild with a nice colour scheme to match the car, i'm still at the start of a very long road.
Diver944
Active member
Thanks Paul [
] I don't know much about Lexus but a 4 litre V8 that only makes 260/270 does not sound very inspiring in standard tune (though I'm sure the actual sound is lovely [8D] ) There was a guy trying to sell a 944 with a Lexus V8 installedlast year, but the height of his engine meant the bonnet had a horrible 'power bulge' to accomodate everything. Keep us updated with your progress, it's always nice to see someone go down a different route to the ordinary []nicksonmsport
New member
looks good mate! look forward to seeing the end product! if once you get it all in and fancy a bit more power, i have a few customers running the 1uz with superchargers/turbos at 500-600bhp on stock internals! very good engine
Yes Paul the stock figure is nothing to brag about, but remember that torque figure is spread all over the rev range, basically it will have instant torque everywhere instead of a specific RPM/load when you get some power, it will be a completely different animal power delivery wise than stock and the goal for now is just to get the stock V8 working then major tuning will come later, these 1uz engines are bombproof and can be tuned to silly levels on stock internals, of course there's the sound too Yeah i was looking to buy that particular car instead of building my own, there were things i was not happy with though and the power bulge can be done a lot nicer, bodywork is one of my strengths so i'll be making a really nice subtle bulge that compliments the 944, not looking stuck on. NMS, you are exactly the guy i need to speak to at some point, we carry out a lot of SC and turbo installs ourselves on 1mz-fe, 3vz-fe, 2gr-fe and 3s-gte engines but i have never charged a 1uz, so i'll be bending your ear if you don't mind. Do you have a parts list or kits you supply for supercharged 1uzs? One of my main concerns is overtuning the car, does anyone know what the stock 2.5 NA gearbox will hold power/torque wise? I'd rather keep it detuned and safe, although i do have plans to use the O1E 6 speed at some point, i think they are rated for over 500bhp.
Yeah i was looking to buy that particular car instead of building my own, there were things i was not happy with though and the power bulge can be done a lot nicer, bodywork is one of my strengths so i'll be making a really nice subtle bulge that compliments the 944, not looking stuck on. NMS, you are exactly the guy i need to speak to at some point, we carry out a lot of SC and turbo installs ourselves on 1mz-fe, 3vz-fe, 2gr-fe and 3s-gte engines but i have never charged a 1uz, so i'll be bending your ear if you don't mind. Do you have a parts list or kits you supply for supercharged 1uzs? One of my main concerns is overtuning the car, does anyone know what the stock 2.5 NA gearbox will hold power/torque wise? I'd rather keep it detuned and safe, although i do have plans to use the O1E 6 speed at some point, i think they are rated for over 500bhp.
Diver944
Active member
Not many people will have much factual knowledge regarding strength of the 2.5 NA gearbox because everyone uses the Turbo gearbox when they tune up their Turbos. We always bang on about tuning up the most powerful car in the range because it already has beefier brakes, suspension and engine to start with. I appreciate your project is totally different because of your V8 engine experience so I am genuinely looking forward to seeing (and hearing) it [8D] My own Turbo was putting out 393bhp and 480lbft through the standard box with no problems for the 10,000 miles that I had it, but the 'Cup' clutch it had was overpowered once we went past the 400lbft threshold. At that point we needed a custom setup that used a 930 disk and a KEP pressure plate from the States
Diver944
Active member
Actually no, it wasn't an on/off animal, but that's because it had a 3.2L engine and a ball bearing hybrid turbocharger that in hindsight we erred on the side of caution. It spooled up so quickly that it hit 1.1 bar by 3100rpm delivering all it's power and torque very low down in the rev range - almost like a modern turbodiesel. In fact it hit the peak torque of 480lbft by 3500rpm and started tailing off to 300 by the redline. Your 4L V8 has torque everywhere so will feel very smooth initially and I imagine that will continue to do so once you add a turbo or supercharger [8D] - so get twisting those spanners QUICKLY
George Elliott
New member
With Porsche's traditional approach to building sports cars, form followed function. If you looked at any feature on the car, there was a reason for it being the way it was. Lighter Stronger more durable more powerful more aerodynamic safer necessary for motor sport and frequently because it was cheaper to use mother Volkswagens parts bin, than to tool up and reinvent the wheel. For me and a few others I have met, those features made their product design pure. So when I look at this idea, I ask myself : why? If there is a quicker lap at Spa or the Ring, then I am all for it. All credit for undertaking the project and all the challenges it presents, and for selecting a top class engine. George 944t
Hi George, i guess the why is simply i want a V8 944, the torque, the sound, the reliability and ultimately tunability of this engine all tick my boxes. I wouldn't dare mess with the cars styling or interior though, that is all of the cars charm for me. My favourite view is looking at those hips in my door mirror! I know where you're coming from though, and i know the purists among you will wince at such a conversion, i hope the end product shows how good something like this can be. Right, not much to update today as parts delivery has been slow, but i have managed to hunt down and buy the holy grail of 1uz-fe engine parts, a Soarer sump, pickup pipe and dipstick, these will make crossmember fitting somewhat easier....
Clutch sourced and test fitted on the 944 shaft...
Spaghetti all worked out, man i love it, the harder the wiring job the better as far as i'm concerned, i thrive on difficult wiring...
I was hoping tomorrow would be a test fitting day, but the BH adapter has not arrived yet.
George Elliott
New member
Paul, looking at some of your achievements, this 948 will be a good job. I have always fancied the inverse of this, a 928 lightweight, 1200kg with 4 cylinder turbo and 5 speed manual, it would be a very quick car, and handle extremely well. I suppose you could call it a 924??[8|] 924 turbo [
] The wiring.....do you steer clear of modern CAN BUS stuff, or is that part of the challenge too? George 944tYesterday i deleted the EGR, ditched a lot of uneccesary crap from the 1uz engine and fitted my 944 brake master cylinder onto the BMW hydroboost unit, i did have to shave 2mm of material from the 944 MC to get it to fit, but otherwise it was a perfect match. It looks like i "may" have to alter the left strut tower braces to get the hydroboost unit to fit, so i will need to reinforce the strut tower with some 4mm plate and add stiffeners inside the strut tower (strut side, inner wing area) , this should mean no loss of strength and clearance for the HB unit. I am also going to drop the crossmember 3/4" and relocate the suspension arm pivot point to suit. All good fun.
Ok so today the adapter plate came from XSchop, and a nicely made item it is too, so i bolted it up to the 944 torque tube and attached my 1uz auto bellhousing, remember this is all just dummy fitting work at the moment, it all needs to come apart again for the final refit, this is just to carry out fabrication work in the engine bay etc.
Now the faint hearted among you may want to look away at this point, graphic 944 grinder action about to happen! There is an area of bulkhead that fouls the V8, now something has to give, and the engine is not going to move out of the way, so this area of the firewall needs cutting out and remodelling....
This will be built up stronger than before but curved around the head of the V8 for clearance. With no clutch fitted the engine swung straight into the bay and bolted up in minutes to the bellhousing...... et voila one V8 944....
Of course it isn't that simple, there is still a mountain of work to do, the Soarer sump i bought is not going to work at all, sometimes you have to spend money to find these things out, so i will be making my own sump from scratch. By this weekend the engine will be hanging on its new mounts and some real fabrication can begin, then by next week everything back apart for engine bay painting etc. Those with a nervous disposition can uncover your eyes now
George Elliott
New member
Interesting to see this Paul, you kept the engine well back in the bay which is good IMO and a bit of surgery to the bulkhead will be worth it. Is the sump integral to the engine block structure or just a container? You thought of dry sump, it may help overcome issues, ------ but cause too many others?? Good to see maximum space for intercoolers at the front - forward thinking obviously[] This work reminds me of a Porsche Project with Mercedes in the early 90's when they added the 32v 5.0Ltr from the SL500 of the day to a W124 Saloon and created the 500E / E500. They chickened out on right hand drive production unfortunately. keep up the good work George 944t
] This work reminds me of a Porsche Project with Mercedes in the early 90's when they added the 32v 5.0Ltr from the SL500 of the day to a W124 Saloon and created the 500E / E500. They chickened out on right hand drive production unfortunately. keep up the good work George 944tHi George.
The sump is made up of two sections, a cast alloy upper pan that bolts to the engine and a lower steel belly that holds the pickup pipe. Sadly going dry sump is not an option because i have nowhere on this engine i can mount the pump without huge modification. It is going to be easier for me to just make a new all in one steel sump that clears everywhere i need it to.
Posts made and opinions expressed are those of the individual forum members
Use of the Forum is subject to the Terms and Conditions
