My 944 1uz-fe V8 swap

[ja944cab]

I love the 944, ticks all the boxes for me. The mr2's I had to make an effort to go out in them and leave the family behind, the 944 did more miles in the first 6 months than the mr2's did in several years because I can take the whole crew out with me. The power delivery is the most obvious difference to drive, the huge lag then massive splurge of the 944 compared with the great linear delivery of the v6sc. To be fair, that v6sc is the best engine I've ever driven, decent forced induction power, delivered like a n/a, in that skinny little car. But the 944 turbo's crazy surge has a huge appeal aswell. Be interesting to see how this conversion bridges those two characteristics. Have you looked into doing anything with rx8's? The bottom has fallen out of those because of the short rotary life and they were always a bit underpowered, perfect candidate for some twobrutal treatment

 

[Woodsport]

I have actually done quite a lot of research into a viable RX8 engine and it would be using the 1mz-fe turned in line mated to an Altezza 6 speed, it would need a lot of work but definitely doable. I bought an Altezza gearbox for this very purpose so the plan is to convert one at some point, problem is i'm so busy with all of the Mr2s i rarely get time to try new things, i'm doing my 944 after work and weekends. I know exactly what you mean about the 944 v Mr2, as much as i love my Mr2 there is no comparison to the 944, also one of the best handling cars i've ever driven.

 

[ja944cab]

Haha, you're not shy of ideas that "need a lot of work" I saw your v8 mr2 for sale on pistonheads, did it work out ok in the end? I would have loved that rs4 lump in mine had it been more legit.(my toe is better now BTW)

 

[Woodsport]

I sold that on as an unfinished project, i proved the concept that a V8 Mr2 could be built, but as for it being a good road car it wasn't.... too noisy, too hot in the cabin and just too much torque for such a small car, but i proved it could be done so that was mission accomplished. The current owner appears to have painted it, not sure if any of the other work it needed to finish has been done. Update time.... I stripped the V8 down to the bare bones, i have to say for a 1993 engine with over 100k on it i'm amazed by the condition of it all, this has been seriously looked after, perfect bores, you can still see the original honing marks...

The heads are near mint...

Internals are pretty spotless...

I was going to rebuild this engine but on inspection there really is no point, it's as fresh as they come, so it is getting a full degrease, new seals and gaskets, and a full detailing job.... I spent time on the cam covers getting them very clean and finished in Pepper white, a BMW mini shade that i think will look fantastic on the car, a real classic version of Old English white, so the whole car will be painted this colour. The engine will pick up on this colour with as much polished alloy as i can manage to give it that retro classic theme....

Car and engine... the goal is to complete the entire project by next May...

We're pretty busy right now! But held up waiting for parts on customers cars gives me the chance to catch up on my own stuff.

Not a bad finish at all...

Gasket set and head bolts ordered, along with cambelt and new idlers etc, pretty happy i don't have to fully rebuild it.

 

[George Elliott]

Ok, while you are waiting for those parts Paul, what about a V6 Alfa GTV in the RX8, or a 944T including Torque tube and transaxle, or even Mazda's own transverse baby V6 1.8 from the MX3, - could it be turned in-line and get a pair of turbos added....or a v6 Nissan 90's era naturally aspirated unit which was inline Maybe you have worked on some of this stuff ? George 944t

 

[ja944cab]

Oops yes, sorry, threadjack. Looking meticulous as always Paul 👍

 

[robdimond]

What a good idea to have gears between the two camshafts... if only Porsche had done the same on the 16v cars, rather than a bicycle chain with a piece of cheese on a spring to tension it!

 

[Woodsport]

ORIGINAL: George Elliott Ok, while you are waiting for those parts Paul, what about a V6 Alfa GTV in the RX8, or a 944T including Torque tube and transaxle, or even Mazda's own transverse baby V6 1.8 from the MX3, - could it be turned in-line and get a pair of turbos added....or a v6 Nissan 90's era naturally aspirated unit which was inline Maybe you have worked on some of this stuff ? George 944t

Hi George, i haven't worked on any of that to be honest, but anything is possible when it comes to cars and engines. Thankyou Sideways! Rob it gets better than that, if you look at one of the cam gears closely you will see it is split into two halfs, one half is part of the shaft, the other half is spring loaded against it, meaning it meshes with the cam it drives without any freeplay, these backlash gears are a Toyota feature present on all of their V6 and V8 engines and it is what makes them run like a watch. A common homebuilder mistake is to forget to lock these backlash gears, they start the engine up and although no damage occurs it makes them sound like a diesel..... fantastic tech on Japanese engines, i love them.

 

[Sandspider]

Just stumbled across this. Impressive work! Wish I had a fraction of the skill - you can drop a new engine in almost as easily as I can service mine!

 

[xschop]

Just Joined to see the show. Nice work. What engine did the Fidanza flywheel originally come from?

 

[Woodsport]

Hey Rob, welcome.... the Fidanza is from a V6 Toyota engine, i had to alter the PCD a little and take the starter ring gear off and reverse it so the teeth chamfer is correct.

 

[Woodsport]

Today a lot more hotwork got done in the engine bay, mostly because of the BMW Hydroboost system i am fitting to make sure my brakes work well, this unit sits very compactly compared to a regular servo system, but i did need to make room for it alongside the left strut tower which has been rebuilt with much thicker plate and supports in places you cannot see in these pics, i still have a lot of dressing to do, seam sealing and cosmetics before i can say it is ready for paint but it all fits now. The brake bar has been extended and a new hanger bracket made for it, 10mm plate used to support the Hydroboost which is braced in several places, believe me there is no such thing as firewall flex now!

The 944 MC fits the BMW hydroboost with a little material removed....

Well outboard of the engine now....

Tomorrow the fabrication will be finished and cosmetics can begin.

 

[Woodsport]

So engine bay fabrication now all done, i had to make a notch in the left chassis rail for the power steering pump, but once done i seam sealed the bay, gave it a fresh primer coat followed by 4 coats of Pepper white, so the bay is now ready to receive the V8 for the final time...

Absolutely love this colour, very classic.

 

[Mike_Pollock]

Cannot believe the speed and standard you can work at! Superb thread and build.

 

[924nutter]

Sadly you can't do vario-cam with a pair of helicar gears so it would have been competely useless for the 968

 

[Woodsport]

Thanks Mike, i do this for a living so that's why it is moving at this pace and standard, it'll slow up as i get to the bodywork stage though. Hi John, on the contrary, all of Toyotas Helical driven quad cam engines also come as "vario cam" or VVti, a hydraulically fed gear on the end of the cams adjusts the whole camshaft relative to the helical gear, all ECU controlled. I could have used the VVti version of the 1uz but i prefer the simplicity of the older unit.

 

[Woodsport]

Not much of an update, very time consuming engine rebuilding, all 32 valve stem oil seals replaced, that's a job i never want to repeat... heads torqued down, cams refitted and covers fitted.

Tomorrow the engine should be pretty complete.

 

[xschop]

What will you be doing for brakes?

 

[Woodsport]

Thinking about Boxster calipers Rob.

 

[Woodsport]

Moving on slowly but surely, i fitted the XSchop adapter and 1uz bellhousing today, modified the T56 release bearing pipes and bleed, made a new clutch line that will run from the 944 MC to the T56...

Tomorrow i will bleed the clutch and pressure test the system before my engine goes in, last thing i want is a leak on the pipes as it means the engine has to come back out. My new aluminium radiator upgrade arrived today, so that got installed...

Also ordered camber adjustable top mounts and a set of Brembos from a Cayman 3.4 , they should stop it pretty well.