Builds 1UZ Swap into LJ78 Prado

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Great build! I am looking into either a 1uz or 5vz so I will keep my eye on this thread
 
Thank you! I just finished my move so I am hoping in the next week or so to have the engine mounted.


Let us know how it goes!
 
Hey guys! No updates yet other than moving the truck around the yard getting preped to mount the engine. Life's been in the way these day since the move. Funny how other small projects take priority... anyways I'm not abandoning this project yet... it will get finish!
 
Small update...

Finally got some time to work on the truck a bit. The weather hasn’t been letting up and the shop has been consumed with other things so I had to get a little creative.


With a bit of shoe horning...



The 1uz is finally in its new home.



It is currently supported in the back by the transfer case crossmember. I will be sorting out front mounts tommorow.
 
Ok so after a ton of measuring, adjusting, remeasuring, adjusting again, second guessing and finally saying good enough the mounts are done and the truck is supporting the full weight of the 1uz



I ended up sliding the whole thing forward about 1”. This gained me a bit of room at the firewall.

The truck is now to the point where I can tow it home. Then hopefully I can start chipping away a lot more at it.
 
Great update! Cant wait.
 
Good news! I love how at home the 1UZ looks in the Prado engine bay. Toyota should have put those motors in from the get-go.
 
Good news! I love how at home the 1UZ looks in the Prado engine bay. Toyota should have put those motors in from the get-go.

Totally! The only thing that would make it perfect would be if the ps pump was on the opposite side. It’s pretty tight with the alternator and ps pump right beside the steering box.

Also if one wanted to leave the tcase in the original spot and not slide it forward like I did you wound have to massage the firewall quite a bit. Even with the one inch forward the rear section of the drivers side of the engine is like maybe an 1/8” away from hitting. Luckily these are very balanced engines. I don’t expect too much torquing causing it hit.
 
Totally! The only thing that would make it perfect would be if the ps pump was on the opposite side. It’s pretty tight with the alternator and ps pump right beside the steering box.

Also if one wanted to leave the tcase in the original spot and not slide it forward like I did you wound have to massage the firewall quite a bit. Even with the one inch forward the rear section of the drivers side of the engine is like maybe an 1/8” away from hitting. Luckily these are very balanced engines. I don’t expect too much torquing causing it hit.

Interesting... I wonder if the transfer case sits in a slightly different place in the LWB vs SWB, or the auto gearbox length is a bit different as on mine (LJ71 with R150 box) we just had to give the firewall a little tap behind one of the cam covers to get plenty of clearance. PS pump vs steering box is close but even torquing the buggery out of it with big tyres & low t-case gears nothing has touched on mine.

Cheers
Clint
 
Interesting... I wonder if the transfer case sits in a slightly different place in the LWB vs SWB, or the auto gearbox length is a bit different as on mine (LJ71 with R150 box) we just had to give the firewall a little tap behind one of the cam covers to get plenty of clearance. PS pump vs steering box is close but even torquing the buggery out of it with big tyres & low t-case gears nothing has touched on mine.

Cheers
Clint

That is interesting, I guess there is a lot of factors like lift and such. I’ve tried to make sure my drive line angles are as close as possible so I had to jack the engine up a bit to achieve this. I’m still 4 degrees out which I don’t think will cause too much issue. Another thing was trying to center the thing... as I’m sure you know it’s not a very symmetrical engine... even the mounts aren’t in the same location side to side!

I have heard from others that they hardly move if at all even when reving
 
Well, it's good to know that this is an option if my 2L-TE starts giving me trouble (it's been a champ so far). My worry is that, currently lacking the time/space/skill/tools to do this swap myself, I'd have to pay someone to do it for me. Naturally, I'm curious what labor costs would run to if I were to hire someone to make this swap. About how many hours would you say you have in this project at this point?
 
Well, it's good to know that this is an option if my 2L-TE starts giving me trouble (it's been a champ so far). My worry is that, currently lacking the time/space/skill/tools to do this swap myself, I'd have to pay someone to do it for me. Naturally, I'm curious what labor costs would run to if I were to hire someone to make this swap. About how many hours would you say you have in this project at this point?

My friend who did my swap years back reckoned there was about 80 hrs in an average 1UZ conversion & he'd done a few.

Cheers
Clint
 
Great swap, watching closely as an option for my KZJ78.

What did you end up doing for the engine mounts? New ones burned into the chassis or adapter plates from the stock mounts?
 
I had thought about cutting the mounts off the frame and welding in platforms to accept the stock 1uz mounts. That was all sounding like a lot more work than it was worth so ended up just making plates that’s bolted to the stock mount location on the block. I then made plates to fit the stock prado rubber mounts, fitted the engine and then connected the 2 pieces with some flat stock. Once that was done I pulled them out, added some gussets where needed and welded everything up solid. Seems to have worked good, just not the most attractive looking things... but trust me... it’s so tight in there you can hardly see them.
 
Small update. No new work done but I have finally got the truck home. This now means I do not have to drive 45 min each way if I want to go work on it. I really hope to start making some progress on it.







Its not a huge space but Its big enough for me.
 
Unfortunately from sitting outside for so long the rear quarter panel rust and rust right after the rear doors has gotten pretty bad. I will be adding repairing that to my list of to-do's
 

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