Take 3, the Forever 45- IFS and 1uz-vvti (1 Viewer)

[Vossie]

Now for some tech. Originally I wanted the manual 5 speed R151F that came in the 4runner. However, I have since decided to stick to using the original 5 speed auto A650e that came bolted to the 1uz in the ls400. Why?

A couple of reasons really:
1. Its a damn good gear box. Hands down the best auto I've ever driven. Smooth, well behaved, good ratios, quick changes.
2. The goal with this build is to make the ultimate DD cruiser. That means most of its life will be spent in town on paved roads with traffic around. Thats what autos were made for.
3. This is really the biggest reason. It simplifies the build. Yes, you can get an adaptor kit for a 1uz to r151, but by the time I have that landed here in zim its just shy of $2000 and 3 months out. Plus, then I have to deal with the ecm wanting to see the auto but not.

So yup, let's keep the a650e auto. But I still want 4x4, so let's make an adaptor to mate rhe a650 and the transfer case from the 4runner.

The a650e

the r151 as disassembled as I need it to be. The plan is to take the tail peice of the r151 and make an adaptor plate that bolts it to the back of the a650e. Then the transfer will simply bolt to that.

the out put shaft of the a650e. We had originally hoped to graft the coupling for the transfer direct to the shaft but that's not gonna fly.

so we are going to use the prop shaft flange as our basis for the coupling. We will take the prop shaft, cur off its flange and then graft that to the coupling. Then we simply bolt the two flanges together and slide the coupling into the transfer.

Easy right? We'll see...

 

[Vossie]

First up, I traced the bolt pattern and outline of the a650e tail peice.

Then I scanned that into autoCAD, and scaled it according to real world measurements between hole centers. That way I know the hole positions are all correct.
Then I line trace the outline, then using measurements of the tail peice I work out the inside dimensions for this plate to fit over the tail peice when it's in position. I then printed and cut it out and checked it physically against the tail peice. All good there.

I then worked out what size the adaptor plate needs to be by measuring the r151 tail peice. I can't add the bolt holes for this yet as we have to align the tail peice according to the flange and coupling. That will be our center and then we can derive the holes directly from the tail peice so we get it bang on. Then after we have those we can trim the whole adaptor plate to the final dimensions of the tail peice to keep things as compact as possible.

Printed out a copy just to make sure I will have enough steel all the way around to make it work.

To check this I have the r151 tail peice sitting on top of the a650e tail peice with the shaft centers lined up as best as I can.

So now that that's all sorted I can have the plate laser cut out of 12mm steel. Whilst that's being done I will mill away some of the interior parts of the r151 tail peice that we don't need any more that interfere with the flange turning inside the housing. That will all happen tommow.

Here are all my printed paper templates that I made to double check my measurements. Nothing better than a good sanity check. Yup, still mad as a hatter

 

[Vossie]

So today I milled out a fair amount of the insides of the manual tail housing peice to make clearance for the flanges.
I really need to get a carbide rose cutter, all I had to do this with was a 16mm HSS four flute.

Then I cut the flange off of the prop shaft. I mounted the whole shaft in the lathe to make the cut so its as square as possible. Here it is with the all important coupling that will get welded into the shaft.

I then turned a peice of teak I had to a nice tight fit inside prop shaft, and then an interior seat for the coupling.

I then super glued the coupling to wood insert.

The plan here is that we are now able to slide the coupling up and down for shaft and have it centered so we can work out where it needs to be welded to mate the auto and the tcase perfectly.

 

[Vossie]

So I needed to make some spacers for in-between the flanges, so I took the original ones from the lexus and trimmed them down then put them on my home made surface grinder to get them all the same.

end product came out nicely I think and allowed me to bolt the flanges together.

and it then became apparent that the assembly was too long.

so I trimmed off all of the prop shaft tubing and that left just the flange by itself. I turned a slight chamfer on the inside of the flange to allow the coupling to self center.

and then we welded the whole thing together. I didn't weld this, I'm a passable welder with a grinder but seeing as the whole transmission hinges on this I had a friend with a tig set up weld it. May not be the welding porn that you guys states side get all the time but it sure as shooting will hold!!

 

[Vossie]

Got my adapter plate laser cut. Bolted that to the back of the a650e tail housing so we can figure it all out. Then drilled all the holes for the r151 tail housing to bolt up to.

So here is the assembly bolted up.

I used nuts on both sides of the tail housing to make fine adjustments so that we could dial in the gap between the plate and the housing so that the were perfectly parallel to each other, and they are. The gap is 32.7mm exactly.

This gap will be filled in with an aluminium spacer which I will be working on tomorrow.

And inside you can see the two flanges and where they run inside the housing. It's a bit tight but it turns freely and I think this is going to work really nicely.

 

[Vossie]

So I got a nice big length of 38x38mm aluminium to use. Drilled it full of holes in all the right places and cut them to length.

The one that forms the top of the spacer I had to releive some material from the inside so that it clears the top of the a650e tail housing.

And then in the end we have a spacer that allows the adaptor plate to bolt directly to the r151 tail housing. I did end up with one gap at the one top corner. Have a plan for that but at least it won't affect the function of the spacer.

And a test fit up with the t case on.

Tomorrow I will do a dry run of bolting everything together, a650, adaptor, spacer, r151 tail housing and then t case.

 

[Vossie]

Needed some spacers for the bottom 2 bots on the a650e tail housing so that there is even pressure applied. Turned them up on the lathe. So nice to turn ally when your used to working with hardened steel all the time.

And then it was time for the first dry run of the entire transmission assembly and figuring out the order of assembly.

First up the adaptor plate with its bolts, followed by the output flange and its nut.

Then the aluminium spacers and the t case coupling flange which is bolted to the gearbox out put flange.

Then finally the t case assembly which is bolted onto the adaptor plate through the spacers.

And it works! When you turn one end the other turns! Long assembly though, 1200mm in total, coupled to the 800mm long engine and the entire assembly is just on 2m in total length, in a 2640mm wheele base! Still, longer rear prop shaft than a 40!!

Tomorrow will clean it all up and do finally assembly, ready to bolt onto the engine.

 

[Vossie]

So one little thing that I had to address was the speed sensor on the out put of the a650e.

Where this is usually mounted is now obstructed by my new adaptor plate.

So I clocked it around and then made a small little bracket that bolts to the top of the casing.

Also had to clearance my aluminium spacer to allow the connectors to clear and then extend the pig tail. It goes through the space between the adaptor plate and the transmission.

Should be all good now.

 

[Vossie]

Finished up my body mounts and got them on the chassis exactly where they need to be.

Really happy with these. Super strong, and I'm happy that my stick welding is getting better with practice. Kind of looks like they are meant to be there.

And now the tub is sitting pretty. Pretty high too!

 

[Vossie]

Time to do the steering. I wanted to use the column from the surf. I made two brackets that bolt to the fire wall that bolt to the bottom of the column.

Then I made a plate with a stud that bolts to the top of the column.

This plate is welded to the inside of the dash. And that's the column in.

I then had to extend the secondary part of the column to reach the box. Measured twice, cut once. Mounted the prices in the vice, chamfered the edges heavily and then welded them nice and deep.

With a coat of paint no one will ever know that this column has been modified.

Fits perfect and I can now turn the front wheels with the big round one in the tub!

 

[Vossie]

Shot all the body work we've done with primer.

And today we started trying to shoe horn the 2m long drive train into this thing.

First go around and we are not far back enough and have some clearance issues around the oil filter.

Plenty of room under the sump, so I'm happy that I won't have to change that out.

Still trying to plan what to do with the oil filter. Any one ever had any joy with a remote oil filter housing? In theory its 2 lines, one to the filter, one back. So shouldn't be too hard to make, just a plate that bolts to the block that allows 2 lines to run to the filter housing. How hard can it be?

 

[YvesNL]

I used an adapter block made by venom automotive, you can see in in my build thread. It used the OEM seal and bolts to the side of the block.
I did have to modify it slightly to work with the AC compressor, there are other ones available that work with the AC compressor out of the box.

I'm using two AN10 lines to and from the relocated filter.

You can also find "screw-on" oil filter relocation kits that screw onto the oil filter mount that's already there.

 

[Vossie]

I used an adapter block made by venom automotive, you can see in in my build thread. It used the OEM seal and bolts to the side of the block.
I did have to modify it slightly to work with the AC compressor, there are other ones available that work with the AC compressor out of the box.

I'm using two AN10 lines to and from the relocated filter.

You can also find "screw-on" oil filter relocation kits that screw onto the oil filter mount that's already there.

Thanks for the info. Unfortunately for me being in the part of the world I am, I'm going to have to make a plan myself, either build my own relocation kit or some other plan. Ordering parts is possible, but seeing as I pay around an 80% premium to import stuff and it takes weeks if not months, I want to exhaust all my options before I resort to that.

On the note of another plan, does anyone know if there is a shorter oil filter that can be used for the uz? I read in a thread that someone found a shorter filter but even with the search function I can't find it again

 

[Tank5]

Thanks for the info. Unfortunately for me being in the part of the world I am, I'm going to have to make a plan myself, either build my own relocation kit or some other plan. Ordering parts is possible, but seeing as I pay around an 80% premium to import stuff and it takes weeks if not months, I want to exhaust all my options before I resort to that.

On the note of another plan, does anyone know if there is a shorter oil filter that can be used for the uz? I read in a thread that someone found a shorter filter but even with the search function I can't find it again

I am using a shorter oil filter in my 2uz 45 build. Check post #308 on page 16 in my build thread. I posted up the filter information there. I was trying to keep the oil cooler intact on my 2uz which is why I went this way. Depending on where your engine place ends up the shorter filter might be all you need.

 

[Vossie]

I knew it was your build!!! been through it several times already and must have just missed it. thanks man

 

[Vossie]

I am using a shorter oil filter in my 2uz 45 build. Check post #308 on page 16 in my build thread. I posted up the filter information there. I was trying to keep the oil cooler intact on my 2uz which is why I went this way. Depending on where your engine place ends up the shorter filter might be all you need.

on a secondary note, 1uz and 2uz, same oil filter?

 

[Tank5]

on a secondary note, 1uz and 2uz, same oil filter?

I am not sure if the oil filter is the same but the oil filter mounts between the two can be swapped out. I am guessing but I doubt they are much different if they are at all.

 

[zidaro]

Nice fab work!!!
I know you say cant get things there, here's some pics in this link to make sense of what you gotta make atleast.

1UZ Oil Filter Relocation Plate

Toyota 1UZ Oil Filter Relocation Plate with O-ring

www.xcessivemanufacturing.com

 

[Vossie]

I am not sure if the oil filter is the same but the oil filter mounts between the two can be swapped out. I am guessing but I doubt they are much different if they are at all.

Thanks. Funnily enough I managed to grab a 2uz front facing housing yesterday. I'm not sure it will work for what I need, but worth having just in case it can help avoid needing to go the remote route, although I have a sneaking suspicion I will need to. What I did notice is that although the 2uz housing goes right where the 1uz one goes, you do need different length bolts to make it all work.

Nice fab work!!!
I know you say cant get things there, here's some pics in this link to make sense of what you gotta make atleast.

1UZ Oil Filter Relocation Plate

Toyota 1UZ Oil Filter Relocation Plate with O-ring

www.xcessivemanufacturing.com

Thanks very much! I'm planning on channeling @UZJ40 's way of making a remote mount, but always good to have an idea of the final product! Thanks

 

[Vossie]

Got my engine mounts done today. More on them later, right now I have a question relating to drive lime angles, hoping someone with experience can chime in.

So this is the angle the the engine and trans sit at and then the relation of the t case out put to the diff. The angles on the flange and the diff are about the same, but there is a considerable drop in altitude, about 300mm over a 600mm distance. Is that too much?

Am I going to to have to go double cardan and the clock the the diff up a bit? Or is there another way? If I drop the back of the transfer the angle becomes less steep but then the engine and trans are tilted a little further up. Is that OK? Just need some pointers here. Thanks