Rob's 1UZ swop Hilux Surf 2nd Gen

[Admin]

Here is my build log for my 1uz swop in my 2nd gen Toyota Hilux Surf (2nd gen 4runner)

This swop has been done by many before, but I thought I'd document how I've done it and hurdles I've had to overcome and pros/cons I've found from other conversions.


CONTENTS

1) The story
2) The donor
3) Removing the engines
4) Engine harness
5) ECU repair
6) Firewall modification
7) Handbrake modification
8) Slam panel thingy mod
9) Engine mount adapters
10) Steering damper
11) Under bonnet lighting
12) Fuel system
13) Kickdown switch
14) Power steering lines
15) Wiring in the ECU
16) LED diagnosis and information panel


You may also be interested in my 1st gen hilux surf build.


WORK IN PROGRESS! More updates to be posted soon.

[Admin]

1) The story


The truck I've had for several years. It's a 1993 2nd gen Toyota Hilux Surf SSR-G, originally with a 3.0 turbo diesel 1KZ-T/E engine in it.

It's a really nice spec and has the following mods:-

• 2" body lift
• 2" suspension lift
• 33" tyres
• Winch bumper and winch
• Tinted windows
• Custom speaker mounts made for all doors with 17cm speakers in front, 13cm in rear
• 4 channel amp for speakers
• 2 channel amp for sub
• Twin subwoofers
• Roof rack
• Sound deadening
• Leisure battery set up - split charge using a Voltage Sensitive Relay (VSR) with manual override
• Voltmeters inside car for each battery
• etc

Due to a couple of cracked cylinder heads, numerous brake downs on holiday to the frustration of my wife, and having since buying a "sensible" family car after having a baby I decided that I might as well just go all out and put a v8 in the 2nd gen.

I managed to pick up a donor vehicle, namely Lexurf VI which was a 2nd gen surf that had been converted many years ago and was rather "rough around the edges" and had been sat for many years. The wiring on the donor truck was really, really awful so rather than fix up this truck the plan was simply to use it as a donor for my big red princess.

[Admin]

2) The donor

The donor is a 1992 2nd gen surf, which originally had the 2.4 diesel in it.

Almost identical, apart from things like the mount points for the engine on the chassis rails being in a different place.

The donor hadn't been on the road for years, and like I say, the wiring was very questionable at best. Wires changing colour all over the place, and run in awful places.





Pictured below is the 2 surfs, together with my friend James' surf, and my 1st gen...

[Admin]

3) Removing the engines

We took both engines out with the gearboxes attached.

The grills etc all had to be removed, and we had to cut a piece out of the front (the bit that the radiator and grill attaches to) to be able to get the 1UZ out. I'll later modify that so it can be simply bolted back in.

My friend James (also on here) was in charge / directed the engine removal.

The 1UZ was then mounted to an engine frame from SGS Engineering so it could be worked on.

[Admin]

4) Engine harness (wiring loom)

The loom on the donor was in pretty bad shape. So rather than messing around with this I bought a brand new custom loom from Phoenix Engine Management. This loom is a "standalone" loom with fusebox so pretty much all you need to do is wire in 12v+, ignition, starter signal, etc. By "standalone" I mean you could use this in any car. So if I wanted to put the 1UZ in something else than I can just use this loom.

[Admin]

5) ECU repair

The ECU had some blown capacitors and this had wrecked some of the traces so this was sent away to be repaired.

[Admin]

6) Firewall modification

The 1UZ engine is too big to fit into the surf engine bay without modifications.

On the donor two modificiations had been done:-
a) The handbrake had been moved back, and badly reattached. It worked, but it was a bodge
b) The firewall had been bashed in with a hammer, then taped over with duct tape (YUP!)

I wasn't going to do the above, so I attempted to do it properly. I'm not a professional welder, and don't have much experience welding thin metal but I cut a piece of the firewall out, welded on a 1.5cm lip, then welded it back in.

[Admin]

7) Handbrake modification

The handbrake, which is a very strange design anyway, has a mechanism which goes inside the engine bay. It gets in the way of the 1UZ engine so I made it so that:-

a) The cable runs in through the floor, lower down
b) The original mechanism that sits in the engine bay I got rid of and I made a bracket and mounted it that way
c) I had to do some cutting of the handbrake itself to get it to work, but you can't really tell
d) I covered the whole using some high temp (500 degrees C) special self adhesive stuff meant for firewalls

[Admin]

8) Slam panel thingy mod

I think it's called a "slam panel" but I'm not really sure. I'm referring to the bit in the pictures below!

Basically it's in the way when trying to get the 1uz in/out with the gearbox attached. So I've cut it out and welded "ears" to it and made holes so you can simply bolt it in/out whenever you need.

[Admin]

9) Engine mount adapters

I bought some engine mount adapters from CarTune in New Zealand. These bolt between the 1UZ and the original rubber dampners from the 1KZ so that you can easily mount the 1UZ in the right place.

The CarTune company specialises in 1UZ conversions and the chap who runs it (Kelvin) has a popular YouTube channel on the subject. Details below...

https://thecartunecompany.co.nz/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSn...jOh1eUIRUusqiA

[Admin]

10) Steering damper

The steering damper bolts to the TOP of the steering rack. The bit it bolts onto gets in the way of the 1UZ's sump.

So you have two choices:-

a) Cut the bracket off, and live without a steering damper as per the donor. MEH!
b) Cut the bracket off, weld it onto the bottom of the steering rack, and then make a new bracket and weld it to the chassis for the other side

So I went with option (b). Pics attached of before and after.

[Admin]

11) Under bonnet lighting

I did something simliar on my 1st gen, and it's really helpful.

I've added 12v LED lights under the bonnet which turn on automatically when you open the bonnet and light everything up. They run off my leisure battery (I have a proper 2 battery split charge setup) and are really bright.

[Shalershasker]

Nice to see 1UZ's still have a place here, Bushwhacker would be a happy man (if he did this one, I can't honestly remember now). Nice work on this, she looks good.

[Admin]

I'm doing this conversion, but am using one of the older lexurf conversions (lexurf VI) as a donor.

[Admin]

12) Fuel system

For the fuel system I used the following components:-

a) A bosch fuel filter which was recommended by Chris at Phoenix Engine Management and was pretty cheap of tinterweb (see model number in pics)

b) A mount I made for fuel fitler in engine bay

c) Some 3/8" (approx 9.5mm) fuel hose to replace the factory hose (not necessary, but thought it seemed stupid not to replace old for new). I ran two lines; one as the supply from the tank to fuel filter, and one as the return line which returns unused fuel back to the tank

d) The fuel pump which I found in the donor. Sorry, I don't have a model number for this as it's rubbed off and whilst I can see the pickup etc looks different from the diesel one, I don't know exactly what's been done so you're best off looking at the pictures and comparing it to what's available on the market! I do hear there's plenty of choice so I'm sure a Google around or a look on other forums will give you the answers here

e) Wiring (decent cable width) from fuel pump to Phoenix ECU wiring


Accesing the top of the tank

After a chat with a couple of people who have done / or are doing the conversion, the conclusion that the best thing to do was to cut a hole above the tank, which is below the rear right seat. I cut a hole here and I'll make a panel (on a hinge or bolted in) which will seal the whole but still allow me access when required. You can see the hole in the pictures.


Emptying the tank

• The original tank of course had diesel in, but on the bottom of the tank is a 14mm bolt so release the diesel fuel.
• To get all the fuel out I had to jack up the front of the truck (on the front diff)
• I then washed / rinsed it out several times with water
• I then did a rinse with unleaded (about 10 to 15 litres worth). This ended up getting recycled
• Once I used a telescopic camera to ensure the tank was 100% empty and free of liquid, I put about 10 litres of new unleaded in to make sure the pickup on the pump didn't go dry and to make sure I had fuel for when I first start up the engine

Testing

Last but not least before I wired 12v+ from the fuel pump to the Phoenix ECU wiring, I connected this to the battery to check the fuel pump was working and to prime the fuel lines. All worked!