jad
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Posts posted by jad
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Evening everyone,
After having rebuilt 2 defenders (mine and my dads) I fancied a project that was just a little different. The last couple of years I have been to Le Mans with a few friends. One with a 6.0L Monaro and one soon to buy a 3200GT Masserati, before Le Mans 2013. Hevcurrently owns a boring diesel BMW. I therefore wanted my own fast car to go in and since I am into landys I decided to build a fast(er) one. So I bought a 1978 Series 3 109 with a 6 cylinder engine for £350
Then came the question of which engine. A 4.6 Rover V8 would have been far too easy/sensible and a yank V8 has been done and isn’t great on fuel, not that this will be although I am quietly hoping it won’t be disastrous…. Bowie69 put an advert for a friend up for a 1UZ-FE Lexus V8 engine from a LS400 (http://forums.lr4x4....us&fromsearch=1). At a standard 250BHP and 260lbft (across most of the rev range) and more after de-catting and megasquirting it seemed to fit the bill nicely. So after a days long round trip to somerset it was all mine!
My dad and I then set about dismantling the 109. It quickly came apart revealing a suspected amount of rust. Some parts such as the steering relay requiring a little more effort than others!
The 1UZ-FE comes in a few different vehicles and therefore a few different sump configurations. The engine I had bought was from a LS400 with a “front sump” I therefore bought a knackered engine from a soarer that has a “rear sump” allowing me to not have it sit where the front axle is… I then hung this engine in the 109 chassis to see how much of a problem I was going to have making it fit. The V8 is a big wide engine and even with the rear sump will be close to the propshaft as the sumps are about 36cm wide! Obviously this didn’t show all of the problems as it was a bare block with no engine mounts, exhaust headers and everything that adds to its overall size. I contemplated making and designing my own exhaust manifold and engine mount for the left hand side of the engine to place the engine to the left side but I do not really have the expertise for this so eventually decided the engine basically has to sit centrally in the chassis as was apparent when hanging the full engine gbox and tbox in the chassis.
What also came apparent at this point was that due to the high central output from the tbox, the rear propshaft angle was far too high to be useable and it would also require a P38 axle to be used. Within a very short period I therefore decided to go to a manual land rover gbox with an LT230 to bring the tbox outputs down into a good location. This solved and created a number of of problems as you can well imagine. Some problems it solved were the prop angle, controlling the auto gbox, having props made to go from Toyota Tbox to landy axles as well as some others I cant remember. Some problems it created were, joining the short R380 gbox, and engine together, what flywheel to use as the 1UZ-FE is a solely auto gbox and whether or not the gbox can handle the engine…... Yet to be determined, but am hoping that as the 350Nm of the engine is less than the 380Nm of the gearbox it should ok with care.
I then started trying to make an engine adaptor using some MDF templates.
This however didn’t seem to be going well at all, I am not sure why but I eventually turned to CAD instead relying on someone else to do the machining for me. I also discovered that the 2/300 flywheel had a very similar (overlapping) PCD of the holes. I therefore decided to get one machined to fit the Lexus engine. A company called Milbor engineering in Hemel Hempstead turned the flywheel down to accept the ring gear and slightly enlarge the central hole to fit over the crank. They also shaved some of the thickness off in order to position the ring gear the correct distance from the engine.
Next I needed to find someone to machine the adaptor. I was originally going to get a friend in the landy club to waterjet cut it for me. But unfortunately this was not going to be ideal and I therefore needed someone to CNC machine it for me. In another topic VulcanBomber had offered to machine some plate flat for me for the adaptor. I however went one further and asked if he was willing to machine the complete adaptor. I was pleasantly surprised when he agreed to and a while later he had finished…. After his boss found out at one point and was not too pleased but eventually took pictures of the end product for their webpage!
I then today, offered it up to the engine and gearbox. Unfortunately, 2 of the 10mm holes that bolt into the structure that make up the sump construction were in completely the wrong place! (But that’s not too surprising since I got the dimensions off of the internet…..) However with six 12mm bolts and two 10mm bolts in the correct places I am not too concerned. I may however use the bellhousing to re-drill these holes in the correct place.
I then bolted the gearbox to the adaptor and voila! Hoping its all lined up centrally….
So tomorrow I will be hanging it in the chassis to position the gbox cross member and make engine mounts (new chassis, forgot to mention that but wanted a good base to build the car on, yet to be galved and going a bit rusty in the garage
) In the meantime throughout this a couple of other bits were also completed.
That’s about it for now. The project is at my parents house so work is only being done on the weekends I’m not busy so progress is currently slow. Shortly Ill have my own house though so it will move over there. Unfortunately into a single garage but it should hopefully be in less pieces by then!
I look forward to any opinions you have to share unless it involves 3 certain little letters……
Jad
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Does anyone know if you can get any different cams for the 2/300? I thought I had read about one from http://www.automotivecomp.com/ but I may have made that up.....
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You didnt have a bad moment. This is in the discovery forum after all......
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Not sure if anyone has mentioned it but is it a problem not having the weak crash part of the shaft in it to stop the steering column cracking you in the chest/face in the event of an accident?
Does look pretty though!
Jad
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The inlet manifold is standard.
The exhaust manifold splits into three pieces. The VVT comes with the centre section, you would need to disassemble your standard manifold and use the parts that go to cylinders 1 and 4. how easy this would be is another question. The wastegate is mounted on the turbo/manifold if you look at the pics from BAS
Jad
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My insurance with adrian flux just went down again
£420 now with all my mods declared and im only 25 -
Now the downside. Engine getting very hot,
& tempature reading high/into the red, on motorway,s so on 1 side gives your
**** hot performance But that,s the thing You have to live with. :-D
When you fitted the intercooler did you do anything to prevent the airflow that would normally go through the radiator taking the easier route and going around the sides of the intercooler?
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x-flat lock
x-gear lock
x-trans lock
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we have the halfords version. Used it a few times and is obviously very useful when the deep socket wont reach but that hasnt happened many times in the last few years!
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But it would be advisable to have the tyres on the same axle paired as the same type.
Not just advisable it is illegal to have different tyres side to side
Jad
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x-lock?
x-safe?
x-theft?
look forward to seeing it!
Jad
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I changed my steering box today. PS fluid everywhere! I would take the pipe off the PSP first and then drain as much out as you can first.
Jad
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I had a 300tdi flywheel machined to take the lexus ring gear and turned down so the starter motor wouldnt interfere with it. The centre was turned out very slightly to fit on the back of the engine. I then measured the distance from the face of the flywheel to the standard engine/bell housing surface and added on the distance the flywheel is normally recessed into the flywheel housing, just to position the gearbox the right distance from the engine so I can use the standard clutch setup. If that makes sense!
Jad
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Good thing i have a friedly water jet cutter
If he does not also have the equipment to machine it flat then Ill pm you.
Thanks
Jad
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Ls400 1uzfe...... A bit more power than they are used to but im hoping it will be alrite. The torque figure is within the "380Nm" of the R380 so hoping it will last. If not ashcroft will be at some point getting more money than i can really justify spending on it! Also putting an oil cooler on so hoping that will help it last longer......
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ah right ok. Might be better to go to 2 1/4 then and get it machined down, negating my original question!
Cheers
Jad
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How thick is 2" thick plate these days???
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Hi
Im currently designing an engine adaptor for a short R380. I worked out it needed to be 52.1mm thick. The closest plate metal I can get of that thickness is 2 inches (50.8mm). I just wanted to check will it matter putting the gearbox 1.3mm closer to the engine? will it cause any problems with the clutch?
I would have thought no but wanted to check before I get something done and it turns out to be a semi expensive mistake!
Thanks
Jad
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I find it odd that your shocks are bottoming out. With the gywn lewis mounts they shouldnt. I used to have standard height front springs on the rear with gywn mounts and +5 terrafirma shocks. My 235/85 insa's used to hit the underside of the tub before the shock were near bottoming out....
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You are trying to turn it the correct way arent you?
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what through the injection pump?
Jad
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I will fix the filter leak at the weekend. Its not too bad, on the last tank I got just over 32mpg but after a long run fuel runs down the heater cable and onto the rocker cover. The thing is though the filter is higher on the bulkhead than the injection pump so while that is filling with air where is the fuel going if there is no visible leaks at the engine end? I am pretty sure the tank connections are tight. Im not usually one to not doing things up tight enough.....
cheers
Jad
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If anyone has anymore information on this apart from the link I would be interested. I have a crazy idea to put one in a caterham/westfield after my current project
Jad
) In the meantime throughout this a couple of other bits were also completed.
Lexus 109 “Koya”
in Modified Vehicle Builds & Special Projects
Posted
Putting it on leaf sprung 24 spline disco axles. Gonna see how well they last. Would like ashcroft ATB's at some point...
Jad