1976 Toyota Celica - Frankenstein 1UZ build

Got all of the wiring done on my lathe so now I can make those floor standoffs and a bunch of other pieces.
Unfortunately the VFD I bought has very limited options so out of this whole switch box I made, only the speed, fwd/rev, and e-stop switches work. I'm going to pick up another better VFD so I can have jog function and actual start/stop buttons.



While bending this sweet goose neck to mount the switch box using my tubing bender, the junk bending dies I bought finally gave up and cracked. I had to cut the tube and weld it since the die was toast. 




This piece of junk die cracked at the weld, all the way through the wall. I'm just glad the pin didn't come free under all that tension and shoot off into my car. 



Got to work making some beauty washers for the Kevlar pull handles. 




They are sandpaper finished right now. I'm going to paint them black eventually. 





Door panel almost done. Need to design a little snap in cover for the winder mechanism. Waiting on some new 3D printer filament to try out. Also need to finish the inner window wiper seal at the top edge. 

I found working with Kevlar a little troublesome. Some tips: lay down masking tape on both sides before cutting, it will keep it from fraying. Use superglue on the cut edges before removing the masking tape and everything stays together nicely. When die punching (for the holes) use an aluminum backing plate and it will die cut very cleanly follow up with superglue on edges. Will also need a press or arbor press to do it nice. Hammering them didn't work well. 




Here's version 1 on my design for the roof mounted switches. Thanks to 3D printing for making easy prototyping I'll be making quite a few changes. The Honeywell toggle I wanted to use ended up not fitting in the space I had. There is only about 1.125" between the roof and crossbar. So I have 3 smaller latching billet buttons like the big start button that should be arriving soon from Australia. These will be for ignition, accessory, and the fuel pumps. 
On the bottom side of that piece are spaces for 3 toggle switches for the interior lights, two always on ambient LEDs and two LED strips for map lighting but I'm still working on gathering components for that and waiting on that new 3D filament. 




I've also got bunch new tooling coming for the lathe so I can remake my chromoly pushrods for the rear suspension since I wasn't happy with how the threaded ends turned out using dies. I'm going to single point thread them on the lathe which should make nicer threads overall.

For my application the bearings won't ever see any thrust load since the arms are loaded on the same plane as the coilovers, so I was able to get away with normal deep groove ball bearings without any thrust bearings. There are two shielded ball bearings in the metal sleeve I turned on the lathe. They are a tight fit in the sleeve and butt up to a shoulder I turned into the sleeve. Then I turned some spacers that fill in the space between the welded in side mounts and the bearings in the sleeve to keep the cantilever centered and not hit the sides. 

For the axle I used a partially threaded Grade 8 bolt where the unthreaded shank lies within the bearings. 

Now that I have my bigger lathe up and running I may change all this to use needle roller bearings (which have a higher load rating) and make a chromoly 4130 axle to fit. 

No pictures of the whole setup assembled unfortunately. But I'm going to be disassembling it eventually to install a air cup kit I'm going to make so I can raise the front and rear for speed bumps, driveways, etc, so I can take pictures then.

I'll draw up the assembly and post that sometime soon.

Worked on the Celica a bunch over the holidays. Got the dead pedal bent up and mounted. Also made an aluminum cover that protects the DBW linkage from debris and feet. Going to add some grip tape strips. Debating on whether or not to spray it down with bed liner to help protect the aluminum a bit. 






Cleaned up the rust inhibitor from the block deck so I can put the engine together. Also cleaned up the block and sprayed it Cerakote Glacier Black. 




Heads all mounted with cams installed. Forgot I had to shave down one headstud and nut on each side to clear the intake cam scissor gear. Took a couple of tries to get the minimum shaved off. Good thing I setup my lathe because it made it very easy to take off material without going overboard.




Custom spec Kelford supercharger cams. Told Kelford what the engine would be built with and power goals and they spec'd a cam profile for it. Heads have also been ported, had new valve guides installed, upgraded Kelford valve spring, and converted the shim over bucket to Supertech shim underbucket so I can rev to 10k safely if I wanted. Also running enlarged ARP head studs (11mm) for extra clamping force and Cometic MLS headgasket. 




Bottom end is Ross 9:1 forged pistons with HD wrist pins, BC forged rods with 625+ ARP bolts, and ARP2000 main studs. Engine builder said it should handle 1000hp no problem. 

The oil pump is gutted since I am running a dry sump system.




Turns out the ARP main studs are slightly taller than the OEM ones. When I welded up my dry sump pan I did so on an engine with OEM mains. Had to use the lathe and make a dimple die out of a piece of a 240sx axle to give my oil pan some nipples. 



Valve covers installed after setting up the cams. Also Cerakoted in Burnt Bronze (same as wheels)




Bought these adjustable pulleys a few years ago. But I lost one of the pulley bolts so I'm on the hunt for a new one. Lexus/Toyota doesn't seem to sell them anymore. If I can't find one soon there is a titanium option which I might end up going with anyways. Currently waiting on a bunch of bolts I forgot to order for the front end assembly, water pump, cooling bridges, etc. 




I was going to install it all in the car before the end of 2022, turns out I didn't order the bellhousing bolts and I forgot to get my motor mounts and transmission mount powder coated. Hopefully I'll be able to get those things done soon so I can get this thing in the car already!

Bunch of bolts came in from Toyota so I was able to get the engine and trans all bolted together and installed in the car. 

The trans adapter kit comes with a custom flywheel that has the starter ring gear installed on it already. Made for simple assembly instead of having to use the OEM ring gear plate. All the bolts were changed to ARP. Clutch is a ZSpeed Super Six rigid race clutch rated for 700ftlbs of torque.



Engine was not easy to get in by myself. Took a cherry picker, two jacks, and a bottle jack to get it all in place. The additional width from the heads made it difficult to get over the front clip and angle the trans down into the trans tunnel. I had to unbolt the front subframe and lower it by a few inches. But eventually I got it all in place with no major mishaps. Put the supercharger manifold on and checked clearances. Also ended up buying Titanium cam gear bolts since I couldn't find replacements from Lexus/Toyota. 

I still need to gasket seal the water pump. I've been putting this off as I have been waiting for bolts and I wasn't sure where my dry sump pump would mount. Conveniently there are 3 M10 bolt holes on the left side of the block that should be perfect for mounting a plate to bolt the dry sump pump too. I'll have to do some modifying to the outlet of the pump but it should otherwise fit ok. 



Without the OEM oil pan I was able to mount the engine 4-6" lower. This should help with supercharger and ground clearance. Right now the lowest part of the car is the bottom of the bellhousing, which is maybe an inch lower than the front subframe. 



Underside view. Engine has all new bolts, gaskets, and any new parts that I could still buy from Toyota. The middle dry sump fitting is going to be a challenge to tighten. I may have to make a special tool or I can unbolt the subframe and lower it a couple inches to tighten it up. The oil pump is completely gutted since I won't need it, it's basically just a cover that holds the crank seal now. 



Lots of room on the underside of the engine. I'm 3D printing some header build pieces right now so I can build out my headers. I am going to try to do a 180° header design. I think I'll have enough space between the steering rack and bellhousing to fit the 4 crossover header pieces. I'll V-band the crossover pieces in for easy removal of the headers. Will also need to figure out the routing for the clutch lines. I used what came with the kit and one of the line was about 12" too long. Will need to tuck it up above the trans somehow. 



Need to make a protective cover for the exposed flywheel. The OEM oil pan covered most of this save for a small opening for some kind of service with the torque converter. These engines only ever came with an auto trans originally. 




Clearance between the oil pan and steering rack is good. All the mounts are urethane so it shouldn't see too much movement from here. Rear cylinder header looks like it might interfere with the steering arm a small amount. This may take some creative hammering or changing the orientation of how it comes out of the cylinder slightly or modifying the steering arm to change the angle. But I will need to get my header pieces printed to figure that out. 

Wonderful job!

More stuffs getting done. 

Pulled all the injectors out and figured out how all the adapters went together. 




Managed to get them installed in the manifold with little effort. I'm hoping I won't have interference issues with anything, but if I do I can pull the top adapter cap off each injector and machine new rail spacers to drop them to 3/4 height what they are now. 




I really wanted to get the timing belt installed and get the engine timed up. That meant I had to cut up the old idler pulley brackets since I don't need them and figure out my cam pulley cover situation.


Got the idler pulley bracket setup in the Bridgeport at work to cut a flat in it. The hardened bearing sleeve inside is molded into the casting. I broke the original one trying to press the sleeve out and after cutting this one out I found it had a molded in groove in the middle. 

 

Cut a nice flat to clean up the profile and give me fresh material to weld to.




This one is the tensioner pulley on the passenger side of the engine. Won't need it since I'm only running an alternator and the dry sump pump doesn't get a tensioner. Found out this shaft is also molded into the casting. Good thing I learned my lesson on the other one and didn't break this one too. 





Cut some nice plates to weld onto the castings. I've had pretty poor luck welding cast aluminum in the past with a lot of impurities and booger welds but these Toyota casting went pretty well requiring only minor cleanup. This one actually cracked because I dunked it in water and had to weld it again. 






Idler pulley all blanked off. Came out pretty nice. The old one is to the right, you can see where I cracked the arm off trying to press the pulley shaft out from the backside. 





All mounted up. Everything fit right up no problem.




Now onto the cam pulley covers. Pulled the OEM plastic covers for the cam pulleys out of storage and found that they were cracked in a few places. I thought about repairing them but they are kind of bulky since they originally housed the distributors. Also they are pretty much unobtainable, even on the used market.

There are a couple ways to go about this. I could have deleted everything but the timing cover and used one big sheet to cover the front, but I plan to use the idler bracket to mount the alternator onto the right side so I had to keep that, and then the tensioner bracket is going to get milled on the backside to help sandwich the dry sump pump mounting plate on the left side. So instead I had to come up with this annoyingly geometrically complex shape to fit everything.



Spent about 20 hours so far on this and it's come out way better than I expected.



I love welding 5000 series aluminum. It welds so much nicer then any other series I've done before.

First I cut the front flat profile then bent the sides around a metal Folgers coffee can, then tightened it all up in specific spots using an old exhaust pipe to fit the flat profile better.

Still need to weld mounting tabs to the circular sections to keep it from chattering but overall I'm pretty happy with how it has come out. Everything will be painted with the Cerakote black color I did on the engine block.  




Spent some time making a little circuit board for the high beam and L/R indicators on the dash to change them over to LED's and Deustch connectors. I just copied the OEM circuit design. Drew up the design in CAD then laser printed it on special toner transfer paper. 




You need some copper coated FR4, Ferric Chloride, and a clothing iron to make your own boards.

Take the iron, get it hot as hell (cotton setting). Then press the paper toner side down against the copper coated FR4 piece for what feels like a long time. Slowly peel up one corner and see that it wasn't long enough then do it again. 
Eventually you end up with a transfer on the FR4 piece, fill in any spots missed with a black sharpie or paint pen. 

Take a small bit of Ferric Chloride in a cup, get it slightly warm then take a small bit of a sponge and soak it in the FC. Lightly dab your pattern until the copper is dissolved off the board. 




And you end up with your own amateur circuit board. Came out decent enough, The holes are big enough for 5mm through-hole LEDs. I plan to put the resistors in the harness, but I might go back and add resistors to the board since there is ample room and maybe try to clean up the traces better. 




Old vs. new

Got almost all my header build pieces 3D printed. I had to model a couple of sizes since the ones I downloaded from the internet were generic whole numbers. I modeled the sizes that I'm actually able to buy through Vibrant or Stainless Headers Mfg. 

I spent about $70 on plastic for all the header pieces vs. $399 for the Ice engine works header build kit.

I'll upload the models to my Thingiverse account sometime soon so everyone else can use them. 
Ended up with the following in 1.75"OD. 
1.75"CLR
2.00"CLR
2.25"CLR
2.625"CLR
3.00"CLR

I initially was going to go with 1-7/8"OD headers but as I understand it, because I'm going to do a 180 degree header setup, the increased scavenging efficiency allows you to run a smaller overall header diameter and not affect performance. 

The starting pieces are the same snap together design but have an almost closed end with a bolt hole. I bought a sheet a 0.5" SBR rubber at 50 durometer. Cut out circles using a hole saw. Used a M8x30 bolt and an aluminum washer on each side I cut using a hole saw. Basically what it does is squish the rubber circle enough that it deforms and locks the piece into you header flanges when you tighten down the nut. So now I can start building out the headers from the flange without anything falling out. 



Plastic starter pieces are locked into the flange. You can now mount up the flange and start snapping pieces together right on the engine.




Put the flanges on the engine, immediately ran into a problem. Steering shaft is almost dead center in front of Cylinder 7. The black piece is only 1" tall and having such a sharp angle right at the beginning of the header is bad. In order to fix this, I'm going to pull the whole steering column back out, cut the splined nub off the end and shorten the shaft buy 1.75" to where it's almost up against the firewall. This should change the angle just enough that I'll only need a minor bend at the beginning of the header. I had to find a new steering mid shaft because this one is currently at the limit in length. The new one I have coming is an adjustable length one out of a Toyota Prius. 









Figured out my heater core firewall bulkhead fittings. These are 10AN to 5/8" barb fittings. Could only find one company (Radium Engineering) that sold these and they are originally meant for fuel. Had to cut two giant holes in the firewall then make a bulkhead plate to mount these to because of the uneven firewall surface and sealed it with some Toyota FIPG to keep it water tight. The flat surface to left is where the wiring connectors will come out so I couldn't use that. 




Made a little bracket for the fuel regulator. Clutch bleed is to the right of that. Still need to fill and bleed the clutch and brake lines...




Got around to Cerakoting the cam covers. Needed to do this so I could put the timing belt on. Almost messed up the titanium cam pulley bolts. OEM specs are to torque to 80ft/lbs. I torqued them to about 65ft/lbs and remembered titanium bolts usually have lower torque specs. Turns out since these are originally for the 1JZ/2JZ the torque spec should be 60ft/lbs. Manufacturer just released these for the 1UZ and their website is not clear about specs at all. 



Paint came out looking pretty good. Big fan of Cerakote. Other than the hassle to set up and clean the spray gun I've only had good results and a little $35 bottle lasts quite a while. 

Waiting to paint and put in the tensioner mount. I cut off the lower mount that sticks off the left side of the oil pump housing. This was originally for the power steering pump I think. Anyways I cut it off to make room for the dry sump, which I need to figure out the mounting plate for. I'm going to use the two mounting holes from the tensioner bracket so I will need to machine the tensioner bracket mounting surface for whatever thickness the dry sump bracket ends up being. 





Covers came out beautiful. Also cut down the rubber boots on the Audi R8 coilpacks so they just barely seal over the spark plug tubes. I'm going to machine some spring clamps to help hold them down. 



Had to also chuck up the Ross harmonic damper in the lathe and sand down the inner bore about 0.002" as it was way too tight on the crank and galling the inner bore of the damper. Looks like Ross missed the finish pass on about 85% of the inner bore as there was a lip.



Half the big parts I have bought have had subpar finishing work. Annoyed for how expensive they are that I have to cleanup companies mistakes. But there really aren't many choices for a lot of these parts unfortunately. Should have gone LS haha.

wow - some really good and detailed work going on here

Phenomenal