1uz-fe, are you happy?

The 1UZFE EGR Delete Kit is available for sale here.

white_raven

New Member
so i'm curious, i'm in the process of doing my uz swap, and i'm just not sure the money i'm dumping into this with 5spd swap is worth the whp i'm getting. idk not having driven it yet, i cant be a good judge but i'm curious if you guys are happy with the money you've put down and the outcome of your build?
 
No, not overly impressed. Money spent vs performance gained is not worth it. Even with the "dime a dozen" pricing of used engines .
A truckload of money later I have 288Kw atw and 600 Nm torque.Turbocharged. Pathetic.
My build has Argo rods, C.P. Pistons, Kelford cams, Allen Whey valve springs-recommended btw-Garrett TO4z BB turbo etc...
If I had put this into the BMW 4.4 engine I believe it would have been another story ..
 
I have done a fair few (heading towards 50) 1uz conversions and helped many others (sold parts into the hundreds now) with their conversions and find they are an awesome motor to work with and give nice results. If you are going for heaps of power then there may be better choices. Another thing to remember is if anything ever goes wrong a secondhand motor is cheap. Using stock management into a hilux or a hiace and getting 150rwkw is nice power and smooth to drive. From that point of veiw they are hard to beat.
Personally I have had a hiace and presently have a turbocharged surf. Surf is a stock motor with TDo7 turbo making 250rwkw on 10psi and 300 on 15 which is hard to complain about. I have the dyno sheet on my thread (search uzn130)

Cheers
 
These motors are money pits, but having said that, I'm not sure there's another DOHC V8 that is as compact and as suitable for swaps as these. The low purchase price is certainly appealing too.

I think many of us that have "built" these motors to make big power have been disappointed with the results, but the reality is that the power in any motor is and always has been in the heads. The rest of the work that we do (forged bottom ends, ARP fasteners, etc.) is just insurance to hold the thing together while the heads are doing their work.

Once we find the magic formula to unlock the power in these heads, these motors are really going to sing. Still won't be cheap to do, but they should make much better power than the current generation of attempts. It'll probably take a set of CNC'd or full billet heads to get there, though......

So, after pouring a ton of money into building 2 of these motors, here's my advice, FWIW. I think there's two options with these for a street car:

Option 1) "Stock" motor: Buy it off eBay for $500, clean it up a bit, put your accessories on it (turbos, SC, etc.) and run it 'till she blows. Your best motors for this option are the pre-95's that have the beefier rods. This motor will tolerate low boost and should make 350 to 400 HP fairly reliably. When it blows, pull it and put another one in. So for less than a grand, plus your turbo or supercharger kit, you won't be embarrassed too many times at stoplights. And if you want to push the envelope cheaply, there's always nitrous......

Option 2) "Deep Pockets Motor" If you want more than 400 HP, and want a fairly reliable setup, then it gets expensive. The entire bottom end should be gone through and new forged rods/pistons put in, with premium bearings, piston squirters, along with balancing, line boring, etc. Also, the block should be machined to accept oversize head studs. A high quality bottom end build on these motors will run you at least $5K if done by an experienced engine builder.

The top end should have a good set of Kelford cams and the heads will need extensive porting work and oversize valves with new springs, etc. IMO, it would be easy to drop $5K to $8K just in the heads, and there are no shortcuts here. Toyota never intended the FE style heads to make big power, so you're really re-engineering the head. Frankly, rather than trust your friendly local chebbie head porter with these heads, it would be better to plunk for a set of CNC'd heads from Oz. You'll spend the same amount either way and the CNC'd heads will have proven results....

So at the end of the day, you'll have $10K to $15K in a motor that "can" make 500 to 800 BHP once you add the right turbo(s) or supercharger. Worth it? Probably not, but once you decide not to use an LSx motor, and/or you're limiting your choices to DOHC V8's, the choices become very limited. At least with the UZ motors, a fairly large support community has grown up around it over the years, so the problems and solutions are fairly well known, and the go fast parts are becoming more available.

With benefit of six years of hindsight, for my own application I probably would have plunked for a V10 Audi or BMW motor, however I'm sure they would have had their own can of worms to deal with.
 
I think part of the problem is starting with a motor before 1998. There is a ton of money being spent on getting those heads to flow at or slightly better than stock 1998+ heads. Spending an extra $1000 up front on a newer engine can save you many thousands later. But John is right overall, you should be using this motor because there is some other affinity for it, like wanting to stick with Toyota, or something else.
 
Its just hard to source an all alloy 6-bolt quad cam for less than $500. thats where I come out. Closest UZ match I can think is the northstar V8 but its going to be 3x the initial cost and much larger physically.
 
so because they are a cheap fuel injected v8, well then a turbo/sc setup would seem like the best route because you blow the motor and big deal $400 more and you have yourself a new motor... that seems like a good reason.
 
If you keep them stock with just bolt on FI then they are very good bang for buck. Nothing else out there would have given me 5 years of 320rwkw fun for the dollars.

If you want more hp and have to open an engine THEN they don't stack up so well. Anything 350rwkw or more and you'd be mad to try anything other than a LS1...unless you have access to something else cheap for some reason?

It's a walk in the park to get 300rwkw from these things with sensible turbo selection. I had 265rwkw at 6.5 psi before i even started to tune the thing :) they WANT to make power with FI, you just need to let them ;)
 
No, not overly impressed. Money spent vs performance gained is not worth it. Even with the "dime a dozen" pricing of used engines .
A truckload of money later I have 288Kw atw and 600 Nm torque.Turbocharged. Pathetic.
My build has Argo rods, C.P. Pistons, Kelford cams, Allen Whey valve springs-recommended btw-Garrett TO4z BB turbo etc...
If I had put this into the BMW 4.4 engine I believe it would have been another story ..

This thing should make 350rwkw standing on it's ear? What ECU?
 
Someone needs to try to run the old bottom end with the new heads & intake manifold, just w/o useing the vvti. Get rid of the butterfly's in the intake manifold & do the egr deleat on the old block & see if you can get it to work. Might be worth it dont know. And they may like more boost cause of the head/piston design of 97 & old to 98 & newer.
 
Keep the butterflys, they widen the power/tq curve. Im with ya on the vvti head/manifold swap tho. Someone needs to step up and be the ginnie pig.
 
Not an easy swap as you need the later style piston design as well.....really, you just build a solid bottom end for a late style motor....like i have ;) $$$ though and you'd have to question the value?

As for results. I'm confident of making at least 350rwkw on a lazy 10psi with the extra flow the newer heads will give (if i finish the thing). Just compare the approx 150rwkw an early stock n/a gives versus approx 200rwkw from the later engine....add 12psi and the later heads will deliver ballistic power :)
 
^ when you got 260rwkw on 6.5 psi, what exactly where you doing?

Check his sig link for a huge thread with details.

Basically twin turbos, log style turbo manifolds fab'd from 1.25" sched 10 steam pipe (1.42" ID)(36mm ID).

This on a stock unopened early 1uzfe with turbos, intercooler and tuning.

"1991 GrpA ST185 GT4 Celica
1UZ (stock internals)
twin KKK K26/27 turbos"

BTW, the manual transmission is good for some rwkW maybe 15 or so?




Better yet it has also been on the dyno for a tune tweek. There was no point going crazy as i'm still running the tiny final 2.5 inch muffler and both my external wastegate gaskets are leaking. Even so, on a tiny 6.5 psi it laid down a comfortable 265kw at the rear treads. Torque was also insane around the 680Nm....no wonder the poor W58 was having trouble hanging together.

Needless to say the box is getting upgraded to an R154 (all the budget can cope with i'm afraid). Maybe a T56 down the track but they are a bloody huge box which i don't think will fit?

So

P1030631.jpg

More reading with pics

http://www.toymods.org.au/forums/showthread.php?t=20585
 
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Not an easy swap as you need the later style piston design as well

Justen, did you confirm that the early piston will have interference with the VVTi valves?

Otherwise I have always thought that tapping an oil outlet to feed the VVTi would allow the use of an early block with the VVTi heads and intake. Since early engines are available very cheap and obviously support good power that would make a great cheap powerful xUZFE option.
 
Well I'll be honest, I have a stock 1uz with a holset hx35, I like the torque that it provides, makes for a great street car. I don't need to down shift...ever. Boost comes on right away, but the higher end makes me a bit upset.

BUT there are a lot of cons on my setup, stock headers, merged together to a hx35 and small piping.

So I think if I gone with a hx40, with better piping, and much bigger exhaust I'd be much happier.

Overall though, for the budget this car had, I'm very happy with it. I got the motor for 150, w58 for 150, turbo for 150 (see the going trend?) I think the entire build (minus the chassis) was probably about a good 2000-2500, and that's cause I can't weld.

Definitely slower than my S2000 (turbo) and my NSX (also turbo), but it really has the true meaning of Japanese Muscle car now. That and it sounds mean!
 
If you keep them stock with just bolt on FI then they are very good bang for buck. Nothing else out there would have given me 5 years of 320rwkw fun for the dollars.

If you want more hp and have to open an engine THEN they don't stack up so well. Anything 350rwkw or more and you'd be mad to try anything other than a LS1...unless you have access to something else cheap for some reason?

It's a walk in the park to get 300rwkw from these things with sensible turbo selection. I had 265rwkw at 6.5 psi before i even started to tune the thing :) they WANT to make power with FI, you just need to let them ;)

I agree with everything you say here BUT...

As many know I have always been a proponent of the GM LSx series engines. That said I think the new Ford 5.0 Coyote is a game changer. Prices are already dropping, aftermarket support will be excellent, supposed to be designed with supercharging in mind. Stock forged rods should soon be available for supercharged engines, it already has a forged crank. Most LSx engines in the USDM use cast cranks.

For price that would be tough to beat if building up an LSx (with a forged crank and ported heads) you get one hell of a package.
Here is a brand new crate engine deal at $5900 :eek:

http://www.buyfordracing.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=776cPath=96
 
Check his sig link for a huge thread with details.

Basically twin turbos, log style turbo manifolds fab'd from 1.5" sched 10 steam pipe (1.42" ID)(36mm ID).

This on a stock unopened early 1uzfe with turbos, intercooler and tuning.

"1991 GrpA ST185 GT4 Celica
1UZ (stock internals)
twin KKK K26/27 turbos"

Yea i was reading through that tread, but i want to know exactly what he was doing to get those numbers, fuel management, injectors, internal wastegates? bov's, etc etc. sorry but this really peaks my interested/love in the UZ again to know that they can make massive hp with FI! i read though most of it and i didnt really see details, because those are crazy awesome numbers.
 
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My super-high mileage supercharged LS still makes power, and still doesn't smoke or consume oil. It's a motor designed to live forever at stock or stock + 20% power levels.
 


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