seattlejester

There is a company that makes transmission controllers. Fairly affordable from what I recall. Has full manual control and full lockout control so the gear shifts are faster etc. They eve had a digital display with paddle shifting option. I want to say the toyota supra was one of the options. I know the FD rx7 was an option and may be easier to search for using that. Or you could go full custom with a megashift like system. Honestly I'm kind of over the manual everything phase. I wouldn't mind some assist in my steering, I wouldn't mind if I could just cruise and have a computer shift for me while I munched on a snack or something. If you have the budget for it the auto shouldn't be what is stopping you. Just keep in mind it usually only isn't the swap cost. There are other costs involved make sure to factor those in!

I'm not sure you can adapt a cd009 to fit a 7mgte, hadn't really thought too much about that. That would also require a new drive shaft, and I literally have 40 miles on this drive shaft right now. I have the money, and I was planning on rebuilding the trans later this year, but the engine going out kind of took up that budget. I could swap it around I suppose, and just slow down the rebuild of the engine and have the trans rebuilt now and installed. That does mean I loose out on yet another beautiful summer, on the other hand, peace of mind would be nice.

Well it took a while, but I managed to pull the engine out. The plan was to man handle the block out, a friend and I had lifted a fully assembled short block for his BMW a while back, and when I did my L28, I took the block to and from the machine shop and lifted it in and by myself. So off came the accessories. First both manifolds were removed. The first error of my ways showed up when I went to pull the intake manifold. The front strut brace was in the way. When I put the engine back together the first time, I modified the brace after I put the manifold on. A bit of hammering removed the retaining pin and removing the sway bar bushing allowed me to pull the front portion of the brace system. Pretty dam happy that I didn't just weld it right to the tower. With both manifolds removed I started to pull the head the second error of the install showed up here. By moving the engine so far back in the engine bay, the driver side valve cover was now comfortably sitting under the hood latch. A u-joint and an extension gave their lives in removing the nut that sat under the latch holding the ARP stud, I will probably have to cut that latch out, which was a plan at some point anyway so no huge loss. With the head off I could now start popping the pistons out 1 by 1. However since I had to rotate the crank, and the crank pulley was obscured by my trigger wheel, I had to first remove all that. I pulled the radiator along with the trigger wheel and associated sensor. With the trigger wheels off I could turn the crank. I did find my culprit, the big rod end of piston number one was loose. Bolts were tight, but I could move it quite a few mm side to side. (good one for comparison) You can see how badly the bearing was worn, the only lucky thing is that it seems like the crank may have been spared as there was still parts of the bearing preventing the rod end from contacting the crank. Hopefully it will just need a polish, it will be up to the machine shop to decide on the health of that one Also found piston 4 was almost completely cracked through as well. With all the pistons out I pulled the oil system. It is only held in with two bolts, one on the pump and one on the pickup tube, but it gave a bit of a fight just in friction before it moved. With the oil system removed I figured I could start work on the front pulley which would prevent me from pulling the front cover that retains the crank. I had feared this moment as the pictures showed many special tools being required to pull the crank pulley and the timing pulley behind it. I wanted to see how a claw would hold the pulley and put my hands at 3 and 9 o clock to simulate and to my surprise the pulley moved. With a little more back and forth the pulley pulled off. Same with the timing pulley and the oil gear. No real trouble as I looked up instructions to pull the crank, disaster. Toyota has a rear crank seal retaining plate that sits behind the flywheel making removal of the crank impossible with the engine in the car. With the daunting thought of trying to lift 200lbs, up and over the lifted front core support, I just knew it was not going to end well. Even if I had a friend on the other side it was not going to be a smooth process. I rang a friend who I had borrowed a crane from the past, and he said that he wouldn't let me borrow it, but would sell it to me for cheap as he did not want it back afterwards. I don't have much space, but I figure I can sell it for pretty much the same if not more then the amount he wanted so I picked it up. A couple measurements showed that I could just pull the engine using the crane as long as I just turned the crane to clear the core support instead of pulling it straight back. I loosened the bell housing bolts ready for my triumphant moment soon to come to find the transmission was not separating from the engine. Then I recalled that the R154 is a pull type clutch and the clutch fork is actually attached to the pressure plate by a lip. So engine crane was removed, and back under the car I went to pull the clutch fork out. That alone was quite difficult as there is a e-clip that holds the pin that the clutch fork pivots on that I had to fish out blind with little room. It all came out and back came in the crane. A couple bruises later and the engine finally separated with the transmission. The rest was easy with the load leveler. I swung the crane out and built the engine stand so that I could pull the crank. I took off the pressure plate, the clutch, the flywheel, and finally that pesky seal retaining plate. In retrospect I think this was wiser to do as the amount of prying required the engine would have most likely been dropped at some point. So now I have the dilemma of what to do next. The original plan was to strip the rest of the block, take it to get cleaned, inspected, then order pistons. Take the pistons along with new rod bushings and arp studs with my spare set of rods and have the pistons and everything fitted and resized. Have the block honed or deglazed to fit the pistons, new freeze plugs installed and oil drive shaft bearings installed and sized. Have the crank inspected and polished Then bring that all back and do the reversal of the removal and install the assembled short block onto the transmission with the new clutch and oil upgrades. The problem is now I am staring at my dirty transmission. It works, but it does feel like it catches some gears sometime. Getting access to the bell housing bolts wasn't exactly easy (error number 3), which means I may have to pull the engine with the transmission if I decide to do transmission work. Where as right now it would be two bolts to pull the transmission. $1200 would pay for a rebuilt with upgraded parts that fix some of the known issue by driftmotion which apparently does a lot of these, shipping would be $200 or so. That means I would have a transmission that would be rebuilt with new syncros, bearings, seals, stronger gear selector forks, new thrust washer and bearing retainer plate, and it would also give me a chance to install my 1.25 inch shifter extension, or I could go all out and buy the even longer extension which would be 2.5 inches which would put the shifter very close to where it should be (this job requires the removal of the tailshaft and is easily done with the transmission out of the car). So the question comes down to if I just fix the engine, put in a new clutch and deal with the trans later, or do I upgrade the trans now. If I were to jump the 7mgte ship and do a different engine swap down the road a rebuilt R154 would be usable for a 1uz, 2jz, 1jz, 4g63, rotary etc. On the flip side the CD009 is becoming more popular to swap and is compatable with Vq, lsx, 2jz, rotary, and more. Thoughts?

Do you have a supplier that you used for those rod ends? I bought QA-1's knowing that they will need replacement at some point, would be nice to have the new ones on hand.

Quality heim joints for cheap is pretty much an oxymoron. A decent rated heim joint is going to be about 40$ to start, a really quality one is about $150 a joint. Replace 4 and you are looking at $160 minimum. I bought 6 for my rear control arms and I'm pretty sure they will need to be replaced within a year or so. I'm not sure what techno toy does, but their joints are quite oversized so there is reassurance in that matter. The way I look at it, the cheap stuff will fail near the advertised failure point. Nicer things will fail usually above. Intercooler/piping if it holds 20lbs instead of 25lbs, no big loss. However if a bolt or something breaks as you near the limit on your suspension then much bigger problem. I think CX racing is actually on the forum here, it would be nice if they chime in with some numbers and testing scenarios. Edit: Also I noticed what zdan was quoting in his picture. Those rod ends almost look like they are cast.

Frame rails or pinch welds would be ideal. I use the terrible reference point of the wheel hub to the body line. You look like you are a little higher then my cut spring height. If you want to go lower at some point, the extra low would be a good choice. If you have no thoughts of going lower, then the regular ones would be fine. I am of course speaking from the 240z perspective.

I think the AR-5 is the manual you are thinking of Russ? Found on pontiac solstice and saturn sky apparently fit toyota engines either easily or straight up bolts up to them. There was a thread if you look back a couple pages I think. The manual R154 is huge and fits an early 240z chassis without mods. So the smaller bodied auto would be quite easy to fit by comparison. The R154 can be smoother with the right shifter with the right bushings etc. I have had trouble with mine and the thought of auto did cross my mind a couple times. I had a tiptronic daily and now I have a paddle shifted daily, it is much smoother and nicer in traffic, but there is a definite disconnect. I will say a 4 -speed doesn't quite feel like enough gears. The first car I drove had a 4 speed and it always felt dim witted trying to find the right gear, struggled to find the right gear for the right situation. 5-speed auto felt a bit better, but with an underpowered engine it feels like more or less it was made just for the gas mileage. The 8 speed I have now almost seems on the high side, but nothing quite beats a quintuple down shift , makes the daily slog quite enjoyable.

What are you using for fuel control? What are your timing values? How are you controlling timing? Stock throttle body doesn't have a TPS. Numbers and facts. Give them.

S14 if memory is correct is what I run. Agency Powers. Comes with a cover to protect the braided lines. It is on the longer side, best to just cut the factory mount for the brake line and move it inboard a bit. Careful though, keep in mind that the length has to work for your setup in full droop, or your lines are going to act as your droop limiter and won't last long.

How are you controlling fuel? Stock ECCS will only do so much. Also concerned about timing. Are all the TDC indicators in the right spot when engine is at TDC?

I think your 2+2 is also going to have an R200 if memory serves. Springs are gone once they stop supporting the weight or they fail from cracking etc. They will eventually start sagging, given their age I'm concerned that that may have already happened. Any pictures etc? It would be nice to know the condition of the parts car and the condition of your car to know if there is any other benefit to be had.

That used to be a fairly popular swap on Zcar so I want to say that is easily done.

Also looks right isn't the best unless you want the car to look good for pictures. Looks right usually means even all around, that means when you sit in the car it will no longer be even, and if you are low that means rubbing consistently on one side. Ideally you want to adjust one end, ala front or rear. Sway bars and their end links do make a difference. Especially if you are doing one side at a time. If you jack up the car, put one side on ramps and drop the strut housing via the three bolts from the top, the sway bar end link will actually hold it in place.

Gotcha, so you were thinking of patching using new material from the outside in. I would say bridging the gap with a piece of metal welded in would be better. Trying to bond two non flat panels in awkward planes can be difficult since you can't use clamps to hold both planes.

Why do you need a better alternative to the stock unit? Some underlying problem? Most starters are usually wired directly to the battery and triggered via a solenoid aka a starter relay. I guess you could wire in a relay to the battery directly to bypass the old wiring, but it would still be supplying battery power. I guess if you wanted to run without the solenoid?

That is always a possibility. I know that getting the alignment sheet that said zero thrust angle was a relief for me. I have heard that a frame alignment doesn't have to be too bad if a shop has a high turn around rate. I've heard some quotes of 800-1000 for minor tweaks. They could at least measure the pickup points and tell you how bad it is. If it is tweaked you can either level it via the suspension or have them pull the pickup points into place. Honestly it looks like that crushed part might need replacing though. Looks like the tie rod ball joints and the control arm ball joints could use replacing as well.

"Shop now that I found more I have to cut out would it possible to use some epoxy to reattach too close up the fender well or does it have to be welded?" That was kind of difficult to read. Do you mean you want to use epoxy to close up the fender well? Or do you mean you want to use a patch panel to span the gap and use epoxy to attach the patch panel? If you are going to do flares, then it really doesn't matter, welded would be the best option to close it up. You can find the cheaper/shortcut answers on your own. If you want to keep the stock body lines, then you are going to cut out everything with rust, find a donor piece, transfer the cut line, then weld everything back in. Epoxy really doesn't come into the equation.

I think it is important to look into the sway bar suggestion. If they are still connected you aren't going to see an independent adjustment. This of course means that you need a way to make your sway bar end links adjustable either via a threaded portion or shims for proper spacing to achieve minimal preload. I had some similar issues. Measure left and right and one side was sitting much lower, raised it and found no change, winding a certain collar down lifts up another side of the car etc. I took it into a really good alignment shop (one that does SCCA cars or NASA cars) will be able to set you in the right direction. I was also expecting news about how bad my chassis was going to be, but they set the ride height without any issues.

You are going to have to be familiar with reading spark plugs, and know how to burn and clean them between readings. Not an easy skill. I would say to just install the wide band AFR gauge. It will answer sooooooo many questions you may have down the road. All you need is a drill bit and a clamp on o2 bung if you have to install it yourself. Any competent exhaust shop should also be able to install an o2 bung in a few minutes. Just drill the hole, debur, weld bung over it, screw in o2 sensor then route into cabin.

They look quite similar to ARE Eagle 028 http://www.eaglewheels.com/028.htm

First off, good for you for including those files. Off the bat the hesitation is probably caused by an accel enrichment being off. Make sure to set it to TPS 100% bias and setup using the included TPS dot graph. It is one of the things people forget to set the most when switching to a TPS. 15 kpa fluctuation is fairly small, that is like less then a pound of difference. Unless you have it controlling idle via an IACV, then megasquirt really doesn't have too much control idle. Complaining about that would be moot. Depending on how you have your ignition setup that isn't very odd. L28's do backfire at least when mine was carb'd it did.

If you do not have pillow ball mounts up top, do not move the spacing of the wheel compared to factory. The rubber bush only has so much compliance. gnosez is right, they just include generic washers. You can make or purchase solid spacers if you have the correct measurements.

I've thought about it and I think I am glad too. Honestly the picture that kind of pushed me over the edge. Pretty sure he used photoshop to clean up all the dirt and the smudge that is imbedded into the paint, but makes the car look like it has potential

Sludge all over my magnetic drain plug. Pulled some of the oil out of the pan that was sitting at the bottom after the oil drained, and put it on top and let the oil drain away. Came back to all these bits of metal. Surprisingly I didn't find any rod ends. Given the absolute clatter I was expecting to find bolts, nuts, and rod caps if not crank caps, but all of them are in place. These big chunks do point towards me finding a couple rod bearings missing. I took one of the rod caps out and was surprised to see a bearing in good condition. Given my limited space no real ability to use a hoist, there was some talk about this being the end. Talk about parting out and cleaning up and such did come up and I have to admit there was a part of me that wasn't too opposed. I could pay off my lease on my car and start saving and buy something else down the road. Adding the part out however shed some light on things. I had an upgraded 7mgte specific turbo that I had paid good money for, valve covers that I never got a chance to install, and some parts that I would really have a difficult time parting out like my bare shell. Then there is always the concern that I would part out my suspension or something critical to the car functioning as a car and then find no one wants parts which would leave me absolutely screwed. So my plan is to do a complete tear down with the block in the car for the most part. Take off all the accessories and manifolds, then remove the head, jack up the engine via the transmission. Then pop out pistons and rods one by one. After which I will hopefully be able to identify where all this bearing material came from and if the crank and the block survived. If not I should be able to lift the block out as the bare block only weighs 130lbs. I can have it machined and rebuilt it and my friend's parents heard of my mishap and offered their driveway for a weekend, so I could put it in that way. I also figure a complete running car will fetch more then a part out. And I STILL haven't driven this thing in anger. This was my first drive after my alignment and I had just sunk like 3k into the suspension. I really want to get some use out of this thing. Then there was talk about the rebuild. I talked to some people, I was thinking maybe I should go all out and just do forged rods and pistons etc, but the consensus seems to be that the return is always going to concerning as it is not as stout a block as a 2jz. In the scheme of things a used 2jz almost fetches as much if not more then a built up 7m. An engine builder familiar with the engine said the stock rods are good to about 500hp, and the forums say the stock pistons should be able to withstand 400whp. I don't plan on going above that, and I have to say I am a bit fickle and not sure this will be the last power plant to grace this engine bay. The rebuild parts are actually not that bad, I think about 600 for new pistons, rings, bearings, seals, gaskets, thermostat, ARP bolts, and a set of used rods. There is a bit of "while I'm at it" in the form of doing some reliability, flow, and quality of life upgrades in regards to the oil in the form of a new cross over pipe, higher volume/pressure oil pump, and AN feed and return lines in addition to AN lines and adapters for the culprit which was the loose worm drive clamp, that is going to set me back about another 7-800. The clutch would be my next weak point and is a reused stock unit with unknown miles. Throwing in my light weight fly wheel with a new friction disc, a higher rated pressure plate and a new clutch and a new starter is going to set me back another 7-800, but would allow the power to get to the wheels without problems. All in about 2k just in parts. I'm really hoping to get away with minimal machine work in the form of resizing rods, maybe a deglazing of the cylinders and a polishing of the crank, not adding up to more then 500 would be great. Theory would be that after this I still have a shelf of parts to install and solutions to come up with for things like a heater that should keep me occupied. The power will be reliable and stout at the 350-400whp mark. That is the plan.

http://forums.hybridz.org/topic/95789-seattlejesters-1971-240z/?p=1169508 http://forums.hybridz.org/topic/95789-seattlejesters-1971-240z/?p=1170181 Jmortenson recommended a 1/2 inch spacer made from aluminum. Made the holes line up almost perfectly. Spacer can be seen in the first link. In the second link 3 pictures down you can see the sway bar. I don't think there is any interference problems.