There are several generations of 1UZ-FE V8, the first generation ('90-'94) were rated at 250HP/260 lb-ft, the second generation ('95-'97) were rated at 260HP/270 lb-ft) and the third generation ('98+) added VVT, and were rated around 290HP.

We ruled out the VVT engine, due to its complexity and decided to use a Gen 1 or Gen 2 engine, whichever we could find in the local junkyard. After a few minutes of searching we came across this gem:

A 1990 1st gen 1UZ with only 118,000 miles on it - barely even broken in for a 1UZ. The engine was nearly spotless, no oil or grease anywhere on it, and it appeared to be dealer maintained - it had a TOYOTA oil filter on it. As to why the car was in the junkyard? We're not sure.

While the first gen 1UZ is down 10HP compared to gen 2, it has big connecting rods, and is non-interference. The Gen2 engine has thinner rods, and is interference, so it's a bad day if the timing belt breaks.

It turns out these engines aren't too bad to pull. It took about 1.5 hours to get the engine out, and the transmission unbolted - not too bad for working in the junkyard with no lift or ramps and limited tools.

Here's the engine in all its glory after we finally got it loaded and into the truck:

Next post will be about wiring it up for testing and making sure we didn't get a lemon of an engine

 

That thing looks wide! I look forward to seeing it shoehorned in an XJ.

 

Kind of thought the same thing. Maybe he just drives a really small truck? Either way I'm interested in how it all works out.

 

It was loaded into a Ford Ranger. It's still pretty wide, but it's not enormous.

 

Now that the weekend is here, the project has officially started. My buddy got busy disassembling the powertrain:

Driveshafts unbolted, bell housing bolts removed. We'll likely leave the transfercase crossmember installed, and support the front of the transmission in order to locate the 1UZ.

Accessories unbolted, radiator removed, electrical connections, etc.. disconnected. We're looking to just slide the engine forward enough to be able to pull it straight up with the engine lift. Hopefully we don't smash the condenser coil.

While he was busy taking the Jeep apart, I was busy mapping out wires and figuring out how to wire this thing. Luckily there are a lot of resources and pin-out diagrams available on the internet for 1UZ swaps, and I was able to get all the pertinent wires labeled

Those with a sharp eye will notice the starter buried in the valley of the engine. Luckily after getting the wiring sorted out today, I was able to test the starter and make sure it cranked. What a nightmare it would have been to find out it was dead once the engine was installed...

 

I am pretty excited to see the results of this.

 

Got a decent amount done this weekend!

4.0 Removed. It really wasn't too hard, the biggest pains were finding and disconnecting all the block-grounds Chrysler put everywhere and those PITA external-torx bolts at the very top of the bell housing. We needed about 5 feet worth of extensions and a universal joint to get to the passenger side one.

We were basically able to pull the engine straight up and out. Didn't even have to take the hood off.

With the engine out, it was now time to get the transmission ready to bolt up to the 1UZ V8.

You can get by with only swapping the bellhousing, but you'll have to have your torque converter modified to fit the 1UZ flexplate. We opted to use the LS400's A340E torque converter, which required us taking the inputshaft, front pump and OD-planet ring-gear from the donor transmission.

Here we have the collection of input shaft/OD planet assemblies and pumps. Being clean is very important, as is having ample bench space. Don't leave un-needed tools in your work space, like we did.

First almost-gotcha here. This is the OD planet ring gear. The AW4 and A340E use different size planetary gearsets for the OD assembly. The AW4's planet ring gear is much too large for the A340Es - luckily I grabbed the A340's ring gear from the junkyard, and it slid right into the AW4 without a problem - I almost didn't.

Transmission buttoned back up with the A340 input shaft/planet assembly, front pump and bellhousing installed. It was pretty easy actually, just make sure you keep track of the washers and bearings between the various components. The hardest part was getting the clutches lined back up so the OD assembly would slide back in fully. Oh, and I can't emphasize how important it is to keep everything clean.

After the transmission was squared away, we decided to do a test fit of the 1UZ.

Spoiler: It hits everything - which is what we expected honestly. Next steps will be to remove the A/C components (hopefully will be able to be relocated), charcoal canister and move the harness out of the way.

 

I was so ready to do this swap, but a 5.3 GM fell in my lap first. DOHC V8's sound so cool. Watching just in case I need another build to fill my life.

 

Good news! It fits!

Bad News!: The front sump, while shallow is still too deep and hits the steering linkages. We also had to remove exhaust manifolds, A/C compressor, charcoal canister and the A/C filter/dryer canister.

The exhaust problem is easy, we'll just have to change out the LS400's kinda-sorta headers for the 2UZ's (Tundra version of this engine) log-manifolds. The LS400 manifolds might actually work with the engine in its proper location - unsure right now. We'll also have to change the oil pan to the Lexus SC400 version, which is a rear sump - once again, not a big deal. It looks like once the engine is in and situated properly, we'll be able to reinstall the A/C compressor, which will be nice. The rest of the removed stuff such as the vapor canister will just be relocated.

Unfortunately the SC400 rear sump pan while not particularly rare, is not readily available on e-bay. So we'll have to go scouring the local junkyards. In the mean time we'll remove the sump and hopefully start mocking up some engine mounts.

We'll also begin sorting out the wiring harness. All unnecessary wires will be removed, but we want everything to look factory as possible when done. All the connections and wires will be soldered, wrapped in heatshrink and the install into wire-loom. No stray wires running across the engine bay. We're also hoping to get all the gauges working, including things like the check engine light.

Pulling the 1UZ and harness was easy because Toyota made the engine harness a complete self-contained assembly that just unplugs from the PCM and goes with the engine when you pull it. Chrysler didn't take the effort to do that, so it looks like it's going to be a nightmare sorting it out.

 

subscribed. wish I knew this was possible when I had an XJ.

 

Nice job getting it in there. I assume the oil pan is aluminum, but is there any chance of modifying the existing oil pan and sump to clear the bits and pieces you need it to clear?

 

It's a two piece pan, an upper aluminum and a lower steel "bowl". We could probably replace the bowl with a flat piece of steel and it'd fit, but we'd sacrifice like 2-3 quarts of oil capacity doing so.

A competent aluminum welder could probably easily move the whole sump back - we may go that root if we can't find an SC400 pan.

 

Just a quick update on the lack of updates. Weather hasn't been cooperating, and we've had a hell of a time finding an SC400 locally. There were some at local "you-pull-it" places over the summer back when we were just kicking this idea around, but it seems every you-pull-it place in Southern New England decided to scrap their SC400s now that we're actually doing this project.:mad3:

We finally located an already-pulled pan at a yard up in Medford NY for $185 shipped. Ridiculous to pay as much for an upper oil pan as we did for the entire engine, but that's the way she goes.:shaking:

In the mean time I've been looking at wiring diagrams of the XJ, and I've got it pretty well figured out how to integrate the 1UZ harness into the XJ harness with minimal hassle.

 

Well after over two weeks of waiting, we finally have the elusive 1UZ rear sump oil pan!

We're hoping to get back at the project on Friday, and get the engine at least mated to the transmission to figure out where the mounts need to go, and how much we need to beat the firewall!

 

looks like an awesome swap! cant wait to see it done

 

Got the pan temporarily bolted up to the engine (still need to get a pickup tube)

It cleared the front axle and steering components perfectly with plenty of room to spare

With the engine able to sit down to where it needed to be, we were able to see how much we'd have to modify the firewall. It ended up getting within 1/2" of the bellhousing before the cylinder heads hit the firewall.

We debated on just pushing the transmission forward, but my buddy didn't want to have his driveshafts remade - since he just had the rear shaft remade for his SYE. I suggested we could cut the firewall and reshape it with some plate steel, but he just grabbed the 3-lb mini-sledge and went to town on the firewall. Sure hope that heater box is okay.

Driver's side mainly needed the pinch weld beat over a little bit:

Engine mates up to the transmission now. It looks like we'll be able to use the 1UZ factory mounting "ears", as they line up just about perfectly with the bottom of the XJ frame rails. It will be easy to weld up a bracket to accept some generic hockey-puck type mount with a stud on either side.

After the mounts are made, we still have exhaust manifolds/headers, fuel line ran (the 1UZ requires a return line), power steering, electric fans and wiring. Still a ways to go. Hopefully it's running before the snow falls.

Still dealing with the wiring too, but slowly working through it:

 

This is an awesome thread. Ill be watching out for this one.

 

thanks for the chance.

 

Spent a bunch of time on it this weekend. We got the engine set where we wanted it, and bolted it to the transmission. You can also see a lot of the wiring harness has been pruned. It'll all get re-taped an loomed once we integrate the 1UZ wiring harness into it.'

Mocking up engine mounts here. Mount itself is a generic rubber mount with a a single stud on each side. The factory Lexus rubber mounts were already broken when we pulled the engine. The Lexus OEM hydraulic mounts are ~$95/pc vs the $10/pc for these standard rubber mounts.

You an also see that the passenger side exhaust manifold is going to be a complete nightmare.

Mount in place and tacked together. Engine will be removed again to weld the mounts up, install the pickup tube and to install the torque converter onto the transmission. Hopefully the next time it goes in, it'll be for good.

 

It seems to be sitting really low in the chassis, is that by design or just where it ended up if you leave the transmission in the current location? Any effect on axle up-travel?

 

We lowered it a little compared to the 4.0 for slightly better firewall and exhaust manifold clearance, but it's not really all that much lower. The cylinder heads are wide, the block isn't very long, and the intake manifold is fairly compact giving it a very low set appearance in the engine by.

We have another Cherokee with the 4.0 still in it, so I can take some measurements from the crank centerline to see how much lower it is.

 

Any plans to keep a/c, cruise control? I picked up a 99 tj with a bad 4.0 and am considering the 1uz as I happen to have one lying around.

 

AC will probably be reinstalled at some point. Cruise on the cherokee is PCM controlled, which has been removed. Might be a way to make the ls400 cruise computer and servo work though.

You may want to plate that frame a bit more before just welding the mounts into the sheet metal.

They're just tacked for now, already planning on plating the rails. They're paper thin.

 

You may want to plate that frame a bit more before just welding the mounts into the sheet metal.

 

Found out auto tj's come with torqueflight A999 (32RH) transmissions. Guess the 1uz swap is out unless I get an ax15 with a r154 Toyota bellhousing?

 

You need an adapter plate to connect a 1UZ to an R154 - aftermarket plates exist to do this, they're around ~250-300 bucks.

If you want to keep it auto though, AW4s are a very common swap into TJs, and it's super simple to convert an AW4 to bolt to a 1UZ.

 

lead head where are you located? im looking into putting this motor into my buggy which already has an aw4 with a 3rz in front of it. im hoping the mods I did to the aw4 to adapt to the 3rz will speed up the process.

 

Might wanna check out Addicted Offroads "Always Smooth" buggy build in the Toyota section 1UZ-AW4 setup.

 

I love this build thread. A V8-AW4 is an awesome idea. I built my MJ around the drive train and kind of locked myself into the 4.0/AW4...or so I thought.