BillyM's '85 GTS vvt-i 1UZ swap.

[BillyM]

So I've been piddling around with the 1UZ idea since i bought the RA65 a couple fall of 2020 and finally collected enough parts and completed enough other projects that I got serious about it.  My original first-gen 1UZ ended up a boat-anchor - missing a number of bolts and accessories, wire harness hacked all to hell (extended with what looked like phone cord), and not a good starting point overall.  In a fit of angry-craigslist'ing I found a 1999 LS400 semi-local that had a blown transmission but ran and jumped on it.  Only problem is, I don't know of anyone that's done the VVT-i swap so thought there'd be a whole new level of pain associated (and I was right!)

[BillyM]

As I mentioned previously, finally getting to a point that there are enough parts and pieces to start putting things together.  The original non-VVT-i 1UZ came with the XAT adapter kit but whoever was working on it missed a number of things (not to mention XAT not understanding how to properly clock their included hydraulic throw-out/cylinder!)  I additionally grabbed the Xcessive mounts and they had the motor about an inch and a half higher than needed, so those got trimmed down and tested (will weld them before running the car hard).  Additionally, the squared-off heads of the VVT-i fouled the firewall HARD, so substantial hammer-time was required for clearance.

[BillyM]

Decided to not be a lazy-bones and go through a full reseal on the motor, including valve stems and fix the Exxon-Valdez situation with the front left cam adjuster seal (what a pain!)  Additionally I futzed with finding a shorter sway-bar linkage to hopefully avoid swaybar to subframe contact on full suspension inherent to the AE86 bar that's needed to clear the 1UZ crank pulley.  From there I got started on the wiring, replacing all the broken connectors, pulling out wires that were either unnecessary or I needed to relocate for the AT-EMU trans emulator, and figuring out what wires I can utilize in the factory harness to get signals to/from all the external components.  Unlike my white 2jz car I'm shooting for all gauges working from day-1 instead of driving around using a cellphone to pull OBD data like a fool for 2yrs.  That said, this is more approachable by virtue of the wiring diagram being in English, so I've got that going for me!

[BillyM]

So more on the XAT throw out bearing.  After hearing about so many people having trouble with them and cross-referencing pictures of a factory T56 with the instructions generally circulated for it, I realized that the bleed port location requires the ToB to be installed with the feed line nearly horizontal.  Any clocking otherwise would introduce an air bubble in the cylinder.  XAT doesn't actually even have a provision for that position, so I ended up drilling and tapping the correct position and setting a couple studs in there.  Also, now I needed another two holes in the bellhousing (the first two were made by the prior owner of the kit).  That hopefully behind me I moved on to getting it all mounted up and last night ended up dropping it in the car to test the final-fit before I start welding things.

[Teranfirbt]

That is toight! Looks like a winner