Complete: 1MZ-FE V6 engine swap - For Sale

How-to write-up

I'm going to create a thread in the "All motor" section of the forum that will contain a parts list, modification list and a brief "how to" containing the parts I used and identifying possible alternatives and a brief "how to" explaining the steps to do this swap.

After having completed this swap, it seems pretty easy to do. If all parts were sourced and a few of the mods were completed ahead of time, I would say this swap could be done in 2 or 3 weeks depending on the amount of time spent on the swap. I spent about 1 1/2 months studying the wiring of both the Celica and the car I used the harness and ECU from and should have most of it documented. This time seems to have paid off.

 

Don't forget Avalon (ECU & harness, intake, etc) Turbo MR2 (inner axles), All-trac (clutch, pressure plate, axles), 5th gen Celica front brakes. I think that about covers it!

I was thinking about getting the Camry "V6" emblem and putting it on the back of the car. Just haven't picked one up yet. Over the Winter, the rear spoiler will be painted black to match the car, something else I haven't gotten to yet.

I go hard everytime I walk past my garage knowing whats inside

 

Why put anything on your car? Looks of course. I like the way the stock spoiler looks.

The E153 tranny is what the V6 Camrys use, but with a taller tire. The red line on the V6 is lower, 6400, than the 3S-GE but with the amount of torque the engine has, I notice I am shifting in the same place on our track. This tranny has a taller final drive gear than the S54 tranny, but with a torquey motor, you don't need to wind it up.
I was going to take it to the drag strip Friday, but each day we get closer to Friday, the chances of rain on Friday is getting higher, 30% or Tuesday, 70% on Wednesday, probably 100% today. I don't think the track will be open much longer, I may have to wait until April to find out, unless I find a friend with one of the g-tech things they could loan me.

 

I know they make them for the Camry. I'm not sure of who it is. I would check some Camry forums. That reminds me, there was someone on this forum or CT that offered to make some headers for my car. Maybe I should contact that person and see if he can make some headers for this swap and sell them. I would galdly let him use my car in exchange for a set of headers.

 

Future mods/wish list

Now that my swap is mostly complete, I have my future mods/wish list. Over time, most of these will be done.

LSD tranny :
MR2 is checpest, would require Turbo MR2 LSD inner axles. Would perfer "gear-type" LSD installed in my tranny, but this is much more expensive.
Roll-cage and 5-point harness
Aluminum racing seats
Better tires :
Hopeing to get 710's for next season.
500 lb front springs :
Hopeing to have these for next season.
Rear suspension mod/customization :
I need more camber back there!
A little more front suspension work
Lightening the car :
This winter I plan to remove the interior and as much unnecessary weight as possible.

 

Did we get any where with this? What do you think?

 

I kind of figured that out. Here's what you can do in the mean time; video your car doing a drive by, then when you play it back, speed it up!

 

Car weight after swap

So last Sunday I took my car to the same scales I weighed the car before the swap and weighed it again. The car weights 20 lbs more, +/- ~10 lbs, than before the swap. The engine is probably lighter than the cast iron 4 cylinder engine, but the tranny is bigger and so are the axles. All in all, I would say that a gain of 20 lbs is not bad. Still lighter than doing a turbo swap with the same power as a stock turbo swap.

If I don't sell the car soon, which it looks like it won't, I'll be starting my winter project of getting the car as light as possible, which will probably only offset the weight of the roll-cage I want to install.

 

This weekend I started my off season project of lighten the car. It took about 20 minutes to remove all the sound deadening material under the front seats, rear seats and the hatch area thanks to my pneumatic impact hammer with a chisel tool. I had to do the area in front of the front seats, where your feet go, by hand because it was really thick. I also am removing the steel front the front and rear bumper and replacing with some aluminum to hold the bumper covers in place. I should save about 18 lbs on the front bumper and about 28 lbs from the rear bumper. I am only doing this because it is a track car only. I have other ideas on lightening the car which I’ll share as I get to them.