Hi everybody just like to run this by you, I did engine transplants in my younger days when you could undo a few nuts cut several wires and still have no real problem getting re- connected and running again, but I am talking about ford pinto's, crossflows, V6 essex and my favourite rover V8 all running simple electrics and carbs. I would very much appreciate any info regarding my next project a lexus 400 engine and trans powered space framed drag racer, basically can I salvage enough electricals to get the engine fired up again once it is in my chassis or will I have to spend a fortune on some after market computer/ ecu system any input welcome thanks BB.

Anything like this can be done with enough time, knowledge and swear words. Would probably be far less hassle to go the aftermarket route though.

i think you might be better off with an omex, emerald, adaptronic or even megasquirt ECU.

ETA: Make a list of things you want it to do, and that will tell you the answer.

[Edited on 17-3-11 by MakeEverything]

Engines are okay, auto gearbox will be much harder to sort out

This build looks great but its not had any progress posted in a while.

http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=69255&page=1

Cheers,
James

[Edited on 17/3/11 by James]

What engine is it? I'm guessing the 1UZ-FE v8? If so, twobrutal.co.uk might be the place to ask.

Chris

From another forum...
Clicky

http://lextreme.com/ has some good info as well. As mentioned above, I believe that the gearbox is the main problem, as the ecu demands that it's there.

IIRC Practical Performance Car covered the basics of transplanting this engine fairly recently, might be worth getting hold of a back issue?

I did laugh at one guy who fitted a golf tdi engine into his old camper and had to still keep the golfs dash instruments in the engine bay to make it run due to the immobiliser. Modern engines may be vastly more powerful but they are a pig to transplant. I think I'll stick to my pinto

Thanks for the words, sounds like I'm in for an interesting yearish. I'll post progress photo's if and when I get something worth looking at.

If you're happy with the stock engine then do the research on transplanting the engine and electronics as a whole. You then benefit from the driveability and features of the factory car.

If however you intend to modify the engine in the future (and surely we all do in the end!) then save yourself the hassle of rippng stuff out at a later date and fit a bespoke wiring loom and ECU from the start. What puts people off doing this is the initial cost as opposed to using what you have as it came with the engine.

As an example I've transplanted an LS1 V8 into an RX7 and I have used the stock ECU (or PCM on GM terms) and wiring loom. Luckily the engine side of the electronics is all separate and operates as a single unit. The connection to the BCM (which controls the chassis and trans electronics) is via a single serial conection and which can be easily (but not necessarily cheaply) disabled in the PCM with software as well as all the emmision controls, unnecessary diags and the immobiliser.

I say not necessarily cheaply because in the UK there are only a few places with the necesary software to do the mods. The software packages to do this are in the region of £500-600 for the base software and a couple of licenses which are needed for each PCM you modify. So if you're not prepared to buy the software for yourself you are registerd with a tuners software and have to use them exclusively.

I was again lucky to find a helpful chap in the US who sold me a pre-modifed PCM from a Camaro (my engine came from a Monaro but essentially they are the same) to get the engine running in near stock form (Mods currently amount to the K&N filters and a SS exhaust system) for less than £200 shipped to me. To do any future mods such as a cam or flowed heads will require my PCM to be licensed to a tuners database (£100) and a fair amount of mapping as the PCM can't be tuned in real time like an aftermarket ECU.

So you can see I've retained the stock ECU and wiring which came with the engine and saved a big chunk of money. I have the benefit of the factory mapping and driveability but I'm somewhat restricted with future mods. For me that's not a problem as my Monaro HSV engine was the last revision of the LS1 engines and has shown 415 BHP and 400 lbs ft on a dyno. Plenty enough for me to be getting on with.

From what I know of the 1UZ-FE engines they are around the 260-290 BHP & 260-300 lbs ft mark depending on the age and if it came with the variable cam timing etc. which is not to be sniffed at but just wouldn't be enough for me. I would have tuned the engine from day one and so would certainly be looking at an ECU and wiring loom from OMEX for example. Unless there is aneasy way to tune the stock ECU.

[Edited on 19-3-11 by bimbleuk]