NOVA - TT swap in the SC this weekend

[Goodspeed]

So I just got back to the 'burg from Blairs, the SC is about 95% complete and can run under its own power. There were some problems with retrofitting the Supra TT throttle cable, and there are some minor issues here and there that need a day or so to complete but all in all the swap went by very smoothly. The IJZ slipped right in like a glove in a matter of minutes, and with the battery and fuel lines connected the car fired right up, no issues whatsoever. Blair's friends helped out, including his roommate Paul that did a very skilled job at all the wiring and work under the car like mounting the hybrid driveshaft. I mostly stuck to documenting everything that was going on, so here are some pics and I took lots of video that should appear sometime.

So we get to Blair's house, and here is the 1JZ, twin turbo 2.5 liter. This motor came from an importer in Georgia with about 90k miles on it. It has the very rare R154 5 speed with it, and this is one of a minute number of cars (possibly the 1st) that went from the USDM W58 5 speed to the JDM R154 5 speed. Its a very sturdy trans and will handle future single turbo duties easily.





The SC sitting pretty before the open heart surgery







BLING! This is Blair's friend Lowell's 7.3 liter turbo-diesel dually. It has 24 inch semi truck wheels, lowered, full audio, DVD, bluetooth, straight 5" exhaust no cat no mufflers, chipped with 700 ft-lbs of torque. And it has spikes. I've ridden around in this both in the 'burg and Nova and it is THE ultimate comfortable hauler. It was the parts hauler for the weekend.






More bling....


OK on to the swap. Blair needed a JDM driveshaft for the swap, or at least the front half. A guy was meeting us in southern NJ from the Bronx to sell us one, and along the way we picked up a rear diff from another IJZ SC owner in Maryland to deliver to this guy. Blair pooped in this guys parking lot in Maryland. It was in sketchy Upper Marlboro, we saw some cracked out people up there.




On the way to the New Jersey Turnpike at midnight. To my dismay, we didn't get to see Tony Soprano stealing a cigarrette truck. We got a flat on the way back lol. And we were rolling with a mean looking silver G35 coupe with black wheels, Stoptechs at all four corners and an intercooler peeking out. You can see it in front of us in this pic.



Back at Blair's the next morning, commencing the swap





The '70 Racing Green Corvette Stingray 4 speed, very clean



Back on track, taking out the stock ECU and the Spec Stage 3 clutch installed...





Paul doing the wiring



Out comes the 2JZ. It had us worried because we had limited space height-wise to angle out of the bay, not to mention that the shifter was still attached and made a horrible noise as it dragged across the top of the trans tunnel. It was really, really in 4th gear when it was finally out, but to the best of our knowledge it still works




So once the motor is nearly out, the stock downpipe was hooking on to the inside of the engine bay and there was just no way to get it out without banging something up. Sawzall to the rescue?




Arrrr! Its not working! Ever see a Sawzall with a molten hot blade?



.......Fail.








Motor is out!



But not without injury....smacked this on the way out. Not to mention Paul was covered in gas soaked cuts by this point



Almost done for the night....



The next morning...this is what happens when you leave a Dixie cup in a bucket of mixed fluids overnight. Overall this day went by pretty easily and efficiently



Getting the IJZ and tranny on the motor lift



Motor mount brackets, '98 Supra TT vs. stock




1JZ ready to go in...










Success! There are some small things that still need to be done, and Blair might not even put on the stock SMIC, instead it'll be trailered by the dually to have some IC pipes/downpipe/and FMIC fabbed up and installed. Overall it was a fun weekend and I can't wait to see this car finished and on the road. It was fired up 2 or 3 times and it sounded GREAT.