Everything is half-finished
Making progress but there is still quite a bit left. Almost all the remaining systems occupy common space or depend on each other so I’m trying to complete them in parallel. I did everything in order on the LS and it meant the integration and layout wasn’t as good as it could have been.
Got the aluminum radiator fan brackets made. I’ve probably bought the Send Cut Send folks a pontoon boat at this point.
I ended up needing to cut the radiator outlet off and shorten it to add some clearance for the AC. 3D printed a hold for the heater return line. I will re-visit routing clips and stuff once all the systems are done.
Got distracted and designed these cheeky oil quart brackets for E46 engine bays. My current E46 does not require these but my previous one did and I hated carrying a spare in the trunk. Ultimately, I will use this scan to create a kit that allows for a small lithium battery to mount in the engine bay. 4-cylinder cars (and maybe diesels) use a engine bay battery. Folks on “the forums” tell me the E46 battery cable is ~20lbs, plus the ~30lbs savings I will get with a smaller lithium battery. The battery will be expensive but it should be high weight savings per dollar. I will mess with this once the Supra is finished.
Re-mounted the prop valve for the junkyard BBK that’s on the car. Previously, it was located on the inside of the strut tower with a stack-up of random nuts and washers. Besides being janky, the old location was not great for clearance with the new swap. There are a few improvements I want to make to the brakes after the engine gets finished. These pictures do a great job documenting how dirty everything is. More to come here also…
Started trimming the wiring harness. I realized I’m missing the secondary harness that controls some relays and fuses so I will need to track one of those down. So far, the E39 “main harness” lengths fit great and will tuck nicely along the back of the valve cover and the firewall like the OEM Supra harness. I have a couple different “coil harnesses” from E46es and E39es that will all work. I just need to figure out what coils I want to run and buy the right aluminum valve cover. Again, more to come…
The power steering had me a bit hamstrung on the swap. I couldn’t use the M54 pump/bracket because it would hang below the crossmember now that the engine was sitting upright. The lack of bosses on the left side of the motor meant I would need to move the PS pump to the right side and likely ditch AC. Electric assist column or electric pump were other options. I modeled up a GM Type 2 pump and Honda K-series pump but I could not find a good way to mount either to the block without another expensive machined part so I decided to go the electric PS pump route. I bought a Volvo S60 pump a year or so ago but it’s so large that I couldn’t make it work. The SW20 pump ended up fitting nicely next to the Odyssey PC680 battery that I will use. I’m not sure if I will just run this pump in the default on/off setting or add CAN/VSS communication. The new battery is not as light as a lithium unit but it was less than $200. The battery and PS pump together weigh about as much as the original 24F battery. This car will stay on a tender when not driven so I’m not really worried about battery life or cold starts.
TLDR; modeled up the SW20 PS and PC680, scanned the original battery tray then figured out mounting. Battery mounts are PA6-CF and PS pump bracket is 1/8in aluminum. I will use rivnuts to mount the bracket. More SCS parts. Not done here as the PS bracket needs some tweaks and I will need to get another made.
I’m planning on using an E46 PS reservoir. These are notoriously leaky so I guess I’m a glutton for punishment. Printed up a bracket in PA6-CF but I will be making revision 2 once I get revision 2 of the pump bracket.
I also removed all the old fuel LS swap fuel lines to make way for newer, E85-friendly lines. The factory fuel lines didn’t work with the left side exhaust on the V8. Factory lines would probably work great here but these cars are 40 years old and those parts are rare. These were not as hacked together as I remember but they will be much nicer this time around.
Started removing the 8.8 set-up to go back to a Toyota diff as well. I didn’t really want to deal with this, but the common factory gear ratios(4.10, 4.30) are what I need for this engine. The 8.8 in the car has a 3.42 to match the old V8. Although I could re-build it with the correct ratios, that would ironically be more expensive. I also don’t need the durability of the 8.8 with this motor. I have almost everything I need to do the “un-swap”, I just need to get camber tabs made for my spare subframe and do the cut/weld mods. There is some weight savings here as well but I’m not sure how much. Hopefully I can re-coup some money by selling the complete 8.8 “kit” to someone with big power.
Again, more to come.
Rolled the cars out, cleaned the shop, and organized parts. It looks better IRL, I promise. Hopefully, complete updates next time.
