Toasty's '98 Montero Build

[nwoods]

Sounds similar to my rebuild last year. Still curious why you went down instead of up to remove the block. I would never have thought of that. How did you get the truck up high enough? Also, it appears you left the front drivetrain in place. I wouldn’t have thought there’d be room to go down with the front diff in place.

 

[Toasty]

Ha ha ha, i thought you made a funny. No i pulled it out from the top and then set it down in front of the truck. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[nwoods]

Ha ha ha, i thought you made a funny. No i pulled it out from the top and then set it down in front of the truck. Sorry for the confusion.

Your skills compared to mine are like a Nija with an attitude compared to my Elmer Fudd. If anyone was going to pull a motor by dropping it it would be you!

 

[Toasty]

Put this in there.

A Tesla build for me would have to be sportier than a Montero, Starion, 3000GT or even a Gen 1 Mighty Max. Something i could keep low CG.

 

[Toasty]

Your skills compared to mine are like a Nija with an attitude compared to my Elmer Fudd. If anyone was going to pull a motor by dropping it it would be you!

Thanks , I did once put a truck on it's roof to pull a transmission (didn't make it easier).

 

[Raptortruckin]

I should check back on this forum more often lol. Now I see where it began vs our conversations on instagram and on the phone.

I'm doing a VVTi 1UZ swap as well, but into my 79 Colt Wagon, Montero will be sometime later down the road when I'm ready to kick the dohc 6g74 out lol. Unlike Toasty though I'm going to a manual trans, so I'll be ditching the stock ecu altogether along with AC and powersteering. Almost got all my transmission parts together then I'll be ready to start pulling and dropping engines .

For those that don't know or weren't aware, the UZ swaps have become pretty popular in cars and trucks/SUVs, including Mitsus. The UK guys have been swapping the UZs into their Gen 2s and L200 pickups for a few years now, but mounts remain the one elusive thing no one takes photos of lolol.

If anyone wants to do this swap, i highly suggest you research which version of the engine you want, there are 3 versions of the 1UZ (90-94,95-98, & 99+), with the VVTi being the most complicated. On average you can get a 1UZ for 350-600 with or without harness and ECU. The first one I got last year, was non vvti w/ harness and ecu for 400, scored another for 300 for a friend, and then this 99 LS400 VVTi engine popped up for $600 which I couldn't pass that up.

Staying auto is much cheaper than going manual (add an easy $1200 to total cost for conversion parts), since the engines never came with a manual transmission.

 

[plh]

manual trans, so I'll be ditching the stock ecu altogether

What ECU will you be using?

 

[Raptortruckin]

What ECU will you be using?

Link G4+ Storm and using a manual throttle lock to rid the throttlebody of the DBW setup. There are a couple jumper harnesses available from Xcessive Manufacturing for the VVTi engines. Also a number of shops make full harnesses for the non-VVTi engines for use with Link g4+ too.

 

[evomaki]

This is a very interesting topic to follow. I still don't see how the 1UZ fits, although I've seen images someplace on the web of it being done, so it must. Maybe the 79 Colt Wagon has more distance fore-aft in the engine bay, but the Montero looks tight as it is. The head gasket would tell the story. 6G74 covers three jugs the 1UZ 4. Have these guys done work on the firewall to make it fit?

 

[Toasty]

I'm sure going to find out!

 

[Raptortruckin]

This is a very interesting topic to follow. I still don't see how the 1UZ fits, although I've seen images someplace on the web of it being done, so it must. Maybe the 79 Colt Wagon has more distance fore-aft in the engine bay, but the Montero looks tight as it is. The head gasket would tell the story. 6G74 covers three jugs the 1UZ 4. Have these guys done work on the firewall to make it fit?

It's a snug fit into a Gen 2, as far as I know no firewall work is needed especially since several of the guys use the Mitsu AW3 trans and swap the internals like Toasty mentioned early on. It will most likely be a snug fit into my wagon as well, especially around my steering which is why I'll most likely use 2UZ exhaust manifolds as they hug the block more, but also going to rack and pinion will alleviate some of those worries. It should be interesting to see how Toasty approaches the mounting of the engine into the bay. It does mean you will have to go to an electric fan either a puller or pusher depending on if you are trying to retain AC like Mr. Toasty.

 

[Loganshero]

Hey guys just found this thread. I'm doing a similar vvti swap into my gen2 with aw3. Gonna probably have questions for you Toasty

 

[Toasty]

So VVT-i and AW3 is going to require some ECU trickery or custom management. The 1UZ ECU has integrated TCU so if it doesn't see it's transmission it goes into limp mode, so some guys run a trans simulator to run a manual or 4 speed. The non VVT-i ECU expects to see the A340/AW3 so that's why that swap just works. I'm using the A650 in my swap, the biggest benefit to the 1UZ VVT-i swap for me was getting the 5 speed auto. It knows when to shift and is geared to make the most of the power band.

 

[Salonika]

Custom management sounds interesting......this means a completely new, aftermarket ECU that would need to be configured from the ground up, right?

 

[Toasty]

Custom management sounds interesting......this means a completely new, aftermarket ECU that would need to be configured from the ground up, right?

Aftermarket ECUs and wiring exist for these engines so it's probably not terrible. Won't be the first time someone mixed and matched transmissions to a 1UZ. I'm making mine act and function stock because i want ultimate reliability/legality more than extra power or aftermarket support, the 300hp and 5 speed auto will do me fine.