On sept 8 2022 I sold my turbo e36 after ~5 years of ownership and a handful of different setups and engines with the goal of building something simpler / easier to work on / more streetable. I knew I wanted it to be UZ powered but wasn’t sure what chassis I wanted to start with yet. A marketplace ad for a clean mx83 Cressida with a blown head gasket popped up and I snagged for around 1600 bucks iirc. I had a 1j Cressida at the time so I was familiar with the car and had a spare angle kit laying around making it sort of a no brainer. Picked it up sept 22 2022
Before:
After:
After some research I realized 3uz’s had gotten fairly cheap and made a good bit more power than the older 1uz’s being a vvti 4.3 liter. I found a guy in Florida (lexusv8.com) that offers a service to modify the stock engine harnesses and ecus to make them very easy to swap. Found a 3uz out of a crashed sc430 and picked it up along with a Chevy Colorado ar5 on October 4th. I also picked up a factory 1uz auto as the XAT adapter plate I decided to go with uses the factory bellhousing to adapt the transmission
October 11th I start pulling shit out of the bay and crack the windshield right away
Parts start showing up
Dropped the front suspension to update everything. The car has s13 front lower control arms, mx73 steering rack, xcessive tension rods/angle kit/roll center adjustment, and bc coilovers. I also cleaned up the engine bay a bit while it was apart
Did a first test fit of the engine and started prepping the drivetrain for final install
I used xcessive mx83 to 1uz engine mounts. The engine fits well besides the drive side header that needs to be modified to fit around the steering shaft. Otherwise pretty much everything just works. I am using an ls430 power steering pump which deletes the variable rack speed bs that comes on the sc430 pump. It mates directly to the factory Cressida high pressure line
I am also using an sc400 ac compressor with the 7mge compressor cap with the factory 7m lines. It all bolts up and works together aside from the factory pressure relief valve which hits the driver side header. A new style z32 pressure relief valve threads in as a replacement and clears the header and has been working perfectly for me
Engine installed and test fit the Serialnine type 2 bumper that will eventually go on the car for the first time
Interior pulled out so I can cut the transmission tunnel to fit the Colorado transmission and fabbot shifter relocation. This is a nice piece but it doesn’t fit well even after cutting. I regret this decision and wish I had gone with a solstice ar5 instead but it’s not bad now that it’s all together. Car goes off to fab at Juan / dream maker goods where he makes a shifter surround and a few other things
A few months later the car is back from fab and it’s time to finish everything up. Got the cooling system buttoned up using a Koyo n-flow and 2008 Lexus es350 fans from eBay. If you are using a factory ls430 ecu for this swap it will control the fans like a factory car. With the sc430 ecu the pwm control is different so the fans run on full blast.
Started working on wiring which is fairly straightforward using the lexusv8 ecu. He provides a spreadsheet with all the needed inputs to the harness which I integrated with the car using an old 7m engine harness. I can share this info with anyone interested. I wish I documented this process better but we were hustling to get it done at this point.
First (or maybe second) start:
Cleaned up wiring and more or less finalized the bay. Got the interior back in the car. Car moves under its power for the first time
First test rip:
Finally get the kit and hood on
Added some finishing touches and am super happy with the car at this point. Added a torsen LSD from a brz. Got the a/c charged and installed my blue Recaro sr3 to match the blue interior. Washed it and have just been enjoying it. No real issues to speak of besides a bit of a low idle and high iats that I need to figure out down the road
Car goes drifting sept 16 2023 nearly 1 year after picking it up. It did awesome with no major failures and cruised to eat chicken wings and beer after. That about brings it up to date
Next steps are paint and to just keep enjoying it. I am building a spicier drift car and want to keep this car nice so I’ll probably drive local events here and there and enjoy this thing around town
Bonus noises:
I feel like a 3UZ is slept on as a swap, especially in stuff like this. Must drive so nice
absolutely love the 3uz swap, not many people use it over the 1uz but i love it.
Nice car! The kit looks good.
Great car! Bay is mega clean!