1995 Camry Coupe Restomod

In reply to camopaint0707 :

US Auto, Sterling Heights MI.

Unicorn Toyota Camry engine swap?

Not really words you hear in the same conversation. I'm in!

Thanks to the holiday provided by our IT software provider, I had some time to remove the dying 2.2L engine. I started it up one last time just so my co-worker with equally free time could witness the glorious rod knocking sounds, which he agreed was definitely rod knocking. Oh well!

After removing the trans, I'd like to pull the pan and see which rod it is. Co-worker bets on #3, but I'm thinking #4 because that was the one with the valve lash issue. After a quick diagnosis, it will be the core exchange for the new junkyard engine, which should be over twice as powerful as this one was new.

It was #2. Classic spun rod bearing.

But wait, there's more to the story

So I have some theories why it suddenly failed. Ever since I bought it, it would sometimes dip idle down ot 500 RPM or so and run poorly, especially once hot. I think the valve lash was helping cause this, but also the cat was melting and chunked out. Perhaps the cat chunks were sometimes bouncing around and causing a clog that would choke the engine. Whenever the idle bogged down like that, the oil pressure light would flash for a bit until I gave it gas. So hot engine, combined with old nasty oil, combined with many instanced of nearly zero oil pressure while running = spun rod bearing. I bet the valve lash may have killed the cat, since unburnt fuel was getting past the cylinder, or the other way around, with a clogged cat causing increased exhaust temps and accelerated valve wear?

Either way, I don't think this was my fault, unless I had the foresight to rebuild the head and replace the cat upon buying the car. And who cares, we're doing an engine swap anyway.

The seller was right, it does have a new clutch, but man, they struggled with the job! There were also hammer marks on the passenger side axle, because someone probably forgot a circlip that holds the intermediate shaft into the bearing housing.

Check out this cool bracket - combined axle bearing housing and engine mount. I will have to replicate this for the 2GR V6, or get a 1MZ V6 bracket from the yard and hope it works.

Here it is, the S51 5-speed transaxle, all cleaned up.

The dead engine is loaded in the truck and ready to be used as a core exchange. I'm really enjoying this down-and-dirty driveway engine swap.

wheelsmithy (Joe-with-an-L) said:

or better yet,

Yes! So much yes! We had a '91 wagon, a V6 LE in charcoal gray (EDIT: pic circa 2006  below)...

...until it was totalled while parked by a drunk college girl. The (9004) headlights sucked, the torque converter didn't lock up, and those stupid motorized seat belts were stupid. Otherwise, what a magnificent automobile.

Maybe I am older than average here, or maybe they were more popular regionally, but I've seen many Camry coupes. Not recently, of course, and not to imply that they were common - just not unheard of. This one looks to be in absurdly good shape given the age and mileage. It will be patently ridiculous with a 2GR. Leave the paint scabby, slap on a few parking permits from the local JC, and go trolling.

Hell yeah!
I love that you've turned into a Toyota V6 guy and are buying vehicles to stick them into. 

maschinenbau said: .....I'm really enjoying this down-and-dirty driveway engine swap.

I'm guessing that your neighbors are less than excited about it.

Funny thing, I actually saw another coupe this weekend. It was a 95 Green LE. It's been since my mom sold her car that I've seen one. 

Last weekend a 2GR-FE powered car departed from my life. This weekend a 2GR-FE engine entered my life. 

From a junkyard 2007 Camry V6 with some front end damage. Compression checked out fine (as best as you can do with a breaker bar), oil filter was clean and particle-free. No idea on mileage. I haven't pulled an engine from the junkyard in a while but with 3 guys we made decent work of it in about 3 hours, being careful to save the harness. There are two ECU types - 5 plug interior mount (Avalons, ES350, and older Siennas I think) and 2-plug exterior engine bay mount (Camry, Rav4, later Sienna). I wanted the 2-plug since they are weather-sealed connectors and don't have to pass the harness through my older Camry's firewall. Plus, Frankenstein Motorworks uses the 2-plug ECU's for his off-the-shelf, manual-trans enabled, 7200 RPM tuned ECU's...

Oh yes...

Got the new engine stripped down, degreased, and cleaned up. This harness will need some work, but I should be able to tie it in to the car's main junction block and original engine harness. There are write-ups for similar era MR2 swaps, but I will be off the marked trail for my Camry chassis. Luckily I have both wiring diagrams. 

It's not the prettiest engine, but I'm excited for the power. 

I'm using a 1MZ V6-style flywheel, MR2 Turbo pressure plate, and a ACT "hybrid" MR2 clutch disc. The "hybrid" clutch means it has the bigger diameter of the MR2 Turbo clutch, but with the 20 spline center of the N/A 4-cylinder trans. The Turbo (and V6 Camry/Solara) trans has 21 splines. Apparently N/A MR2 owners were upgrading to the turbo engine enough to drive demand for this clutch. Yes, there is some risk of my N/A 4-cylinder S51 trans being weaker, but it's a good compromise for keeping the stock axles, hubs, and trans mount to make this swap easier. Plus it's much lighter. Many MR2 swappers have reported no issues running this trans with their 3SGTE swaps, and lately, the 2GR swaps.

I first tried to use a new "heavy duty" M-Pact brand V6 pressure plate from Rockauto, but the diameter was only 9-1/8" while the clutch for V6/MR2 Turbo cars is 9-3/8". The 4-cylinder clutch that came with my Camry is less than 9", which would fit, but I was worried about slipping. I've heard of people running the smaller 4-cylinder clutch without slip issues, but why take the chance. So I found an eBay listing of a brand-new Aisin MR2 turbo pressure-plate and clutch for only like $40 shipped. That's less than half the cost of the Rockauto pressure plate that didn't even fit! So I returned that and this is the setup I'll run. 

It's wild that one of the builds I'm most excited about is a Camry, but here we are. Loving what you're doing here!

All the spinny parts fit!

While the engine is out and power steering pump is off, it's a good time to update the VVT oil pipe to the all-metal one. One of the few flaws with the 2GR is the rubber oil line connecting two ports on the same cylinder head. They are known to sometimes break and leak all your oil pressure. $20 or so is good peace of mind.

To mate your S51 5-speed trans to a 2GR engine, you will use at least 3 bolts.

This M10 thru-hole near the starter was just too snug for the M12 bolt the engine wants to use, so a half-inch drilling fixed that.

On the rear side near the differential, an M10 bolt goes through the M12 threads on the block into the M10 threads in the trans.

There is actually a dowel that matches both trans and engine! So that helps with lining things up. The third hole is an unused dowel hole in the engine, which matches a M12 thru hole on the trans. I plan to helicoil the engine hole for M12. I've also heard you can just tap this hole for 1/2-20 but I'm trying not to let the intrusive thoughts win...

The engine needs some slight grinding for the slave cylinder too, but not too bad considering these parts were engineered and produced 15-20 years apart.

And for fun I tried fitting the axle into the 2GR's CV shaft bearing bracket. It's concentric! But the wrong bearing diameter, and needs to shift about 1" towards the trans so the splines can engage and seal. The Camry's original bearing bracket can be seen in the bottom of this photo, but it won't fit this engine...without modification...

I love the long term carryover of key dimensions and systems in automakers play books when they're good.  Sometimes though a good revision is helpful!

One step closer...

Flywheel on!

New old stock OEM Toyota throwout bearing. From the correct origin.

Clutch and pressure plate installed. Also an M12x1.25 helicoil into this unthreaded hole.

And it all lined up! Had no problem getting the trans splines to engage with the clutch. 3 bolts hold this trans on. Hopefully that's enough.

I rigged up the starter to check for flywheel tooth engagement, and everything is lining up well; it starts and spins like normal.

The clutch slave cylidner needed some grinding of the block unfortunately.

Some CAD for the CV axle bearing. Lots of options here. I chose to keep my Camry axles because cost, but also it buys more room for exhaust routing. There is a non-intermediate shaft option from early Celicas that should theoretically fit without needing this bracket, but that moves the CV joint right onto the trans where the exhaust wants to route downward. And supposedly the intermediate shaft helps with torque steer by making both sides have the same length of  axle that changes angle. Idk.

Send cut send parts. This design uses a stack of sheet for the circlip groove instead of machining such a feature.

Hopefully it welds up without warping too bad. Also that lower left bolt is now forever stuck inside the bracket haha. I may revise and re-cut this bracket to also include the engine mount. I am trying to use the chassis's motor mounts, which puts one right next to the shaft bearing, there is potential for a multi-function bracket here that packages nicely.

nice progress

The stacked plate bracket is really such a great utilization of SendCutSend. Well done. Slot that hole for the captive bolt on the bottom left. 

I'm keen to see how you integrate the motor mount here. Brackets like this often eat my lunch because I want them to be functional art and I overthink it to the point of inaction. Show us how it's done, pretty please!

Fits!

The hood shuts too! Got all the info I need to design motor mounts.

I just want to acknowledge how weird you all are for voting up this content 

we have the sickness...and the only cure is more engine swaps!

Extra points for use of the stock airbox.

So, engine mounts today, test drive tomorrow? You already know how to deal with the electronics from the lotus, so shouldn't take you more than 5 minutes.

looks like a normal factory engine, that's awesome

This thing is gonna surprise quite a lot of people when completed... 

You, sir, are late sharing more pictures.

I can only conclude that is because you are roaming the streets in the camry surprising people.

Right?