════════════Frequently Asked Question════════════
Author: SelfMade
Source: SelfMade
Foundation: topic

Instead of resting and drinking vodka like normal people, my father-in-law and I spent January 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th in the garage and sometimes at the service center! I understood that during holidays (since we don't drink), it was necessary to get as much done with the car as possible because once the work week starts again, there would be no time for anything else! So, we went to the service station, got a crane, and headed to the garage. First, we spent a lot of time clearing out the snow from the gate since there was a ton of it! Together, we moved an engine weighing 260 kg from one end of the garage to the other, attached the support brackets to the beam and put the crane in position. Then we drove the car into the garage, lifted it up, and pushed the engine under the hood. Before that, we took measurements for the mounting bracket plates.

The next day we made the required plates and went back to the garage. The task was clear — we needed to precisely set the motor and transmission so that we could manufacture supports. The problem is that a R154 transmission has never been placed in an 81 body type, meaning the tunnel isn't designed for such thickness of transmission. This didn't stop us and with hammers in our hands, we began real tuning by modifying the tunnel))) We had to remove and reinstall the transmission several times but eventually achieved the desired depth. Then we secured the transmission to the motor with a few bolts and started trying to set up this assembly on the car. First, we decided to deal with the rear mount of the transmission. The mount I was given from a Supra 70 didn't fit! It was too wide! Later, I grabbed the mount from an A340E automatic transmission which originally came in this body type and started fitting it. The mounts looked visually similar but the automatic mount wouldn’t work so I made a hybrid of the Supra 70 mount and 340 gear box mount, eventually making the mount fit perfectly)) Then we shifted the engine as far back as possible to improve weight distribution and managed to have the mount fastened in its original places on the body like with the A340 automatic. This pleased us, and we started trying out the propeller shaft. The original one was too short, but we had a shaft from a Soarer 30 which turned out to be too long, so it needed to be shortened by 16mm. Someone mentioned that the front part of the drive shaft would fit perfectly as an OEM Supra 70 part, but lacking this, we made do with what was available) The shift lever ended up exactly in the center of the tunnel hole while the engine was pushed back as far as possible. After this, we started setting the motor itself. Here there is much to note. It needs to be placed as low as possible for a lower center of gravity and better handling, and proper clearances must also be observed. There’s an issue with the vacuum booster; it tries to butt up against the cold side of the turbocharger. Also, you need to maintain clearance between the crossmember and oil pan, and between the crank pulley and stabilizer bar. The motor needs to be aligned precisely in the middle and strictly vertically! After long manipulations and measurements, we finally managed to set up the motor correctly without having to reshuffle or cut anything!

The next step was to manufacture engine mounts. We ran into some difficulties here — it's really inconvenient doing such things in a garage, and you need good tools but ours were almost useless, and we burnt out our partially working angle grinder by the end! Plus, there was no welding equipment! First, we fastened previously made plates to the block. Before that, I had removed the oil radiator and part of the outlet. Then we made mounting plates which are screwed onto the mounts. The challenge is that the axis of support is too far forward relative to the center of the plate on the block, making the mount very complex to work with, plus you have to fit bolts through holes in the engine block using a wrench. Looking at this whole setup, I realized we couldn't do without welding and started thinking up solutions. My father-in-law's workplace had a welder but it was for 380 volts while we only had 220 and even that wasn’t stable! Then he called one of his friends who happens to be a sheet metal worker and the friend just happened to have the right equipment which he let us use)) We took it to the garage, made adapter plates, and started trying to tack weld but our electrical system couldn't handle it, blowing fuses all over. So we had to solder in total darkness with all power sources off and a low amperage setting, making things even more complicated! In this way, we wrestled for long hours tacking up the pieces, fine-tuning them into their final shapes!

Here are such supports that were made. Unfortunately, the welder welded very poorly so quality is lacking! This was all painted and put in its place)

Also shortened the drive shaft and now it's mounted as if it’s OEM) And here are the final photos of the swap. The main part has been completed. Motor and transmission are installed although we still have to remove the gearbox since clutch disc hasn't arrived yet so I can’t assemble the assembly, also missing is a starter motor. Now it's time for peripheral work. Electrical system, steering, cooling, intercooler etc. And prepare the engine for start-up! Stay tuned for future episodes and updates)) Of course, huge thanks to my father-in-law for his invaluable assistance with this project!