mtdave2

well. you all are not going to believe it but you may from reading this whole story, but motor and trans have to come out again! $@#%#$^#$^#$ I swear i have the worst luck of any poor bastard on the fn planet. had a bad vibration, the rolling type with rpm. happens in park too. I spun the torque converter a couple times, still there. unbolt it an push the converter back and the vibration is gone. so, that means bad converter. yeah i checked the bolts and washers, checked about everything i can think of. what really makes me mad is how far out of the way i had to go to get this t converter from the trans shop. driving across town a few times, checking with them asking if this is a quality lexus rebuilt ect. after all of that, still bad. ugh. well. there goes yet another weekend and a few hundred dollars. I so wish i could just drop the trans, just no room. here we go again.

yep, it is running now. will find out in a few days if it still over heats. one year ago i started this shyt lol.. man im ready to go camping.

well i finally got the trany issue sorted i hope, that was a story on its own only took a month. but i now have a freshly rebuilt trany bolted up to the motor with new t-converter to boot. So, now all I have to do is put the thing in. well, that and the steering gear i took out to rebuild cuz it was leaking but i like abuse. see what happens this weekend, I could have it running, who knows.

well, out she comes again.. not happy about it. =(

still working on stuff. fuel gauge, and speedo fixed, almost done with new front brakes and rotors, new front windshield (thank you insurance company). gearing up for a trany swap soon, started my parts pile lol, what a money pit.! Good news is i have been driving the heck out of it and I am very pleased with the performance, I can actually take an on ramp to the highway and be going 65 when I merge! shifts nice and smooth, all my gauges are working. sounds awesome, turn some head when i have my foot in it. been rather cool. working through the first measured tank of gas with working gauge and calibrated speedo, will find out soon what mpg im getting. Drivers seat did short out someplace, no idea what happened with it, so I have my original one back in while im looking for another lexus one, crazy crap that just happens to me, but guess i should be used to it.

i vote bilstean too. Put them on my rig, VERY happy so far. Easy install too.

I am trying to figure out a way to get more propane on board too. I think I am going to make a rack on the back of the rig for a few things, think ill add a spot for 2 tanks. Right now I have a duel tank regulator installed, one side to the small horizontal tank, and the other pig tail is 5ft long to attach to a bottle I just place on the ground. Should work ok for now I guess.

here is the video of air flow. was a cool experiment. got some funny looks. so help me translate this, the areas where the strings are not moving is a high pressure area and when they are moving all over is low correct? I didn't film it, but the strings on the side windows were facing forward! speed reads 80 but i'm really going 65. I had some blocks placed under the rear of the hood making a gap, notice the strings are pulled INTO the engine bay.

tell me more wme please. not totally following you.

ill be darn, May have to get me 2 of those! hum though by they time i buy 2, i could find a good used onan..

I am also thinking about this issue. I now have no cab a/c because of motor swap, and I like ac. I have a roof ac that would work great at cooling the whole rig, but I need to power it. I own 2 honda eu2000i units but again where to you mount them, and you have to pull start them. I could build a box that would hold both, rig up a fuel system and mount to to the rear. I would much rather have a on board rig that fit in one of the side compartments with a push button start. I plan on using the ac alot!.

well i will just put new stuff on. I was checking to be sure there was not some upgrade of some sort that is all. Any particular brand or place you all buy the parts?

this one is an oldie but man it is still true. I have to warn everyone. there has got to be a way to make some visual cue. almost want to paint the bottom side of the cabover the yellow and black stripes with warning wrote on it. lol man, gota be something. old lady about knocks herself out every time we go some place.

well have the thing drivable enough to take it out and step on it a bit, even drove it up Floyd hill west of Denver. It did rather well going up power wise, it will do 65 up the hill in 3rd gear! coming down was more impressive to me, 3rd gear would hold the speed at 65 and in many steep place even slow it down! supper happy with that. now all this was unloaded with 1/2 tank of fresh water. down side, I have a heat problem as i was fearing. Above 35 or so with the motor working hard the temp climbs. When I pull over it drops back to normal in a minute or so. if i work the motor below 35 it is fine. so i have an air flow problem. That big behind motor plugs all the area for the air to pass though and out. I did make some shims and prop the back of the hood up 1-1/2 or so. was a little better but same prob. Tomorrow i plan on removing the hood and trying again. I taped little pieces of string all over the hood, windows and other places so I will see how the air is flowing, I will take a video, should be interesting. more bad news, the trany that i took a chance on isn't going to work. I had a noise that i suspected was the T-converter, not totally sure. I got a fault code saying one of my shift solenoids has a electrical issue. usually means metal has shorted the thing. i pulled off the filter that i have for the trans and dumped it in a clean tub, sure enough some large meal flakes. sigh. So im looking for a good trany again. ugh. my luck with autos has always sucked. thinking i shoulda put i 5 speed in it. there are several little things that I want to address and it will be much easier with the motor out, so i will take advantage of the opportunity. Ill have all the parts and things ready, so when I do it Im thinking it will go fast. knowing my luck I built the conversion with ease of pulling everything out in mind. so yeah for me .... Dear automotive mechanic God, please give me a break, amen.

I did try to search the forums and found a lot on the proportioning valves. What I am looking for is, has anyone found a upgrade for the front brake? Now that my dolphin will go a little faster, it is time to address the warped discs. I can feel the wobble in the pedal and steering wheel, If im going to replace the rotors, im all for upgrading. what have you all found to work the best? 92 dolphin btw

well after weeks of rechecking my work, and checking again, and staring at the wiring diagrams i finally figured out why my speedo didn't work. one of the wires from the speed sensor (one I had measured 3 times with an ohms meter and was ok) had a break someplace. didn't find where, I just ran new wires and boom, speedo worked. nothing harder to find that something that is sorta broke, sometimes, kinda, but enough to make the component not work. ugh good news, i am now THOROUGHLY familiar with the speedo circuit on a ls400 next issue, why the fuel gauge doesn't work. and t-converter. think it is toast. out comes the engine again I fear.

lol true, One guy i found that would do the swap wanted 8k to do it, now looking at it that was probably a good deal! I did learn all sorts of cool stuff, became a decent electrician, and I now know every single wire and bolt in my RV from the dash forward! I also fell in love with lexus motors, these things are just awesome. I am sure I will put one in something else, hopefully something with a bigger engine bay. still glad I did it, if i can just get this speedo issue worked out. I think i may have shorted my dash, I have check and rechecked, there is no reason I should have voltage in the spdm wire! so i have ordered another dash, here is hoping it works.

well, ill try and figure it giving a bit of cushion. take old motor out, and motor out of lexus (2 days) Prep engine bay( run braided fuel line, move bits here and there, relocate battery, replace freaking heater hoses while its easy! (2 days) engine prep. modify pan, exhaust manifolds, egr pipe, remove ac, remote oil filter! weld thermostat housing (4 days) motor mounts and trany mount. (1 day) put motor and trany in and bolt down (1 day) connect all the mechanical stuff in engine bay and install radiator/fan (I need to find a cheap stock radiator out of something the fits) (3 days) wiring, if it the same year range as mine and I can use my master sheet, no dash stuff, (4 days?) drive line and cable speedo conversion, (if i had this figured out already, (1 day) exhaust have it done, 2 days it took the guy fixing little stuff (3 days) so what is that 3 weeks? that is if all the parts where there and time was spent actually working! so, in weekends and after work time that would be 2 or 3 months? I would like to do this again, but Id like to try one with a 5 speed in it.

I ended up removing the fuel sending unit out of the lexus and put it into the toyota tank. that did require welding on the tank. ugh. did not like it but I took all sorts of percussion and welded the thing full of water. turned out well. While I had the tank out i figured why no do all the maintenance i could. so, it got a new lexus pump, that removes my concern of the old pump keeping up. I also coated the inside of the tank to prevent rust. all new hoses and some paint too.

got the bumper powdercoated and mounted. looks good i think.

one more. I am guessing you all are wondering about power? keep in mind it is not running at it's top yet. no rear o2 sensors, messed up exhaust, and a few other factors. that said, I am already happy with what I have seen. There is a hill next to my house and I drove up it yesterday, put my foot in it a bit half way up and the sucker accelerated up hill. With the v6 when I did that, the motor said "huh"? and did nothing. so that is a win. In the drive way i was trying to diagnose the noise issue so I was power breaking it with the brake pedal to the floor. It slid the locked front wheels forward until i eased up on the gas, I almost thought the rear wheels spun! will be awesome to see what this does after i get a few more things taken care of. my measure of success, 65 mph up the pass on i70 west of Denver. It is looking like it will do it.

just cuz. here is the first move under its own power. you can hear the rattle when i start it, that is one of the noises that have me thinking torque converter issues. but hey it moves!

here is something very odd with the 1uzfe motor. The thermostat housing has a hose connected to it, not to the radiator but to a PRESSURIZED overflow tank. The lexus radiator does not have a radiator cap, it uses the overflow. so, one is faced with dealing with this! I thought this was a thermo vacuum switch at first, but soon found out it was not! the fix is to find a friend with a tig welder, yank the fitting out and weld that sob! all is well now, but wow talk about a curve ball ..

well, I am driving it. have my makeshift exhaust on that scrapes the ground on the slightest of uneven road. It lives! I drove it to the exhaust shop for a proper exhaust. They put it up on a lift and as i stood there looking up at all the work i did, I could not help but think Man i wish I had a lift. Bolts that I struggled with laying on my back in the drive way were all to easy to see and get to. I WILL have a lift, this year. I'm too old to be rolling around on the ground in the weather! so here is what is left. Waiting on an adapter for my fan sensor. Found a m20-1.5 to 3/8 npt adapter! will save lots of work. currently the fan is on a toggle switch. need to install the lexus fuel sender (and maybe pump, a new pump for sure) will have to drop the tank, so all the work that goes with that! any input on that part? im all ears. This will get my fuel gauge working speedo. probably the most difficult thing to do. I am trying to wrap my head around how it works. Apparently, the ABS./ trac control cpu sends the speed signal to the engine cpu. then the engine cpu sends it to the dash and runs the speedo. So. im not sure if i can wire up the abs cpu to work. so here is a question: Does a 95 dolphin have a speed sensor in any of the wheels or axle? That is what im looking into tonight. If it does, I am hoping I can hook it into all 4 inputs of the ABS cpu add power, and any other wires it may need to fool it into sending a signal to the engine cpu. There is a speed sensor, 2 actually, on the lexus trany but they are getting no power. I am guessing the cpu need input from the abs to turn on the sensor. ???? im just guessing, but I will figure this out! shoot me now. when the speed sensor is working, I am guessing the shifting will be better and the od will lock. other stuff, wires here and there, and reassemble the dash. The worst news, I think I may have a bad torque converter. major bummer. I have a strange noise now and then that sounds awfully a lot like a t converter. So i'm wraping my head around what I will have to do if that is the case. It is drive-able, and seems to shift ok just at the wrong times due to speed sensor. I really do not want to pull the motor again, but the lord knows i know how to do it quickly.

the Lexus does have a bypass, but I think it was in the filter housing that I removed. I put a remote filter system on, I always though the filter had a bypass built into it .. No idea. Not really sure what happened, I do it is working now!