914 V8 fans, Bullet proof engine, Inside the Lexus 1UZ 4.0 litre V8 Options

[Brett W]

Here are some pics from the bottom end of my Lexus engine. Check out the attention to detail, quality of parts, strength, etc. Six bolt mains, four overhead camshafts, studs for the main caps, cap screws for the rods bolts. Look at the size of the oil pickup tube. Plenty of oil drain backs, excellent oil control, nice gerotor oil pump. The rods are shotpeened and finished off better than some aftermarket rods. Nice short skirt pistons.

Not sure whats up with the port shape. There is some room for improvement there. I can easily get over 280CFm out of the unwelded heads at .400 lift. I would like to try some welded and raised port heads as well.

[nocones]

Purdy.

But, ...will it fit? ;-)

[byndbad914]

Brett - I completely agree about those engines. When I worked as a machinist around 8-10yrs ago, we got one of those engines in for machining and we all just stood around in awe of how burly that thing was. But, the racer dudes were having us weld certain areas to hold them together as the blocks would split, we would weld reinforcement in the next, it would split elsewhere, we would weld 2 reinforcements in the next... so forth.

But it was a long time since you would see 6-bolt mains and such - and I thought "on a Lexus???" Pretty impressive.

[aircooledboy]

My buddy Stef has had to tear down a couple recently due to an obvious tick. He found that the same lifter on each one was worn out due to what he thought was probably insufficient oil flow. Could have been coincidence that it was the same lifter on each, but I thought I would toss it out there for you as long as you had the heads off.

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[Brett W]

Here are some more outside pictures. I haven't pulled the heads off yet as I kinda want to see how far I boost this engine without blowing it up. I think I can get 500+ out of it with minimal work. Notice the comparison with an American V8. Look how flimsy it is compared to the Lexus engine.

I haven't weighed it yet. Working on that too.

It will fit in my application , not so sure about the stock teener chassis. The biggest issue is how far you are going to lower the body over the suspension and engine. I think with the engine and tranny sitting at the level all other V8s sit, it should clear just fine.

[aircooledboy]

I haven't pulled the heads off yet as I kinda want to see how far I boost this engine without blowing it up.

Nevermind.

[andys]

Hmmmm.........deep skirted aluminum block, six bolt mains............Looks like my LS1 bottom end.

Andy1

[Brett W]

I haven't heard of the blocks splitting. I know guys making 1300+ without too much trouble. This engine should work out great in my race car. Light, strong, cheaper (except for cams), etc. I am looking at building a dry sump pan so I can lower the engine down and assure good oiling. This thing does have a pressure fed oil tensioner that I will be replacing with a lockable mechanical tensioner.

Interesting to hear about the lifter problem. I will inspect all of them, I may end up replacing them with some different ones, not sure yet.

These engines are pretty reasonably priced since they really don't fit in anything else. The distributors will make them a little longer than some engines but you can leave them off if you are using Megasquirt or some other form of FI.

[Brett W]

this is a 93 engine with about 150K on it.

[andys]

Here's a photo of an LS1 bottom end, though this one has ARP studs.

Andys

[byndbad914]

I think I can get 500+ out of it with minimal work. Notice the comparison with an American V8. Look how flimsy it is compared to the Lexus engine.

That looks like a late model 5.0L block to me - very weak. 450HP may even split that.

BUT, have you seen the Ford mod-motor stuff now??? I have heard they are up to 1700HP on a stock block!! Troy (my old boss) has a car out there at 1400HP turbo'd with a stock 5.4L block (IIRC), maybe a 4.6L block. Anyway, same kinda look with 6-bolt caps and so forth. All the internals of course are aftermarket at 1400HP but the block is stock. Blows me away. LS Chevies are the same way too.

I am very impressed with the blocks the two are producing these days. Lots of room for growth.

I had a guy walk into FPS one time and hand me the main webbing from #2 main journal up to the cam from his 5.0L hyd roller block - went lean while on the juice. The top valley between the lifters was split front to rear. Stock engine with a 400 dual stage shot. Went lean on the big end and apparently fireballed it pretty good.

[Brett W]

I think I can get 500+ out of it with minimal work. Notice the comparison with an American V8. Look how flimsy it is compared to the Lexus engine.

That looks like a late model 5.0L block to me - very weak. 450HP may even split that.

BUT, have you seen the Ford mod-motor stuff now??? I have heard they are up to 1700HP on a stock block!! Troy (my old boss) has a car out there at 1400HP turbo'd with a stock 5.4L block (IIRC), maybe a 4.6L block. Anyway, same kinda look with 6-bolt caps and so forth. All the internals of course are aftermarket at 1400HP but the block is stock. Blows me away. LS Chevies are the same way too.

I am very impressed with the blocks the two are producing these days. Lots of room for growth.

I had a guy walk into FPS one time and hand me the main webbing from #2 main journal up to the cam from his 5.0L hyd roller block - went lean while on the juice. The top valley between the lifters was split front to rear. Stock engine with a 400 dual stage shot. Went lean on the big end and apparently fireballed it pretty good.

Yeah I had a 5.0 block on a stand with no oil pan on it so I used it. The 4.6 I have in the shop is on a dolly, not a stand right now so I couldn't take good pictures of it. I have seen several 5.0 engines split right in half. The only thing holding the halves together was the oil pan and intake. Yay Ford.

Yes the Americans have caught on almost 10years after this Lexus engine came on the market. The LS and Mod motors are better example of the American design. The LS is a great motor. There is so much potential. It makes a great street motor. The mod motor is a hunk of shit. You can't get any power out of them in NA trim. The engine is too small. Way undersquare. You can't get enough bore to allow the engine to breathe at higher RPM. Plus the heads are HUGE. Way to big to package in many cars.

Compare an LSX to a mod motor. Stock engine with a cam headers and tune will make an easy 450. I had a mod motor in my shop a few months ago with a Modular Performance sleeve kit, Cobra DOHC heads, aviator intake, GT500R cams and the best he could come up with is close to 425. If you did that kinda work to a n LSX you could make close to 600 and change. Ford really dropped the ball on that one.

Now boosted motors are a whole different game. If you turbo a built V8 and can't make at least 1000HP you should bow out of the game.

The Lexus engine ain't the best engine in the world but it is very high in the running. It is small, strong and relatively light. The stock crank and block is good for 1000+ HP. The Lexus boys think the stock rods are too weak for 500HP, but I want to prove that wrong. Its all in the tune. If I can come up with some reasonably priced cams I think this engine would be a little cheaper option.

The Starter is mounted on the engine block so you can use many different transaxles with it. I will have to figure out what clutch to use to make some sort of bolt on solution. For my application a simple button with a 7.25 clutch and the stock flexplate should work great.