Sneak Peek at the 2JZ (Lexus Inline 6 Motor) I am Cramming into my Ex-Girlfriend's Engine Bay

Gauge cluster is pretty

 

Cluster is out of what vehicle?

 

Wow!! What was the reason for pulling everything out? What a pain that must have been. I had a hard time pulling the stuff out of the Lexus, and that was whole ripping out and destroying a whole bunch of stuff in the process. Couldn't imagine getting all that out without breaking anything.

Edit- that's the stock regular cab bench seat. It wasn't bad, but I am not a bench kind of person. Always loved the mild "hug" you get from bucket seats. Also, I'm able to scoot my seat forward a click and lean it back a bit. Lot more comfortable. On top of that, I can now put small groceries in the middle between the two buckets. What a huge difference the seat swap has made and it's only been a couple days so far with the setup!

 

2002 Lexus GS300

 

I flipped my old truck and bought the new one on the cheap. The new one wasn't exactly what I wanted though (automatic and the engine was clapped out, still fully running and driving though). So I swapped the entire drivetrain and electrical system out of my wrecked truck and into this new one. Let me tell you there are a lot of changes from 1995-1996. Got really good at removing clips, plastic parts, entire engines, haha. She runs and drives great now.

From this...


To This... Car trailer was temporary, I was moving

 

How did you mount the Lexus cluster to the Tacoma dash trim?

 

Used to have buddies with is300s, I thought they all had a much fancier cluster...

 

Little picture update.

Seat is getting reupholstered by someone in my girl's family. I'm used to a Tacoma bench seat and now bucket seat. I cannot even say Lexus seat in the same sentence. Once you adjust it to your shape it is so much comfier than the taco seat. What a massive difference. If feels like a supportive lounge chair. It's absolutely awesome!!!

 

Truck officially ran and revved today. Only for a quick few seconds as the transmission spewed its blood everywhere and also no fluid in the power steering pump yet...


Anyhow, pulled the old dash harness and put the Lexus one in. You can see where I crossed the wire paths on the driver side door jamb/floor rail.

The plan is to splice the Lexus harness to the truck rear end harness. This means using the longer truck harness that's already running to the tail lights instead of lengthening the Lexus harness and putting connectors on it. It also means getting rid of the random wiring for the electronic trunk and gas door opener which makes for a cleaner install. Everything is going to work, but the only concern I have is the gas gauge... Will have to do some digging on that.

 

You're using the is300 gas pedal?

 

It's the Toyota Tacoma gas pedal with the IS300 aluminum pedal tip that is held on via one or those expanding friction fit pins. I tried the whole pedal, but the Tacoma pedal fit like it should (better than the IS) and the aluminum pedal tip was easy to transfer over with some slight bending. The brake pedal assembly is from an 03 IS300, but this time it's coupled to a hydrobooster in the engine bay.

 

Always liked those! Reminds me of a nice watch

 

I used to own a Lexus is300. Great motor. Lots of torque. I don't know why they stopped using the inline 6.

 

Glad to hear the swap worked out good! Nice looking truck. I remember when I did the stereo system in my truck years ago and was like, "whoa, I'm getting pretty deep here...better now pull anymore stuff off" but now after taking this whole thing apart like you did, it feels like any kind of panel removal is easy now, which is awesome.

Toyota loves to use those stupid zip tie looking clips, which are a pain to get off! Especially where we are digging into.

 

From last night to this morning

 

Those zip tie clips are the worst, only way to get them out of a blind hole is to get under then with the thinnest panel remover and hope it hits the tabs.

 

Picked up an Apexi N1 today! Going to dump the muffler right behind the axle.

 

This just in...!

 

Radiator mounting tabs, bung for Lexus factor fan temperature sensor, upper radiator tube, motor water output tube, power steering reservoir extra bung for hydroboost output, and reservoir bracket.

 

Man that's a tight fit! Great job man! What is the impact of not having a fan shroud going to be? Do you think it will make a big difference? Do you have any room for one since the accessories are so close to the rad?