Upgrading 3Zzfe To1Zzfe

[Steven252]

Just got them of my laptop for you.

For the crank pully, these are stupidly tight, so try undoing it with the car in gear (1st) and someone inside holding the brakes. If that doesnt work you can do it this way.

Set a breaker bar up like shown making sure its straight and level. Quickly flick the keys to use the starter motor to crack the bolt.

Once the pistons are out you need to measure the old piston rings in the bore. I generally use the top one on cylinder 1. Place the ring into the bore as shown using the top of a upside down piston to level it.

Once in place measure the gap in the ring using a feeler gauge. Write that down. Then push the ring to half way in the bore and measure there. Then pish the ring to 70% down in the bore and measure there. Do this for every cylinder using the same piston ring. The size of the gap should remain roughly the same between each cylinder. if theres a big difference then you will have to get the block bored up to the next size and use oversized piston rings. Its best to use the top piston ring off the old pistons to do this before buying new rings.

The new rings then need to be put in at the same height as shown above. You then need to make sure the piston ring gap is within the manufactures tollerences. This needs to be done for all 3 piston rings on each piston. Each ring has its own gapping size as they are different. If the gap is too small you need to file the edge of the ring lightly untill you get the correct gap. If the gap is too big then the block needs to be bored and the next size piston rings fitted.

Next up you need to hone the bores. You need to buy a honing tool - drapper do one on eBay about £20. It goes in a drill and you oil the grinding stones (loads) you run a slow speed and move the hone up and down the bore to get a criss cross pattern. You can see the criss cross on my astra below but on this example i had the drill set too fast and didnt move the honing tool up and down fast enough. Though it still worked and used no oil once run in.

A slower speed and more upward and down ward movement would have given me a better crossing hone. This was the first engine i fully rebuilt with new rings so i was learning at the time. The ones since have been perfect - practice makes perfect :) this is the only photo i can find of the bores honed so ill use a photo off google to show you how the hone marks should look like. Do not over do it though it only has to be a light honing.

Put the rings on there correct piston in the correct place after youve clinically cleaned the piston with petrol. Then use a piston clamp to clamp the rings onto the piston and then glently tap the piston down with a block of wood using plenty of oil in the clamp and bores. Like bellow.

Once done your ready to bolt up to the crank.

Swopping the crank over is easy as it just unbolts out of the engine when its out of the car and has no flywheel on. Use a new crank with new shells to aviod hassle machining them. There cheep enough on eBay anyway.

Make sure EVERYTHING is torqued up to the correct rating in the set pracedure. Each bolt has to be done in a certain mannor and in a certain order, haynes mannuals cover this ;)

Hope that explains a bit more mate :)

[phatali]

Thats a really good description dude. Thanks a lot your a top lad!

That has also confirmed that the engine must be taken out to do the crank. I couldnt think of any other way...itd be a mission otherwise.

[Steven252]

No problem, its what places like here are for :)

You can remove the gearbox to change the crank with the engine in the car. But the 6 speed box will be a damn heavy one and your limmited for space. So ye its best to pull the whole engine out in one go and do everything on a pallet or work bench ;)

[phatali]

Ahhh ok so could do but yea guess the 6 speed box will be pretty heavy. Might try it though see how difficult it is. Cheers dude :)

[EXS]

if you want the con rods and the pistons to assemble easy put the piston and rod in a pot of boiling wather and the pinbolt you put in the freezer over nigth ;)

and btw you cant easely get the cranckshaft out of the engine without dropping it out first cause it has to come up out of the engine not down, it sits over the shortblock and under the longblock

[Steven252]

Ye i think youd be very limmited for space in the car. Id pull it out anyway, prob easier to do and quicker.

This might also give you a hand - its a guide on overhauling the 1zz engine which is exactly the same. Enjoy

http://madstyle1972.com/Repair/14/20jb4c04/w040001.pdf

[phatali]

Ye i think youd be very limmited for space in the car. Id pull it out anyway, prob easier to do and quicker.

This might also give you a hand - its a guide on overhauling the 1zz engine which is exactly the same. Enjoy

http://madstyle1972.com/Repair/14/20jb4c04/w040001.pdf

Sweet pdf that! Good info and backs up the piston in hot water suggestion

Thanks guys :)

[phatali]

I have yet another qn........

Iv heard that the 1.8 has polished bores but the 1.6 doesnt. Like the cylinder bore. Is this true if so i thought the only diff between 1zz and 3zz was the sroke

[Steven252]

Not heard of that myself and TBH thats going to be a load of rubbish. Polishing the bores on the cylinders will make an engine slower as the piston rings can not bed in as it wont seal properally - thats why i showed you how to scratch the bores with a honing tool. Every new engine from factory has this done ;)

Now if you said the inlet intake and ports were polished on the 1zz then id say that there maybe some trueth in that. Not that i can see toyota doing that for every 1zz engine as it has to be done by hand = expensive. Even if its true then youll be swoping the inlet manifold for the 1zz item anyway so youd see the benifits of it anyway :)

[phatali]

Ok so iv got intake and injectors. Please can you guys see if all is correct as it looks a bit diff.

Like on this intake there is what looks like a breather that i dont seem to have on my corolla one.

[Steven252]

What was that off?

You can either t piece it into another vacume pipe or block it off :)

[phatali]

Its off a avensis.

Some pipes are connected in diff positions to mine but yea if i block that one off and connect the rest all will b well right ?lol.

[EXS]

Its off a avensis.

Some pipes are connected in diff positions to mine but yea if i block that one off and connect the rest all will b well right ?lol.

thats what i did ;) and it works fine for me...... you also need to change over the bracket from the 3zz for the trottlewire

i also blocked/looped of the watherheating system to the trottlebody to get the intake air down a bit

[phatali]

Its off a avensis.

Some pipes are connected in diff positions to mine but yea if i block that one off and connect the rest all will b well right ?lol.

thats what i did ;) and it works fine for me...... you also need to change over the bracket from the 3zz for the trottlewire

i also blocked/looped of the watherheating system to the trottlebody to get the intake air down a bit

Sweet thanks dude. Erm kinda confused about the water heating system. Can you explain a bit more as in a dumb way for me to understand lol. Im gonna try and do this tday u see. :P

[Steven252]

Its off a avensis.

Some pipes are connected in diff positions to mine but yea if i block that one off and connect the rest all will b well right ?lol.

thats what i did ;) and it works fine for me...... you also need to change over the bracket from the 3zz for the trottlewire

i also blocked/looped of the watherheating system to the trottlebody to get the intake air down a bit

Doing that is a good and bad idea at the same time. The reason the throttle body is heated is to stop the injectors from freezing when they spray the fuel. Now in the summer this is not a problem asthe ambiant air tenperature is high enough to stop this anyway, but durring the winter when te airs freezing cold ot can cause problems. I guess youve run this in the winter with no problems as you get colder winters than us?

Reason i ask is that i did this to my old 306 GTI-6 a few years ago and it caused the injectors to freeze resulting in a car that was stuck in the snow since then i havent bothered doing it to any other car

[EXS]

Its off a avensis.

Some pipes are connected in diff positions to mine but yea if i block that one off and connect the rest all will b well right ?lol.

thats what i did ;) and it works fine for me...... you also need to change over the bracket from the 3zz for the trottlewire

i also blocked/looped of the watherheating system to the trottlebody to get the intake air down a bit

Doing that is a good and bad idea at the same time. The reason the throttle body is heated is to stop the injectors from freezing when they spray the fuel. Now in the summer this is not a problem asthe ambiant air tenperature is high enough to stop this anyway, but durring the winter when te airs freezing cold ot can cause problems. I guess youve run this in the winter with no problems as you get colder winters than us?

Reason i ask is that i did this to my old 306 GTI-6 a few years ago and it caused the injectors to freeze resulting in a car that was stuck in the snow since then i havent bothered doing it to any other car

havent had any problems with it yet... going on the 3rd winter now ;)

[Twigs]

Hey guys im in sunny South Africa and Ive started the exact same project and thank heavens for this thread. Converting the RunX 1.6 to 1.8

[phatali]

Hey guys im in sunny South Africa and Ive started the exact same project and thank heavens for this thread. Converting the RunX 1.6 to 1.8

Sweet! this why im glad I started it! These guys are top lads with the replies spot on info indeed.

Im yet to fit the avensis intake manifold.

[phatali]

Some info I found on Avensis forum regarding oil consumption.

Check out point 2. regarding 'bores they should not be rebored or honed'

Hi Frankie

The oil consumption issues affecting 1zz 1.8, 3zz 1.6 & 4zz 1.4 engines is caused by a combination of several issues, leading Toyota to make several changes to the engines up to around mid 2005 where they managed to cure the issues,

1. Insufficient oil capacity, pre 2005 engines only came with 3.7 litres of oil, this caused the oil to remain very hot all the time reducing the cooling affect the oil has on the back of the pistons. The continued high oil temps causes the oil to degrade and sludge excessively between service oil changes.

Toyota increased the oil capacity from 3.7 to 4.7 litres reducing the oil temps in the engine. ( EDIT On post 2005 cars Toyota increased oil capacity to 4.2 litres, On pre 2005 cars which had the official modifications carried out due to excessive oil consumption the oil capacity was raised to 4.7litres except for MR2's which stayed at 3.7litres due to the compact / shallow sump fitted to them )

2. Poor piston design, the rear of the piston only had 4 oil ways allowing the hot oil coming from the piston ring oil scrapers to pass away from the piston rings. This meant that the oil stayed at the hottest part of the piston crown for too long exacerbating issue # 1 which in turn allowed the oil ways to sludge up. Once sludging started the oil would eventually start to burn and harden around the rings this started to wear away at the bores eventually misshaping them. Due to the Nikosil coating applied to the bores they should not be rebored or honed meaning Toyota replaced any block showing even the slightest of damage.

Toyota redesigned the pistons to include 8 oil ways which allowed the oil to pass away quicker.

3. The use of poor quality or overly thick oils (thicker than 5w30) increased the likely hood of the issues above occurring. Toyota noted that even dealers where using oils such as 10w40 and quickly pointed out that although the owners manual listed 10w40 it was for warmer climates and that 5w30 was the preferred grade and insisted that dealers use 5w30 when servicing and repairing #zz engines.

4. Poor piston ring design, In an attempt to reduce friction, increase efficiency and lower emissions the engine designers profiled the piston rings to a sharp point reducing the contact point on the bore, this on its own only increased oil consumption slightly but when combined with issues 1,2 & 3 caused the piston rings not scrape the overly thick oils effectively.

New piston rings where designed with a larger contact area and higher ring tension.

Initially Toyota fitted new blocks along with modified pistons, rings, thermostat ( to lower engine running temp ) and a modified dipstick ( to show the new 4.7litre levels) they also recovered the old blocks eventually leading to them switching the approved repair method to remanufactured short blocks fully assembled with the modified parts.

Cheers

Devon

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[Twigs]

All makes sense but I have the 3zzfe 1.6 motor sitting at 255000+ km on the clock with no oil consumption issues or oil burning through the pistons. Maybe Im just one of the lucky ones. My engine has never been opened since the day it left the factory and it would be interesting to see what the condition is. Gonna go find out what the various components will cost me new from the factory. Luckily I dont have any transport cost because I live 15 minutes from the factory and have a vendor number at Toyota so we will see how far that gets me. Has anyone installed a Dastek Unichip to a 1zzfe and if so what was your KW gains?

[phatali]

Mine burn oil like crazy, well its probably because of the amount of miles I do that makes it seem like its going through a huge amount.

So when replacing pistons and rings, if I see the bores shining iv read i may need the block changing. Where as if I see the bores honed all is well.

Really want to do this conversion but it seems like it could be more involved than I thought, want to at least cut down the oil consumption if not stopping it as I do this conversion.

Also read that cooling the oil can help it reduce too.

I know this thread is not about oil consumption but the conversion (hopefully) will kill 2 birdies with one stone, 1.6 to a 1.8 and cut oil consumption, together with a oil cooler might solve all issues.

Im just wanting a clarification, if I open it up and the bores are shining then can I re hone it as in my other post above says Toyota didn't do this. I know Steven you say you doubt very much that Toyota did this and I agree with you but that post I copied over from Avensis forum has stumped me!

[Twigs]

Spoken to Toyota SA about this and the guys laughed at the notion of having to replace the complete bottom block of every zz motor as toyota would have to do this at their own cost. They say there should be no issue in rehoning or reborring these blocks. Assuming the engines assembled in South Africa are the same as those manufactured elsewhere.

[Twigs]

As to the topic of this thread I believe if you are goin to be doing this conversion we should all be aware of the issues surrounding these motors and how to resolve them.

[Steven252]

Cant see the avensis post to read it. The bores will be shinney as in a 1000 miles the hones worn away to createthe seal against the piston ring.

Oil comsumption was PURELY down to the pistons mate. They changed the design of them in 03 which solved the oil burning problem. So make sure ypu get the latter pistons ;) the block will be fine with a hone but you must check for wear.

Mines drinks oil when i do alot of high reving (3k+) bellow that it doesnt use much at all...

Still dont know what im doig with mine atm :(

[phatali]

Cant see the avensis post to read it. The bores will be shinney as in a 1000 miles the hones worn away to createthe seal against the piston ring.

Oil comsumption was PURELY down to the pistons mate. They changed the design of them in 03 which solved the oil burning problem. So make sure ypu get the latter pistons ;) the block will be fine with a hone but you must check for wear.

Mines drinks oil when i do alot of high reving (3k+) bellow that it doesnt use much at all...

Still dont know what im doig with mine atm :(

Yeah i agree, plus I still want to do this lol and cure the oil drinkage! Yup 03 or earlier pistons are only the forward.

Dude you got to do the 4x4 conversion for deffo! I would do it my self, but lack of funds, space and time i really can't.

Even doing this stroker will be a push.