Avenga's 1UZ V8 powered 1980 Avenger Wagon

[Avenga 965]

Discussion thread

Hi Guys. I haven't been on the forums for a while. Some of you might remember my Avenger "Panther"

Well I have started my next Avenger, this one is code named Hydra for reasons which will become clear.  

A little back story first.

Went up to view the wagon back in September of last year.

Loved it so much that I took the Charger up the next weekend and towed it back home

Only took me a couple of days to get it back up on the road. Pretty much only needed the brakes redone.

Looked pretty damn sweet with my personalised plates on it.

 

Cleared out some room in the garage so I could fit all three cars in 

Took it on a little road trip over the Xmas break in the Wagon, but it only had the original 4 speed gearbox and a 4.11:1 diff so it revs at 4,000RPM at 100KPH, so I knew something had to be done. 

First night we stayed in this awesome little bach in Urenui, just north of New Plymouth.

Then we did the Forgotten Worlds Highway. Had this awesome tunnel and gravel roads, that was a bit challenging with how low the wagon is.

Then the next night we stayed at a bach in Mangakino 

 

Also took it to some car shows with my Avenger Panther, and one of my friends Avenger's

Then took the wagon down to Papamoa for the long weekend.

Now is where the fun bit starts.
 

[Avenga 965]

Already had the 1UZ-FE engine from another project Avenger that I never got around to.

Brand new R154 gearbox for it

Independent throttle bodies

And Hilux Limited Slip Diff

Brought the clutch, flywheel and pressure plate.
  

Got the hydraulic clutch release bearing

This is a specially modified bearing from Manon Racing Products (MRP)

The independent throttle bodies look so sexy on the V8!

They ever so slightly overlap

And they are a little bit staggered 

Installed the clutch. The kit I brought didn't come with a ring gear so I had to use the one off the old auto flex plate.

Installed the clutch release bearing in to the gearbox

I also decided on the ECU. I am going all out and getting a Link G4+ Storm. I am buying it from NZEFI and they do bundled easy wire kits for the 1UZ

They also do a complete new set of connectors so I will be able to just crimp these on to the premade kit and it will be really tidy, I won't have to use any of the old Toyota loom, it will all be new and only the bits that I need.

I have also decided on the dash. I am going for a AIM MXS Strada Digital Dash Display. It is pretty awesome. It has tons of different layouts and I can load 6 different ones to the switch between while driving. They are all customisation also. They have ones like the photo below, but also ones with your classic analog gauges for speed and RPM. It also has shift lights.

It's not going to be cheap. It is about $6K just for all of the electronics but it will be worth it because it will all be new and all be top of the line stuff.

[Avenga 965]

The V8 fit surprisingly well ;D

Looks good from below. It is a front sump so the sump clears the crossmember 

Length looks okayish. I might push the firewall in because we want to move it a couple of inches back.

Width is good. We might even be able to fit the factory headers on. Height also looks good so I think we might be able to fit the trumpets and everything under the bonnet so it will be a real sleeper.

Bell housing fits inside the transmission tunnel.

Here is a better look at the Hydraulic clutch bearing

And how it bolts on to the gearbox.

So was officially the point of no return.

We marked out where we wanted to make the cut in the firewall.

And then made the big cut. It looks so strange being able to look up and see the roof of the car from below the car

Next up we made the chassis reinforcement rails

And the other side

Looks really tidy from above.

From the front you can see back seats  What do you think of the little modification to the number plate? we changed from AVENGA to AV8NGA. It's a nice play on Avenger and V8 combined. I checked and it is available but it is about $1000 for a personalised plate so I don't know if it is worth it.

It looks like a Fred Flintstone car from the inside

Gearbox crossmember is finished. This thing looks like a piece of art, its a shame it's under the car and no one will ever see it. looks super strong.

It is attached to the new chassis rails.

The V8 looks great in position with the trumpets on

 

[Avenga 965]

Some shots of the radiator.

Clearance between the motor and radiator is going to be tight

On the front we are running two big electric fans

which are tucked away nicely behind the grill

I found a really nice narrowed Hilux diff on Trademe, so that saves be getting my one narrowed and it came with all the brake set up

It is narrowed from 1470 down to 1290mm from WBF (wheel bolt face) to WBF, with a 5 x 114.3 PCD. 4.1 LSD. Rekitted Rx7 s4 rear calipers, new vented rotors, new brake pads. Waterjet cut 8mm thick disc brake adapter plates. It is about 100mm narrower than the standard Avenger diff so I will be running more negative offset on the rear rims. Should look pretty sweet.

 

Got all of my electronics. The loom was built by NZEFI, custom made for the V8 Avenger wagon 

There is a crap ton of wires.

I am going to have a go at wiring everything up myself. It is all really well labelled which will make it a lot easier.

And I brought all new connectors for everything on the engine, and all new sensors.

Also got the digital dash. It looks a little small outside of the car but it should look pretty good once it is installed

Finished the firewall and transmission tunnel.

Looks really clean from in front, you can hardly tell it was cut when the engine is in place

Looks really nice one the inside

It nicely sits under where the old heater used to be

Finished new chassis rails.

And the other side

It connects up to the factory rear chassis rails

 

 

[Avenga 965]

Started on the hydraulic clutch pedal and master cylinder. The reservoir will be mounted in the engine bay, next to the brake master fluid so I can keep an eye on the fluid level easily. 

[Avenga 965]

Some more photos of the clutch and brake setup.

Little clutch reservoir mounted on the firewall

Brake master cylinder next to it. We will be running a remote brake booster under the dash

The final mounting location

 
 

[Avenga 965]

Started work on the exhaust. I am running dual pipe down to just after the gearbox, then single pipe out the back.

Had to modify the factory exhaust headers on the drivers side so it goes around the steering column. 

One runner sits on the left of the steering column and the other is to the right of the steering column

The passenger side is easier.

Still got some room between the exhaust and the body.

Mounted the diff

Fits in there quite nicely

Just have it tacked in at the moment.

Also made up the new upper arms to replace the old broken arms. You can see the old one at the front, and the new ones at the back.

 

[Avenga 965]

Finished the lower arms. We did some more strengthening by adding a gusset over the top of the lower arm.

Painted the Diff

Finished all the mounting brackets

And the other side

Some more progress on the exhaust. Did more of the Y pipe.

Started designing my new dashboard.

I designed it all in Fusion 360

Then printed it out on one of my 3D printers

Did a little test fit. Fits perfectly.

I had to print it in 2 parts because it was too large of my 3D printer so I made a little joining plate on the back on the dash. Also those little square bit up the top fit in to where the indicator and other lights used to be so I can screw it in from the back.

Installed the carbon fibre wrap. I will see how it looks in the car, might swap it out for just a matte black wrap.

Installed it back in to the old housing

Cut a whole in the back for all my data and power cables, you can also up the top see my where I screw the front panel on, the old dash was held in by screws on the back of all of the gauges that went in to the old PCB.

Tested it with the surround in place, there is still one more part that I need to design for it, which just goes around the side of the surround, where you can see a bit of light coming through

 

[Avenga 965]

Tested the fit of the bonnet, and it closes!!!! I won't need to do a power bugle or anything. Stoked that we could squeeze the big V8 and trumpets under the bonnet. It is going to be such a sleeper.

It is pretty tight under the bonnet so I am probably going to go for some slightly smaller trumpets and maybe drop the crossmember and engine down an inch

Added even more strengthening, this time on the panhard rod mount

And made a gusset for the other side.

Ran the rear brake lines. The flex hose connects up to the standard mounting location so I can use the existing brake lines from there.

And the other side. You can also see the new upper arms and strengthened lower arms installed

 

[Avenga 965]

Started work on the air cleaner

It is going to seal on the bonnet, so the top will be open so you can see the trumpets when I open the bonnet and then the actual air cleaner will be in the firewall at the back of the engine bay. Still need to design the front plate, Not sure if I am just going to just use plain ali or do a logo or something else cool

Also test fitted some wheels to see what kind of offset I will need. It is actually a lot less they I thought. I and going to use 15X7 wheels with around a -25 or -30 offset. I think I am still going to have to go steel wheels because I can't find any alloy rims at that offset. If anyone know of any alloys with that much negative offset then let me know.

Next up I finished off my dash. I had to recreate this little lip around the bottom of the cluster.

So I drew it in CAD

And then printed it out

Fits perfectly when installed

It just closes up this little gap at the back of the dash.

 

[Avenga 965]

Designed an Avenger Hydra logo and 3D printed a couple of different sizes and colours

Tested them on the tailgate of the wagon.

Not quite happy with the H so modified it a bit.

Still not happy so gave it another tweak but I may go back to the drawing board. If any one know a font with a cool looking H then let me know

Pulled out a collection of old badges sitting around to see if any of them suit the car.

Ended up quite liking this pentastar on the front of the air cleaner.

Here is a view from further back

Also tried the Chrysler badge on the other rocker cover. Looks pretty cool. I might design and print something more in the same font as the other side. I will probably leave the Quad Cam V8 on the other rocker cover so it might look nice if they both match.

Ordered the air cleaner. It is freaking massive. K&N RD-1450. 7 in (178 mm) Diameter, 6 in (152 mm) Height, 4 in (102 mm) Flange

It is actually going to sit inside the cabin. Where the heater used to be. 

[Avenga 965]

Created the inlet for the air filter

Looking down in to the air filter

The air filter comes out the hole for the old heater and sucks air in through the vent up by the window.

Created a box around the air filter.

Created the mount for the ECU.

Tack welded all the seams in the engine bay

Also tack welded and gusseted the suspension strut mounts

New custom drive shaft and hoop.

Finished off the transmission tunnel.

While I was taking out the demister duct I saw this cool sticker. It looks like it is the ID tag for an order of 50 left hand demister ducts. This one must have been at the top of a stack of them.

[Avenga 965]

Started work on the fuel system.

I am keeping the original fuel tank and the fuel pump and filter are sitting between the old tank and the side of the car.

Then there is a surge tank behind the original tank, there will be a lift pump on the other side of the original tank which will fill this tank.

Then the surge tank will go off to the main pump.

Finished off the transmission tunnel

Stripped the car down ready for panel and paint on Monday

Engine bay and transmission tunnel from below.

Rear end fully stripped

Finished stripping the body loom. Removed about half of the wires. Still need to make a new fuse box and a few connectors for where the engine loom and dash needs to connect. 

Traced and labelled all of the wires on the old loom.

Big box of wires that I cut off the old loom

This is the old wiring diagram. Everything with a cross through it has been removed.

Brought an alternator only pulley tensioner from http://www.thecartunecompany.co.nz/ I am not running AC, Power Steering or the hydraulic cooling fan, only running the alternator.

[Avenga 965]

Big milestone today!!! Off to the panelbeaters.

Loaded the car on the trailer. We just lifted the body on to the trailer. The body shop is only 350 meter down the road so I was tempted to just carry it the whole way

Body is safely down at the panel beaters now. They say it will be about 2 weeks.

While waiting on the body we stripped the engine down to replace the water pump and cam belt etc. We also found that who ever did the cam belt last set the cams wrong, they were both out by a tooth, one was advanced and the other was retarded so it is a good thing we redid the cam belt.

Also found that the track rods had a big bend in them so I will replace them.

Started work on the new fuse box. Here is the diagram.

I'm installing a couple of relays for the headlights so I brought the relays, main fuse box, and a bigger inline for the feed to the headlights.

Labelled the fuse box.

[Avenga 965]

Another update.

Went down to the panel beaters and we matched the paint colour. It turns out that it is still it's factory colour. I always assumed that it was repainted a different colour at some stage. The body tags have the paint code PM which is a Mitsubishi colour named Phantom Mist. Love the name.

Installed the new alternator only tensioner. Also cleaned up and painted the engine block.

Took the rocker covers off to check the condition of the cams. Looks immaculate, lovely golden colour.

Got all the bushes I need.

Got the vehicle speed sensor from Recon Electronics in Christchurch. Got a really good deal on this. My local Toyota dealership wanted $470 but I got an aftermarket one from Recon for around $180

I got another great deal on Trademe. A set of 8 remanufactured injectors for $110. Brought them from a cool guy who has a superchanged 1UZ in a Ford Courier Ute. They are unused, he brought them and then decided to go bigger because of the supercharger, but they are perfect for my NA motor. Drove my other Avenger to pick them up on Saturday. Had a good chat about 1UZ etc.

While I was up there I also picked up a Lexus front engine cover which will hid the spark plug leads at the front of the engine. My 1UZ is a Toyota so it had that big ugly cover that covers the whole engine. The Lexus ones only cover the front and side so I have been looking for this part for a while.

[Avenga 965]

So, small car update, big life update!

I am going in to have Gastric Bypass Surgery tomorrow. It was going to be in August but they last minute moved the date forward. I only had 6 days notice so I have been rushing around getting ready for that. I was planning to get the car finished by the surgery date in August but since they moved the date forward then I will have to finish the car after I have recovered.

So, expect less progress photos for a while. I will post a little update when I am out of surgery and back online.

Here is a few little progress shots of the interior all painted.

And I also got some track rods from a friend on the Avenger forum

[Avenga 965]

I had the surgery yesterday and am recovering in hospital. Everything went really well. I hope to get out of hospital on Sunday if all things go well. 

Still a long road of recovery ahead of me. 

[Avenga 965]

Some pics from the painting.

Bogging and sanding the engine bay 

The engine bay in primer. Looking really smooth

In the booth to add the colour

And the finished product. The camera had problems with the white balance so it looks a bit more gold than IRL but it is a perfect match for the rest of the car

The bonnet primed and ready for paint

Now the next question, rocker covers??? Which colour should I do them. I am tossing up between body colour, bare alloy or painted silver like the front of the engine. What do you guys think? ATM I am leaning towards body colour.

[Avenga 965]

The underside is all sealed and painted.

Drivers side front wheel

Back end

Underside and new chassis rails

Passengers side front wheel

[Avenga 965]

The car is all done at the panel beaters.

Finished painting the last bit, behind the headlights and radiator.

Engine is back in

Started work on the front hubs

And started work on the Dynamat