Visit to see another Monaco

I was able to catch up with another builder while in Brisbane a couple of weeks back.

Alan is building the same design, and in some ways more importantly, is using the same engine.  While I loved looking over his build, looking at the engine and discussing how he has or plans to overcome various hurdles was very interesting.

Alan is using a 1UZ-FE it will be a UCF 10 or 11.  These were the first series of the 1UZ's.  I currently am planing to use a UCF 20/21, the major difference is the 20/21's have VVTi and have coil over plugs, the latter gets over the issues with spark proofing the distributors.

Alan bought an engine that was complete with g'box.  He has removed the G'box and is going to mount a 72C g'box up to the original bell housing.

The 1UZ's when used in Automatics didn't have a fly wheel, in addition, if he was to bolt his damper plate to the ring gear flex plate then the input shaft on the g'box wouldn't be long enough.  So he has cast his own fly wheel that has a pronounced step on the outer rim.  The original ring gear will be shurnk on to the fly wheel and the damper plate will bolt to the step which brings the plate about 2 or 3 inches closer to the g'box.


So right now I am on the hunt for a suitable engine.  Problem is most of the VVTi versions on trademe are missing the security ECU and associated bits.  That's a problem as it is reportedly difficult to bypass and wont run without it..

There is a half cut on trademe at present for $3500, seems a little steep.