2JZ Manual Swap GS300 + NA-T?

Hi, first go at a build thread so here goes.

After messing around in fwd's and hatchbacks decided I want something rwd after I had a play around in an is200.
Always loved these big Japanese barges so picked this up for a steal and it's mint.
Oh, and it's a genuine shed

3 owners from new and a full service history. Very pleased.


Only issue is in true japanese fashion half of the exhaust has rusted off so it's unbelievably droney but I can live with it until I can get a stainless one made for the meantime.

So the plan.
I'm looking at swapping in a 6 speed BMW ZF box. Heard a lot of good things and there's a few good adapters out there and it's becoming more and more popular. Will have the kit ordered soon.

And then eventually the goal is to go NA-T. But baby steps first.

Just trying to work out how to sort the clutch pedal and relocate the silly foot pedal handbrake.
Any tips would be greatly appreciated

Will post more soon.

 

I've been looking through that one a fair bit, it's great and the car looks mega! And yeah, loads of good info in it too.
But the way he's done it with the pedal box is good but isn't for me. I'm trying to keep the interior looking as factory as possible so it's not noticeable to the untrained eye. I've heard of people using is250 pedals, is300 pedals and a couple others, just not much info was given for them.

 

Just a quick update for now.

I've got most of the centre console stripped out and the old handbrake pedal removed. They definitely don't make it easy.
Console came out easily enough. Just need to remember to unplug the traction control switches.



The pedal proved much harder to remove.



After removing both lower trim panels, unplugging the steering wheel control and unclipped some heater ducts you can access all the bolts.
There's one to the right of the pedal:



Two behind the carpet which bolt the support bracket to the car:



And one more buried deep in behind the dash near the top of the firewall which took me far too long to work out. Camera wouldn't focus but it's the blurry gold spec right at the back:



Once they were undone and the release cable was undone the whole unit came out.

I've ordered a handbrake from a soarer and some box section to mount it to the trans tunnel but until they get here there's not much else I can get on with.

Another thing crossed off the list is the exhaust.
I found a Tom's exhaust off of an imported aristo. Was delivered on friday and I spent the weekend fitting it.

However, because the old exhaust had been broken for so long and just hanging unsupported it had split part of the downpipe all the way round and left it held together by hopes and prayers.



Needed the car for this week and couldn't get a new part in time so I had to improvise.
Cut the old weld out and used a piece of pipe from the old exhaust as a sleeve to bridge the gap. Had to use a fosters can to cover up a hole too. It's holding for now so I'm happy.



The rest of the exhaust fitted a treat.
Love how it looks and it sounds so much better than the rotten old one.







Should hopefully have the handbrake sorted in the next week or so then I can work out the clutch pedal.
That's all for now

 

Handbrake Install time.

Been a month and finally finished the handbrake.
The lever came from an SC300 with leather cover and all.
Started by mocking up roughly where I wanted it to sit. I want it to look as OEM as possible so no exposed cables or bracketry.



Once I knew where it was going I could work on mounting it. I started off by ordering some 20mm box section.



Conveniently the original handbrake cable has a step on the end which fits perfectly in the end of 20mm box. I've used this to help locate it to run the cable through and into the handle.
Mocked it up with some string first so I knew what angle to cut the box and where to put the slot to have the cable pull straight and not rub on anything.



Once I had the angle sorted I could offer up the handbrake cable and grind out the slot accordingly. Still using the original cable but looped back on itself and tucked behind the carpet. After an evening of making adjustments I had the box section cut and slotted to work correctly with no interference.



Next was how to mount it to the body. Now that I had the cable in I could position the handbrake where I wanted and make sure the cable ran smoothly. Used some 12mm bolts and the original mounting holes on the handbrake bracket. Then marked where they'd sit on the transmission tunnel and drilled through. Set of nylocks on the back to make sure it's not going anywhere. Had to space out the front with some washers otherwise the centre console wouldn't fit.



That's the handle mounted. It's solid with hardly any flex in it so you can pull it with confidence.

Now I'd heard from other posts on these cars there's a multiplier to increase the pull from the original foot pedal. Something to do with the length of the swing of the pedal. Either way I couldn't find much information on it or details of how others have removed/modified it. So here's a guide to what I've done.



The part in question is bottom left in the diagram. One end is fixed to the body with the main cables to the brakes attached in the centre and then the cable into the car on the end. To get to it you have to remove the heatshield above the exhaust behind the transmission. There's a bracket with 4 bolts in that acts as a support for it. Once you remove it you can remove the split pin that attaches on cable and unclip the other two from the mechanism. Out of the car it looks like this.


The black part is just hooked into the body but it comes free with a bit of jiggery pokery.

So what it does is work on something like 3:1 ratio. So the pedal pulls the cable 3 and the cable to the rear brakes moves 1. With a normal hand brake you don't need this reduction so I decided to make it a 1:1. I drilled out the pin that holds it together as I only need the silver part to make it work.



Then using a combination of a shouldered bolt, some washers and nuts I had laying around I connected the cable from the car through the hole where the pin was. The rear cables still clip in just fine but there's some slight tension on the cable as it hangs under its own weight.



To solve this I put the original bracket back in. As a bonus it acts as a guide for the bolt to slide up and down so it's not all over the place. This was just a test fit hence the missing bolt.



So with that tested and working the bottom of the car went back together and I made a slot in the carpet to stick the handbrake through. I extended the switch cable to connect to the original one. All works as it should. Going to get some leather paint to tidy up the handle but that's the handbrake done now.



Ordered a clutch pedal from an is250 so will do a write up on fitting that once I get round to it.

In the meantime I've found a bit of rust to deal with first. Good excuse as any to buy a welder xD.