2zz Engine Removal & Swap
by Jeff Dickey | May 20, 2009 4:30 am
This document was meant to be a guide on how the average joe may drop his 2zz engine out of his Spyder. While the focus is the 2zz engine, you can also apply more than 90 percent of what is done here to your 1zz if you wish to get it out of the way too. The goal is to take some of the mystery out of pulling an engine from a Spyder. Standard disclaimers of liablity go here. Basically, you’re using these directions as a suggestion on what to do and any damages resulting from following these directions are ‘your’ fault. If you follow these instructions and for some reason your porch light keeps turning on and off at 3AM for no reason at all – you cannot hold me liable.
Tools necessary:
-10mm, 12mm, 14mm, 17mm wrenches (ratcheting kind is super handy)
-10mm, 12mm, 14mm, 17mm, 19mm sockets
-ratchets and extensions for said sockets (the air variety will save time)
-channel lock pliers (handy for removing spring clips)
-cable, wire or string (for tieing stuff out of your way)
-clean table top or other horizontal surface, so you can
place the parts out of the way and not lose them
-cherry picker or lift (to pick the car up off of the engine)
-dolly of some kind (to roll the drivetrain out from under the car)
-catch can for coolant (you can drain this at any time, I choose
to do it when I first lift the car up over my head because its
convenient.
-catch can for transmission oil (if you take the axles out, I do
not take them out of the transmission in this walk through. If
I did, I would drain the transmission first to avoid a mess.)
-flathead screw driver
-common sense (please do not be a booger eating moron and get
yourself killed, people will laugh at your obituary.)
Suggested Tools:
-impact wrench (with one of these the tight bolts you encounter
do not pose as much of a threat to your knuckles and your cereal
will taste better the next day.)
-bright portable lights (if I have to explain why, you should not be
reading this and you are a booger eating moron.)
-plenty of room to work (will also make your cereal taste better
the next day.)
Time Needed to Drop:
This was done in 3 hours and 45 minutes of actual wrench time. That includes the 15-20 minute call I had to make to Blitzo because I got stuck and also includes doing several things out of order and needlessly raising and lowering the car. If I were to do this again in the order laid out in this document, I could have this joker out in 1.5 – 2 hours without breaking a sweat from the halogen lights.
Another handy thing to have is a cushy place for your butt. I don’t know about the rest of the world but I enjoy sitting on mine. Especially when I’m “working”.
btw – I also suggest not doing this in the FREAKING cold. It required me to wear gloves because I can’t work when my hands go numb. I generally hate using gloves because I lose a lot of fine dexterity with my fingers, but given my choices I think I picked the better option. I wholeheartedly suggest you invest in a pair if it is FREAKING cold where you plan to do this swap.
Before you get started, I suggest removing the battery. As you can see, I didn’t do that immediately – however I do recomend it first priority as far as safety for the mobile goes.
All setup on the lift, ready to work. I do not condone this type of action with one of these lifts. It is not designed to have the ass end of a car hanging off of it like I did. However, I didn’t see why it wouldn’t work so I did it anyway.
Gratuitous butt shot.
Off with the wheels. The lug wrench that came with the Spyder will do, but the impact made it nicer. 21mm socket, if anyone is curious.
Both rear wheels need to be removed.
As you can see the two 10mm bolts holding the license plate have been removed along with the plate. Do not forget about these small electrical clips. Leaving them on when you pull the bumper skin off will embarass you in front of your friends.
Hit all three 10mm screws that are on each side of the bumper skin. Two are where I have my ratchet placed, one is hiding up in the wheel well but is easy enough to spot.
This needs to be done on both sides.
Pop the hood
While hard to see, I’m removing one of the two 10mm bolts that secure the tail light in place.
This needs to be done for both lights.
Removing the electrical clip that is attached to the tail light housing.
This needs to be done for both lights.
Removing the two 10mm bolts that secure the bumper skin to some actual metal under the tail lights.
This needs to be done for both sides.
Using a flathead screwdriver to pop up the five (less if you tend to lose them like me) plastic clips that secure the bumper skin along the top.
Carefully pulling the bumper skin off. Make sure you have an adequate space already lined up for this joker to sit. Basically, its flimsy, oddly shaped and is something you do NOT want to scratch up. I ended up putting it on the roof of my Two Door.
Removing the two vertical bars behind the bumper skin that are held on with a 10mm bolt and 10mm nut.
Removing the rear strut brace. This is held on by two 14mm nuts at the struts and two 14mm bolts at the body. Once you have them out, it lifts up and you can set it aside out of the way.
Don’t forget about these little clip things that secure the third brake light wiring when you go to remove the hood. Also embarassing in front of your friends if you forget.
Removing the four 10mm bolts that hold the rear deck lid to the hinges. Don’t be a dumbass, get a friend to help you with this. Have them hold up one side while you remove the bolts from the other. It is possible to lay a towel out and work one side at a time but its easier to have a buddy hold up one side while you do the other. They can help you put the rear deck lid on a clear horizontal space as well. Be easy, scratching this piece will hurt your feelings.
Just taking a step back to admire the handy work…of the disassembly…the exhaust work is nothing to write home about and I’m glad that I’m finally getting rid of it. It used to be two mufflers, but I blew one out and had to cut it out and weld a piece of pipe in its place. I had to do this pronto because the muffler gave on a Thursday evening and I needed to be at work Friday morning. btw – This nastiness was what I learned to weld on. I expect the next exhaust system will reflect my improved metal sticking abilities (grin).
Popping the clips that secure the wires for the license plate lights.
Removing the rear bumper from the sub frame rails. There are three 14mm bolts holding this on each side.
Removing the O2 sensor. 2zz’s only use one for A/F ratios, plus its common to do a custom exhaust when you put one in your Spyder.
The exhaust for a 1zz would look nothing like the one pictured in this project.
After 30 minutes you too can have a spyder as light as this one.
Using a 19mm socket, loosen the accessory belt tensioner so you can take the belt off while you have the car on the ground.
Lift the car and pop the coolant drain plugs. There are two 12mm bolts. One on each coolant line. As an aside, the draining is helped if you pull the resevoir cap off the tank in the back of the car. As you can see from all the mud under my car, I hate dirt roads. Mine is finally paved but not before a few weeks of extremely nasty rainy weather got to visit and decorate the underside of my car.
Have a catch can of some sort for when the plugs come out.
Pictured here is me removing the two 12mm bolts that hold the clutch slave cylinder to the bellhousing. I used a ratcheting wrench to get these as my air ratchet wouldn’t clear very easily.
Using the impact to zip the transmission mount by the clutch slave cylinder apart. As I recall, that was a 17mm. It may seem strange that I am taking this bolt out, but it needs to come out anyway because it keeps the mount bracket out of your way when you finally lower the engine from the car.
Removing the two 14mm bolts that secure the mount bracket to the bellhousing.
What I ended up with after I removed all that stuff. (one mount down, two to go – the fourth is left on, you’ll see)
Tie the slave cylinder up out of the way so its not stressing the clutch line.
Basically – there are four 12mm bolts that are holding the compressor on. Well that and an electrical clip. Don’t forget about the clip or you will embarass yourself in front of your friends. When removing the bolts, remove the two that are above the compressor first. The bolts are long and thin, so if you do the bottoms first, they won’t come off entirely and simply get in the way when you try to unbolt the top ones.
Untied the slave cylinder and tied the compressor in place. I then used the left over on the wire to secure the slave cylinder to the compressor.
This is the fuel line. More specifically, this is the spot where you should disconnect the fuel line if you intend to pull a 1zz/2zz engine from a Spyder. I simply pressed the white plastic thing together and the rubber line easily lifted off and out of the way.
Keep a rag handy for the little bit of gasoline that will pour out.
Yes, this white plastic thing.
Using a 10mm wrench to remove the bracket that keeps the hydraulic brake line from moving too much.
This is the ABS sensor for the wheel. There is a 10mm bolt that is holding it in place.
Actually removing said 10mm bolt and tucking the sensor up out of my way.
Some random bracket that is held on by a 10mm bolt. Since the hub assembly is coming off, this guy must stay with the car. So I’m taking it loose.
Using Mr. Impact again to zip off the lower 17mm (maybe 14mm, I forget at the moment) bolt that is holding the caliper on.
Removing the upper 17mm (maybe 14mm, I forget at the moment) bolt that is holding the caliper on.
Pulling the caliper off. At which point I balanced it on the forward locator bar for the hub.
Pulling the rotor off. I laid it on the floor out of the way.
Tied the caliper up out of the way so I could unbolt the forward locator bar for the hub.
Unbolting the two 19mm bolts that hold the cup to the strut. Incidentally, this is how you adjust your camber alignment if you’re curious. You buy different diameter sized bolts that allow the cup to tilt in or out a specified number of degrees and tighten them up while holding the hub assembly tilted one way or the other. My friends tried to explain to me that there was rocket science involved in automobile alignments…if they only knew.
btw – caster is not adjustable on these cars, if you have adjusted it you are not concerned with your alignment so much as the butt pillaging that the insurance company is going to give you for wrecking your car.
Removing the 17mm bolt that holds the forward locator bar to the hub. At this point the hub moves really easily.
As you can see.
Every detail shown regarding the hub must be duplicated for the other side of the car.
Removing the three 12mm bolts that hold the battery holder in place. The third one is way down low next to the strut. Its hobbies include making you go find a magnadoodle pen so you can retrieve it when it drops out of sight.
Removed the intake that was behind the battery. I am running a Pelican Racing style intake on my car. Stock intakes will need a little different finagling so I didn’t even go into it here…just remove your entire intake if you would still like to keep up.
Make sure this ground wire comes off the transmission. You will embarass yourself in front of your friends if you don’t when you go to lower the engine out of the car. Its a 10mm or 12mm as I recall.
Remove the 10mm nut holding the starter wire to the fuse panel.
Then take this wire loose and lay it over onto the engine.
All plugs to the ECM have been removed including the four wires that are necessary to integrate to the body harness if you are running a 2zz motor in your Spyder. These wires have to do with the O2 sensor if you’re curious because the Celica GTS keeps its O2 sensor so far away from the engine that it is wired in with the body harness. There are three plugs to the right of the two wiring bundles pictured that must also be removed. They come out with the engine wiring harness.
The scene just before I yank the engine harness through the firewall and lay it on the engine.
Said engine harness yanked through the firewall and laying on the engine.
btw – there are a few little clips for the harness to attach to the transmission that I have not mentioned here, they are pretty obvious when you see them in person and they simply require a flathead screw driver to disconnect.
Right after I laid everything up on the engine and made sure all the wiring junk was separated and out of the way.
The are the shift linkage connections. Just pull the little pin and the washer pops off along with the linkage head. Do not lose those parts.
These little clips tried to hurt my feelings. Basically I pushed the little metal piece down (circled) and forced the linkage (arrow points to it) up with a screwdriver. It popped out. I seem to recall there being a more convenient trick for this, but I don’t know what it is.
Using the impact wrench I zipped the driver’s side transmission mount loose. This was a 17mm I think. 17 or 14… I expect it will be pretty obvious when you start wrenching on it.
This is the modified celica mount used to keep the passenger side of the motor connected. I highly recomend to anyone using a 2zz in their Spyder to get a custom mount. Modifying the celica mount will let you get by, but the other three mounts tend to twist a little because its impossible to elongate the bolt hole enough to sit correctly.
I forget what this looks like on a 1zz, on the 2zz its just a 17mm bolt on the body side, two 14mm bolts on the motor side along with two 14mm nuts on the underside of the bridge mount toward the motor.
I used an old engine stand and laid a board across its legs. Then I placed two tires on the boards to let the motor and transmission sit on. This worked pretty darn well. Once I had the drive train sitting on this, I removed the two 17mm bolts holding the crossmember to the subframe rails and also the 12mm bolt that was holding some kind of bracket for the brake lines. Ignore the detail of the rear sway bar being disconnected. It was not necessary and I put the bolt back right after I took this picture.
Each side of the crossmember has two 17mm bolts and a 12mm bolt that need to be removed.
This is a pic of me lifting the car up from the drivetrain. I don’t recall moving, but apparently I was having some sort of epileptic fit when I pressed the button. Notice how I twisted the motor a bit to better clear the passenger side frame rail. It was at this point that I disconnected the throttle cable. If you forget about the throttle cable you will embarass yourself in front of your friends when you lift the car from the drivetrain.
Another pic to illustrate the twist I put on the drivetrain to clear the passenger subframe rail. BTW – something not pointed out during this is that the 2zz’s have a ground wire connected to the body above the valve cover towards the pullies. If you forget about this, you will embarass yourself in front of your friends when you lift the car from the drivetrain.
Voila – No more engine.
Still no more engine.
Everything that came out with the engine.
Everything I laid on one of my work tables. I keep the related bolts grouped together and move from a top to bottom, left to right motion as I put another pile of bolts on it. This way its easier for me to work backwards and put everything back in its place while I am reassembling.
Thats the whole show as far as I’m aware. The most important tool to use for this task is common sense. Yes that bears repeating. If you have any questions, please direct them to someone who cares.
Photos by Marilyn Murray – Copywrong 2005 my rights reserved and all that jazz.
Source URL: https://midshiprunabout.org/mk3/2zz-engine-coming-out-of-a-spyder/