The Photography of Dr. Jeffrey P. Harper

Well . . . it's all back together.  After a 10-hour day of toiling under my race car . . . OK, after my worker toiling under my race car all day . . .

Parts laid out, tools scatterred; the work begins.

Because the 1UZ torque converter is thicker, we had to trim off the cross member trans mount to get the trans back up into position.  This was a really tough job.  He and I really struggled.

After everything was in place and bolted up tight, the trans mount had to be welded back in place.  It went well. We put in the trans fluid, the motor started, it went in gear, and the tires spun.

But the most WONDEROUS part of the day was this incredible sunset storm.

When I installed the Aeromotive A1000 fuel pump I was lazy: the A1000 has -10 fittings on each end, but the outlet on my fuel cell, as well as the fuel filter, were already -8.  At the time I felt that that was "good enough."After talking to some knowledgeable road and drag racers who use the A1000 successfully, I learned that the A1000 has a habit of overheating (and burning out) unless the fuel lines and filter are sized correctly. So, since I had time and money, I ordered a complete set of -10 fittings, high quality German hose, and a proper TrickFlow -10 fuel filter.  I'm glad I did.  I will install it this week-end when I reinstall the transmission.

My bad luck is sometimes paired to good luck.  It's a push.

Michael at MV Automatics in Australia and I determined that the turbine had pulled loose inside of the original 4200 stall 1JZ MV converter (the grey one).  Bad luck.  Art in Pattaya happened to have a Percision Industries 1UZ 4000 stall billet race converter (the pink one).  Good luck.

If you look closely you can see that the 1JZ and 1UZ torque converters are not the same.  The 1UZ is thicker, and, more importantly, the input shaft from the transmission registers differently into the torque converter. I will not need the drive ring to mount it now.

The Precision Industries billet converter is a very nice piece.

This is the 1UZ front pump.  The distance between the front pump and the shaft splines is just differnt enough [to the 1JZ splines] so that the splines will not engage.  So, to properly index the splines to the torque converter I have to change the front pump over to the 1UZ; A340 transmissions are otherwise the same -- I am essentially making my old (non-electric) 1JZ transmission over to a new 1UZ transmission so I can use it with the new 1UZ race converter.  Whew!  But that's not all . . . .

There's your problem!  Just kidding.  It's good to be in a country that assembles Toyotas because there are ocasionally broken parts that come out of the containers.  When this happens Toyota sells the broken parts as SCRAP!  Lucky me!  My man Art gets these brand new broken A340 transmissions from Toyota for a song and a dance and has passed his savings on to me.  Lucky me!

Look closely at this pile of A340 parts - yep, brand new - really brand new 0 miles A340 parts.  So, I will be putting 100% new internals into my trans case.  Knock on wood . . . . "Lucky me."

After much head scratching and the complete disassembly of the transmission (it was "like new inside), I sent these photos to Michael at MV Automatics in Australia . . . because the only thing we could think of was that the torque converter had failed.

These are the splines inside of the torque converter.

These are the transmission input shaft splines.

This is Michael's reply:

"I've just seen [the photos] today.  Whats actually happened, the imput shaft splines are intact but the hub has torn out of the front turbine. The steel hub is riveted into a press steel turbine.  You can see a small amount of damage on the end of the input shaft where the clutch seal runs.  The converter has to be cut open to be repaired."

I may have caused this . . . . or just too many hard runs.  Either way, I am glad to know what happened.  So, what to do?I have access to a 4000 stall speed converter for a 1UZ (not a 1JZ converter like I now use).  I will change the front pump on my existing race-built transmission from the 1JZ to the 1UZ pump, which will index everything correctly and eliminate the need for the drive ring.  Wish me luck.

I hired Khun Somchai to help me remove the broken transmission today.

Somchai did all the heavy lifting and back-breaking work. I am old now.

The transmission was very reluctant to be taken out from the bottom . . . with the motor still in . . . but we did it.

This is the drive ring I had made to correctly space the torque converter to the transmission input shaft splines.

The supercharged 1UZ race motor is just sitting there . . . raring to race . . . . but noooo . . . . more delays!

I am continually amazed at the cars that turn up in Thailand.  This very nice 455 TransAm ran a respectable 14.20 e.t.

An approaching mid-day (!) storm threatened to put a stop to the track activities, but it never rained a drop.  Amazing Thailand!