Joint project between my girlfriend and I, we just got the transmission to behave right this weekend.
A 2gr-fe is a strange choice, but it really wakes up an old luxury car.
This thing is fucking ridiculous lol.
I love it! πππ
Can we see more of the engine bay and your work on the swap?
Oh you bet. I'll put together some details for ya when I'm done with work, I just wanted to get the video out there.
Delightful!!
So, I've been asked by my better half to not share too many photos until we finish un-fucking a bunch of the bodged stuff we made in the engine bay to get it to a test drive. Since it's pretty horrific lol. But I can at least give you this:
Here's the engine and trans packaged before we dropped it in, showing the bizzare "longitudinal front wheel drive" that GM built. Its a big chain drive between the engine and a traditional trans that sits along side it.
So, Iβve been asked by my better half to not share too many photos until we finish un-fucking a bunch of the bodged stuff we made in the engine bay to get it to a test drive. Since itβs pretty horrific
Boooo! Show us the carnage!
That's wild! And I love it.
I look forward to more as you continue the build.
Thank you!
The 2GR is such a good engine line. Got a 2008 Sienna and a 2015 Highlander, both came with the 2GR-FE.
If you're feeling adventurous, hit up the MR2 forums (they love this engine), and Marc at Frankenstein Motorworks. Marc has a setup for this engine that'll do 400hp to the wheels, all motor with a stock bottom end.
Agreed, it's really unbelievable. My mom bought an Avalon limited new in 08 and it is now my sister's. >400k miles and nothing but regular maintenance and some rodent repair. They still get >30mpg if they take it easy on the highway too.
The mr2 swaps are where we got this idea, ironically. One of her old roommates is in the middle of putting a 2gr into a 85 mr2.
We can't do a power build though, the poor fragile GM transmission would absolutely grenade itself. And the FWD transmissions are harder to come by these days so we'd rather not damage the low mileage one thats in it.
We just wanted something that got out of its own way and would get decent ish fuel economy. Considering the original 4L v8 made 130 hp on a good day and got 16mpg... A stock 2gr does that plenty.
That was originally front wheel drive, and still is, yes?
I hope you have plans for a hood scoop and something to settle the front end down now that there's less weight on it (after the hood, of course).
Yep, still FWD. It uses the entire transmission system from the original Cadillac but we machined adapters to the Toyota bellhousing/crank bolt pattern.
It'll sit down more once we finish putting the front back together and fit a hood. My girl works composites so when the mechanicals are fitted up we are going to mold a new hood with an included scoop. It is torsion bar suspension so it's fairly easily to adjust the bars a few degrees so it can sit back at OEM height as well.
Brilliant. If there was a lengthy build video series, I would watch it.
I wish. Our work has been too sporadic and too spread out over the past year and a half to make a good video out of. And we don't ever remember to record anything haha.
That is incredibly strange, I support it 110% carry on.
Strange doesn't even begin to describe it. Custom fabricated bell housing adapter, custom crank/flexplate adapter, custom oil pump and pickup tube, custom motor mounts, adapted power steering lines.... the list is literally endless, the amount of "death by a thousand cuts" jobs it's taken to make it drivable. But drivable it is.
You are using the oe transmission from the car?!?! Sweet Jesus I want whatever you are smoking. That's dedication homie. You must persist.
Yup, had no choice!
Originally we were going to use the Toyota transaxle from the donor Avalon and just have custom CV axles made, but the GM E-body frame is too narrow in the engine bay to fit a transverse situation.
And converting it to RWD is very hard as the body has no allowance for a driveshaft- we'd either have to cut and weld the entire thing or body lift it 5", which ruins the look of the car.
It is the factory transmission like the olds Torinado where the engine is mounted axially? I have not had time to watch the video but this is a cool project. Props again to y'all.
Bingo you got it. The engine is longitudinal with the torque converter attached to a chain drive on the back, the transmission then sits alongside the engine and the differential is sort of in front of the engine. Very strange but IMO rather graceful solution.
Wasn't the E body offered in both FWD and RWD configs? Or was that the previous gen E body?
Early ones were, yes. They could put both FWD or RWD body cabs on them, making them RWD had more to do with the body having trans tunnel clearance. I believe any E-body newer than 1979ish will always be FWD though as that's when the Riviera dropped its RWD config.
Oh that is so rad. Please keep us updated!
This is ridiculous and absolutely nuts. I love it.
Reminds me of making cars to smash challenges in Forza horizon lol
But do the girls turn the color of an avocado when you drive down the street in your el Dorado?
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