The Official Operation Hellish Mantis Update Thread

[Dr Tweak]

This thread is dedicated to updates for Hellish Mantis.

All discussion is being kept in this thread, if you would like to make a comment please do!

http://www.northeasterntuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1795

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Work will begin on Tuesday.

From my first look, here is what I observed:

The engine mounts from each engine appear to be the same.
The accessories appear to be the same.
The XRS clutch master cylinder appears to be the same size as what the Corolla would have.

That's the good news. Now...

The shifter assembly from the XRS is totally different from what was in the '98s. Most likely I will build a custom bracket to hold the XRS shifter in a mostly stock location. Another possiblity is to use the shifter assembly from a '98 Corolla, but this will probably be more complicated. Will the throw be correct? What about the gates for the 6th gear and the reverse off to the left? We wouldn't know until we tried and it'd be a gamble.

However, having the XRS shifter put cleanly into the '98 would be pretty sweet in of itself since it would be unique.

So, here is the general plan:

Disconnect all the wiring, drain fluids, disconnect power steering pump and ac compressor on the '98. Pull the engine and crate it up.

Same deal with the XRS, then drop it into the '98. Connect the '98 accessories and hopefully they'll work okay, if not swap over the XRS ones. Hook up what wiring works, then sort out the rest. Pull the clutch parts from the XRS and swap them in, connect to tranny. Pull the shifter parts and make that work. Finish up, and there we have it?

Sounds so easy, huh??? LOL :lol: NOT LIKELY!!!  8O

[Dr Tweak]

Update TIME HELL YEAH!!!!


 :lol:

Okay Jerry, as promised, your updates and pics. I put 9 1/2 hours in today, from walking out to the garage and figuring out what to do, to walking in the door a couple of minutes ago. Your 1ZZFE now sits on my garage floor. I disconnected all of the wiring, lines, etc to the engine, pulled the axles, and then pulled the engine. I pulled the interior apart to get to the ECU, which was under the storage area right in front of the shifter.

The whole operation of disconnecting everything went VERY well. I was suprised at how hard the rest of it was. The act of actually pulling the engine out was quite difficult. The rear mount kept getting caught under the steering rack, it was driving me crazy! Haha

Also, I pulled the power steering pump and ac compressor off without disconnecting the lines, so the system was never opened. I will install them onto the 2ZZ which appears to have the same setup.

Okay, on to the pics!

By the way, these pics look fine on my computer, so I don't know why they are showing up dark on other systems...

The two cars together, intact for the last time:


Jerry, this is sort of what your interior looks like right now, but the ECU and harness are gone:


Everything disconnected from the engine, almost ready to go:


Set up to pull (Jerry, this hoist is awesome )


Halfway out:


Finally hanging free:


What the engine bay looks like now:


Anybody want a nice 1ZZFE? I happen to know that the guy who pulled it did a great job!


The parts pile:


That's it for now. I am LE TIRED!!!

Tomorrow's mission: repeat of today with the Matrix.

Jerry my brother, call me.

[Dr Tweak]

Well, I was going to make this update a couple hours ago, but just as I was about to my wife grabbed me. She had been waiting for me all day and I guess she wasn't going to wait another minute. :lol:

Anyway.... I put another day in today and things went as planned. I had some trouble seperating the passenger side driveshaft, it was rusted badly to the bracket. You couldn't even tell it was two peices. Odd, for a NJ car that's only a couple years old. I'm sure that it hasn't been taken apart up till today.

Other than that, the pull went well, easier than the 1ZZ in fact thanks to the location of the steering rack. In the Matrix it is located below the rear mount, so there was no interference. I also knew which mounts to remove first this time.

Here is the 2ZZ with everything unplugged, harness on top:



Getting it free of the mounts:



Swinging in the air:



Another safe landing:



And the now empty Matrix engine bay:



Do you Matrix owners have any tips to getting at the tensioner bolt? There was no room at ALL to get to it. I could get a wrench on it but whoever tightened it last must have gone nuts on it, and I couldn't get it off with my wrench (I didn't want to round off the head).  I had to undo two of the motor mounts and pull the engine up enough to get my breaker bar and 6 point socket on it. What a pain! In case you're wondering, I'm going to use the power steering pump and ac unit from the 1ZZ as I left the systems intact, that's why I needed to get at the tensioner. I noticed that the pulley on the power steering from the 2ZZ is bigger though, likely due to the higher rev limit (So as to not spin the pump too fast). So probably I'll put that pulley on, though I'm sure Jerry will want some aftermarket ones soon enough.

Let's see, what else. Jerry, you have some more pics that are for your eyes only If I think of more stuff I post it. Ask away if you have any questions.  

[Dr Tweak]

Thursdays are taken for me so no work has been done. I'll be working on it tomorrow afternoon

Don't worry, you'll get updates as soon as I have them.  

Speaking of updates, I wrote an article about the whole thing, have a look and please make corrections if you see mistakes, or if there's more to the story that you think should be added:
http://www.phoenixtuning.com/toyota/swaps/mantis.html


 

[Dr Tweak]

I was able to work on the project for some time this evening. I spent most of the time taking measurements and mulling over how to solve some problems. As the definitive answer to the question that is always asked, "Does the 2ZZGE bolt in?" the answer is no. The mounts are in generally the same place but are very different in terms of height and how they bolt to the car itself, as well as the engine. Two of them might work but I'll need to check more, the other two are going to need some custom work of some kind, I'm unsure at this time if I can frankenstien something or if welding will be needed.

It's going to be a matter of trial and error, I'm just going to take it one mount at a time.

I pulled out the brake master cylinder, brake booster, and clutch master cylinder from the Matrix. You have to pull the first two to get to the clutch master cylinder.



I also pulled the pedal assembly from the Matrix. We were hoping that they would work in Mantis, but no go. The brake pedal was totally different. I took the stock automatic brake pedal and modified it so that there is more space, and used the pad from the Trix.



We will have to get a clutch pedal assembly from a '98 Corolla. I also pulled the shifter cables and shifter assembly.

That's about it for today.  :?



AND DON'T YOU FORGET IT!!!

[Dr Tweak]

Niki says to drink your coffee (and to bring her some too)

Sunday is a non working on car day, (I'm supposed to be in bed right now in fact), but I took some time this morning to work with the shifter and cables.

I was worried about the length of the shifter cables, especially when I pulled the '98s and saw how much longer it was than the Matrix'. Then I remembered that the linkage is on the other side of the transmission. :lol: They have enough length so that I should be able to mount the shifter in a mostly stock location. Here are the new 6-speed cables coming out of the firewall:



And here is the approximate place that the shifter will be, after some modifications. It should be in the original '98 position, but sit a little higher. It will need a custom made bracket. I'll have to make it extra strong, I can just imagine Jerry yanking on that 6-speed!



I'll get a bunch done this week, if work will stop calling me in for OT darnit! (You guys have to give me a bunch of business so that I can quit my job and go fulltime with this.  :lol:     )

[Dr Tweak]

[Dr Tweak]

Sheesh what a slave driver!

I just came in, I have to go run some errands before eveything closes, then I'm back at it. I'm going to try to make it a late night to make up for not being able to work on it tomorrow.

The entire 1ZZ engine related wires have been pulled from the harness, now I need to straighten everything out, and then lay them side by side. The 2ZZ harness has so few body related wires that I'm not going to waste time tearing it apart, I'll have the wires right inside the car if I need them for whatever reason.

I need the 1ZZ wiring diagrams before I can go any further with this anyway. I know exactly what needs to be done in my head, but without knowing which wire goes where it has to wait. Jerry, you said that is in the mail? It's not a big deal even if it's late, I still have the engine mounts to work on, exhaust, etc etc.

I was talking with the Subie guys last night, they said that someone who is doing a WRX swap and knows where all the wiring goes will still need up to 40 hours just to get the wiring done! The WRX is a bit more complex than the 2ZZ, so I'm hoping it doesn't take that long, but it's going to be a while. Doing the wiring is a tedious process.  :?

*Edit* I just got off the phone with that parts guy, he set us up with a clutch pedal assembly for a decent price. It's shipping out tomorrow UPS so it should be here pretty quick. Good news!

[Dr Tweak]

LOL, I'm not sure what that means X, but I'm sure it's a funny inside joke of some kind!

Anyway, wiring harnesses suck. Once I get that manual with the diagrams that will make things easier, but one thing's for sure. This is going to take a while.  :mad:

Let's see what I got for you guys tonight. Here's the 1ZZ harness with pretty much all the engine related stuff pulled out. There's still some work to be done but once I have the manual I'll be able to finish it up. The 2ZZ harness I have stripped of all the shielding, but I haven't started to seperate the harness yet.



When swapping a 2ZZ from a Celica GTS into a Celica GT, the harness is almost plug and play, except for a few wires. I was hoping for the same with this swap, but no go. The harnesses are built completely different.

Well that's all for now. Next update will be on Friday.

[Dr Tweak]

Well I just got in from spending several hours out in the garage, and I'm happy to report that I made excellent progress on the wiring harness. I went through and labelled the entire 2ZZ harness, and started on labelling the Rolla's body harness. If I can put one full day into it (Tuesday) then I should be able to finish it up, though they're might be a few bugs to be worked out.

Here is the harness all labelled:



I'll poke around over the next few days, and Tuesday and Wednesdays will be full days. By the end of Wednesday you guys might be seeing pics of the 2ZZ in it's new home  

Post your comments:

http://www.northeasterntuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1795

[Dr Tweak]

Update time!

I'm actually not done working yet today, but I wanted to come in and share what's been happening in the garage. It's been a very busy day with lots of runs to the parts store and lots of custom work. Here's a peek:

A new sight in the engine bay: Not only is there now a clutch master cylinder populating the engine bay, but the Matrix' brake master cylinder is also being used. Quite a bit of custom work needed. (A couple minor things to be finished up)



(Jerry, when he picks up his car) "Eh... what's this third pedal do?" :lol: How's it look?



Won't be needing this any more...



This, on the other hand, we will be needing. Along with the newly installed Matrix power steering pump, all ready for high revs...



There will be more later, but that's all for now. Post your comments in the discussion thread, a little encouragement from you guys helps me keep up the momentum.

[Dr Tweak]

Here's a sneak peek of the 2ZZ in the Corolla. Don't get too excited, it's not in there yet.



After the last update I went back out and spent a few hours test fitting the 2ZZGE. It's going to take at least a full day to sort out the engine mounts. That's going to be my mission tomorrow, *hopefully* the engine will be in there by the end of the day.

I worked all night last night and went straight to work on the car this morning. I am Le Tired...

[Dr Tweak]

Well I got a late start today, I had to pay my debt for that 30 some-odd hour day yesterday. I'm in taking a break and figured I'd give an update. A lot was done today and I've made quite a bit of progress over the past two days. I spent most of today sorting out some issues that will have to be dealt with. I have two of the four mounts done, and the other two aren't too far off. Custom work was need on all but one, so much for the engine bolting up.

I also discovered that the axles will have to be custom, unlike my original understanding. I will be able to take care of that without too much trouble.

The exhaust manifold, on the other hand, is going to be a serious pain. I can't even bolt it to the engine because it hits the firewall. The manifold will have to be modified, along with the head pipe where it attaches.

Getting closer: the engine in it's home position

[Dr Tweak]

No pics today since there's no visual difference from the last post, but all the engine mount modifications are now done and the engine is home sweet home.

More updates tomorrow.

[Dr Tweak]

I made a lot of progress today. The engine mechanicals are almost all done. Fuel is hooked up, throttle cable, etc. I had to further modify the front motor mount and it is now done. The engine is 100% mounted. I also attached the power steering pump, and I switched over the Matrix' A/C compressor when I found that the 1ZZ one had a different bolt pattern. I need to make a custom a/c line for one of the connections. The exhaust manifold is mounted with three new studs.

Monday I have to bring the hubs to get pressed out, then run them up to the machine shop for modification, have some exhaust welding and bending done. Tuesday it will hopefully be done and I'll put it together, I need to make a couple of custom brake/clutch lines, and build and intake. Then it's wiring wiring wiring! I also need to make a custom upper radiator hose.

[Dr Tweak]

Well it's about time for an update here!

First of all, the exhaust manifold was modified. It's pretty rough right now though totally functional, once everything else is squared away more attention will be given towards looks and better flow.



I had a frustrating series of days of driving back and forth between the machine shop and the pipe bending shop. Thankfully that's all taken care of now. Also, the stock '98 Corolla shifter assembly is not compatible here. A custom brake line and custom a/c hose were needed.

Custom head pipe and connectors:



Custom brake and clutch line:



Custom a/c line:



Every wire is soldered and shrinkwrapped:



Fun with wiring:



The 5-lug and big brakes were modified to fit onto the Corolla:



Hooking up the wiring harness:



The 5-lug conversion completed and the Matrix wheels on the Corolla:



I bled the brake lines and clutch line out. The clutch is now 100% operational. The axles are going to need to be taken back out and modified further as they are too long.

I built a bracket for the Matrix shifter:



What's left? Wiring, axles, exhaust... that's about it...

[Dr Tweak]

Yesterday I put in 10 hours working on the wiring, and today I put in 11. At the end of the day I was able to start the car!!! I only ran the engine for a few seconds since the cooling system isn't hooked up yet.

I had most of the wiring done yesterday, today I ran the harness through the firewall, wired up the 02 sensors and a/c stuff, bypassed the start neutral switch, and a few other things. It didn't start right off, I had to fix up a couple wiring bugs first.

Once the car started, it ran rough for a couple seconds and then it died. I went through all of the vacuum lines and plugged or hooked them up. Then I went and started the car again and it ran really smooth. I shut it down a few seconds later.

Pictures coming soon

What's left:

Fix up wiring bugs (there are a couple left)
Check location of exhaust leak
Weld up the rest of the exhaust
Install radiator, make custom hose
Waiting for custom axles
Loom the whole harness back up

That's about it! Hopefully less than two days of work, the longest wait will be for the axles.

Discuss the swap here:
http://www.northeasterntuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1795

[Dr Tweak]

Want some pics?

Here's what it looked yesterday. You can see I stuck the TRD Matrix intake on there so that it would be breathing filtered air, and so that the MAF would be reading the air. No, it's not going to stay

Also you can see the custom upper radiator hose I made



Here's what the inside of the car looks like right now, this will all be loomed and cleaned up...



Here's the harness in the engine bay partially loomed:



And what I did today: this shaft has been cut in half and tack-welded together for a test fit. This is the correct length after I checked it on each side. It will be shipped to Moser Engineering so that two custom ones will be built just like you see here, and then the Rolla will be ROLLING!

[Dr Tweak]

I put in a solid day today, which is a good thing being that this thing is being raced on the 27th. There were several bugs I had to work out. First of all, the engine temp guage wasn't working. That took a while to work out and thankfully it's all done now. Also, the #1 Fan relay on the '98 is normally closed, but the one for the '03 is normally open, so I need to find a new relay to fix that... at least I figured out what the problem was. (The fan runs all the time when the key is on right now.)

I also filled up the cooling system and ran it for a good 20 mins or so, it got up to operating temp good and stayed right there. I loomed the rest of the harness up and that is pretty much done (unfortunetely, I did that before fixing the wiring bugs, so I have to redo a little bit of it), I just need to loom the wiring inside the car. I also tested an aftermarket tach and it works well, so I'll get that wired up next.

Some pics:

Here is the wiring all loomed up nice:



And the 99% finished product:



basically just need to fab an intake and finish the vaccum routing, and fix up the wiring that's left (very little), and the engine is done.

Then, when I get the axles, I just need to install them and the car will be road worthy, sorta. I just need to run to the exhaust shop and have the mid-pipe and muffler welded on and it's DONE.

A final item will be the rear disk/5-lug conversion, but that can wait until after the meet if need be. Hopefully, it will all be done.

And this car needs a bath!!!

[Dr Tweak]

Lots have been accomplished over the past few days and the entire job is within hours of completion.

First of all, I started putting the interior back together and wired up the tach... look, it's running!



The engine bay is 99% done, just needs an intake:



I got the Celica parts that I needed and started the rear disk/5-lug conversion. When I first compared the parts, I thought for a minute that they would bolt right on. I was getting excited that it would be a plug and play swap-over. However, that wasn't the case. I took a trip to the machine shop, took the wheel bearings and hubs apart, modified and rebuilt them, and then carefully put them back together with all new grease. The backing plate still needed to be modified some, but everything is now bolted up. This is a sneak peak of one side, the parking brake cable still needs to be shortened.



And what the car looks like with the Matrix wheels:



Lastly, I got the custom axle bars in today. After putting these together the front end should be pretty well taken care of.



You can discuss the swap here:
http://www.northeasterntuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1795

[Dr Tweak]

Well I see Jerry didn't make on the forum, so I'll post a little update.

This morning I got the new tires installed and took Mantis for it's first drive. It's running very well except for a few little issues (get to those in a minute). I brought it to the exhaust shop and get the exhaust taken care of (drove it there with no exhaust and no hood! You should have seen the looks I was getting!). By this time it was already 3 pm so I got it and hauled over to the alignment shop where Jerry already was, and he got to see it for the first time. The alignment was taken care of then.

Now for the problems. First of all, because of the larger diameter of the Matrix wheels, when we go over any bumps the wheels touch the fender. So tomorrow we're going to roll the top of them. Next, I still have to get the intake fixed up, so for now we're running the TRD intake (no hood!). Also one of the rear rotors is severely warped (broken) and the new one will be here by 10 today. The other thing is that we thought at first that the engine was knocking under load, however we no think that it's not a knock we're hearing but a small exhaust leak (very possible since the exhaust manifold was welded but never machined, so it may very well be slightly warped and need to be machined.)

Anyways, the most disappointing thing at this point is that we're not getting lift, and a rev limiter is kicking in a 7k RPM. I have a few ideas about what it could be, so we're going to work on that tomorrow. Also after running it for several miles the CEL came on. So there are some bugs that need to be worked out... I wish that I could have kept it another week to get it all fit and finish, but there's just no time left.

At any rate, the car is running very well other than those items, we put probably close to 100 miles on it today to test everything out, and didn't have any *other* issues.

Oh yeah, and the fan is still running all the time.

Tomorrows plan is to get the intake finished and the hood on, and try to fix up those other little things. We'll get some pics and everything as soon as we can.

Well Jerry left a few minutes ago with Hellish Mantis. Everything today went pretty good, took a little longer as usual. Hopefully the 6-hour drive home will go well for him. Now it's time for pics.























And as requested, a short video:

http://www.phoenixtuning.com/hosting/mantis.avi (3 mb, 20 seconds)

So what went down today. Well last night while at work I figured out what the problem with lift was. I already had a good idea, and sure enough, I was right. Long story short is that we weren't able to get it fixed today, but Jerry will be able to do it once he gets the part. It's an easy fix.

We spent most of the morning getting the intake fixed up, and that's all done (hood is now on the car, obviously). We also had the codes pulled and the only thing wrong is that one item, everything else is fine. The car is running very good.

After that we got the rotor that we needed, put the car back up on jackstands and rolled the fender lips in, and then packed everything up. We ran down to the car wash and sprayed it off and took a couple pics. That's about it.

I'm pretty beat now and I need to work later, so I'll be back tonight to answer any questions.

Hellish Mantis is done.

[rolla_pr]

this is old but, do you any news of this car?