1ZZFE JDM Swap VVT v. non-VVT

[Dr.Hess]

I'm helping a friend swap out the 1zzfe in his wife's '99 Corolla. It is a non VVT-i motor. The JDM motor I was shipped is a VVT-i motor. A couple of small things were different, like the temp sender on the thermostat housing, and the VVT-i motor has the solinoid, of course. I can't get it started. The ignition timing is way off. Does anyone know of any issues in doing this? The timing is controlled by the ECU which reads the crank angle sensor and the cam angle sensor and fires a wasted spark coil set. #1 is firing about 80-100 degrees BTDC. The original motor was wasted spark, and the new one is Coil on Plug. We swapped the injector rail, coils, accessories from the old one to the new one. We are using the original ECU which is throwing no codes. The injectors are fireing (wet plugs). Anyone have any ideas? :brick: Thanks.
 
Dr.Hess

[laz]

That is a tough one you got there. Cams come into mind right now. Did you swap out the heads as well, or just the coils? Isn't there another actuator in the cams that is oil driven for vvt-i, and isn't vvt-i always adjusting? not like vvt-iL.

I would say that your cams may have something to do with it, but I am no expert. Many people have discussed the possibility of swapping a vvt-i head on a non vvt-i motor, but the problems encountered with it were too much for the outcome.

I say the ECU does not know how to control the vvt-i head and can't adjust it correctly.

Dr Tweak should know better. You can PM him here and he should get back to you.

X

[Dr Tweak]

So you swapped everything from the old engine onto the new one? Almost sounds like it's firing 180* out of time. Are you sure the cam and crank sensors are positioned correctly?

-Doc

[Dr.Hess]

We swapped:
 
Injectors/Harness (new ones were a different color which probably means different flow rate)
Thermostat housing/Sensor (new one didn't have the sender)
Alternator
Coil Packs/spark plug wires (New one was COP, old wasted spark)
Engine harness
 
All the other plugs and sensors are the same on the two motors (look the same, same plug). We did not touch the other sensors at all, just pluged into them.The new motor has a VVT solinoid on it. We did not swap heads. I would like to not go there. I was thinking cams, but I am not sure it will work anyway and I don't want to go through that without knowing it is going to work. I am wondering if the crank angle cog wheel inside at the front of the motor is different, but I don't know.  
 
We also tried putting 12V to the VVT solinoid which clicked, but it had no effect at all on the ignition timing.
 
I am afraid I am going to have to get another motor and R&R it again. 2nd time always goes faster, right? And I must say that the engine harness comes off much easier than the two 4AGE's (red top and silver top) I have de-harnesed in the last 2 weeks.
:brick:
 
Dr.Hess