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StriViK's 1998 SC400 - The Odachi Build - Six Speed 1UZ VVT-i

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Old 12-07-21, 03:49 PM
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Awesome progress!! That converted CD009 looks great installed in the car!

You're not going to consider modifying an SC/Soarer compatible front driveshaft to work with the CD009 and get it and the SC rear driveshaft balanced together? It's a little more work but can be very good for a street car to keep the two-piece design with the factory center bearing. Although a good one piece driveshaft that is balanced well can work too.

As for the Supra manual brake pedal not fitting correctly, that is weird. I'd have thought it would be near identical to the SC300/Soarer manual brake pedal. Apparently not.

Order the SC300 5-speed M/T version manual brake pedal from MyLParts with this part number: 47101-24060. It is still available and it should work perfectly since it's designed for the SC chassis. I think at least one other member here has used it with the Supra MKIV clutch pedal assembly in their SC successfully.

Last edited by KahnBB6; 12-07-21 at 03:53 PM.
Old 12-07-21, 09:38 PM
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Been meaning to read this thread and finally got to it tonight. What a WONDERFUL write-up you provided. I love the detailed explanation of the "why" you chose various options. Can't wait to see this running. Good luck!
Old 12-07-21, 10:22 PM
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Originally Posted by perfctreig
Been meaning to read this thread and finally got to it tonight. What a WONDERFUL write-up you provided. I love the detailed explanation of the "why" you chose various options. Can't wait to see this running. Good luck!
Thank you, readers like you keep me motivated to push forward and write in detail for future SC owners!

Originally Posted by KahnBB6
Awesome progress!! That converted CD009 looks great installed in the car!

You're not going to consider modifying an SC/Soarer compatible front driveshaft to work with the CD009 and get it and the SC rear driveshaft balanced together? It's a little more work but can be very good for a street car to keep the two-piece design with the factory center bearing. Although a good one piece driveshaft that is balanced well can work too.

As for the Supra manual brake pedal not fitting correctly, that is weird. I'd have thought it would be near identical to the SC300/Soarer manual brake pedal. Apparently not.

Order the SC300 5-speed M/T version manual brake pedal from MyLParts with this part number: 47101-24060. It is still available and it should work perfectly since it's designed for the SC chassis. I think at least one other member here has used it with the Supra MKIV clutch pedal assembly in their SC successfully.
Thanks Kahn, I didn't really consider using my stock driveshaft because as you said if the aluminum driveshaft is balanced it shouldn't be an issue. Many people I've talked to had aluminum driveshafts and so far none have reported an increase in NVH. Another reason is time, I'm usually short on time, busy during the weekdays and I don't want the car to spend too much time sitting at my friend's shop so I'm giving it all I got during the weekends with the build. Which is why I've ordered one directly from XAT and they already have someone to make it to work with the CD009 and with the correct flange adapters for my differential, just had to give them the measurements. Perhaps if this swap was at a garage or some personal place I'd have taken my time with the entire build, which is why the progress has been so quick since everyone has been helping out.

I think the SC300 manual pedal is still available, for now I will cut the automatic pedal and see how well it fits but I have a feeling I won't enjoy it too much if the pedal is a bit far from the accelerator preventing me from doing proper heel and toe. Some users have recommended bending the pedal on other threads but I don't think that would be something I'd like. The thought that occurred to me was that what if the brackets for the pedals are different on a SC400 than the SC300 then I can see why the Supra pedal is very close to the firewall at it's highest point which means maybe the SC300 pedal won't fit properly either.

SC300 pedal seems to have a slightly more angle but it can also be because of the pictures, so maybe it'll still work.

Supra Manual Brake Pedal P/N: 47101-14230


SC300 Manual Brake Pedal P/N: 47101-24060
Old 12-08-21, 05:26 AM
  #19  
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Those two brake pedals look different to me. I think the SC300 brake pedal is a direct swap and at $85 is well worth just buying. Are you in Florida? Would love to see this when it’s all done!

Nick
Old 12-08-21, 08:19 PM
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Originally Posted by CLass of 1
Those two brake pedals look different to me. I think the SC300 brake pedal is a direct swap and at $85 is well worth just buying. Are you in Florida? Would love to see this when it’s all done!

Nick
Yeah I think I will try the SC300 brake pedal and then update y'all on that. I'm in Houston, Texas.

Old 12-08-21, 08:42 PM
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Well I have ordered my driveshaft, it's a single piece aluminum driveshaft that will come with an adapter flange.
Apparently there are two sizes for the 3 Bolt differential. The one for this 98 SC400 the size is the large pattern which is 99.5mm.

From Driftmotion
The "Small Pattern" bolt holes measure approximately 90.5mm center to center, from one hole to another (3.57")
The "Large Pattern" bolt holes measure approximately 99.5mm center to center, from one hole to another (3.91")
Now since there is a good amount of time I will work on a few other things.
So I didn't *need* to grind down the automatic transmission hole to fit the shifter but I did it for easier install of the transmission while the shifter was installed, it's a bit hard to install the shifter if there is a little access.
What I'm thinking is to get the Supra manual transmission tunnel and replace it with the my auto one but first I'll have to get the dimensions to figure out if that's what I need.

Supra Transmission Tunnel P/N: 58261-14010



On other news, I bought this 1/120 manual transmission shifter bezel for no reason many years ago. (Maybe I knew that I wanted to swap in the future)
I wanted to give it my own touch to it but wasn't what would be nice, there isn't a lot of space on this bezel but I found some space on the top right.
Decided maybe I should put a small screen on there, for now it will be a static image but maybe I can add some sensors to it and see if I can display useful information like transmission temperature or something,
it has to be something that doesn't need to be looked at constantly like a boost gauge or oil pressure, but some other information that is not the most important.
For now I decided to just give it a static image to show the gear positions (yes I know there are two 4th gears on there).
Posted it with a quarter to show a comparison of how small the OLED screen is (0.96").
At first I wanted to make a square by hand with a dremel but realized it'll be close to impossible to get it perfectly straight so decided to 3D print a cover as a female adapter and then bondo the areas around it.
​​​​​​​It's almost done now just need to finish the sanding but do have to get a new screen since I broke the other two while trying to get it to fit.






Old 12-09-21, 01:03 AM
  #22  
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The little OLED screen is very cool! I considered a number of those for a while before settling on some basic gauges with AutoExtrude's three-gauge (52mm) ashtray bezel... and the Popformance LXCC which I still haven't gotten around to re-installing.

I'd like to see what you do with this little screen.

Things that I considered for something like this:

--Transmission pressure monitoring for my MKIII R154 transmission since they are sometimes known to have internal oil pressure issues above 500whp (that the later tripod and JZX100 R154's with the little breathers may not) but it's doubtful you would need that for a CD009 transmission.

--Boost was another option but you won't be needing that with your car.

--Outside temp is another... but again on your 98-00 SC400 you already have that in the instrument cluster.

--I briefly wanted an altimeter readout for high elevation driving (to gauge how the high altitude might be affecting my boost pressure vs output and the level of octane that I had in the gas tank going down to lower elevation)... but that's a hard one to find good compact monitoring hardware for that can do better than an external Garmin GPS unit.

For your naturally aspirated engine I would suggest +5V sending units for: standalone coolant/water temperature, oil temperature, oil pressure, and volts. Then you could wire them all to feed a little Arduino or other solid state device to give you readouts on that OLED screen.

I prefer old fashioned analog dial gauges myself but that little screen could be used to consolidate all those gauge functions into one place, similar to the concept that the LXCC unit was going for (though I don't think many people tried to used it for that purpose).

The only caveat that I can think of is if truly critical functions are not going to be readable easily via quick line of sight in that location it might not be ideal except for non-critical sender readings.

....

If there is any measuring that I can help with I do have a space SC300 M/T factory brake pedal and the MKIV Supra M/T transmission top tunnel part.

I recommend you just bite the bullet and pick up the SC M/T brake pedal. I'm in agreement with Nick (Class of 1) on this. It's not too expensive, is still available now and is made for the car. The Supra M/T clutch pedal and box are a nearly direct fit in comparison. I do believe the mounting box for the SC A/T and M/T brake pedals is in a slightly different spot on the SC than it is on the MKIV and it's hard to say why but the pedal shapes being different confirms this for me.

Last edited by KahnBB6; 12-09-21 at 01:09 AM.
Old 12-09-21, 06:01 AM
  #23  
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OLED screen is a cool idea! I’m not sold on it’s placement though, as you rightly pointed out, you can’t put any critical information there and it’s quite small so reading it quick enough to get your eyes back on the road will be tricky. In my old FD, the previous owner had the wideband down in a similar location so I was constantly choosing between engine safety and personal safety. Not good.

I would use that screen in that location as a very simple gear indicator/transmission temperature readout. Might be helpful to know when your transmission is up to temp and you can beat on it a little bit. Add to that, you’ll know if it over heats one day on a track or something.

I’d split the screen vertically and have just a number on the left and the temp on the right, something like this: 2 | 157F — if you go any more complicated than this, the screen will look garbled. If you want to give it a Lexus touch, I’d endeavor to do the gear indicator font in “Lexus lettering” … perhaps you can find it out there somewhere where the numbers will have that tell-tale Lexus font?

Cool idea!

Nick
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Old 12-09-21, 08:20 AM
  #24  
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Originally Posted by KahnBB6
The little OLED screen is very cool! I considered a number of those for a while before settling on some basic gauges with AutoExtrude's three-gauge (52mm) ashtray bezel... and the Popformance LXCC which I still haven't gotten around to re-installing.

I'd like to see what you do with this little screen.

Things that I considered for something like this:

--Transmission pressure monitoring for my MKIII R154 transmission since they are sometimes known to have internal oil pressure issues above 500whp (that the later tripod and JZX100 R154's with the little breathers may not) but it's doubtful you would need that for a CD009 transmission.

--Boost was another option but you won't be needing that with your car.

--Outside temp is another... but again on your 98-00 SC400 you already have that in the instrument cluster.

--I briefly wanted an altimeter readout for high elevation driving (to gauge how the high altitude might be affecting my boost pressure vs output and the level of octane that I had in the gas tank going down to lower elevation)... but that's a hard one to find good compact monitoring hardware for that can do better than an external Garmin GPS unit.

For your naturally aspirated engine I would suggest +5V sending units for: standalone coolant/water temperature, oil temperature, oil pressure, and volts. Then you could wire them all to feed a little Arduino or other solid state device to give you readouts on that OLED screen.

I prefer old fashioned analog dial gauges myself but that little screen could be used to consolidate all those gauge functions into one place, similar to the concept that the LXCC unit was going for (though I don't think many people tried to used it for that purpose).

The only caveat that I can think of is if truly critical functions are not going to be readable easily via quick line of sight in that location it might not be ideal except for non-critical sender readings.

....

If there is any measuring that I can help with I do have a space SC300 M/T factory brake pedal and the MKIV Supra M/T transmission top tunnel part.

I recommend you just bite the bullet and pick up the SC M/T brake pedal. I'm in agreement with Nick (Class of 1) on this. It's not too expensive, is still available now and is made for the car. The Supra M/T clutch pedal and box are a nearly direct fit in comparison. I do believe the mounting box for the SC A/T and M/T brake pedals is in a slightly different spot on the SC than it is on the MKIV and it's hard to say why but the pedal shapes being different confirms this for me.
Those are some of the same thoughts I had, it needs be non-critical info and I was thought "Hey maybe outside temperature but oh wait I already have that".
Altitude is another good one, something I wouldn't really need since I'm not traveling too much with with this car outside of Texas but it may be cool to have. As for implementation, I think there are some cheap arduino modules that I can use which can provide that information with other things such as humidity (which I think would be really useful).

I would suggest +5V sending units for: standalone coolant/water temperature, oil temperature, oil pressure, and volts
I've been looking a way to get oil pressure reading but that will be definitely for some other sort of screen.
I noticed in my friend's 300ZX Z32 that they had the climate control screen right next to the dashboard, perhaps this is something that can be added into the SC as well as long as it's not in the way of anything such as the windshield wiper switches or instrumental cluster.
The autoextrude attachment is really nice but if there is a possibility to extend in some other shape like the Z's then I think then I can attach another screen there for more info.
I do have a 3D printer but I'm not that great at designing as of right now so maybe once I do I can make something like that.
For wiring everything I'm considering using the 12V coming off that phone option, since most arduino components are low powered I think it'll be more than sufficient.



I have ordered the SC300 manual brake pedal so will update that when I get a chance, shipping on many items is significantly delayed due to Christmas but on the plus side it gives me more time to think.
I'm not sure what kind of measurements I'm looking for, maybe how far the center of the hole for the M/T transmission tunnel is compared to the center of the Auto transmission, that way I know how far it's pushing outwards.



Originally Posted by CLass of 1
OLED screen is a cool idea! I’m not sold on it’s placement though, as you rightly pointed out, you can’t put any critical information there and it’s quite small so reading it quick enough to get your eyes back on the road will be tricky. In my old FD, the previous owner had the wideband down in a similar location so I was constantly choosing between engine safety and personal safety. Not good.

I would use that screen in that location as a very simple gear indicator/transmission temperature readout. Might be helpful to know when your transmission is up to temp and you can beat on it a little bit. Add to that, you’ll know if it over heats one day on a track or something.

I’d split the screen vertically and have just a number on the left and the temp on the right, something like this: 2 | 157F — if you go any more complicated than this, the screen will look garbled. If you want to give it a Lexus touch, I’d endeavor to do the gear indicator font in “Lexus lettering” … perhaps you can find it out there somewhere where the numbers will have that tell-tale Lexus font?

Cool idea!

Nick
Originally the idea started because the car is now a six speed and I saw this badge on some 350z, but there really isn't some good spot to put that on the manual shift bezel so thought why not have a screen so I can customize it. I had options for different screens and size but 0.96" seems perfect. One other thing I hate about screens is the backlighting. Old screens like VFD did not have any backlighting issues and the colors really popped because they were more like individual areas that lit up and because of that I didn't want any LCD screen and it had to be OLED because the background can be dark/turned off. Picture I posted in the previous will most likely be inverted so there isn't too much light coming off that area.
Not sure if the CD009 has a internal temperature sensor that I can hook up as in input because so far I didn't see anything of the sort which means if I choose to get some temperature I will have to replace some other sensor on the transmission with it, so far the neutral sensor is the only one that I might go by without using if I decide not to use it as a NSS.

I like the split screen idea which I didn't consider but I'll try implementing that for something, maybe two sensor readings side by side. The font was an issue and squeezing information for even this gear layout came out a bit garbled so I'll have to make it look cleaner somehow. 1st gear as Lexus is a brilliant idea but it may not be possible due to limited pixels, I'll have to see if I can work around it. New screen should be arriving sometime next week so I can mess around with it more.



I saw this one YouTube many years ago and I thought this was very cool as well. Although the screen is an LCD and not OLED it might be nice to find a similar dimension to this


Last edited by DrAtomica; 12-09-21 at 05:15 PM.
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Old 12-10-21, 03:18 PM
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Thoughts on Wiring

More downtime means more thinking. I'm not sure yet if I'll be using the ATM Emulator yet, for those who are not aware the ATM Emulator by All4Swap connects to your stock ECU and splices into your transmission connector as well. The purpose is to emulate the auto transmission shifting to let the ECU that everything is working as it should. When you start the car it puts it into P and when the emulator notices some revs it will change the gear from P/N to L or 2.
However is that all necessary? I'm not sure as of right now. There may be ways to simplify the wiring since I don't have to worry about TCS and VSC like in other 98+ Lexus vehicles.



NOTE: This wiring is not accurate, this was a quick view on the diagrams so please make sure and check the wiring, you can use this as a reference, every model and year will be different.

Last edited by DrAtomica; 12-10-21 at 10:17 PM.
Old 12-10-21, 10:16 PM
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SerialNine Shifter Alignment

One thing that I quickly want to mention is that this shifter makes the 3rd and 5th gear extremely close, you won't be running into issues but it's something you just have to get used to. Since there are no rubber bushings or anything, you know exactly what gear you're going into it BUT when you decide to go into 5th gear just slam it all the way to top right and it'll go in gear. Overall it feels pretty nice, I temporarily put a shift **** from a Mitsubishi Eclipse but I do not intend to keep this shift **** at all. There is a small indention on the side of the shift rod that prevents you from going past a certain point, how much past you can decide because the top plate is adjustable by the 3 bolts, you just have to align it so when you go into 5th gear it touches that indention and you should be set. I didn't calculate the distance between 3rd and 5th but it seems like its a about 1/4 inch which is quite tight, you may not be able to tell you're in 3rd or 5th depending on your shift ****. Reverse lockout is also included in this shifter but I have not yet tested it completely, so far it seems A-okay.

Old 12-11-21, 06:04 AM
  #27  
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More info on your IS wheel swap please!

I was considering the same shifter but it looks way too tall for an OEM look. What’s your take on that? Also, a little discouraged to find there’s no rubber or anything. May be looking for a different or custom solution… maybe welding a W58 or R154 tripod onto the CD trans…

Nick
Old 12-11-21, 08:49 PM
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Originally Posted by CLass of 1
More info on your IS wheel swap please!

I was considering the same shifter but it looks way too tall for an OEM look. What’s your take on that? Also, a little discouraged to find there’s no rubber or anything. May be looking for a different or custom solution… maybe welding a W58 or R154 tripod onto the CD trans…

Nick
The wheel is from a 2008 IS350, the paddle shifters may be wired for some purpose but as of right now they are just there. You will have to either make a buy an adapter to convert your existing single stage airbag plug to fit in the dual stage airbag for the IS350 wheel. I looked up for adapters online but in the decided to just make one myself by using the existing airbag plug from another SC and the junkyard IS350.

The shifter currently looks tall mostly because the interior and everything is not put in yet although I think it will still be slightly taller than the stock height.
For the rubber or cushion on the shifter it boils down to preference, I thought I wouldn't like it but shifting so far still feels good, you know exactly what you're headed into and going into every gear gives it a slight click as if it's a manual gated shifter so it feels high quality.
Can't say if welding the tripod shifter will work or not but maybe you can shorten the stock CD009 shifter somehow but even then it may not clear the transmission tunnel. All the shifters I've seen so far for relocation are all metal, I haven't looked beyond that to know whether a rubber or some bushing based one is out there.
Old 12-12-21, 04:41 AM
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Gonna leave this here …

https://www.google.com/shopping/prod...195999957,cs:1

Nick
Old 12-12-21, 07:19 AM
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Originally Posted by CLass of 1

I have given some thought to it before, specifically that one and photoshopped it to see how it'd look like and the conclusion I came to was the entire shifter bezel will need to be thrown away and a design has to be made from scratch. Maybe something like an older car will work better such as a Ferrari Testarossa the question really is that even if I or someone could, will it work? Will it have a Lexus feel or specifically a 90s GT feel?




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