In this fresh episode of Carnage, we’re kicking on with our 1UZ-swap VR Lexcen wagon project.

In the previous Lexcen instalment, Scotty pulled the original Buick V6 and ruined Turbo 700 transmission out of the ’Yota wagon to get it ready for its all-alloy V8.

A big part of this conversion is changing the subframe from a V6 to a V8 one so that we can bolt the 1UZ straight into the car with the pair of engine mounts supplied by Castlemaine Rod Shop.

While the subframe was being changed over, Scotty took the opportunity to give the front end of the Lexcen a tidy-up. First, he scraped a copious amount of dirty grease off the steering rack.

Rare Spares now offers a bunch of new gear to make servicing VN-VS chassis a breeze, so Scotty raided their catalogue for a new set of caster arm bushes, sway-bar end links, and lower control arms complete with bushes and ball joints. That way we don’t have to mess around with pressing new bushes in and out of the existing arms – just throw in the brand new ones and we’re done! Scotty did have to fit the new caster arm bushes, but some quick help from some Ryobi power tools sorted that out.

We also had a bunch of the 1UZ’s hardware cleaned up by the awesome blokes at Ice Blasting Solutions in Epping. They used their killer dry ice and vapour-blasting techniques to make the original intake manifold, rocker covers and plastic engine covers look better than new.