I left off where I was attempting to install the high pressure fuel line. I ordered the ORS high pressure fuel line. This is an extention that attaches to the stock 3.4 high pressure hose coming off of the fuel rail. Each end has a double male adapter. The one end fits nicely into the 3.4l high pressure hose end and seals wonderfully. The other end requires the stock union that goes between the 3.0 hard line and the 3.0 flex hose. I had left this on the hose when I pulled the engine. Tie up the trans so I can push the truck all the way back into the garage.
The engine was gone and I ended up having to order a new one from Toyota. Ok, over that hurdle and to the next one.
I had spoke with the exhaust shop I had planned on using about a month prior to dropping in the engine. I told them what I had and what I wanted. He asked if I had all the flanges. I told him I had both the '99 and '93 exhaust systems. He said he had done another one just a few weeks earlier and knew exactly how to do it. He said to keep the 3.4 crossover and we'll use the flanges and run it off of them down the passenger side with the cat and back over to the driver side for the muffler and out the back. So I get it all in there and the 3.4 crossover output flange runs within' .125" of the right rear of the upper A-arm. That flange also hits the fuel high pressure line. OK, decision time.
Do I
- re-route the fuel line to the outside or top of the frame
- pull the crossover and see if they can make a new one
- call and see what they suggest.
So I pick number 3. I called and told them the issues I was seeing with using the stock crossover. This time he said that you can't use the stock crossover because it would burn up the firewall. Huh? if that's where the stock crossover went in the '99 then why don't they have a bunch of fires in them? Oh well, I didn't want an argument. He said that they'd cut the flanges off of the stock crossover and use them to make a new header pipe. Ok, so another hurdle, I get to take the stock crossover off while the engine is in the vehicle. That looks like fun. It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Loosen the motor mounts, drop the t-case as far as possible. The 2" body lift helped.
The fuel line union came in. Test fit it to see if it is correct, but leave it off temporarily. More about that later.
Next I spend several hours figuring out the proper routing of the heater hoses. This 4Runner has the rear heater so there's a couple of extra hoses that need to be re-routed to retain this functionality. Some creative use of the heater hoses off of the '99 (it was great to have the whole donor vehicle there to rob stuff off of) and a couple of pre-formed hoses from PepBoys and we've got heat front and rear.
My measurements showed that the engine/trans/t-case would be about 1" longer than the original 3.0 engine/trans/t-case. I also had attempted to figure out where the t-case mount would land compared to the original and I came up with 2" behind stock. IIRC, my figures were off by about .5". Since I had done a 2" body lift I wanted to tuck the rear of the trans/t-case up a little for a couple of reasons. One being that it would be less for the shifters to have to be modified, the second reason being that it would increase clearance. Temporarily I made a set of adapters to move the original t-case mount up 1" and back the appropriate amount. IIRC that was about 2.5".
Now that the drivetrain was solid I moved on to install the computer, engine wiring harness, ORS wiring harness and charcoal cannister. I removed the original charcoal cannister and measured to see where the '99 cannister would fit. I considered installing it in the same place where it was on the '99, but the cruise control actuator resided there. I had planned on using the CC and I was told by ORS that there was a CC cable from a '96 4Runner that would bolt right on the actuator and work with the 3.4l throttle body linkage. I decided to leave the CC right where it was and put the charcoal cannister right where the original 3.0l cannister was. After lots of measuring and re-measuring I decided to put the the cannister close to the firewall on the right side. There was a minimal amount of re-wiring to be done; the hoses were close there also. I pulled the engine harness over through the original harness hole in the firewall. This makes for a tight fit, but works well since the hole is already there and the edges are rounded to prevent from cutting through the harness. Next I spent many hours creating a bracket that would fit in that area, be solid, hold the cannister and also be easy to replace the cannister if needed. This last requirement is one of the main reasons I stick with Toyotas. It's because they are designed to be worked on if needed. As an aside, when I put the Chevy 350 in my '72 Land Cruiser that was one of the things I was disappointed with the Chevy engine. Yes it is a great engine and it has a lot of things going for it, but ... well ... it's not a Toyota. I then placed the ORS harness in the cabin and started to route the wires where they are supposed to go. OBDII hookup to left side; speed sensor and 4wd indicator wires through the firewall, down the transmission to the t-case. Connect the ORS harness to the 3.4l engine harness and the '93 body harness. I then situated the computer so that it fits behind the stock kick panel. Connect the ORS harness to the computer then the engine harness to the computer and install the kick panel.
Back out to the engine bay to work on situating the battery. Since the battery and airbox get to switch places there is some fabrication to get them both to fit and stay in their new homes. I had purchased the battery tray that ORS sells. No offense, but this is just a piece of steel that has two bends in it. It looks good, even unpainted, but I guess I was expecting a little more than what it was. I installed it and added a piece to it to keep the battery from sliding to the right and into the alternator. Battery I had was on it's last leg and since the battery posts are on the wrong side it would have required lengthening the battery cables so I broke down and purchased an Optima. It's smaller and the posts are near the center, so they can be used in either configuration. Besides it's red top matched the color of the 4Runner. The only thing that I did different than what the ORS wiring instructions is where I routed the battery/starter/alternator wiring harness. I routed these inside of the steering shaft. They suggest to route them outside of the steering shaft, but I found that the steering joint cover would rub it's sharp edge on the alt wiring eventually eating through the wires.
That's enough for this second edition of this conversion. Next we will install the electric fan, rad, airbox, and much more.
Enjoy,
JC