1992 SR5 3-vze advice
03-11-2008, 09:21 AM
#1
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Durango CO
Posts: 5
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
1992 SR5 3-vze advice
Just purchased a 1992 SR5 extra cab pick up with the 3.0 v6 3vze engine in it at 204,000. it has 2'' rear suspention lift and a 3'' body lift. 33x1050x15 BFGs. I am wondering, should I save my money for an engine swap in the near future, or try to milk some more life out of the 3.0? no matter what I need to have it geared, any suggestions?
03-11-2008, 09:26 AM
#2
Just purchased a 1992 SR5 extra cab pick up with the 3.0 v6 3vze engine in it at 204,000. it has 2'' rear suspention lift and a 3'' body lift. 33x1050x15 BFGs. I am wondering, should I save my money for an engine swap in the near future, or try to milk some more life out of the 3.0? no matter what I need to have it geared, any suggestions?
03-11-2008, 09:50 AM
#3
Registered User
SR5 V6 5spd comes with 4:56, the auto is 4:88
The 3VZE is best left in stock form. All the hopups in the world will do very little to improve it.
Do your maintenance, but don't spend a penny trying to hop up the 3VZE.
Some people claim the 3VZE has plenty of power for them, others (myself included) feel it's a weak 80s smog motor that can just barely push the truck and forget about towing.
If you are in the first category, just do your maintenance and be happy.
If you are in the second, do your maintenance, save your money and do the 3.4 swap (or another one if it suits your fancy.) The 3.4 swap will be the easiest and keeps your Toyota all Toyota. If you can DIY, it's about a $4k project. You could put $10k into the 3vze and it still wouldn't have the power of the stock 3.4 AND the 3.4 responds very well to hopups and can even handle power adders (like a supercharger) which would kill any 3vze very quickly.
The 3VZE is best left in stock form. All the hopups in the world will do very little to improve it.
Do your maintenance, but don't spend a penny trying to hop up the 3VZE.
Some people claim the 3VZE has plenty of power for them, others (myself included) feel it's a weak 80s smog motor that can just barely push the truck and forget about towing.
If you are in the first category, just do your maintenance and be happy.
If you are in the second, do your maintenance, save your money and do the 3.4 swap (or another one if it suits your fancy.) The 3.4 swap will be the easiest and keeps your Toyota all Toyota. If you can DIY, it's about a $4k project. You could put $10k into the 3vze and it still wouldn't have the power of the stock 3.4 AND the 3.4 responds very well to hopups and can even handle power adders (like a supercharger) which would kill any 3vze very quickly.
Last edited by MonsterMaxx; 03-11-2008 at 09:52 AM.
03-11-2008, 11:21 AM
#4
SR5 V6 5spd comes with 4:56, the auto is 4:88
The 3VZE is best left in stock form. All the hopups in the world will do very little to improve it.
Do your maintenance, but don't spend a penny trying to hop up the 3VZE.
Some people claim the 3VZE has plenty of power for them, others (myself included) feel it's a weak 80s smog motor that can just barely push the truck and forget about towing.
If you are in the first category, just do your maintenance and be happy.
If you are in the second, do your maintenance, save your money and do the 3.4 swap (or another one if it suits your fancy.) The 3.4 swap will be the easiest and keeps your Toyota all Toyota. If you can DIY, it's about a $4k project. You could put $10k into the 3vze and it still wouldn't have the power of the stock 3.4 AND the 3.4 responds very well to hopups and can even handle power adders (like a supercharger) which would kill any 3vze very quickly.
The 3VZE is best left in stock form. All the hopups in the world will do very little to improve it.
Do your maintenance, but don't spend a penny trying to hop up the 3VZE.
Some people claim the 3VZE has plenty of power for them, others (myself included) feel it's a weak 80s smog motor that can just barely push the truck and forget about towing.
If you are in the first category, just do your maintenance and be happy.
If you are in the second, do your maintenance, save your money and do the 3.4 swap (or another one if it suits your fancy.) The 3.4 swap will be the easiest and keeps your Toyota all Toyota. If you can DIY, it's about a $4k project. You could put $10k into the 3vze and it still wouldn't have the power of the stock 3.4 AND the 3.4 responds very well to hopups and can even handle power adders (like a supercharger) which would kill any 3vze very quickly.
Im still gonna throw a 3.4 in though
03-11-2008, 12:03 PM
#5
Registered User
03-11-2008, 12:12 PM
#6
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Durango CO
Posts: 5
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Thanks for the advice all. I'll probably put some headers on to keep me at least happy with the sound of it until i can afford to do a swap... according to some intricate calculus, including variables such as the lunar cycle, weather patterns above and around Greenland, and the international stock exchange, I have come to the conclusion that having better sound out of your engine makes the vehicle 15-35 Fig Newtons more fun.
03-11-2008, 01:29 PM
#7
Registered User
The last thing on this planet you want to do is headers on a 3.slow.
First off, they are real expensive.
Secondly the job is a real mother{humper}. Just removing the stock manifolds is more than most can do. Then you have to lift the motor up to get one of the headers in. And of course, where the bolts are placed is blocked by the tubes half the time so you wrench them in 1/100th of a turn at a time. Often the stock manifold bolts will snap leaving you with even more problems.
Third, doing headers without a lot of other work on air flow will net you NO performance gain. Zero. Might even cost you some power on the bottom end.
Forth, (but not last) the headers are very close to the starter and w/o additional protection you'll BBQ the starter. Oh, and changing the starter begins with lifting the motor and removing the right side motor mount (AC pump has to go too if you have it.)
Save yourself the $600, the day(s) of work and busted knuckles and leave the damn 3VZE alone and save towards a swap.
First off, they are real expensive.
Secondly the job is a real mother{humper}. Just removing the stock manifolds is more than most can do. Then you have to lift the motor up to get one of the headers in. And of course, where the bolts are placed is blocked by the tubes half the time so you wrench them in 1/100th of a turn at a time. Often the stock manifold bolts will snap leaving you with even more problems.
Third, doing headers without a lot of other work on air flow will net you NO performance gain. Zero. Might even cost you some power on the bottom end.
Forth, (but not last) the headers are very close to the starter and w/o additional protection you'll BBQ the starter. Oh, and changing the starter begins with lifting the motor and removing the right side motor mount (AC pump has to go too if you have it.)
Save yourself the $600, the day(s) of work and busted knuckles and leave the damn 3VZE alone and save towards a swap.
Last edited by MonsterMaxx; 03-11-2008 at 01:31 PM.
Trending Topics
03-11-2008, 01:46 PM
#8
Ill talk to him on the specifics. Cheap as in cheaper than a swap. I know opening the stock x-overpipe allows the engine alot more power, adding headers, exhaust, intake, and im sure some sort of fuel delivery system. A +40 HP gain is a stretch but he claims to be able to do it, ill talk to him about it.
Like i said ill just stick to a 3.4 swap, SC, 7th injector, headers, exhaust, and maybe intake
Like i said ill just stick to a 3.4 swap, SC, 7th injector, headers, exhaust, and maybe intake
03-11-2008, 01:48 PM
#9
Registered User
Now I know it's BS. I've done everything possible to the 3VZE (including lots of internals) and I didn't even get 40hp. AND I spent WAY more than a swap would cost.
Spent tons of money and even had it on the dyno right next to a completely stocker.
HUGE BS call on this one.
03-11-2008, 01:52 PM
#10
40HP????
Now I know it's BS. I've done everything possible to the 3VZE (including lots of internals) and I didn't even get 40hp. AND I spent WAY more than a swap would cost.
Spent tons of money and even had it on the dyno right next to a completely stocker.
HUGE BS call on this one.
Now I know it's BS. I've done everything possible to the 3VZE (including lots of internals) and I didn't even get 40hp. AND I spent WAY more than a swap would cost.
Spent tons of money and even had it on the dyno right next to a completely stocker.
HUGE BS call on this one.
You have a list of the mods you did?
03-11-2008, 02:26 PM
#11
Registered User
Everything, I don't have a list handy, but everything that air passes has been worked on, porting & polishing on heads and intake, gasket matching, cams, oversize valves, headers, 2.5" exhaust, ignition and more.
There is no point in the air path that has not been touched and everything that sees 'fire' is ceramic coated.
It's as far as a 3.turd can go w/o trying to mix and match parts from other engines (there's was a guy on here messing with crank and heads from a camery, but I don't think he ever got it running.)
There is no point in the air path that has not been touched and everything that sees 'fire' is ceramic coated.
It's as far as a 3.turd can go w/o trying to mix and match parts from other engines (there's was a guy on here messing with crank and heads from a camery, but I don't think he ever got it running.)
03-11-2008, 02:42 PM
#12
Registered User
Everything, I don't have a list handy, but everything that air passes has been worked on, porting & polishing on heads and intake, gasket matching, cams, oversize valves, headers, 2.5" exhaust, ignition and more.
There is no point in the air path that has not been touched and everything that sees 'fire' is ceramic coated.
It's as far as a 3.turd can go w/o trying to mix and match parts from other engines (there's was a guy on here messing with crank and heads from a camery, but I don't think he ever got it running.)
There is no point in the air path that has not been touched and everything that sees 'fire' is ceramic coated.
It's as far as a 3.turd can go w/o trying to mix and match parts from other engines (there's was a guy on here messing with crank and heads from a camery, but I don't think he ever got it running.)
Anyway, back to the original post.
"Some people claim the 3VZE has plenty of power for them, others (myself included) feel it's a weak 80s smog motor that can just barely push the truck and forget about towing.
If you are in the first category, just do your maintenance and be happy.
If you are in the second, do your maintenance, save your money and do the 3.4 swap (or another one if it suits your fancy.)"
This much I know is very true. I bought an identical truck to yours (except the tires and 2" lift (same miles, truck, BL, etc.) and have had it for 5 years now. The motor itself has not had any problems. My odometer has since stopped, but I'm guessing there is about 300,000 miles on it by now.
03-11-2008, 03:00 PM
#13
Everything, I don't have a list handy, but everything that air passes has been worked on, porting & polishing on heads and intake, gasket matching, cams, oversize valves, headers, 2.5" exhaust, ignition and more.
There is no point in the air path that has not been touched and everything that sees 'fire' is ceramic coated.
It's as far as a 3.turd can go w/o trying to mix and match parts from other engines (there's was a guy on here messing with crank and heads from a camery, but I don't think he ever got it running.)
There is no point in the air path that has not been touched and everything that sees 'fire' is ceramic coated.
It's as far as a 3.turd can go w/o trying to mix and match parts from other engines (there's was a guy on here messing with crank and heads from a camery, but I don't think he ever got it running.)
Did you mess with the fuel delivery system?
03-11-2008, 03:00 PM
#14
Registered User
Biased???
I guess now that Iv'e spent 15years with it, had lots of problems (I've seen 5 seperate headgasket failures) poured a lot of money into it, only to have it give weak performance gains and lose reliability....
Biased? no, I'd say I'm just well informed about this engine.
Keep it stock, do your maintenance, get lucky with headgaskets and use it as a DD and you'll get 200,000+ miles out of it.
Tweak on it, dump money into it, run it hard and I'm willing to bet you will have a similar experience to mine.
But by all means, go your own way, reinvent the wheel and refuse to listen to others who have made the mistake of polishing the turd.
There's plenty of us out there, maybe we should form a club...
A little with the AFM. Injectors are balanced etc. There's really not much that can be done. As I mentioned before, this is an 80s smog motor and the computer is not at all adjustable.
The only other thing to do is something like a megasquirt system, costly and you are forging your own trail with the 3VZE. By the time this was even being discussed I'd already made the decision NOT to spend another dime on the 3.slow.
I have done extensive tuning w/ a 6ch EGT (realtime EGT on all 6cyl) a 02 meter, seat of the pants, on they dyno and on the road. I might be able to get a little more power with some more advance, but at 25deg I feel like it's a little on edge now and some bad gas or a bad day could kill yet another 3.turd.
I've also got one of Snap-on's high end fuel pressure gauges which I ran on the truck for a while...fuel pressure is normal and there are no dips & spikes.
I'm not saying it doesn't run good for a 3.slow. Not at all. For a 3.slow it runs like a raped...3.slow.
Having driven a few of the newer Toy's at the dealer, I can say that all the stock trucks sitting on the dealer floor have way more power than my tweaked out 3.turd. That new 5spd auto they have is the shltz's nitz.
I guess now that Iv'e spent 15years with it, had lots of problems (I've seen 5 seperate headgasket failures) poured a lot of money into it, only to have it give weak performance gains and lose reliability....
Biased? no, I'd say I'm just well informed about this engine.
Keep it stock, do your maintenance, get lucky with headgaskets and use it as a DD and you'll get 200,000+ miles out of it.
Tweak on it, dump money into it, run it hard and I'm willing to bet you will have a similar experience to mine.
But by all means, go your own way, reinvent the wheel and refuse to listen to others who have made the mistake of polishing the turd.
There's plenty of us out there, maybe we should form a club...
A little with the AFM. Injectors are balanced etc. There's really not much that can be done. As I mentioned before, this is an 80s smog motor and the computer is not at all adjustable.
The only other thing to do is something like a megasquirt system, costly and you are forging your own trail with the 3VZE. By the time this was even being discussed I'd already made the decision NOT to spend another dime on the 3.slow.
I have done extensive tuning w/ a 6ch EGT (realtime EGT on all 6cyl) a 02 meter, seat of the pants, on they dyno and on the road. I might be able to get a little more power with some more advance, but at 25deg I feel like it's a little on edge now and some bad gas or a bad day could kill yet another 3.turd.
I've also got one of Snap-on's high end fuel pressure gauges which I ran on the truck for a while...fuel pressure is normal and there are no dips & spikes.
I'm not saying it doesn't run good for a 3.slow. Not at all. For a 3.slow it runs like a raped...3.slow.
Having driven a few of the newer Toy's at the dealer, I can say that all the stock trucks sitting on the dealer floor have way more power than my tweaked out 3.turd. That new 5spd auto they have is the shltz's nitz.
Last edited by MonsterMaxx; 03-11-2008 at 03:12 PM.
03-11-2008, 03:04 PM
#15
Biased???
I guess now that Iv'e spent 15years with it, had lots of problems (I've seen 5 seperate headgasket failures) poured a lot of money into it, only to have it give weak performance gains and lose reliability....
Biased? no, I'd say I'm just well informed about this engine.
Keep it stock, do your maintenance, get lucky with headgaskets and use it as a DD and you'll get 200,000+ miles out of it.
Tweak on it, dump money into it, run it hard and I'm willing to bet you will have a similar experience to mine.
But by all means, go your own way, reinvent the wheel and refuse to listen to others who have made the mistake of polishing the turd.
Maybe we should form a club...
I guess now that Iv'e spent 15years with it, had lots of problems (I've seen 5 seperate headgasket failures) poured a lot of money into it, only to have it give weak performance gains and lose reliability....
Biased? no, I'd say I'm just well informed about this engine.
Keep it stock, do your maintenance, get lucky with headgaskets and use it as a DD and you'll get 200,000+ miles out of it.
Tweak on it, dump money into it, run it hard and I'm willing to bet you will have a similar experience to mine.
But by all means, go your own way, reinvent the wheel and refuse to listen to others who have made the mistake of polishing the turd.
Maybe we should form a club...
ANY toyota engine from that era is prone to HG failure. Even the 22-RE. My mechanic friend has done over 220 HG jobs on these engines, very experienced, and he swears by them. If they are maintained properly and such they last a long time, granted the fuel economy is poor for the power.
03-11-2008, 03:13 PM
#17
Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Chico, California
Posts: 3,870
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Just an FYI i have heard a few stories of the fuelpressure regulator under the intake plenum having the screw come out and causes a fire. It happened to mine. It was a hard job putting that sucker back together, just luckey the fire wasn't too bad.
If you have the plenum off just check and make sure the screw is in there tight.
We actually locktighted the screw in mine.
I now carry a fire extinguisher, just to be safe!
If you have the plenum off just check and make sure the screw is in there tight.
We actually locktighted the screw in mine.
I now carry a fire extinguisher, just to be safe!
03-11-2008, 03:27 PM
#18
Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: OBX
Posts: 26
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
sounds like you got a lemon. I beat the $#!t out of my 3.0 muddin every weekend along with redlining it every day. its got 298,000 miles never rebuilt and i havent had to do a hg or any work to this motor. havent even changed the oil since i bought it 2 yrs ago. I know ive gotten pretty lucky but this is the second toyota ive had with over 270,000 miles that didnt give me a problem. Wish my 4runner i have now had the 2.7 that i had in my old truck though. BTW im trying to kill my motor so i can put in the lexus v8. IT WONT DIE ARRRGGGGGG. even took it through 3ft of water at 30mph this past weekend lol maybe ill drop some bbs in the intake......haha 
03-11-2008, 03:42 PM
#19
Registered User
i too have the 3. slow. and i can truly tell you that i know why they call it that. this motor is a complete POS. it runs pretty good. although now i'm really getting tired of it since i've owned it its blown 3 headgaskets. this truck since the last headgasket was babied. the temp moved a hair and i pulled over. shut it off and waited. then filled it back up with water. next day drove it and it moved a hair again and went back down. i still pulled over and turned it off. checked the cap and chocolate milk!! damn!!
not to mention it has no power whatsoever, headers and no cat. full exhaust. i feel like i have to get out and push the damn thing to make it move. total crap motor. running manual trans with factory auto 4.88 gears. this motor is crap.. i'm still debating on which swap to go with. 4.3 chevy or the 3.4 both seem to be VERY expensive but the 4.3 seems to be cheaper and provides WAY more torque and power.
not to mention it has no power whatsoever, headers and no cat. full exhaust. i feel like i have to get out and push the damn thing to make it move. total crap motor. running manual trans with factory auto 4.88 gears. this motor is crap.. i'm still debating on which swap to go with. 4.3 chevy or the 3.4 both seem to be VERY expensive but the 4.3 seems to be cheaper and provides WAY more torque and power.
03-12-2008, 08:23 AM
#20
i too have the 3. slow. and i can truly tell you that i know why they call it that. this motor is a complete POS. it runs pretty good. although now i'm really getting tired of it since i've owned it its blown 3 headgaskets. this truck since the last headgasket was babied. the temp moved a hair and i pulled over. shut it off and waited. then filled it back up with water. next day drove it and it moved a hair again and went back down. i still pulled over and turned it off. checked the cap and chocolate milk!! damn!!
not to mention it has no power whatsoever, headers and no cat. full exhaust. i feel like i have to get out and push the damn thing to make it move. total crap motor. running manual trans with factory auto 4.88 gears. this motor is crap.. i'm still debating on which swap to go with. 4.3 chevy or the 3.4 both seem to be VERY expensive but the 4.3 seems to be cheaper and provides WAY more torque and power.
not to mention it has no power whatsoever, headers and no cat. full exhaust. i feel like i have to get out and push the damn thing to make it move. total crap motor. running manual trans with factory auto 4.88 gears. this motor is crap.. i'm still debating on which swap to go with. 4.3 chevy or the 3.4 both seem to be VERY expensive but the 4.3 seems to be cheaper and provides WAY more torque and power.
