Racer944

Ok, ground rules first:

1. This is intended to be helpful. This is not the place to campaign that everyone should swap the 3.0 for something else, whether it be a Chevy V-8, a Toyota 4, 6, or 8 cylinder or jet propulsion.
2. This is NOT to be about rumors. Let's keep it fact based, preferably about what YOU did, that has worked so far.
3. Usual no flaming, let's try to keep this on-topic and helpful. If it remains as such it MIGHT be made into a sticky.
4. Please post up supporting facts. If you start talking about 20 hp boost from using an electric fan, than post up dynos. If it's a "butt dyno", then be up front and honest!
5. Please post up pictures if you're referencing a difficult install, tricky engineering, or anything that takes more than a little imagination.

Now then, the question. A little more than a year ago, I blew the engine in my 3.0. I have been looking at a 3.4 swap and due to time constraints and funding restraints, I have decided to rebuild the 3.0 and consider a swap at a later time, if needed. Now, we're not going to talk about why or why not you should swap engines or the mythical 300hp 3vze that is floating around out there. I just know that the head gaskets on 3vze's tend to be the "fuse" so to speak.

Can we keep this civil and talk about what YOU have done to increase longevity with your 3.0? Please post up pictures, links, write-ups, and you can even stump for your favorite products (please keep the talk about which shop is better to the PM's). For example, I remember there used to be a lot of talk about non-TTY (torque-to-yeild) head studs out there. There used to also be a lot of talk about better head gaskets, and which was the best.

Remember, if we can keep this informative and civil, it may become a sticky to help all the other people out there that may stumble upon it.

Game on!

Racer944

I'll start first.

I originally put in a FIPK from K&N and a Borla exhaust. Now these were just "cool" mods at the time. Over time the sound of the FIPK started getting annoying when idling. However, nothing beat the sound of it at WOT, as it sounded like a V8 or something. Made it a little easier to keep the filter clean, but I started noticing a lot more dust and dirt inside the intake tube.

Now, when both were combined, it probably added 5 hp, butt dyno. Never took it to the dyno, and the gains were probably negligible. However, it did feel a lot more "open". A lot easier on acceleration, and didn't feel as though it had so much back pressure. These were small gains, and I didn't have time to finish the exhaust system with headers, a high flow catalytic converter, or a port and polish job. Probably going to get these done once the engine is fixed. Hopefully by then I'll be posting up dynos and all the rest.

Elvota

Personal experience with the 3.0 was that it was very reliable, had decent torque and good trail manners.

Mods I did...

Downey Headers: I felt they improved the seat of the pants HP. My main objective however was to try and get the heat away from the engine and help the headgaskets last longer.

ISR Mod: Got the pipe from the electrical section in the Home Depot aisle, and the coupler from the plumbing aisle. Cost about $20 all said and done. Again, felt as though the engine ran better especially at higher RPM's.

Some more info on what I did as well as others: https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...please-133026/

Electric Fan: For me, didn't seem to do much. Was very noisy and not very reliable. I had it fail twice on the trails. I went with the Black Magic 160 but went back to the standard clutch operated fan towards the end. I saw no real performance gains from this mod.

When I rebuilt I got all my parts from PartsDinasaur except the headgaskets, waterpump and timing belt. For those I went with OEM. I got 20,000 miles on the 3.0 after rebuild with zero issues.

tc

Normal maintenance stuff - plugs, wires, cap, rotor, O2 sensor. Made a hugely significant difference in gas mileage (14 MPG to 18 MPG).

Seafoam. Makes it run noticeably smoother

Timing. When I got the truck it was at 0* and was a total dog. 10* (stock) was much better. 12* is better yet.

IMHO, I wouldn't put a dime into mods - the 3.0 is what it is, deal with it or swap. Looking to see how this thread turns out though ... been wrong before.

Elvota

Exactly... this threads goal is just to give 3.0 owners some options and ideas on what works and what doesn't.

It will be interesting to see what develops.

MRecio

Well there are a few helpful things to do is MPG is what you are looking for... most mods can help with MPG as long as you can keep your foot out of the skinny pedal.

1. HEADERS, from Downey, thorley, lce or whoever its going to give you the biggest bang as far a sound, MPG, and power.

2. ISR Removal, makes the intake less restrictive but lets face it, it will only do so much since the VAFM restricts the entire motor cause of how small it is.

3. like they said above. new cap n rotor, wires, and plugs (GAP THEM CORRECTLY!) made a huge difference in my truck i no longer need to downshift to go up hills on the freeway.

4. speaking of the VAFM I think the company Split Second makes a MAF conversion that will work on the 2ng gens I dont know about the price but i heard its up there. Seems like a good idea if u have done everything else.

5. Tires, Run only the size you NEED, It gets old hearing or seeing these rigs with 35+ tires on them when you KNOW they dont need them they are just for looks. Kids with Boggers on the street with no tread left but u remember as month ago seeing it and they were brand new... that stuff kills your MPG! and is u do need to up to 31, 33, or even 35 make sure u re gear to get some of ur power back.

6. o2 sensor, If you cant remember the last time tey were replaced if ever, replace them. my o2 sensor was shot but still did not give me a CEL code. I could smell the fuel at idle and dont get me started on the cold morning warmups. they probably more then pay forthemselves in gas u save in a matter of a month if u drive as much as me.

Bottem line is these trucks get horrible gas mileage the autos even more so. my auto in town maybe gets 13 MPG if i drive like an old lady. Out on the freeway ( I spend about 2 hours a day on the freeway to get places) The speed limit is 70 (most people go 90) I found if i get behind a Semi and draft behind them going 60MPH it takes me 5 more mintues to go 50 miles to the city i go to school in and my MPG is about 20-21. ill sacfrafice the 5 mintues to get 21 MPG on a 3.0 I use to get 15 going 70-75.

PS I still havent put a set of headers on my truck heh.

Redeyejedi

X2 on drafting......best mpg saver mod yet!! and the mod is to driving style, not the truck.
k&n airfilter and oil filters, new bosch(super cool space alloy)plugs, wires, O2 sensor, mobil1 oil.
no real difference, none expected.
only real difference i see is when my airfilter is real dirty, and i go slower with worse gas mileage.

i am eager to read setups on the 3.0. mods, reliability, performance, ease of installation, problems, downtimes, costs!!!!

89pickupsr5

i chose to rebuild my 3.0 as well

the only mod i am doing to her is to put an afm from a supra which i'm not sure how swapable they are so for initial start up i'm going to hook the stock afm

does anyone know if i will have to change any terminals it is from a 7m-ge?

the only reason i did this is that the door in the AFM is slightly larger and when i hook it up it will be like an ISR mod which I don't believe does much except the air is going to go straight from a tube from the grill into the straight style of the supra Afm straight to the only kink that i am going to leave which is that plastic elbow and right up to the air intake chamber. I also believe the air will be colder.

instead of the air coming from the back of the headlight swirling upward and going through a couple kinks before reaching the air intake chamber. that might not sound like much but neither does the ISR mod to me and a friend of mine got an entire supra for a set of rims and he's a jeep guy

I am also getting an amsoil air filter due to something i was reading that stated that k&n lets in too much air and possibly some dirt and amsoil doesn't

does that sound right?? constructive criticism please.

can anyone explain how to gap the spark correctly or direct me to where i could find out? I am getting NGK

Any input on the different kinds of NGK's, what works the best, and why?

thanks racer944 great idea and well put.
rock on, Drew

Racer944

I have found with my K&N that it does let in some dust. Possibly could have been from over-oiling the filter (I've read in several places that over oiling it will cause a CEL and be less effective at filtering. However, this begs the question of how much to oil the sucker. Anyone have helpful tips and hints?

PCE91V64x4

Over oiling may affect the sensors in the intake. The best way to oil that I have found is to lightly spray the element, leaving the filter about 30% not covered with oil, and let it sit overnight. The excess oil will migrate to the areas that did not get covered. In the morning, any areas without the red-tinted oil can get a light spray.

infiltrator

ISR and big tires are what ive done.

honestly i think you should drive it and have fun with it!!! rather than worrying about getting 300hp out of it. not bashing at all....

the stock air system is good enough and the isr will make things look and fit better.

other than that, i know of a deckplate mod, indiglo guages (i really wanna do that), adjusting the torsion bar, replacing the fuel filter, running seafoam, brake upgrades (tundra, sorry not pertaining to the 3vze), and the running good oil and filters mod lol (always good preventative maintenance).

hosh

On my 95 4runner I did a homemade ISR.

First I installed a K&N filter
I used Clear silicon tubing (I don't recommend clear as it got nasty) and made a gradual bend from the airbox to the intake. The difference I noticed after the ISR was that on mild hills that I previously had to down shift to maintain 70 I could maintain without a down shift. My gas mileage made a SLIGHT improvement. About a half mile per gallon improvement consistently.

My truck had 31s with 4.56 gears. This is the equivalent to the factory 28s with 4.10s as my speedo was still correct. The math worked out pretty close too.

In my experience with my 4runner. Keeping it tuned (new plugs, wires, cap & rotor etc.) was the best mod I did. Also don't buy the universal O2 sensor, buy the factory style plug.

89pickupsr5

anyone know about the pinouts for the supra AFM mod?

coreyc619

first post.. ive been buildin engines for years, since i was 13.. mainly high horsepower street machines and all american, a few race cars etc etc. i have a lot of experience porting cylinder heads, and just assembling all sorts of engines, everything from your maruyama string trimmer to a small block ford being shifted at 9400RPM and running just a tick under 13.5:1 compression. - just qualifying myself here.. ive noticed plenty of flaming on this forum, i almost dont even care to post..

my dad picked up a 88 4 runner from one of my friends that threw a rod (he didnt put oil in it.. derr) i just tore it down a few minutes ago, looks like its going to be perfectly rebuildable..

my ideas for power for the intended purpose:
im going to work the bowls and especially the guide area in the heads, the ports look plenty healthy for the engine size i dont plan on removing any material at the gasket surfaces, maybe just a little blending.. after reading about all the HG issues ill have the heads squared before reinstallation, and i'll do my own valve job here in the garage.. not a big deal. the exhaust appears ridiculously restrictive, im quite surprised to see how bad it is, headers will be a must.. im considering fabbing my own but id rather just buy some and save myself the time, i dont have much of that resource to spare these days... then again i really need to figure something out about the MAF sensor, that thing is tiny. i really need to go look at that TB again, ive got several from all different makes of engines i could possibly machine an adapter plate and blend it by hand.. anything over 65mm would hurt more than help IMHO though.. so all my LS1-6 stuff is outta the question.. hmmm - we'll see.

also, a rough measurement with a dial caliper showed me my pistons are coming +.019" out of the hole.. i found that unusual for a stock engine.. maybe the bearings just have that much slop in them (they were beat up pretty bad but actually retained the babbit, good stuff)

so basically what im saying is, in spite of all the nay sayers, im gonna work the heads a bit, leave the cams alone, i need to look at the upper intake the lower looks just fine.. if the upper appears too restrictive (i didnt even look at it i was in the zone for the teardown) ill just cut it in half, open it up and TIG it back together like i used to do with the 5.0 ford manifolds that were very simliar in style.. my other ideas were to increase compression but i dont wanna throw the valve timing off at all.. so i cant go shaving too much - we'll see.. probably a mute point on the valve timing, i needa research this further.. done plenty of work with the ford mod motors (OHC also) but im usually decreasing compression for boost so i've never even had to think about it with them (.01 off the head shouldnt change a damn thing, but i wanan be sure, like i said for once i have no experience there). also, exhaust, ill fab up the rest after the headers, probably one of my stronger talents in this world, and actually a passion, i love doing exhaust work for whatever reason.. therfore fabbing up an inlet pipe on the intake side should be a snap.. built a few turbo kits too in the past lol no big deal, part of the fun

so.. im actually in college about to graduate with a biology degree, so my time to work on this thing is expectedly limited, so it may be july or august before i have any feedback for you guys on how my version turned out, and what all i did. you'll be getting butt readings.. ive had enough hotrods to have a fairly sensitive buttometer.. ill be damned if imma waste money on a dyno for something i just wanna drive to the deerlease or the beach..

all the ideas i just mentioned came to me in a matter of minutes i havent really put much thought into it(lol perhaps thats obvious?.. my apologies), but im open to comments, as always. how else would you learn anything?

as for the rest of the engine im probably just going to rering it, let a machine shop put a fresh hone.. i'll install fresh bearings, polish the crank, and according to my quick mic job im going to need two new rods, or get the originals recut, then i dont have to balance those two piston/rod combos.. no big deal.. but if i get new pistons.. im not sure of what a "good" source is.. as i said this is my first endeavor into import crap (excuse my french) aside from motorcycles (ive done tons with those too) and several kawasaki engines on commercial lawn equipment.. but those of course were never ever performance oriented, yet much more carefully engineered than one might think. again we'll see what i can dig up. sorry so long.

SEAIRESCUE

Best of luck with all those head alterations. The 3vz suffers from small valves and a restrictive exhaust. Oversize valves from the aftermarket will do little to help. Not sure if the 3vz is deck flush for the pistons but mighty close to it. This stupid design is why when rod bearings fail the piston beats the crap out of the aluminum head and cracking it. I have experience all these problems. The 3.0 is 188 cubic inches. Not much of an engine. Strangle it with a crappy set of small valves and a dumb a$$ exhaust and you get very little power. Add large tires and it becomes anemic and inefficient. Toyota engineers tend to not learn from their mistakes and if they do, it takes a decade to implement better designs. Mitsubishi, Audi, Honda and others make much better engines and power trains in my opinion. I have always considered Toyota as constipated and arrogant. I have owned many of their trucks and suv's with an average rating for design, fit and finish. I have yet to understand why they released the 12 valve 3.0 V6. Its truly the wrong motor for the applications it has been stuffed in and sold to the public. The 24 valve Camry engine should have been the common offering for the 3.0. Stupid to offer two different engines. The 24 valve offers superior volumetric efficiency and economy of scale sharing multiple platforms should have been the corporate decision. I have migrated towards Honda. Still like the Toy trucks but whiz on Toyota management and those dick head dealers.

My $0.02

Elvota

SEAIRESCUE.... you have some good points about the 3.0 and related, but let's respect the original goal of this thread and keep the mods coming for improving the 3.0 as it currently exists.

There are plenty of places to knock the 3.0... but the hope of this thread is to create a safe harbor for ways to improve it.

Mcdoggy2000

Hi tc,

Do you recommend any specific brand of plugs, wires, cap, rotor, O2 sensor?
Also how often do you change these parts?

I use NGK plus, durarust (I think autozone brand) cap, rotor. wires and O2 sensor I have never changed since I purchased this 4runner.
I have been using seafoam for trans and about 100miles before oil change. I love it.

Thanks

tc

I use NGK or Denso plugs and O2 sensor, not real picky on the cap/rotor. For wires, I try to find non-carbon conductor (actual metal wire). Over time, the carbon will crack and you get little arcs within the wire that affect the energy at the plug.

I replace them about once a year.

tc

coreyc619 - be sure to keep track of the costs and time.

One side of this argument is that it's not cost effective to build the 3.0, but nobody has ever posted hard facts.

When you get done, I would be willing to make a contribution to see a dyno run...

infiltrator

maybe he could get paypal donations from 3.0 owners to get money for a dino as proof hahah