Sithyota85

I'm new to the forums, I'm sure this question has been posted and asked 1000 times but back in December I bought a 90 v6 sr5. I was assured nothing was wrong with it and I blame myself for not doing my job and getting a diagnostic on it. After a mishap one day of leaving the radiator cap off & the runner overheating I took it to a local mechanic to find out what was up & of course it's leaking coolant from the left rear side of the block. I was told that it has an exhaust leak as well so after getting a quote from 2 different mechanics for around 6k just to swap in another 3.0, started thinking maybe I should just put a 3.4 swap in and add some power and rebuild so this doesn't happen again. The runner just hit 200k it had 198k when I purchased it. It turns but overheats after about 10 minutes and when you put your foot on the gas it stalls like it wants to shut off. My questions are can this 3.4 swap be done by the average joe or should I try to find a mechanic that can do it ? Do I need to get any extra parts, harnesses, mounts Etc for the swap. These might be stupid questions but excuse me I have some knowledge but not all. Any help would be greatly appreciated as I want to purchase a 3.4L soon and start working on it.

Thanks,

Jonathan

donomite49

Toy Only Swaps in Oregon.

SacRunner

Yes, it can be done in your driveway, not really knowing what you're doing, just do your homework (read every swap thread you can find at least twice, making special notes of any problems they encounter and solutions...I can't stress this enough).

Here's a good intro to the 3.4 swap and what all is needed:
http://www.offroadsolutions.com/tech...fe-conversion/

Off Road Solutions (ORS) was the first company that I knew of that offered any assistance/parts with the swap, but I have no experience with their products or services.

Toy Only Swaps (http://www.toyonlyswaps.com/3.4--5vz...versions-.html) are another good resource; like donomite49 said.

Sithyota85

Thanks guys for the help, I contacted toy only swaps and they're going to give me a quote for it in the days to come.

donomite49

Haven't heard of any bad experiences from TOS, I know they were helpful to me when I did my swap.
You will like the 3.4, it's a great motor.
Keep us posted.

Sithyota85

So I got a quote back from tos for 6135 for them to do the install themselves. They said that they're currently working on 7 swaps and wouldn't even be able to start on my car until about 7 weeks. So with shop time and the cost to ship the runner out there would be 7k plus. I'm thinking about ordering one of these engines on eBay that are going for 1100 shipped and doing the rest as far as alternator, radiator red myself because 7k is somewhat hefty for me at the moment. This could be a good project for me or a headache or I could just try to find a mechanic to do it out here in California. What do you guys think ?

SacRunner

Whatever you do, DO NOT BUY JUST A MOTOR and think you're ahead of the game. You're going to need all the "accessories" (power steering pump, alternator, EVAP box and VSVs, ECU, engine harness, to name a few) and those will end up costing a lot more than you would imagine (junk yards have a way of nickle and diming).

Since you're in California, and will likely have to SMOG it, you're going to have to do things proper and "by the book" in order to pass the closed door inspection (yes, the SMOG ref will take your truck around back and do a full visual and sniffer test on it

The general advice is to buy a donor (typically from a wreck), pull out the parts you need then part-out or sell the rest; some have actually made money on their overall swap from parting out the donor. If you can't do that (I wasn't able to) find someone parting out a Tacoma or 4Runner and see if they still have everything. The other option would be to call around to local junk yards and see if they'll work out a "swap package" or something for you that could save you a few dollars over buying everything individually (unlikely, but worth asking).

The only other advice I would give, is to get in touch with a SMOG referee and talk to them about what is required of an "engine change" (in CA a "swap" is replacing a 3.0 with a 3.0, while a "change" is replacing a 3.0 with a 3.4), just to help prevent any surprises after you've dumped a bunch of time and money into the swap.
http://asktheref.org/
1-800-622-7733 (call, leave a message with an operator, and a ref will call you back within 3 days).

Sithyota85

@sacrunner I do plan on moving to Oregon so that smog might not be an issue....the original plan was to send it to TOS have them do it and me and cliff had spoken on the phone and he told me he would have it good to go to drive back to Cali. Only reason I'm staying out here is because of waiting for tenure with a job then I'll be leaving in about year and a half tops. I'm torn between what to actually do but as you said I will way out all my options.

dropzone

iTrader: (6)

Smog or DEQ as it is generally referred to in Oregon depends on where you end up. In the Portland Metro Area and Medford anything 75 and newer requires emissions testing every 2 years.

Sacrunner is correct, getting a donor vehicle is your best bet if you do it yourself.

Keep reading all the threads, educatING yourself is the cheapest part of the conversion.

Sithyota85

Just to update you guys I haven't done anything yet and I'm thinking it might be better to just part it out or sale it as a mechanic special. I bought it for 1800 and can't see putting that much into it just to get it up and running again. Thanks for your help guys !