breknraj

Well, I finally found a donor truck ('02 Taco TRD, 67K miles), and it will be here on Thursday or Friday. So I started dismantling the engine bay of my '90 SR5.

I'm taking the 3.0 apart as though I were going to rebuild it (which I probably will, later), so I'm labeling hoses and connections for future reference, in conjunction with taking lots of pics for my personal documentation. Thank God for digital cameras for things like this!

I spent this afternoon stripping out most of the stuff along both sides of the engine.

Before:

breknraj

Continued:

breknraj

And what I accomplished today:

breknraj

It sure feels good to get this started! While I doubt that I'll finish before the snow flies (here), I hope I can get it done before the stuff sticks!

I'll be getting the Off Road Solutions full kit, plus their crossover pipe -- heading down next week to give Mike the $ for it! I'm also going to change the timing belt and water pump, as well as getting a new radiator.

As if this wasn't enough, I'm also going to be adding an Arizona Air AC system (my truck never had AC)! Fun stuff ahead!

DeathCougar

iTrader: (23)

Where did you get the truck from?

breknraj

I bought mine through Klode auto salvage auctions, a Rocky Mountain region outfit (http://www.klode.com). You might want to check out http://www.ridesafely.com for similar stuff - they do have a northwest depot in Washington, IIRC.

Be warned that our Toys hold their value pretty well, even when they're wrecked!

DeathCougar

iTrader: (23)

How did you become a buyer? Dont you have to have a business license, or can any average Joe do it?

Elvota

Just subscribing... would really like to do this swap myself in the future.

I lived in Breckenridge for a summer and few winter months. Such a great place. What part of Summit County are you doing the swap?

thefallman

ill be finishing my swap up next week. then i will be moving to Greater Denver area so if ya have a question or something just ask?? I didnt use their kit personally i think its cheeper sourcing your own stuff.

Pozi

Right. When I was looking for a donor engine for my swap I also looked at using ridesafety.com but a business license was needed. My mother-in-law has a license but it needed some type of auto dismantler claus in order to purchase through these companies. However when I was going my research ridesafety.com merely sold second hand through another company (the name escapes me) where they do the bidding and buy on your behalf albeit at a hefty markup.

Anyway. Goodluck with your swap. You are at the right place for specific 3.4L swap questions.

breknraj

DC - Klode has no problem with private purchases (you're just going to have to pay taxes on the purchase), RideSafely is a bidding service for the private individual, thereby getting around the business license issue.

Elvota - I'm just south of Blue River at 10,500 ft!

Fallman - I'm facing a major time crunch, since snow has already fallen here. I'm hoping that I can finish the project (all outside, BTW) before the snow sticks! For these reasons, plus the feeling that Mike at ORS has the same quality attitude that I have, I feel that it's in my best interests to go with the ORS kit. The time saved in doing the wire traces myself, plus the lack of convenient parts sourcing (the closest NAPA is over 15 miles away - 1 hour round trip, with traffic - and decent salvage yards are 80 to 100 miles), makes the cost worthwhile, to me.

Marc

Does the taco engine have an A/C compressor?

If so you might want to let ackits know in case the fittings are different.

breknraj

Marc - I got the AC kit before the engine died, so I'll cross the compressor problem when the time comes. It's not like I'm going to be in severe need of AC for a few months, now!

Marc

Ok, you might want to think about making sure the compressor is mounted to the engine before dropping it in. They can be nasty to install.

thefallman

i hears ya. if i had the money i would have done it that way but no such luck

as far as the ac i mounted mine first before droping in the truck. swaped the piece of the side of the compressor that the hoses mount to with the one from my 3.0 compressor thereby avoiding having to make custom hoses.

breknraj

Thanks for the heads ups on the A/C, folks!

I had business matters to tend to today, so I only got a little bit done. Drained the oil and coolant, removed the fan and radiator, and labeled more of the engine harness. If I end up selling it, I figure that the labels might help someone else out.

As long as I can make some progress when I have the opportunity, I feel pretty good about it!

Elton

may i ask how much this costing you

breknraj

I'm into it for about $5K, right now (not counting the A/C - another $650, but that was already bought and paid for). I hope to recover some of the money by selling whatever else is useful on the Taco. One thing that I plan to do is to remove all of the manual tranny and clutch stuff, as well as the drive shafts to offer up a manual transmission conversion kit for late model 4Rs or Taco Doublecabs that didn't have the option of a manual.

I'm hoping to recover $1,500 or more from the various parts, but time will tell.

Not a cheap prospect, but I like the idea of the better engine, and I also like the fact that I'm re-cycling two dead trucks to make one good one, and minimizing the waste of the one that's left. I wouldn't have decided to do this, had my '90 not been in great shape (other than the engine, of course!)

As it stands, right now, I have plans to use the engine, wheels and e-locker out of the Taco. Other things that I'm contemplating are seeing if I can adapt the keyless entry to work on my truck, and maybe some interior upgrades, if I like what I see. So I think I'll be getting my money's worth out of the Taco! Of course, a lot of this depends one what's left that's good on the Taco, in the first place.

breknraj

I got nothing done on the truck, today....


Because the donor truck got delivered!!

I did a walk around, and things looked pretty good. I can definately use the wheels. Just a little cleaning and they be fine, although I'll have to find some center caps and 4 more lug nuts for them. The tires are just about done, though.

I couldn't get under the hood, as the roll over has folded the top edge of the driver's side fender over the top of the hood.

breknraj

So out came the BFH, a couple of big screwdrivers and a chisel, so that I could bend the fender and hood such that I could open them. There were no undamaged body panels (altough the tailgate is still in good shape, with just a couple of tiny dings), so it wasn't like I had to be careful about getting the hood open!

Bent the edge back - it reminded me of opening a can of spam with a key! Got the hood open, and found a VERY dusty engine. It had obviously been sitting at the salvage lot for quite some time. I hosed the worst of the dirt off the engine, and let it dry. I checked the fluids, and they all looked good.

After it dried, I removed the spark plugs (Lord, was that a lot easier than the 3.0!) Then I jumped it, since the battery was flatlined, and spun the engine on the starter. Everything sounded smooth, so I put the plus back in, double checked the fluids, and tried to start the beast. She fired on the second try, and sounded EXCELLENT!

I checked out everything I could, while I was letting the Taco get up to operating temps for the first time in who knows how long. Lights work, power steering is fine, although the pump seems slightly noisy, to me. Heat could bake you out, and the A/C blows very cold. The only thing that doesn't work is the Pioneer head unit, but it's obvious that a lot of gear was removed (looks like there was an amp under the driver's seat, and a sub in the back.)

I hadn't planned to, but I finally said to hell with it, and took it out for a short spin to the end of my road, and back. It was an interesting contortion to do it, since the driver's roof took the biggest hit in the rollover. All of the gears sounded good, both ranges of 4WD worked fine, and the E-locker seems to function properly.

Anyway, it seems that I have an ideal donor with which to bring my truck back to life!