icebear

Well, I'm the origional owner of this 94 4runner...bought it brand spankin new in Oct of 94. Since then, it has survived me, my wife, and my son and daughter....it was both thier first cars. So, as you can imagine, it has been well used...and in my sons case abused.

Three days ago my son told me that the truck had died and asked me if I wanted it back. At first I said rest in piece....then something clicked. I can't just let it die, I HAVE to rebuild it. So, I towed it back to my father in laws salvage yard and thier it sits.







Thought about the 3.4 swap, but after looking into the time and the cost.....I decided to rebuild the 3.slow. Before everyone says "what a dumby"...understand that i dont have the time or the funds now to do a swap. However, I do have a junkyard at my disposal.... even though their aren't any 4runners or tacos in the yard....other than this one..







but it has this under the hood....



and this needs alot of work.

I also noticed that most of the build treads were swaps...So I'm gonna do this for anyone that has no option but to rebuild and I'm gonna do it for as cheap as possible.

I'll keep a running tally of what everything costs and how long it takes me.

icebear

So today I started tearing into this thing. First, I made sure I had most of the tools I needed, tape and a sharpie, my trusty camera and some bags to put the nuts and bolts in.
I should let you know that I am a body guy. I've been doing it for 28 years.....so I have some tools and I'm mechanicly inclined. That being said, I've never rebuilt a Toyota...plenty of fords and chevys, but never an import. So, this will be a learning situation for me too.

Pulled the hood, for better access and light...since I'm doing this out doors.



Then took as many reference pics as possible. The disapionting thing about these pics, is that my some has butchered it over the past 3 years...

Here's some shots....

















and after alot of tagging and bagging....



I stopped at this....



[IMG]
http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/y...d/DSCN0399.jpg[/IMG]







I do have my first question....right next to the pvc hose, I found a line that loops right back into the same fitting. Does anyone know where this is suppose to go?





Tomorrow I pull the plenium, the exhaust, the steering pump and undo the tranny at the bell house.

icebear

well, I spent about 5 hrs yesterday trying to fiquire out what to do with the motor after it was out. I thought about a rebuild kit and machine work, but that came to about $1000. Then, I fiquired if I was gonna spend that much, then I might as well buy a short block. The local rebuild shop has one for $1500. That's .30 over and a steel crank...... So, I thought that that would be my best bet.
I know I said I was gonna do it for as cheap as possible.... I took the money out of the bank and head on over to the shop. When I got there, in my inlaws flatbed, the machinist asked if the flatbed was mine. Long story short, If I was willing to haul his sisters Excursion 50 miles west, he would trade me a motor that they had rebuilt about 35,000 miles ago......Told me the owner blew the heads (cause he lost the lower hose) and had traded the entire 4runner for a rebuilt chevy. I could have the truck, but it had been well parted out....except that the motor was still in it!!!!!

So, what would you do.

here's some pics of the motor...






Anyone know how to decode these numbers? they're 9202384....

And when I got there, I found these!!!!



Aisian Hubs...in need of rebuild, I think....

Anyway the motor in my truck is ready to be pulled...







Ordered a complete gasket kit with new head bolts today. So here's the tally..
Short block..$0
Gasket set W/ head bolts...$95.54

I have decided to make this an all around truck...comfortable on the street and cabable for off road.
Thinking about an OME lift, and a 2" body lift....still haven't made up my mind, but open to suggestions..

HighLux

Well.. youre headed down a long and winding road my freind.
But....there are good footsteps to follow here.

I admire your bond to your Toyota.

I bet you could do the 3.4 swap easy with your skills.

Longblocks are not alot more than the shortblock you were looking at...
plus a warranty...

icebear

Your right about the long block, and the swap. But, I really don't have the cash for the swap and want to save what I do have for other goodies. IE: tires, rims, lifts, ETC.
Besides, after 280,000 miles, and a ton of abuse, my 3.0 lasted and performed well. I don't need a hotrod, I've got 2 57 chevys, a 70 chevelle, a 2005 mustang cobra, and a 79 caddy. I love the reliability the 3.0 gave me, and for wheelin' it's just fine. Remember, doin' this for as little as possible. Hunting parts for sale and swap meets. Would like to show that you can build a nice truck with little money and lots of deals. It may take longer, but it'll make it that much more fun!!!!!
Stick around and I'll show ya it's possible..... Even on price inflated, over taxed Long Island.
Gonna prep and powder coat some of the parts off the motor this weekend. Think I'm gonna go with electric blue intake and plenum, leave the heads and throttle body aluminum, and repaint the block black... Any thoughts?
Oh, and since I'm keeping a cost tally, I'm gonna include what it would cost for the paint and powder.(even though that's what I do for a livin, and it won't cost me anything)

icebear

Alot has been done this week, the old motors been broken down.....









And the parts have found their way to my shop. I decided to go with electric blue, black, and silver. Tell me what you think.....

Here's the prep.....



Got my son in on the fun too...you should see him paint. The only 11 yr old I know that can paint a car..(proud Papa)





Here's his hard work..



And this was the out come.....







































Need to clean the engine bay, and have started to prep the new block for paint. Should be ready to build up the motor this week.
*****Found that my knock sensor was broken..never threw a code, then again my son blew a rod...so now I have to replace the sensor and really dont want to spend the cash. If you can help, Pls PM me*********

icebear

Ran into a snag...... I have a 88-92 knock sensor from the other motor, the one out of my 94 was broken. I need a knock, and was wondering if i use the one from the 88-92, and just replace the connection at my wiring harness, will it work?

Need a guru!!! LOL

icebear

well it's been an interesting couple of weeks. I had the knock problem (still not fixed), a head gasket issue (fixed), and other little problems.
On the good side, it's in the truck....just not buttoned up.

The knock sensor from my original motor was cracked and not working. The one that was in the replacement was for an 88-91. The pigtails are different and don't match the 94's wiring harness. I tested the older one and it worked fine....so I decided to use the 88-91 and bought a pigtail for that. Then I ordered a replacement connector to replace on the engine harness...$9.48 for the pigtail and $6.98 for the connector. Perfect right, wrong.....the dealership has ordered the wrong connector twice now and all three times it has to come from Cali!!! So, still waiting for that.

While prepping the low miles block i got on a deal, I noticed it had a lot of broken bolts still in the block including head bolts.. so while cleaning it up, I found a cracked piston...so much for a deal!!!! So ordered a rebuild kit from rockauto.com and sent the block out to be machined.

Then, I ordered a gasket set from Ebay, and found out how $h!tty that can be. When I started to put the heads on I couldn't get them to fit. Then I realized they were upside down!!! I mean the graphite part was on the wrong side of the gasket. Then, I did some searching on here and found out it happened to someone else on here. So, I went to the dealership and got them from them. That was before the connector issue......

Well, I said I'd keep a tally of the costs and here it goes:

So far
Short block..$0
WRONG: $598 for rebuild kit
$150 for machine work
Gasket set W/ head bolts...$95.54
WRONG: $68 for head gaskets
Knock pigtail..$9.48
Connector for knock on harness..$6.98
20 LBS of electric blue powder..$32
5 LBS of black powder..$8
5 LBS of silver powder..$11

Grand total of $979
Still not too bad, considering the customization.....

Anyway some pics....







Also, I'm going to do the EGR and PAIR mod and remove them....

icebear

So the motor is back in the truck and everything was going good....less than 200 miles on the motor and the head gaskets went. Got water in the oil....AND if that wasn't enough, i had a electrical fire behind the gauges. Now the power windows dont work.......

So, what to do now. put alot into this, and now essentially have to rebuild the top end again and have to figuire out why the window harness burnt. Not to mention find what else it affected.

The gauges started to act crazy, not working then jumping around, and finally started to smoke.

Maybe I should just let the old girl go.........part her out and buy a 3rd gen..

Any suggestions on any of this?

bushy84

cut your loses....... you have been givin the signs..

LifterCatcher

If it was me I would not let it go. Why did the new headgaskets go? Bad machine work? Assembly work?

icebear

@bushy....dont know if i can do that.......

@Life... Im leaning towards keepin it. I think it was the head gaskets I bought. The heads were milled the block was decked and pressure checked.....BUT then again, nobody is perfect. I've rebuilt 30 or more motors in my life, but never a yota.
I torqued to 33 FtLb, and then did the 90' degree and 90 degree thing....so If I did mess it up, I dont know where. I took great care in making sure the gaskets were lined up...so....

Anyway, think I'll buy the Rockauto kit this time around...last time it was an ebay deal with no good gaskets and I replaced it with the felpro head kit.

Should be a breeze this time around, fiquire Ill get it done this weekend.
we'll see.....

bushy84

you do get a dud gasket every now and again or like what happen to a mate they sent him the "corret" gasket for his mini when he put it on i said it dont look rite filled it up with water and started it and water pissed out everywhere so pulled it apart and looked and 2 of the holes for rhe water channels were in the wrong spot.... so s**t happens..

space-junk

iTrader: (1)

im sorry to hear the gaskets blew... thats craptastic... honestly tho, i admire you for sticking with her... even with the "crappy" 3.0...

i never had a problem with mine... but then again, i took care of it and it got me 8K shy of 300K miles...

anyways, thats a nice looking motor... you do some great work...
what are your plans for it after getting the motor done?

icebear

@Bushy...Yeah, it's happened to me before with my chevelle, especially when you get them from eBay

@Space...Thanks for the compliment, and even though I said "crappy", I really do like the 3.0 for torque and reliability. Even though it wasn't too reliable this time . I really do think it was the gaskets, and will find out as soon as the wife allows me to spend some more cash for the gasket kit. LOL...probably next week.

As far as plans for it, I want to do a 2" suspension and a 2" body lift, with a diff drop and upgrade the pumpkins to 4.29's or so with 32's on some after market rims. I'm also thinking about transplanting the interior from a 97, and before it's asked, No there isn't a motor or tranny in the truck. Otherwise this would be titled "another 3.4 swap".

As far as the body, probably going to keep it factory color, unless a wild hair appears....been known to happen. Told my wife I wanted a capable truck....but that could mean anything. Just depends how long I want to sleep in the dogs house. She's good about my tinkering, however, it's hard to justify with all the toys I already have. This would be the first toy truck though.

Here's some pics of the toys.....

My 57




My Camaro








My Chevy






My Chevelle



My 56



Cant find the other pics....I'll look. Still have a 2005 mustang, 79 malibu w/ 383 stroker, 57 chevy ratrod, 68 firebird w/ a ZR drive train and suspension, and a 79 caddy....

Can you see why I have to beg a little......

icebear

pulled the bottom end off the motor today......spun bearings and a scarred crank......dont know why this happened. I've built plenty of motors before and this is a first.

Think the runner is ready to sit for a while til i either find a replacement motor or I can come across a good deal on a 3.4 for a swap. Maybe after the winter...when things warm up.

Oh well....can win them all.