Riverboy

Does anybody know of a easier way to get more power from the 3.0. I have heard that a cat back system can give you slightly more. I just bought new bfg's and noticed I loose speed up long inclines now, anyway any thoughts?

4x4YOTA

iTrader: (2)

I did a K&N air filter an changed my fuel filter and I notice a change and Im getting ready to do my own custom cat back free flow cat with 2.5" exhaust...headers will also give you more power

nix4x4

Man, this topic has been beaten to death.
Try using the 'Search' function...

But, since you're new, I'll help you out.

The 3VZE engine is a dog... period. The best way
I've heard it described is
"Power of a 4 cylinder, gas mileage of a V8."
And its a very true statement. I have a 4.7 Tundra
that gets better fuel mileage than my 3.0.

BUT... If its a few extra ponies you seek, there's a few
things you can do.

1.) Exhaust. All the way back. This is by far the 3.0's
weakest link. Headers, custom down pipe, high-flow cat,
and a decent muffler, is quite expensive but will free up
some power and mpgs.

2.) Intake. Do a search on the ISR mod. It's cheap and
effective. Don't waste your money on a K&N FIPK system.

3.) Gears. Make sure you are geared properly for the
tire size you are running. This can't be stressed enough.

Aside from that, not a whole lot else can be done. Not
sure if you have an auto or 5-speed, but that also makes
a huge difference. The manual tranny makes the 3.0
alot quicker, albeit slow nonetheless.

Don't let the numerous threads about how bad the 3.0 is
get you down. They are reliable engines that will take you
far if you show em a little love and maintain them right.

Riverboy

Thanks for the info, I am looking at a Tundra down the road so I am not going to dump alot of $ into this. It is a 5speed daily driver. I just didn't really realize that running stock 31's but changing from wrangler at's to bfg at's would matter too much. I really like them- way better in the snow.

stormin94

i agree with this. Even though I have a K&N FIPK, and I did notice some extra power, and about 30-40 miles more per tank. The price of those things are outrageous, and there are easier ways to get 3 horsepower. Even though it's not a formula one race engine, I still love it, and it is very reliable, and cheap to operate and maintain.

Jay351

Don't expect to get any cheap/easy power gains from a 3.0 - to get any power you have to lay down some real cash.

Exhaust will help of course, but I would stick to a 2.25". 2.5" is just too big, you will lose some low end power (where its needed!).

ISR mod will help a little for throttle response, but don't get an "oil'd" airfilter - they have a tendency to mess up your VAFM and let more dirt into the engine.

Belize Off Road Team

buy/install a grand national turbo & intercooler

MonsterMaxx

There are NO easy ways to get more power from the 3.slow. You can throw lots and lots of money at it and get minimal or negative gains.

The motor just doesn't respond well to mods. It does respond very well to gearing changes.

Take it from someone who has polished this turd as far as it'll go and am still dissatisfied both with it's power and it's durability.

It has: K&N, ported & polished intake & heads, gasket matched, custom cams, oversize valves, NWOR headers & 2.5" exhaust, Jacobs Ign, ceramic coated combustion chambers piston tops, exhaust passages and exhaust. Plus more that I've probably forgotten about, but basically it's the entire air path has been heavily optimized.

For the money I've spent on the motor alone I could have done a LS1/Auto/Atlas conversion with SAS and high 9s.

I have succeeded in getting about 15% more peak power and have widened the powerband from 3k-4.5k (stock) to 3k-5.5k+ (pulls hard right to the rev limiter). I have spent a gawd awful amount of $ on this POS, had 3 of them blow up and still, a stock 3.4 would run circles around it and on a good day it gets 14mpg running down the highway at 75mph.

I am kicking myself over and over for ever putting one penny into this engine. I wish I'd done the 3.4, I wish I wish I wish.
Instead I have a very shiny 3.turd under the hood (not cosmetically shiny, internally shiny.)




My advise would be to keep it stock and every time you get the urge to dump money on the turd just put it in a savings account. Once you have $4k in there do the swap to 3.4, you'll be way happier in the long run.

Biggest boost in power I ever got was when I changed from 4.56 gearing to 4.88

mt_goat

X2, that's the best way.

4x4phil

I have a 3.0 to, I am planing on buying a set of headers, Then have a cutom exhaust done.

I got a k/n filter and that helped, Going to do the ISR mod. and when I rebuild I Will put in cams and open up the head some more

Albert.G

the best way to get any noticeable power is to swap something else in...these things are gutless..just throwing money down a endless hole with no results...yah yah im an as5hole i know

nix4x4

Yeah I got my Tundra back in December. It is a completely different animal. If I were you, I'd wait
until you got the Tundra to start modding your 4Runner.
You can then make a heck of a trail bug out of it and use
the Tundra as your DD. IMO, the 3.0 makes a nice trail
engine because its tourquey and a little sluggish so you
wont be constantly spinning tires.

Mr_Martinez1982

Agreeed... I recently did the HG's @ 150k... while it was apart, performance-wise I ported the heads and intake/plenum myself (it was just a lil gasket matching, nothing too outrageous) was already runnin the K&N FIPK (they are right its pricey, if you can find a used one cheap, go 4 it) got the DT headers, Jardine catback... feels allot better, sounds good, not a race car, but Im sure ill get another 200k out of it, atleast.
To me this was worth it, because I did all the labor.

Ganoid

Jacobs review with dyno numbers

the Jacobs ignition kit is a reasonable gain for not a lot of coin. Should improve mileage a little as well. I bought mine off Ebay for like $100.

An exhaust helps as well but don't expect miracles. I would not waste my time with an ISR mod IMHO its unless. I should be hitting the dyno this month and I will be interested in seeing what kind of numbers I can obtain.

MonsterMaxx

Hate to bust your bubble, but their claims are BS. I have the system.
If you compare a stock timed motor to a Jacobs w/ tons of advance you'll get results like they say, but the stock system can handle a ton of advance too.
Run that same dyno run but use the same advance for both tests and the results will be tiny (you can NOT feel it in the seat of the pants.)
I feel like it gets about .5mpg better mileage, but that's well within the margin of error for any mileage test so I couldn't even call that real either.

If you can pick one up cheep enough it's might be worth the coin, but be aware, they are NO longer made and NO longer supported or WARRANTIED. Jacobs is no more, they were sold and the new company is not standing behind it (I want to say it's Mr. Gasket, but I may be miss-remembering.)

keithdphan

CoedNaked

Synthetic fluids (drivetrain and crankcase), Exhaust, Headers, & Cams will give you a very satisfying power increase from the few that have done these modifications as a team. All of these modifications compliment each other so as a team they will make a significant improvement if done properly.

Ganoid

I plan to run my 3.0 on the dyno this month along with a 97 3.4 taco and a 97 SC'd 3.4 taco. I will make a pass "with" and one "without" the Jacobs ignition just to clear the air on the Ign debate. The 4x4wire dyno clearly shows the numbers and the numbers are what they are in that case. Those where numbers obtained by an end user not having anything to do with Jacobs. You can also read more results by other publications on V8 uses for this system who also have confirming data numbers. Its easy to argue a seat of the pants feeling but its hard to dispute hard numbers. FYI a hotter multiple spark ignition typically requires less timing advance to propagate the ignition sequence at the right time. It would stand to reason though that if the static timing was set the same for both runs that the Hotter Multi-spark ignition would get the ignition cycle completed sooner netting a similar result to advanced timing.

I guess anything is open for debate if some one believes strongly enough. Heck we have people on this forum that still think stock plug wires are superior to quality lower resistance after market wires.

MonsterMaxx

terrific, can't wait to see it

X-AWDriver

I think MonsterMaxx really said it all and he appears to have some bucks in his motor and is seeing maybe what? 25whp? And he did alot more than intake,headers and exhaust. Even that setup will run you over $1000 and you mights see 15whp at the most and I'm being generous.

I've been racing and around dynos for the last 15 years and I see what mods rsspond on the dyno and getting a bit morer airflow really doesn't show much when you are dealing with an underpowered small motor to begin with.

This goes for the 3.4 too and anything short of FI is really throwing alot of money away. I would just stick with an intake and exhaust and put your hard earned money elsewhere into the truck.


The only time ignition systems make a diff is when the stock system can't handle the power that the motor is making and that's usually a poor design of the OEM system and Toyota has fine ignition systems for almost all their vehicles.

Being around modded engines for over 20 years I saw alot of older cars benefit a little from replacing their outdated systems but with newer cars those aftermarket systems have gone to the wayside since OEM setups usually do the job fine with a lot of leeway.

Even a modded 600hp Supra doesn't need to worry about the OEM ignition system so a 150hp 3.0 won't be needing one either. Even on my Eclipse I was nearly doubling it's WHP and I never did anything concerning the ignition except colder plugs and better wires.

The 3.0 has been around for 20 years now and these threads are showing how little has been found to produce power in the 3.0 and if I had one I just stick with simple cheap mods.