Twisty

No worries....will be glad to help out with any info needed....Might as well just keep this thread going if you have any questions rather then PM but.....as I'm sure others might have the same questions.

91_4x4runner

I've finally got enough funds to begin buying stuff for my swap..... I want to attempt to keep my final swap cost under 3000 (4000au?)... As far as picking out an engine I've read that a front sump 1uz is favorable to rear or mid. Am I right? What should I look out for when I'm doing this swap? I plan on doing it in around 2-3 weeks so I need to collect parts first. The product I'd like to look for is:

1991 4Runner (3.0 V6) 4x4 5speed ------> 1991 4Runner (4.0 V8) 4x4 5speed

What are the most difficult things to do during the swap? I'm going to do a 2" body lift for engine clearance. I'm currently all stock in front. Thanks, Eric.

Twisty

Hey Eric,

Yep, with IFS, the front sump is the best to use. I'd say the other type sumps would get close to fouling on the diff, but they might also be do-able if nothing else is available.

Nothing was all that difficult really.....Fuel lines were a bit of a muck around to get other to the other side.....but that didn't work out too hard in the end. Originally I modified the throttle cable myself (shortened it), but I ended up getting a custom one made, which worked much better.

I'd recomend putting a seal kit (and new bearing) in the power steering pump. As they are very prone to leaking, and then the fluid drips onto the alternator and kills that.

You'll need to upgrade your cooling system.

Battery will also need relocating.

Thats all I can think of for know....and other q's just post up.

91_4x4runner

Is there a surefire way to find out wether its a front sump engine or not? I plan on buying it on ebay or something (where is the best place?). What should I source it with? Transmission, ECU, A/C, etc? I plan on using my current 5speed tranny (Probably need to rebuild it first).

Twisty

Not sure where is the best place for buying a engine over there. In Oz we just have heaps of importers that have these motors everywhere.....Maybe try the Lexus V8 forum for where to buy engines over your way.
http://lextreme.com/forums/

You won't need the auto trans, but will need the motor, with all accesories (Alternator, AC Pump, P/Steer). You'll need the loom and ecu, air flow meter, and igniters.

To bolt up your current 5 Spd, you'll either need to make an adapter plate yourself, or source a bellhousing kit from over here which will come with everything needed to bolt it up to your 5 speed and will be about $1300au. These are available from Dellow Automotive http://www.dellowauto.com.au/ which is what I'm running. Or Castemaine Rod Shop http://www.rodshop.com.au/

As for telling if its a front sump or not....they usally come in the Lexus Celsiours (LS400). On the ones in Oz, they have a Toyota Badge on the Plenum, and V8 QUAD CAM written on the spark plug cover. They also have a sump which is visually at the front of the engine.

91_4x4runner

I'm getting near purchasing an engine, but I have a slight issue. I plan on installing a York Compressor (belt driven) onto the engine I swap in, but I need to know if there's room to mount it or not. The compressor is somewhere between 6" wide x 6" long x 10" tall. If this won't work, I may end up going for a different engine. Thanks, Eric.

Cebby

With some bracketry, I think it would be possible to mount a York on the driverside, up high. You'd need a special pulley with a place for a belt for the York on one of your components. Ideally the idler would be perfect for this, but radiator clearance may be a problem.

I'm also looking at doing this - but was considering using my old 3VZE AC pump. The York is more robust and I am close to heading that direction instead of the Toy pump.

91_4x4runner

The issue with the 3.0 pump is that it doesn't have an internal oil reservoir whereas the York does (though you probably already knew this. I don't want to deal with having an oil inlet and then trying to use a filter to remove it (even though my system will still have an oil filter on the outlet). Basically, I want to leave less room for error using a proven system, and have more power for air tools. Here are the statistics for air output from http://www.jedi.com/obiwan/jeep/yorkair.html

Cebby

That's part of the reason I'm wavering on the Toy pump. There are many stories of the Toy pump seizing even with adequate oil - but there are as many stories of them working fine. The whole external oiling and other gyrations to make the Toy pump work make it not exactly ideal. The oiling config on the York makes it much more user/installer friendly. Are you getting a new York, or salvaging from a Volvo or Saab (can't remember which). There's at least two sizes also. The recent Toy AC pump OBA thread over on Pirate has pics of the two York sizes.

91_4x4runner

I found a York pump at my local pick-n-pull which also happened to be the highest output available from an 84 volvo; it also more desirable than the Ford Yorks which have an outlet that extends something like 3" above the actual unit. Just got to test it the other day (enguaged clutch and made sure it pumped air). Best 20 bucks I spent. Don't let pictures fool you though, these suckers are big and heavy.

Cebby

Yep the sizes are BIG and BIGGER...

91_4x4runner

Haha definitely. I'm pretty sure that there's no possible way of mounting it on my 3.slow without obstructing something vital, but I'll test it out anyways for other people's benefit.

SKNKWRX

Would this be a possible swap into any 3.0 truck? I have an 89 1st gen and want more power, nothing but a swap seems worth the money. I would also like to keep the truck all Toyota.

Twisty

Yeah mate, they fit in 1st gens just as nice....a mate put one in his IFS 1st gen without any dramas.

Pretty sure he has a buildup on the swap on www.lextreme.com

freddy 4runner

Nice Truck mate, very neat conversion, I hope mine will turn out that neat when I finally get around to it. I have Two questions, Firstly how long did the conversion take you to do? and secondly your engine mounts are they Dellow mounts or did you have to modify them yourself to lift the engine enough to clear your steering relay rod?

PS love the vid, the runner sounds awesome through the mud

DH6twinotter

Really nice rig! I've been thinking about this swap myself.

Did you have to do any welding? I don't have the ability or the equipment to weld (yet).

What radiator did you use?

Twisty

Thanks Freddy,

Conversion took me about 3 weeks to have it drivable....and small things got finished off, or made nater/better from there.

It was at the guys who mounted it workshop for two weeks (all they did was mount it all) Then it took me a week to do the wiring, and other fiddly stuff. I still worked my normal 40 hour week at work too, so would have taking less then a week if I didn't have to work.

Custom mounts were made to go from the block of the lexus, to the std, V6 engine mounts. No off the shelf mounts are available. These will need to be custom made. A lot of people just cut the V6 mounts off the chassis and make new chassis mounts to suit the lexus engine mounts. I dont like this for a reason that a mate just found out. He recently rolled his Lexus V8, coil SAS'd 4runner. It was damaged pretty bad and written off by his insurance. He bought it back off them, and has bought a mint 91 SR5 Limited 4Runner to swap it all into. He was hoping to do it all himself, but cant now, as he needs custom mounts made off the chassis again. If his mounts were done like mine, it would be a bolt in job.





I didn't do any welding since I'm no good at the bits I've done befrore, but as mentioned above, I got a local workshop to do the mounting for me. Custom engine mounts need to be made, and the gearbox cross member needs to be modified as the gearbox will move back just over 1"

I used a radiator out of a 3rd gen surf (supposely). Its pretty much the same as a 2nd gen V6 radiator, but a little thicker, 2.5" taller, and has bigger hoses. This does the job most of the time, but it does get hot when fully loaded in soft sand.

Heres a pic of the original V6 radiator beside what I'm running now.

2WDoffroadx

Probably the sickest thing ive ever seen.
thats so freakin tough, no joke. Awesome

mt_goat

Hey Twisty, how hot has it gotten? Have you got OBDII readouts on it or are you going by the stock temp gauge?

Twisty

Thanks mate

For the first year I had the lexus running I was just going off the factory gauge......and ended up blowing a headgasket from it. I was towing my zook (sami to you lot) out to the local 4x4 park and the thermo fan blew the fuse and I didn't know, the engine boiled with the factory gauge at about 3/4.

It was all fine, but then I did a trip to fraser island (worlds largest sand island) a phew months later where judging by what i know now, the truck would have been running hot on a lot of the inland tracks. Bout a month after getting back from fraser the head gasket blew.......It worked out cheaper to just get another engine then to fix it, so I picked up another motor for $800 amd sold the blown one for $400......compared to about a $1500 repair bill to fix it. This is the one thing I love about these motors, if something ever does go wrong internally (pretty rare) you can just swap another motor in way cheaper then fixing it, and still get good money for the old one.

But anyway, I know run a spitfire water temp gauge mounted in a custom pod on the a-pillar. Heres a pic.


When flogging it hard in soft sand, I'd pull over when it gets to 110 degress celius. But this is only when fully loaded, with a trailer on the back, and in soft sand....soon as you loose the load its fine.

This is how bad it was loaded up....trailer on the back, had 100l of water, 140l of fuel, 8 cartons of beer, all the camping gear and food for 10days, then lugging all that along a soft sand beach.


Edit: Oh, and I'm pretty sure the Lexus V8s don't have OBII.....