kaiberg

i realize that most mechanics will tell you that there isnt much you can do to help the performance of a stock 3.0 v6...besides swapping it out...without going that drastic...what have you guys found that actually works to get a little more power from this engine...

Waterboy

Driving one of these in stock form is like driving a tank. I went from a fast Accord to one of these and just about returned it. So far I have put a flowmaster 40 with 2.5" pipe cat back and a K&N FIPK. Now the truck can get out of it's own way but I'm looking to put on some headers. So far I have only found two companies that make them for this engine, Downey and Northwest Off-Road. From what I hear the stock exhaust manifold on the trucks is one of the most restrictive designs ever made. I still get the serge of power around 3K and I've read that the headers are suppose to bring that power down to more driveable RPM's. 3 to 5K isn't a big enough power band for me. Also I have been contemplating a chip at some point but I have been told that you should finish most of your major mods before since they calibrate the chip for the mods. And you only want to have to sent it in once.

4runner4ever

I build my own headers and used a K&N filter. And a larger exhaust, no cat and a free flow SS muffler.
That gave me a very noticeble improvement. I guess at least 15 hp. All other mods I performed had no noticable affect.
But it still was no powerhouse so I immediately performed a swap after (another) head gasket faillure.
And don't even try to port the heads. It's a job you cannot do yourself, this really needs to be done by an expert.
If you add up all the cost of the parts needed for tuning the 3VZE, you might reconsider an engine swap. It's not that pricy if you think that after my supra swap, my fuel economy was 20% better with 55hp more! That swap was cheaper than repairing my busted 3VZE also!

UKMyers

Intake and Exhaust are the two big ones. Other things you can do are an electric fan, manual hubs, and a slight timing tweak to 12 degrees instead of 10.

92runner

Do a search for some of the info. listed in the performance section of UK's signature. You can also find write-ups in the Tech forum.

rimpainter.com

"Chips" are a waste of money. Take a look at Gadgets site regarding the Jet Reprogrammed ECU.

The only vehicles that chip mods are good for are turbo'd (with boost regulated by the ECU), or vehicles that need the Rev Limiter removed (to go an MSD set up or similar) or speed limiter removal.

Total waste of money IMO.

kaiberg

how long ago did you do the swap...any negative side effects ?

Waterboy

I'm still pretty new to the forum so how do I find Gadgets site?

rimpainter.com

Its all good. www.gadgetonline.com

I garantee you will spend some good time on his site. Very informative.

Bumpin' Yota

I saw improvements when I installed a hiflow cat, replaced the fuel filter, and did the FIPK.

The FIPK had a strange effect. Normally the 3vze seems to make a LOT of torque the colder the air temp is. The converse was also true, if the air was 100-120 degrees the truck had literally NO power whatsoever. The FIPK changed that - slightly less power when cold (below 80 degree), but a WHOLE lot more power when very hot (100+). Helped gas milage just a touch too and improved top end speed by 3-4mph. All in all I'm happy with the FIPK except for the price.

If you have a 3rd gen dont do the FIPK, you loose hp...

Electric fans, 2.25" exhaust and headers supposedly work wonders as well as synthetic motor oil...



Gadget -

would putting in a different thermostat to keep the temp down + electric fans be an effective ECT mod?

Bubba Wilks

I just got mine, don't have exact figures, and it might sound too practical, but I did the following as a tune-up and it was like a brand new truck.

spark plugs / wires
oil change / oil filter
new fuel filter
new air filter
airbox mod (just took the cone guard off that sat in front of airbox)
throttle body cleaning
replace torn/worn vacuum hoses
new radiator / fluid (i recycled the factory one for $28)
complete engine degreasing (just for looks..)
and finally, save the best for last..,

SEAFOAM

I checked the engine after each tune-up 'element' and the Seafoam did the best treatment for me. I just poured 1/3 bottle into the crankcase for three nights in a row and saw a drastic difference. Of course, it probably was the combination of everything, but i'm partial to the seafoam. Also, I did the seafoam after the new spark plugs and checked them to see if it made them dirty or bad, they were still shiny.

Anyways, I agree that headers, and intake/exhaust manifold mods will do the best for you, 3.4 swap being better, and so on.. but to do it like I did on a budget, you should be okay..

I'd rather spend my money modding accessories, if my engine is running just fine. It ain't no speed machine and never will be..!

Good Luck,

CJM

FYI: A friend of mine has a 95 iirc with the magical 4.88 gears and 31's, that sucker was easily able to keep up with me in my 3.4L T100 and another friend in a 97 runner with the 3.4L. heck, he may have actually been faster than us on hwy driving!

904_runner

Mine with the 31's and 4.56's doesn't seem that bad to me. I know its not a speed machine, and i didn't buy it to drive fast. I did however bump my timing to 12 degrees instead of 10 and that seemed to help!

FredTJ

Where in the world did you come up with 15HP ?
15 HP where, at what RPM ?
What does 15HP feel like (note, you can't tell me because you don't feel HP, nor do you measure HP).

These days the notion of HP is becoming a little bit meaningless.



Fred

4runner4ever

That's easy.
Mine had 150 hp and a max speed of 160 km/h. Afterwards it did 175 km/h, so, bare with me on this, 160:150=1.0666 and 175:1.06666=164.06
164.06-150= 14.06 O crap, your right, I miscalculated.

But seriously, I had no means of measuring the hp, except maybe my calibrated ass, but me and my friends found that the 4R was faster in accelleration and top speed.
Most gains were at mid through high rpm's. And yes, most gains will be torque.

I do not know what you mean with "you can't feel hp". Feel free to come over and drive my 4R with the 2JZ swap. If you cannot feel that amount of hp gains you're most likely dead.

Roger

UKMyers

Wow a 5 year old thread and you still burned him ... sweet

infiltrator

Interesting advice about the K&N... I might try that next time I have to change the filter (have a while though..)

Lets hope I can get a 3.4 in there before it gets too old...