Murph -- You hit the nail right on the head. A guy who can fix the 3vze can get some nice Toyota 4x4's on the cheap. Pickups tend to hold their value better than 4runners. I've got one of those and an early 4runner. I look forward to rounding out my collection with '94 - ''95 4runner, or maybe a '96 - '98. -- Matt

 

...I'm in WA, how do you get a hold of this guy?

 

http://seattle.craigslist.org/tac/pts/1782246765.html

I can't find the other listing with the 3.4 info but here is the guy I found that does the swaps out in Gig Harbor, sells 3vz's too

 

I will probably be calling him first when I finally start the swap, I would have him do it for that price but I want to do the work, just need all the parts and I'll figure out the rest.

 

Well almost a year later I have myself a 3VZE motor to rebuild for my '93 p/u. The price was right and it was local! I paid $zero, nothing, nada for an entire '88 4runner. I just had to haul it away. It's a rusty basket-case and it has a bad head gasket and 175k miles. It also had no wheels; it was up on blocks. I was able to bring wheels with me. I attached my custom made Toyota Mini towbar and away we went.

I'm hoping that with a head gasket job, some work to freshen up the heads, some bearings and a new oil pump I'll have something that will run well enough to get by for a couple of years.

The '88 donor has a manual transmission. It will provide all the parts I need to convert my '89 4runner from automatic to manual as well. So this free donor is really gonna be put to good use.

It never hurts to have an extra 4 pinion differential either. -- Matt

 

If you guys are trying to get rid of yalls, would yall mind sending me an engine wiring harness?

Or if anyone in texas is near the Houston area i will gladly pick yours up.