Gotcha. We're on the same page now.

 

Now that I've done my swap, yeah the 3.4 is amazing (though I just replaced the valve cover gasket and it still leaks, which is extremely frustrating).
However, in my opinion the 3.0 did get a bad rap. Once the head gasket recall was performed it really was a solid, reliable engine. True, it never had a lot of power, and from what I have heard trying to upgrade it was almost pointless. But that being said, I ran around for 14 years with a 3.0 in my truck and it never left me stranded. I even towed a car full of everything I owned from OR to CO with just over 300K miles on it. I pulled it at 365K to do the 3.4 swap, still running (though down a cylinder at that point). It gets bashed up and down, left and right, but if it was taken care of it was undeniably reliable, and without it we would never have the 3.4 as we know it.

 

+1 for 3.4
Engine compartment on the 3.0 is sooo ticght, I would not want to work on that. On the other hand, I've seen a picture of 3.4 in a first-gen 4runner and it engine compartment looks roomier.

 

Can confirm. The 3.4 in my 93 PU left loads of room compared to the 3.0. When they were on the engine stand, the 3.4 was considerably narrower (accessories included) than the 3.0. Taller though, had to cut the hood.

 

I'm in So Cal, and there are tons of choices. A good deal is just a suitable price on a vehicle that fits the criteria you've chosen. I personally look for a straight body and frame, all the pieces there. Not crazy about mods, and definitely wouldn't pay a higher price because of them. But that's me. Crappy paint jobs scare me because they're usually hiding even worse body repair. If I see rust I walk.
The one thing I see a lot of on CL, and I would avoid, is salvage titles. Sometimes there are isolated cases where they're worth considering, but that's rare. And from what I've seen those trying to sell salvaged vehicles are asking way too much. The general wisdom in the industry is a salvage vehicle typically is worth 50% of a similar vehicle that has a clean title.

 

I was looking at an 01 Taco yesterday. 150k miles, they wanted around 12k for it. That seems to be the price for a really nice one around here.
Another quick test I look for is the seats. This one had immaculate seats, no tear in the upholstery. There are common problems like that which help to estimate value, or offer possible negotiating points.

Recent paint jobs are a major red flag to me.

 

Yeah, I look at interior condition, too, when buying used. FWIW, I had put the Toyota TRD seat covers on my 2005 Tacoma, and when I sold the vehicle in 2017 I took the covers off and the seats looked brand new. A worthwhile investment.

 

Why?

All "salvage title" means is someone had collision coverage, and an insurance company decided that the full-price cost of repairing it "like new" is more than the replacement value. Which means on your '91 Tacoma, er, Pickup, that's a scratch down the side that hits three panels. Of course, you want to know why it was salvaged (three-panel scratch is fine, sat under water for a week is not). What I see occasionally in the Bay Area is before-and-after pictures. A late-model Prius that just gets the front clip ripped off will get totaled, but a professional body-man with some free time can fix it really well and sell it to you for a very good deal. You've got to trust your seller, but that's the case with a "clean" title, too. Nobody else will give you before-after pictures of repair work.

Salvage titles are especially meaningless for older vehicles (as much as it pains me to say it, a '91 is an older vehicle). It makes no economic sense to carry collision coverage on a vehicle older than 3-4 years (I don't even carry comprehensive). So someone who gets in a wreck that really bends the frame will get his cousin Jake to help work it out with a sledge hammer. Then sell it real quick. No insurance company, so no salvage title. You can run a title check until the fox comes home, and nothing will show up. You avoided a salvage title, and got a genuine lemon.

Hmmm. Where do you get this "general wisdom"? Generally, people don't continually ask for more than a buyer will pay (otherwise they're not selling anything). If buyers are willing to pay 60% or 90% or 100%, then that is the general wisdom. What is true is that there are a lot of people with a knee-jerk fear of salvage titles. So that perfectly repaired late-model Prius won't command as much as it really is worth, and you could get a helluva deal.

 

Let me rephrase that. The general consensus within the automotive retail industry is vehicles carrying salvage titles usually take a significant hit on retail price. Granted, on vehicles 20-30 years old those prices may start to merge as they approach the lower limits.

But having seen numerous vehicles with salvage titles I find the number of unit’s that we’re repaired professionally by individuals doing side jobs are rare. And even then, they still have to compromise to make the project financial feasible.
if you have two fairly identical 2005 Tacomas, both asking $10k, and one had a clean title and the other is a salvage I don’t really think there’s much to ponder. Now, if the salvage is asking $5k-$6k you can start scrutinizing to see if it’s worth consideration.

 

From my understanding, what you need to do to register a salvage vehicle title differs state to state. Some states wont let you register it until youve proven youve fixed the problems and then you re-title it as rebuilt.

 

In California, other than the smog cert, I think you only need a brakes and lights Inspection certification. But once the title is branded “salvage” by DMV that will never be removed.