loki993

I'm thinking abut looking at an 88 Toyota pickup, it seems like its in decent shape, but it has a blown motor. I think I can get it for a decent price, I think the guys asking 850, I would hopefully like to get him down to at least 500, how low do you think I could get him? After that I would have to source a motor for it. How much do you think it would cost to do all of this? I would imagine the job wouldn't be very difficult if the same motor as originally came in it was put back. I have a decent amount of mechanical skill. A friend and I would be doing the job, who is probally a little more skilled than I am. He also has a welder and a few other goodies so any fabrication we may have to do probably wouldn't be much of a problem.

Another possible, but unlikely option would be If I could somehow find a newer 3.4 or even a newer 4 cylinder and swap that in. I'm sure it would cost a bit more, but would it be significant? how much modification would have to be done to get that motor in?

Basically I need something cheap and reliable, I am on a serious budget. So If I were to get this pickup id like have to get it running for the least amount of money possible. That said I wouldn't mind getting more power for it if the extra cost wasn't significant, although swapping motors never seems the be a cheap proposition. Also if I were to go forward with it, I would like to have it running in a weekend or 2. I have something to drive now, but its not mine and I need a vehicle of my own, plus my friend doesn't need it sitting in his garage for that long either.

highonpottery

iTrader: (1)

vehicle prices can vary greatly depending on the condition of the vehicle, what's included in the sale, location, etc. since we don't know anything like that, it's hard to say whether or not you're gonna get the guy down in price. most likely, probably not unless he's hurting for money and needs to sell it ASAP.

as for the engine, the cheapest way to get things done is to DIY instead of paying a shop. shops can range in their pricing depending on what they are doing, so call around to get an idea.

for least downtime, cheapest way would be to pick up a used, running engine and drop it in yourself at the risk of that engine failing from who knows what since you don't know the story behind it. next would be to rebuild yours (if it can be) but would have more down time and could be very beneficial to you in terms of learning your engine. then there's the good 'ole remanufactured short/longblock that could be purchased for $1-2k and dropped in yourself - pretty straightforward to do and you might even get a warranty on it if you're lucky. lastly would be to pay a shop to do it for anywhere from $1-5k depending on where you go and what they have to do.

good luck!

abecedarian

Being an 88, you have 2 basic engines- 22r/22re or 3vze. The 22r and 22re are basically the same engine and not any real pain to change one to the other, as long as you have an 85+ to install.
If the truck came v6 and you want to go 4 cyl, or vice-versa, that's a whole new ball of wax. Going from the 3.0 v6 to a 3.4 v6 is a little easier than going from the 22r/re to the v6. Similarly, going from either the 22r/22re or 3vze to a 2/3rz is going to be a challenge as well.

22repower

iTrader: (1)

had the same situation as you,
bought the truck for $900 and paid $400 for a complete junkyard motor (22re)
came out good for me

loki993

Well I found out a bit more, its a 4 cylinder so that's good. I don't know if its fuel injected or not.

If I did it I would be doing it myself, so no shops. I would also have to find a junkyard motor.

I'm not sure though, Ive been thinking and even though it doesn't seem too complicated, time would be of the essence and I think I may pass on this for now. I'm going to hold off until after I get me tax return and see whats out there after that. Ill have more money to deal with and I would have to scrape the bottom of the barrel so much looking for vehicles.

4banginRunner

If you have to ask how hard it is...you probaly shouldn't do it.

loki993

It was more wondering really how much it would cost, than how difficult the job would be.

I would imagine pulling a motor and replacing it with the same one should be pretty straightforward and I'm sure its something me and a friend could pull off.

abecedarian

changing an engine, like-for-like, as in your case being a the 4cyl 22r/re, it's mostly a drop and swap thing. the only issues you may encounter would be based on whether the donor and destination are EFI or carb'd, manual/automatic transmissions and 2wd/4wd considerations. overall, the engines are 99.9% the same with only subtle changes for the carb's fuel pump which bolts to the cylinder head- the EFI engine has a block-off plate installed there and 2wd / 4wd oil pans and sumps are different, but easily changed.

Cost wise- it's the cost of the engine. Changing the above mentioned block off plate takes about 5 minutes at most. Swap the intake and exhaust from one engine to the other and install... maybe, if you're using a junk-yard engine, you may have to swap a flex plate and flywheel around depending on the source and destination being auto and manual transmissions.

I put an 88 22r (with clutch and flywheel attached) in to my 91 22re (automatic) truck and it took me one day to get the engine out of the 91, with several beer breaks, and about the same time to change the 91's flex plate over to the 88 block and put it in with beer breaks and a challenged helper... and 2 days waiting for a new torque converter.