559toyo

Hi I'm new to this whole Toyota scene.
I I'm wondering how much will the 3vze to the 5vz swap will cost me with it being able to be able to be smog in CA. I'm about to rebuild my 3vze so I wanted to see if it's wasn't way to much $$ from swapping it.

SacRunner

It depends, it can cost upwards of $5-6,000 if you go "all-out" or you could end up making money on the swap if you find a decent donor and part out what you don't need.

I know you don't want to hear it, but search around in here, read through some of the stickies (the threads at the top of each page), and some of the various swap threads floating around.

I'm in CA and did my swap back in 2012, I paid $1,200 for the motor, ECU, engine harness, dash harness (not completely needed but 100% nice to have), all the accessories (A/C, PS, alt, starter), all the EVAP components, intake, etc, etc, etc. From there I tore as much down as I could to clean the rust off the block, replacing gaskets as I went, plus did a full timing belt, tensioner, bearings, seals. I also did all my own wiring, and I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if I spent $3,500-4,000 overall (there was an extra $1,200 in there for a different junkyard motor, since the first one was shot, 2 bad head gaskets and both heads were cracked).

Before you get too far invested, call and speak with a SMOG Referee about what is required to pass SMOG for an "engine change" (in CA, you're changing the engine, if you were replacing with another 3.0 CA would consider that an "engine swap"); 1-800-622-7733, http://asktheref.org/ .

Good luck and definitely do some more reading, all your answers are written down, though they are scattered throughout this sub-forum.

69sixpackbee

And don't forget the $8.25 for this baby!
I just got mine this morning.
You can do it. If the swap is clean the ref wont even question anything. The guy who did mine said "I had a hard yime telling if this was an engine swap" I guess the message is that if you do your homework and surf many of the posts here you will be sucessful and will be able to keep some $$ in your pocket as well.
You can do it!

ayala68

where do you get that sticker I will need one for my swap or do they mail it to you after you pass ur appointment.

SacRunner

After you pass the SMOG Ref inspection, he'll print out and give you that sticker. He let me apply it wherever I wanted, but it had to be applied before I left (so that I didn't apply it to a different vehicle).

ayala68

Sweet wish me luck with mine I am looking for wiring on a 94 m/t 4x4. I have a donor 2000 auto 4x2 so I am still looking into everything the engine still seething on the 00 i will start unplug the 3.0 but nervous tho.

559toyo

Thanks guys but I'm going to hold off on the swap for now

PowerlineRunner

@ SacRunner Sorry in advance to bring up an old thread. I went to my CA Smog ref today and was failed on my visual for having the ORS crossover and not having the exhaust on the passenger side. It passed everything except that... The ref may have changed their requirements recently but i saw you you have the say crossover pipe and you passed. Which ref did you go to? Sacramento Area?

SacRunner

I had mine inspected April of 2013 at American River College, I had/have the TOS modified crossover. When I went through the process, they allowed the exhaust to be swapped from one side to the other (passenger to driver's side) as long as all of the OEM Toyota flanges were used (which the ORS crossover does not use; so there's no way it will pass an inspection), and all of the components (flanges, O2 sensors, cat(s)) were in the same relative locations (within 2-4" from what I remember) as the donor came from the factory.

I remember talking with a ref before I started my swap and he told me that they just allowed the positions/orientations of the exhaust to be modified after someone appealed a failed inspection; there was some mention about a VW bug with an exhaust system sticking 3ft out the back posing a safety hazard, but I'm a little fuzzy on the specifics.

Now, it seems that that decision has been reversed based on some of the threads I've seen in the last few years, so I'm lucky I got through when I did, but sucks for everyone else trying to do the same now.

Did the ref say anything about the manifold flanges or just the swapped crossover? I would hate to tell you to go buy the TOS crossover (really go find a 96-99? crossover at a junkyard and have TOS modify it) if they failed because of the driver's side swap, which the TOS would still fail.

PowerlineRunner

I only failed because my exhaust dropped on the driver side instead of passenger side. He said everything else looked good. i don't think the Passenger side exhaust will work with a manual transmission since the clutch fork/slave cylinder will be in the way.

SacRunner

Ouch.

Check out dntsdad's swap thread https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f160...ex-cab-196823/. This one's from 2010 and a lot of the pictures are missing (probably a photobucket issue), but he went through all kinds of ref troubles in Fresno and ended up swapping transmissions a few times to allow for a completely unmodified 97 4Runner exhaust to be installed for the ref (he also did some work swapping between A/T and M/T or vice versa, but I'm not as sure why). This might give you some ideas to try, or could end up as too frustrating without the pictures for reference, but at least its something.

Smaay

I took mine to Rio Hondo College in Whittier. My Ref didnt care that the exhaust went down the drivers side. All he cared about was how far down the O2 sensors were and the CAT.