What's with this forum being so dead?

Anyway, a few months ago I purchased a 91 4Runner with a bad 3.slow for a thousand bucks. I figured that I would swap in another 3.0 and give it a paint job and call it good but plans change. I started looking around doing random searches for performance parts for the 3.0 and it turns out that there really aren't many. I started looking into getting a long block and then turbo charging it and I heard something along the lines of the engine not taking boost well. After that I started looking for engine swaps, I was originally going to do a 1uz, but I didn't want to do all that fab work, it looked like it would be an overwhelming project that would never get finished. Then i ran into the 3.4 swap on another site -bolts up, better fuel economy, more power, etc etc. So I found an engine/harness/computer out of a 96 taco 5 spd with 130k miles on ebay shipped for $750. Then I looked around for some missing parts -ac compressor, ps pump, AFM, igniter ...all that came to $225ish

I then got busy figuring out the wiring, I made charts labeling what pin on what connector did what, where it want, etc etc. I spliced, changed pins, re-soldered and finally had a mostly factory looking harness in about a week of off and on evenings.

After the wiring I took some time off the project, my family was coming out for their annual vacation and i had to clean the damn house (I deteste cleaning). Along with cleaning the house I had to decide whether or not I wanted to do the ORS route and get one of their crossover pipes or spend some money on a TIG (I've been TIGing for 50-100 hrs at the local community college). I went back and forth and talked myself into getting a 200A Parker AC/DC stick/TIG welder (these guys have had good reviews on Pirate) ...$1018 later it was sitting in my garage, broken courtesy of the UPS manhandlers. I called them and UPS up, they picked it back up, returned it to Parker, they fixed it and it was returned to me in a short period of time.

I took another month off, busy with other things ...girling, helping the grandparents out with things, fishing ...the other necessities.

This last week has been pretty eventful, I have ordered $300 in parts to service the 3.4 ...t-belt, water pump, pulleys, front and rear main seals, broken coolant elbow top center of engine, and a couple other odds and ends. I also spent about $300-350 on stainless tubing for the exhaust and a stainless magnaflow muffler. I quit my tile laying job that I've had for 2 years just today and I also spent more money haha ...$400 on a Southbend clutches/DXD racing clutches, it's a TZ stage 2 which is supposed to handle ~400 hp / ~425 tq (I have a stage 3 of theirs on my all-trac celica and am happy with it). So now I'm just playing the waiting game. I am building a welder cart for close to free while I have nothing better to do.

$1000 -4runner, bad paint, bad engine, 5 spd, no rust ( w00t w00t for UT/AZ)
$975 -3.4 and accessories
$1325 -welder, argon bottle, bottle filled, 4043 AL rod, 309L SS rod (lets you weld mild to SS or SS/SS), er70s-2 mild rod and some extra tungstens
$300 -service parts, 3.slow throwout
edit: $500 -all stainless exhaust materials (2" crossovers into 2.5" single, 1 o2 sensor)
$400 -clutch
$priceless -quitting a job I'm not getting anywhere in
edit: $200 -radiator hoses, belts, random parts
edit: $180 -diehard platinum battery
edit: $900 -set of 5 wheels and tires
edit: $85 -firestone ride-rite airbags
edit: $125 -bilstein rear shocks

total $5990ish truck and all, but it's really $4660ish total because the welder is a tool that will be used for MANY other things, and about half that for the actual engine swap, the whole truck needed a rebuild.

as far as parts go, I still need to get a primary o2 sensor and bung ($100ish), I will not be running a secondary or cat (no smog), and I will be using a radioshack o2 fooler for the secondary as some of you have used.

I'm sure some pics are sure to come now that I'm unemployed

 

subscribed. good luck with this build ryan!

 

I've been working on scavenging steel for the welding cart and throwing it together the past couple days. This is my first real fabricating project and am pretty pleased with how it turned out. It only cost me consumables for the TIG, electricity, and time. Everything else was in the scrap steel pile at my grandparents house besides the wheels, which were given to me by my other grandpa a couple years ago before he passed... anyway here's a couple pics. It still needs paint.

Now I can get to work on the 4runner.

 

dam sounds like you got it together, nice welding cart. keep us update and show some pics of that 1000 dollar runner....

 

nice man.. i hav e a lincoln 120v flux core.. im gonna start learning how to weld soon as i get a few more practice scrap peices!!!

i like your cart turned out pretty nice!

 

I think there are a few people with swaps in the works (*raises hand) so I think the forum will be picking up soon. After I get some student loans and finally source a good 3.4L I'll be able to contribute actual experiences.

I'm hoping to borrow the welder from school for a few small things like exhaust. Then I'll buy my own to make a flat bed in a year I expect.

 

yep, tax moneys paying for mine if all my info is correct on the swap.....

 

I've been waiting on parts and doing a little work on the engine swap:
-front/rear main seals, new water pump, idler/tensioner pulleys, timing belt
-relocated dipstick
-made crossover for exhaust
-swapped alternator to 91 spec, reused 5vz bracket but used 3vz tensioner system (pry bar)
-swapped oil pressure sender
-resistor mod for tach
-swapped motor mount brackets

here are some pics, it's getting closer, I still need to reseal the transmission and wait for the clutch, have the flywheel turned, bolt up some accessories, and it will just about be ready to swap in

edit: sorry for picture quality

 

Dumb question, but did you swap over the oil pan and pickup from the 3.0?

 

i did, i just overlooked it when i posted

 

I'm inerested in doing the same swap. Do you happen to know if my A340H auto trans will mate up to the 3.4?

 

Your answer just a couple posts down from mine

 

Just wanted to make sure you didn't drop the engine in and say "oops" when the pan didn't clear your diff.

Other than that, good luck with your swap. It's pretty easy, mechanically speaking.

 

I've been pretty busy with some other stuff so i haven't been posting. I actually got the 4runner started a couple of evenings ago, it sounds amazing with the magnaflow muffler (IMO of course). I've chained down the motor mount on the drivers side, made a cable for the cruise control so that I wouldn't have to relocate the cruise control motor, put together an intake, installed some Aisin manual hubs, got a sears diehard platinum battery (supposed to be better that optimas), got some new wheels and tires from a guy with an FJ Cruiser ($900), and re-installed the front diff and driveshaft. All i really have to do is tie up a few loose ends, wire in the AC amplifier, install some different seats, and I'll then I'll get to the crf450 and get it running.

I decided not to relocate the battery, i didn't see any real need to do it, so now the whole drivers side of the engine bay is empty (turbo eventually?)

 

then i cut the hood and made an exhaust as well, I made it go way up and over the axle because i have plans to do a long travel pre-runner style suspension eventually, and don't want to have to re-do the exhaust for that.

 

Whoa whoa whoa!!

Where did you get that extra long cruise control cable?

Damn, I need one for my swap!

 

it was off a 94 or 95 3.0 4runner with the electric style cruise control, the cruise actuator on those are apparently on the right (USDM passenger) side. The ends on it were wrong and the cable itself was just slightly too short, so I went to the bicycle shop and bought a 120" length of cable, cut off the ends, lubed it up and put it in the longer housing. I ended up drilling a hole through a bolt and welding the cable to it for the throttle body end. On the CC Actuator side i had to weld the cable housing to the conical metal body and basically did the same with this end (drill bolt, weld, grind, check, grind, check). It definitely wasn't bolt-on, but i didn't want to lengthen the CC wires and relocate the battery, so this was the solution

 

Nice job you answered two questions I've been batting around in one post. I've been thinking I might be able to leave the battery and use some bike shat for a CC cable like you on my T100. I'm thinking that the different windshield washer and fuse box arrangement may cause problems though.

Would you mind measuring from the TB to the farthest distance right in the transverse direction?

 

it's about 34" from the cruise control cable stay (bracket that gets pinched by the 2 nuts on the cable) to the far side of the engine bay on the cruise control side

The cable I made is about 57.5" long from the mounting surface on the CC actuator to the barrel connector.

the T100 halfshafts are 3.25" longer than a pickup/4runner, I'm going to assume that if the T100 CC actuator is mounted in the same spot, and your CC stay to side of engine compartment measurement is ~37-37.5" that my extended cable would fit without a problem.

 

I just ordered some firestone ride rite airbags from Summit for the rear ($85 shipped) to go inside the coil springs, and some HD bilstein shocks from autozone ($125 or so). I should be receiving those by wednesday or thursday and that should get me back up to stock height and have the ability to carry a little more weight depending on the pressure I add.

I was really close to doing the MOOG and gabriel hi-jackers, but napa couldn't find the part number for the MOOG springs, so I came home to do more research and decided to go this way. As it sits, the rear shocks are completely gone and the rear is sagging about an inch below the front, so i figure it can't hurt to do a little modifying.