ronmar

Ok, my wife wanted a 4Runner, so we found a pretty nice 91 manual with low miles and which had had a warranty engine swap. Did a little work on it, replaced timing belt and a few other odds and ends, then proceeded to destroy it's body in the driveway(rolled backwards down a steep bank and stopped by a tree). Repair estimates were more than we paid for it. I found a 94 in pretty good condition minus motor and trans for $400 so we got that. The new rig has a excellent body and has all the power options. it is however a automatic transmission version. My plan here is to document what exactly is involved in this swap as i progress along.

Step one, strip the donor vehicle. I am removing transmission, engine and Radiator, as well as the exhaust system. Along with the engine I am removing the engine wire harness back to the ECU and the IH1 and IH2 connectors. As best i can tell the IH1 and IH2 connections are where the auto or manual variants interface with the rest of the vehicle electronics. Since i have a cmplete donor vehicle, I am thinking this may be easier than graftng on the connections onto the automatic transmission harness.

More to follow...

meatmonkey

I've performed this swap twice, and it is pretty straightforward. The manual computer will plug into the automatic harness, thus keeping the O/D light on the dash from blinking from the missing speed sensors.

I found it simpler to solder the plugs for the reverse lights and the 4wd indicator light to the factory automatic harness than to swap the entire harness. I also soldered together the two large gauge wires on the range selector switch together so that there was no clutch interlock, enabling starting in gear. The rest of the wires I left alone without any repercussions.

The rear driveshaft on the standards is about an inch and a quarter longer. The auto one will work temporarily, but the slip develops slop very quickly.

If the two runners have different speedometer types (cable VS electronic) you will need to get the appropriate speedometer drive that goes into the transfer case as the auto one is different than the standard one.

Good luck.

ronmar

Great info, thanks. I have been pouring thru the schematics pretty hard. From what I have seen, the ECU and IH1 and IH2 connections are the main dividing point between an auto and manual vehicle. The two different drive trains use the same pins on the IH1 and 2 connectors for similar functions such as cruise control interface. so using the engine/trans harness I should be able to plug in these 5 connections right into the auto vehicle. Just like plugging the manual ECU into the auto harness works OK, as it just dosn't look for the auto trans wires.

IMO, it is way easier to remove the engine trans harness with the engine/trans from the donor vehicle. There are 5 connections at or right behind the ECU, then this harness end along with it's rubber firewall plug pulls up thru the firewall into the engine compartment. There are 4 connections at the VSV rack and the check connector disconnects from the fuse/relay box and the A/C copressor control. Then this whole harness lays across the top of the engine. The coil and AFM plugs get disconnected and this end of the harness gets layed back across the top of the engine. Disconnect the O2 sensor cable down by the trans and that is it. It took me about 10-15 minutes to do this. Disconnecting the harness from the 3VZ engine is a real pain as you need to remove the plenum to get to the right bank injector plugs. This also saves me the hassle of grafting the manual transmission switches onto the correct auto transmission wires.

I pretty much disassembled the dash to make the clutch/brake pedal bracket swap easier. again, not a difficult dissassembly on a 2nd generation. I have not decided if I am going to swap the dash harness, or just graft in the clutch and clutch start bypass wiring. I have the benefit of having a complete manual transmission donor vehicle, so i can pretty much use whatever i want from it. The new chassis has power everything though, so I would have to make sure the donor harness would interface correctly with the IB3 connection at the top of the drivers foot area power panel/fuse block. Because of all the additional wiring for the power windows, locks and mirrors, I am thinking it will be simpler in this case to just add the clutch wiring. I have a few more things to work on before I get to that decisionpoint though. I am working on the clutch pedal brackets tonight. More to follow.

ronmar

Took the engine and trans out of the donor vehicle. tonight the exhaust and the clutch master, slave and plumbing as well as the speedometer cable are on my to-do list.