When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
My name is Adam, nice to meet you. I bought my 1985 4Runner 2 years ago. I am the 4th owner. The second owner had swapped a 2LT motor into it many years ago, and I fell in love with the feeling of a little 4 cylinder turbo diesel, and putt-putting around all that my state of California has to offer. He also managed to get the title re-ref'd to a smog exempt pre 97 diesel title which means I am free to do some stuff which would otherwise be pretty difficult in CA. If you live here, you know. In the first year I had it I put about 5000 miles on it of just trips.My first big off road adventure was Poker Flat, since I love riding Downieville. I've used this truck to go to the Carson River hot springs, Strawberry Pass, 10 days in Death Valley, road triping to LA, Up to Usal and back and forth from my home in Oakland to a bunch of mountain bike races across the state. I spent many nights happily camped in the back.
While I had hoped to get a few years out of the 2LT before doing anything major, after the last Death Valley trip during the Christmas holiday in 2020, the little ct20 turbo blew. I got the turbo rebuilt, and then the engine started leaking oil from strange places and I realized the truck needed a real comprehensive overhaul. I looked in to keeping the 2LT and rebuilding it, but factoring in the low availability of parts, and the obscurity of the motor, and that even on a good day it made 90hp, I decided it wasn't worth keeping.
I wanted to keep the spirt of the vehicle as I got it, and so through research I found out about the Cummins R2.8 crate motor, and it appealed to me as it was basically the same idea as a 2LT, just brand new and with 35 years of technological progress. The idea of approximately doubling the HP and torque was obviously appealing, and that it would probably improve fuel economy and run cleaner is a nice bonus as well.
My long term plan for the vehicle is to have something I can use for long road trips on back roads, and some moderate/dificult crawling (ie Rubicon capable). I turn 40 next year and have dreams of driving up to Vancouver taking some the long way to get there, big desert trips, some epic loops around the Sierras and into Nevada. That sort of thing. I've done big 2 week trips out around the south west in the past with friends and would love to have my own rig to join in on the fun.
Throughout the process of doing this I've reached out to and contacted some really amazing folks in the west coast crawling scene and I'm happy to have been able to have a few of them participate in this project in one form or another. As a life long California kid I've seen Toyota crawlers around for ages but this is my first build and it's been quite a learning curve but very enjoyable.
While researching r2.8 swaps, I was only able to find mention of one other 1st gen 4runner that had the swap done. it was mentioned briefly on a cummins repower tour video, but there was no technical detail on the build. All I knew was that it was possible. I did find the 85 Xtracab by TAV in New Mexico (https://www.motortrend.com/features/...-diesel-mcfly/) so I knew that it would at least fit in the engine bay and had a little bit of an idea about what it would take. That was helpful.
When the 2LT first went down I did some research to shops in my area that could deal with diesel toyotas, which honestly shrinks down the pool pretty fast. First I called Larry at Yodaman. He said he didn't work on the diesel toyota motors but he told me about Georg and Valley Hybrids in Stockton and Mudrak, which was super helpful. George wasnt interested in rebuilding the 2LT, and he didn't seem super keen on working on a 4runner since land cruisers are more his thing. However, he put me in contact with Marlin (like the person, not the company) and I called Marlin up. Marlin is the best, like straight up. I love that guy. We talked for nearly an hour on the phone, and it was incredibly informative. He brought up the r2.8 as an option when I told him what I was working with, and pointed me towards Jeremiah and Proffit's Resurrections Cruisers in Colorado. So I called Jeremiah and he was super helpful again (a theme! I love the folks in the toyota 4x4 community). He's way in the r2.8 and has done some fantastic Cruisers with them. I came very close to shipping my 4runner across state lines to do this swap. Then one day I was watching Pikes Peak race coverage and I saw Scott Birdsall from Chuckles Garage in Santa Rosa with his Cummins powered Ford truck that set the diesel record on Pikes Peak. I said to myself "oh wow theres this bad ass diesel guy 90 minutes from me, I should call him" and I did. I told him about my truck, I told him about the 2lt. He didn't want to rebuild the 2lt, so I asked him "if you could shove anything in a 85 4runner, what would it be" and he brought up the R2.8. I asked if that was something his shop would be in to doing and he said yes, and mentioned that he loves Toyota and he had some employees who were huge 1st gen 4runner fans, and after sleeping on it for a night, I knew that was the move. I called him up a second time, we talked for a while about who would be responsible for sourcing stuff and planning what and it was on.
I ordered the r2.8 from QuickDraw Brand. It took about 6 months to get the engine from when I placed the order (yay pandemic!), but I think lead times are much shorter now. I was very happy working with QuickDraw through the craziness that was the pandemic, Chad and Kerrie were great communicators and despite the hellacious wait, I knew I was in good hands. Quickdraw makes lots of bellhousing adaptors for the r2.8, including one that works with r150/151s. When I was researching I had called Advanced Adaptors since they had been involved in the TAV build, and they said the TAV build had problems with the w56 being able to hold up to the r2.8. I decided I wanted to use an r151f if I could find one, or a r150 if I couldn't. I called Marlin back up to see if he had anything, and he happened to be sitting on one nice r151f so I bought it from him, and he brought it to Marlin Crawler the company and they rebuilt it. I got a short shift kit too. QuickDraw also provided mounting brackets for AC (hell yea), as well as some motor mounts.
Transfer case I am having Larry from Yodaman put something together with 2.28/4.7 and triple sticks using Marlin gears. Coincidentally Larry is just around the corner from Scott/Chuckles. Very convenient.
Anyway, after a year of researching, planning, and waiting, the 2LT came out yesterday.
If there's no major surprises i'm hoping to be driving it again in 2-3 months. Our goal is to build the reference that other people who want to do this will look to.
If you have any questions feel free to post them up here, Ill be updating it as the swap progresses. Stay tuned.
Swung by Chuckles to say hi today.
They got the bellhousing and clutch on the engine, got the old motor mounts off and cleaned up the engine bay a bit. Bellhousing is from Quickdraw Brand, came together nicely Progress has been a little slow since they've had some staff out, but no worries.
The OEM steering is going to get in the way so we'll have to do a high steer conversion. I kind of expected that. I'd planned on doing that eventually anyway, but I guess we're doing it now.
Snapped some pictures of Yodaman's rig when I stopped by his shop because I could and it was fun to check out. He said the transfer cases should be ready in about 2 weeks.
Last edited by 2ltrunner; Jan 12, 2022 at 03:37 PM.
Me too. I think most of Cummins pandemic related supply issues have been sorted by this point so I'm not super concerned. I spent plenty of time tracking down dumb small parts for the 2LT from across the globe while it was running, so I think I'll be able to handle whatever issues come up.
We're doing AC, pretty excited to have that working. While my 4runner was originally an AC equipped vehicle, it has never been functional in my time of ownership. I picked up a denso condenser that will go back in the OEM Toyota location. The compressor mounted up with a kit from Quickdraw.
And the downpipe was fitted.
Last edited by 2ltrunner; Jan 14, 2022 at 01:23 PM.
Just picked up some V6 Calipers, an fj80 Master Cylinder, and a dual diaphragm booster so I have stopping power to match the new motor. Tcase build should be done next week sometime.
Last edited by 2ltrunner; Mar 14, 2022 at 06:50 AM.
Not too much of an update for now (everyone is busy scrambling to get ready for KOH), but this week:
Dropped off all the brake stuff
Larry @ Yodaman finished my dual cases. yay! They're at the shop now, and bolted up to the R151. Super excited.
Ordered RA Designs triple sticks
Scott and crew did another test fit, and discovered that there are axle/suspension interference issues regarding the oil pan. I currently have an OME 2.5" lift. As it sits, the suspension has about 6" of distance from the axle bump stops to the frame. The distance from the axle to the oil pan is about 4". Nobody likes body lifts, so we're gonna cut and raise the transmission tunnel 2" so we can lift the engine up the appropriate height and the axle won't hit the pan.
Shoehorning indeed.
If there's anyone in NorCal who has 5x 33x10.5x15 tires (MT or AT, BFG or Toyo Preferred) I'm looking. Currently on 31s with the original wheels. 33's with my stock 4.10s will put me at 2275rpm at 65mph which seems like a nice place to be.
Last edited by 2ltrunner; Jan 28, 2022 at 04:47 PM.
Another test fit, and a pic showing how the bell housing and the trans tunnel both want to occupy the same space. If the transmission is placed as high as possible without modification, the oil pan is in the danger zone from the front axle under compression. I dont want to do a body lift, and I like the idea of good belly clearance while keeping the COG as low as possible. the plan is to cut and raise the transmission tunnel about 2 inches to make room.
Last edited by 2ltrunner; Feb 19, 2022 at 07:53 AM.
Woah, stumbled across your Instagram page the other day, and today was researching R2.8 1st gen 4Runner swaps here and thought that truck looks awfully familiar! I'll be following on both platforms, keen to see how it comes out I want to do the same only on my IFS 1st gen. Keep up the updates!
trans tunnel cut, and look at that hotness.
don't know what you dream about, but for me it looks a little something like this. big ups to marlin, yodaman, RA designs, and of course chuckles for this.
cooling system installation begins. CSF radiator is situated, more to come.
Last edited by 2ltrunner; Mar 5, 2022 at 06:24 AM.
went up to santa rosa to visit and check up on things.
a little shot of the engine mounts for the curious
Was very amused to see my 4runner next to the car Scott will be racing at Pikes Peak in a few months.
very happy with the transmission/tcases, and the mount by front range off road. Way more clearance than stock
as a little kid in skeleton face paint once said... "i like turtles."
They transmission tunnel is back together, and Bobby managed to get a stock shaped bezel to fit with the triple sticks. The bezel is a fiberglass repro from a guy on ig @toyoda4ever. The little black box covers the shift rods from the RAD sticks. I have the original console that I am planning on putting back in, itll need some slight trimming (update: fit without trimming!) but everything should have an OEMish look when it's done.
Last edited by 2ltrunner; Mar 20, 2022 at 06:36 AM.
AC and starting to come together. the original powersteering "cooler" (i love that toyota designed it that way, so funny. just a tube running out front) will be replaced with an actual cooler infront of the AC. Still figuring out where the intercooler will go, current leading contender is to remove my dual battery set up, go back to just one, and put a water to air cooler on the driver side. The marlin high steer is starting to come together. Going to use a sky's offroad flat pitman arm to help with fitting it all in there. It's going to be tight since I only have a small lift. ECU is mounted on the drivers side fender, and the new dual diaphrahm booster and FJ80 master is installed. Happy to report my original center console still fits! Getting rid of the rear heater, the motor in mine no longer turns when receiving power and I'd rather use the space for other things (maybe an extra 12v outlet, or perhaps Ill stash a lock box in there. I dunno.)
Last edited by 2ltrunner; Mar 17, 2022 at 07:35 AM.
motor mounts are welded in up top (till now had just been tacked in place), and mount for the IFS power steering box as part of the high steer installed down there at the bottom of the photo.
Dec 30, 2021 | 05:22 PM
