I recently purchased two 1997 4runners. The first one is a SR5 5sp V6, 127k miles. Its been sitting about two years. I will need brakes, tires and maybe some brake line (NY vehicle). It seems to run well. The other is Limited, from Calf, so it's very clean.215k miles The prior owner SEVERELY overheated it due to a bad radiator, and it will not start now. I would assume the headgaskets are gone. I am considering swaping the engine from the SR5 to the Limited. I need to know it there will be complications as the SR5 is a 5speed and Limited is an automatic. The Limited as a new tranny, shocks, brakes, etc.

Keith

 

Since you have two complete trucks, and they're the same year, it's about as easy as you can get. You could even convert the Limited to 5 Speed quite easily since you have all the parts.

Only differences I can tell you straight away are with the transfer case on the Limited; 4 HI is electrically actuated so you would have to retain the Limited harness for the other engine if you want to retain that function, or just swap the manual transfer case over and zip tie the two extra transfer case connectors on the harness out of the way.

If you wanted to make the Limited a 5 speed, you need to swap the harness for the engine and dash, as the ECUs use two completely different set of connectors given one is for an auto and the other is a manual.

 

Since you have all the parts it can be done fur sure, just have to take your time and figure out how to make it as plug and play as possible.