After nearly a decade with my 3.0L engine in my '91, I'm thinking of replacing the engine and replacing a lot of old parts rather than buying a new car (much cheaper too).

I've looked around the web and found one individual who installed the 3.4L V6 into his 1990 Truck to replace the 3.0L. One of the advantage to the 3.4L is increased hp and available TRD supercharger.

However, before I go down this road, I want to hear from other individuals who have either done this installation or witnessed the results. Are there significant changes in the electrical sytems? How much do you have to modify the 5-speed Trans to fit it? Can the TRans handle the increased torque? Is there room under the hood and do the mounts line up? How involved is this project?

I gues I'm curious as to whether this is a worth while experience or should I just improve on the 3.0L?

T

 

Ive heard you need a 2in body lift to make enough clearance for the motor.

 

Can you post a link to the site that shows the swap? I found a 3.4 out of a 2000 Limited with 32K miles - $1500 including the tranny and transfer case. I'd need to buy the harness, or modify the existing to work. I'm intrigued by this, although I have zero time to take on a project like this right now...:confused:

 

put a chevy motor in it! Downey sells conversion kits! i think its cheaper too to do that than gettin a new yota engine. your truck would be one of the meanest yotas out there..... next to my friends 1970's FJ40 with a hi output chevy 350 with turbo 700r tranny that puts out about 330hp. it hauls a$$ !

 

Put a 4.3 Vortec V6 in it. It's way lighter than a 350SB (easier on your IFS) and good power. Advance Adaptors makes an adaptor for the transfer case. This is the route I am probably going.

My uncle did a 350SB in his 89 and the power was awesome, but the truck had a straight front so...I don't know how well the IFS would handle the weight.

Jus my 2 cents

 

Personally, I would not swap a toy motor in. Granted, the 3400 is a much better motor, but you still have a very complicated mechanically built motor, that isn't cheap to fix. My suggestion, go with a 4.3, very durable. Now, there are 3 different versions, tbi, cpi and scpi, each one is more complicated in the injection system, being scpi is the most output, but hardest to wire..

 

I have had quite a bit of experience with the 4.3L V6 and while yes it makes a lot of HP etc... They are prone to a lot of problems with headgaskets among other things. I just got rid of a 98 Blazer that had nothing but problems with the motor from about 40K miles on. I would stick with a Toyota motor if it were me.

 

toyota motor for dependablility, chevy motor for power

cant outlast a jap motor

 

If you're in California, a DMV referee will need to certify that your truck is smog legal before you can officially drive it on the streets. I don't know if you're a CA resident so YMMV.

Some other notes:
- You'll most likely need a completely new exhaust with whatever engine you choose. ($$$)
- I've heard that the Toyota driveline (rear diff, transfer case, etc) cannot handle Chevy 350 power. ($$$)
- Engine heat is sometimes a problem with Chevy swaps. Solution is to run a triple-core radiator, assuming you can squeeze it in there. ($$$)
- I was quoted $10-15K for a turn-key, smog-legal Chevy engine & tranny swap in my 1992 4Runner. (yike$$$$$!) Needless to say, I passed.

-mangoango

 

Another option is the Mustang 5.0 engine.
Aussie John loves his.

I beleive he is even running the stock T bars up front too.

Here's a shot of the engine in his '91.


It looks like he has more room under his hood than I do.
I don't have room for the Warn winch solenoid under there like he does, or mine would be there too.

 

Wow that's a clean install. I would pay some serious bucks for someone to drop an engine like that in my Runner!

 

If you want a very reliable and powerful motor, the 7M-GTE motor used in the 1987-1992 Supras have been labeled as one of the cheapest motors in the world to modify for hp and torque. I am about to put a turbo-back exhaust on my Supra and others have dyno’d before and after and found 60-70 hp gains at the rear wheels. (That’s like adding a supercharger to a 3.4, but for much less money.) The motor has a long stroke and makes lots of torque down low, so it would make a great truck motor. This engine swap has been done several times, but trust me, lots of custom work required.

Almost as nice is the 3.4 swap. I think the motor will bolt to your 3.0 motor mounts, wiring harnesses are available aftermarket and your bellhousing should bolt up. There is still custom work required (moving battery, custom exhaust, etc.), but is definitely more straight-forward than the Supra swap. Throw the s/c on there and you’re making great power.

If it were me, as much as I like the Supra motor, I think I’d do the 3.4 just to make things simpler.

 

And by the way, don’t bother with a domestic motor if you want both reliability and durability. Given similar conditions, it is impossible to get a domestic motor to last as long as a foreign motor. I won’t go too heavily into detail, but Japanese manufacturers add nickel to the iron engine blocks to strengthen the material and to reduce wear on the cylinder walls. Domestic manufacturers don’t do this. Tear a 100k mile jap motor apart and you will probably find the factory cross-hatching on the cylinder walls and probably no cylinder taper. Generally domestic motors show a good amount of wear at this mileage. Lots of other factors such as tolerances, quality of materials and design execution contribute to foreign motors lasting longer. Just another example; many domestic motors are still pushrods, which add a considerable number of moving parts and friction to the valvetrain as compared to an overhead cam design that most all foreign motors use. Less friction means longer life. I’ll stop, but I could go on for days.

 

I'm leaning toward sticking with a Toyota motor, although I really like the 5.0L V8 Mustang motor, I would prefer to stick with the Japanese motor.

Basically my 3.0L is a slug and was never really designed for much more than driving to and from work. Off road and on the interstate ramps, I could probably run to sixty faster. I debated on just buying a used 3rd gen 4Runner but I really like the older body style better. The newer generations use too much plastic for my liking and its very difficult to find one in a manual transmission (though they did fix the kneespace in the back seat).

Another possible option is the V8 used in the tundra and landcruiser but I seriously doubt that it would fit in the tiny engine compartment.

I'm looking for a lot more power and possibly efficiency. As I live in KY, the vehicle emissions is not much of a problem. I have no plans on the table to move to CA, but then again you never know.

Right now the 3.4L with a supercharger is the most likely option, but I want to find out if the trans and cooling system can handle the increased load.

T

 

I have noticed many Tacoma/4Runner radiators are plastic versus our steel ones, but they appear similar in size. I feel confident in saying your cooling system should be fine.

Regarding the transmission--the tranny used behind the 3.4 is still an R-series transmission and is rumored to be slightly beefier than the 3.0 tranny. But the way Toyota overbuilds things, I'm would also feel confident using your R150F behind the 3.4, even with the s/c. In fact, my turbo Supra uses the R154, which is identical to the 3.0 V6's R150F except the tailhousing is designed differently and of course won't accept a transfer case. But I could give you links to at least 20 people running more than 500 horsepower through R154s with no problem. Coincidently the turbo Supra also uses the 8" rear diff.

 

id like to hear more, seriously. its interesting!

 

I also heard that you need a 2 inch body lift. Seems like I heard that the 3.4 has the fuel lines coming in on the opposite side of the engine. There was another line/hose/tube or something that was on the opposite side, but I can't remember what that was. I don't think it would be that big a deal though.

If I were to do an engine swap, the 3.4 would probably be my first choice. That mustang engine would be sweet too, but I think I would stick with a jap engine. I wonder if the 4.7 would fit? Maybe the new 4.0 in the '03 Runner might be another option soon. Who knows....

Does the tranny and transfer case from a 2000 bolt up to a 2nd gen? Don't the 4Runners built during and after '00 have AWD instead of 4wd? I may be wrong on that.

Well, have fun.
DH6twinotter

 

Here's somebody that has done it to an '86.

http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/projects/basham_4runner/

Noticed that in a post here a while ago and thought I'd pass it along. Pretty cool looking rig there.

Have fun.
DH6twinotter