Putting motor from 1997 Tacoma (3rz-fe) into our 1996 4runner (3rz-fe). Only difference is our 1996 has distributor and the 1997 has coil pack with wires to plugs. What do i need to do to be able to get the 1997 3rz-fe to work in my 1996 4runner?

 

Do you have some pics where the distributor on the ‘96 goes versus where it should go on the ‘97? Some times the manufacture leaves everything intact internally and it’s just a matter of removing a block off plate. Other times it’s a completely different motor. I’m not super familiar with disty 3RZs, my wheelhouse is 22REs and 5VZs.

 

My husband said he took the coil pack off of the 1997 and there is no whole in the motor like there is on the one with a distributor. But said that it does have holes that match up exactly where distributor would go. Not sure how hard he looked to see if there was a plate to move? And he did not get pictures, but can probably have some within the next few days.

 

Carryover years generally have some of both parts setup. So the hole for the distributor just has a plate blocking it. However it’s possible that new castings were used and so those blocks aren’t compatible without significant effort to convert. Basically you would need to switch over to distributor-less ignition which means, harness and likely ecu have to get swapped too.

 

He's checking again now as we speak! Thank you so much for your help! ECU is behind the glove box, right?

 

right!

 

This is the motor the coil pack came off

 

Depending on how far you want to go, you can pull the valve cover and see if the drive gear is there behind the plug in the block. If it’s there, you could drill out the hole (or have a machine shop do it) and mount the distributor. Or reach out to whoever you bought the engine from and say it isn’t compatible.