I’m considering picking up a 2nd gen that’s recently had the swap done. The guy who did the work is not a certified mechanic so I’m just wondering what things someone would want to double check to ensure that the job was done properly.

Here is a picture of the motor in the engine bay. Some of the work is still undone, but here are the known details.

 

the swap isn’t done if the vehicle isn’t driveable, numerous things need finishing. i’d stay away unless the price was too good to pass up.

 

Thanks for the reply!
He's going to finish the truck to the point that it's driveable before I buy it.

 

Those pending items aren't too bad to do depending on your own abilities. The tach resistor is a simple solder job and it sounds like the owner did it right and purchased the harness and all the necessary parts to do the swap himself. ORS or toyonlyswaps will have anything you need in regards to the swap itself including the resistor (if the current owner doesn't have it already)

The swap itself is super easy with all the right parts, I went through toyonly for mine but was able to have it up and running in 10 days from when the old 3vz was pulled and I have your normal shade tree mechanic experience. So it wouldn't keep me away from it but I'd also verify what driveable means to them before you pick it up. If you want to register the truck you'll need at least 1 if not 2 cats depending on what the current cat looks like. I added a magnaflow carb certified cat in front my OEM one and my truck could pass emissions in CA if I needed to and I have no CEL's on the dash. The only issue I ran into was a weird vacuum leak due to a blown o-ring on an injector which was a simple enough fix once narrowed down. The 5vz is arguably significantly simpler to work on than the 3vz having significantly less vacuum hoses and being able to connect to it with an OBDII bluetooth dongle. There are some details in my build thread on my swap and a video series on what it involved for me on my YT too if you want more detailed info but in general the swap is probably one of the easier motor swaps you can do.

Something else I do see missing in those photos is the fan shroud, you want that plain and simple, not the worst to have to buy yourself but worth asking about.

 

Thanks so much! This is super helpful. In NY there is no emissions for cars older than 95, so I should be good there.

definitely appreciate the insights 🙏

 

The fact he went with an ORS harness and acknowledges the remaining things like the resister on the tach point to him reasonably knowing what he was doing. Not sure how much you know about the 5VZ swap but it's one of the most common / most desirable swaps into a 3VZ truck given the robustness of the 5VZ. It's a relatively straightforward swap as far as swaps go.
My main question at this point would be the mileage on the 5VZ / getting some semblance of its condition and history. All that said, the 5VZ is super easy to work on and you get all the benefits of OBD-II and a more efficient and robust engine in an older chassis.