I recently inherited a 1995 2WD short bed truck. It’s not a Tacoma, but the last year of the 22R trucks. The 22R is kind of clattery and on its last legs. And quite frankly, 22R’s are just not my thing (I had one YEARS ago). I would rather have something else with a little more get up and go under the hood. I certainly wouldn’t mind a 3RZ. But they’re rare. And when you DO find them, they’re expensive. On the other hand, there seems to be an abundance of 5VZ’s around here, as they were FAR more popular to begin with. Oh, and I certainly wouldn’t mind having the extra 40HP, 43ft-lb torque. It would make for quite a fun little truck.

I can handle wiring with this swap. My concern is getting the drivetrain into the truck. It seems like all information on this swap is for 4WD models. I’ve not been able to find any resources for swaps into 2WD trucks, particularly 22R trucks. It looks like you can get bolt-in 5VZ engine mounts for 22R trucks at Chilkat Designs. But that covers just the engine itself. The REAL unknown is the R150 transmission. Is it just a simple matter of getting a 3.0 transmission and bolting it in? Or is this going to require something along the lines of cutting and fabbing a new transmission crossmember and cutting a new shifter hole for the R150? I have never seen a 3.0 2WD short bed truck, so fitment is definitely a concern.

The driveline is another issue. Everything I have seen says that the spline count on the slip yoke is different for the R150 vs the stock W55 in my truck. Is this something that can be corrected by swapping a different slip yoke on my stock driveshaft? Or is this going to require a custom drive shaft?