Curious how much power people are making with the 3.4L 4Runners and auto trans and what the setup is? I did a search and only found a couple of very old threads.

One was questioning 300rwhp and lots of comments that it wasn't possible nor reliable. Well, mine's very close to that and has been for a few years now. Mine dyno'd 240rwhp 259rwtq on the 2.2 pulley (9-9.5psi) and 93 octane. I've since added meth injection, gone to a 2.1 (10.5-11psi) pulley, and zeroed out the timing pull map in the Split Second piggy back. I was seeing a max of about 12-13 degrees before meth and now it's around 20-21 degrees. Made a big difference.

Trans is bone stock and I'm at about 140,000 miles. Been supercharged for 80,000.

I took a look at LCE and didn't see a ton of options for the 3.4 5VZ but lots for the 3RZ 4 banger. Didn't really make sense to me.

I'd love to get mine up to around 400 or so, but would have to figure out trans options.

I'd imagine you'd have to build the block if you're going to push out that kind of power through a 5vz-fe.

Perhaps a VVTI 2uz-fe swap with a supercharger would be a cheaper option (not that its cheap to begin with). Certainly a lot more reliable I'd imagine than running 20 psi on a 5vz-fe.

Are you worried about the engine or the trans?

The trans is almost the same as the auto trans used in the TT Supras... so there are plenty of options there to keep it together well north of what a 5VZ is capable of. A shift kit and good cooling is probably all you should need right now.

As for engine - you'll have more luck making power with a turbo setup, if that's your goal. The supercharger is non-intercooled and much less efficient at pumping air than a turbo at higher flow rates. Once you start making large HP/L numbers, any engine's life will be reduced. The stakes are higher when something fails (say, meth runs out) and wear parts just wear faster (bearings, pistons/rings, etc.) leading to lower reliability.

-Charlie

there is a guy in norcal who is supercharged and has been dynoing his rig every time he installs more go fast goodies. i believe this is his build thread:

https://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-g...supercharged-t[u]rd-build.html

edit:
the [ ] in his thread title is F'ing up the hyper link. you will have to quote me and remove the URL tags to get to his build thread. it looks like you are already aware of it as i see you posted on his last page. there arent going to be a lot of people doing what he is doing so you may just have to dyno stuff yourself if youre concerned about #s.

It can be done, but what's your budget? Gadget over at URD is a wealth of knowledge, he used to frequent forums but doesn't make appearances as much now that URD has grown. He told me once they built a 1600 HP 5VZ-FE.

From my research speaking with Toyota engine builders as well as others than have build up 4Runners and Tacomas, here's the general "guidelines" I've learned:

• The stock internals are very strong, including the head gasket. It can handle up to 15 PSI safely, which is more than the TRD blower can put out. Rods and crankshaft is overbuilt for this engine. I've seen up to 20 PSI on a 5VZ-FE but I doubt the longevity of that level of boost.
• The A340's can handle serious power. Transmission failure due to too much power normally is not the issue, it's heat. A trans cooler will go a long way. The auto transmission has handled 400+RWHP. We have the A340E and A340F, the Supra also came with an A340 and you don't hear about Supra guys complaining about the transmission.
• The TRD unit has a low flow rate, it's only an M62. Pushing enough air through the unit will put a cap on how much power it can make. 300RWHP is doable but 400RWHP will be difficult without an oxygen adder like nitrous or nitromethane.
• There's power to be gained porting and modifying the supercharger. Both the intake & roof can increase flow.
• The stock intake is very, very restrictive. Any changes you make will net substantial gains. That's including the airbox, intake tube, and throttle body.
• Stock exhaust also is restrictive. The manifolds are crush bent and ruffled inside (the casting on the outside is not what the air flows through, there's a bent pipe inside the cast iron) and flow terribly, the downpipe is 2.25" and the stock exhaust is 2.4". All that can go for more power.

The valve body upgrade will quicken the shifts if you are looking into modding it. I was one step away from buying a high stall torque converter until Gadget told me he tried it and hated it. Great on the track but made the throttle mushy and slow around town, which would be the opposite of what I want.

Oh, and 4.56 or 4.88 gears in the rear would make it fly. 9% or 19% increase in RWTQ, respectively.

i doubt this number is this high, although i would like to be proven wrong. i googled it and didnt see anything. got any links to share?

@APhelps I considered a 2UZ-FE swap with supercharger a few years ago. I started researching it and found lots of reports of blown up 2UZ-FE engines with superchargers due to rod breakage. For a while I think the superchargers were even taken off the market? An LS swap would probably make more sense so I'll look in to that as a down the road option.

@phattyduck I was more worried about the trans to be honest. The 3.4L is known to be pretty dang strong.

@mesooohoppy I follow his threads

@gamefreakgc Speak of the devil LOL. Great info as usual. I may have tapped out the current setup. With these being around for a while I was hoping there was a formula. I'd rather not trail blaze on this one, been there done that on other projects and have the check stubs to go along with it.

As for budget, I dunno really. The 4Runner is a fun project for me with some nostalgia rather than a means of transportation that I need to pinch pennies on to keep it going. I could spend some money on it if I wanted, but don't wanna waste money, hope that makes sense.

I'm not sure what kind of manifolds yours has, but mine being a 2002 has the latest version. When I spoke to TRD about doing headers way back when, they said if it was pre 2000 (I think) with the old manifold design then yes, but if it was the newer version which mine had then to leave them in place. I could probably get rid of at least one of the cats (maybe both) though to help the exhaust?

I saw you just posted an LS swapped Tacoma video on your build thread. I'm gonna go check that out. My requirements are always to make things work like factory, not "almost" like great I have a V8 but oh by the way the sensors in the dash don't work.

I looked at swapping from SC to turbo a couple years back and it seemed like tuning them was a nightmare due to how the down pipes worked so I passed.

I forget it's been a while since I posted about the Project SportRunner so here's a recap of what I've done:

TRD Supercharger
2.1 URD pulley
URD Split Second Piggy Back with 7th injector (7th no longer used due to meth)
Meth Injection from Coolingmist (out of business now I think)
Deck plate mod
AFE dry filter
Silencer Tube Removed
Hayden Trans Cooler
True Trac LSD in the Rear

Some other things like Tundra brakes and suspension but the above are main performance increases.

I may need to look in to a valve body upgrade. I started to drop it off to a trans shop for that and the tech talked me out of it saying I wouldn't like it cruising around town.

all the LS swaps i have seen done are 2wd. i had a UZ many years ago and sold it because of expensive it was going to be to upgrade the valve train to something i wanted.

exhaust manifold and downpipe routing shouldnt be an issue on 3rd gens if you plan to make custom stuff (more $$).

For performance you're better off with the 1UZ versus the 2UZ. You can replace rods in the 2UZ to strengthen it up however.

I know they share a lot of the same parts but it seems like the guys in Australia and NZ have the 1UZ figured out. I'm guessing its smaller, and its way lighter than the 2UZ.

For comparison you can get 215AWHP and 250AWTQ with the 2UZ stock.
Should be 240hp and 275tq with bolt-ons N/A.
The URD kit with 5.5psi boost gains around 100 each.

Currently running a trd supercharger in stock form with no fuel mods on my 270k miles Tacoma. Have had zero issues and I do beat on it. Won't get to see the limit of the auto as a 5 speed swap is in the works.

From what I've seen out of people building for power in the 5VZ, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess the head is the limiting factor, be it cam lift, port flow, chamber size or valve size I'm guessing there's got to be something restrictive since the engine doesn't like to hit the 400hp number even with some significant boost. The complexity of a quad cam belt driven V6 design is also not terribly attractive and drives prices for aftermarket parts higher.

The RZ motors have a large following in the performance sector because the design overall makes it about the best 4 cylinder Toyota ever made for making big power, the head in stock form is capable of supporting flow for almost 500hp, and bigger valves, cams, port and polishing and valve train have proven to increase flow dramatically. The aftermarket is also strong with multiple companies building all the pieces you'd need to deck out an RZ to the nines. The same can't be said about the 3.4, with only LCE and URD showing support for the platform, and there's gotta be a reason for that.

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@mesooohoppy Ah yeah, the 2WD thing makes sense, oil pan clearance, etc. I forgot about that.

@Inv4drZm That was my issue with those Toyota V8s, the power output just wasn't what I expected. I'm used to Dodge HEMI V8s and the baby 5.7 puts down almost 400, nevermind the big 6.4 at nearly 500. With mine being already around 300 to the tire the number for it to be worth doing would need to be around 400 to the tire I think.

@UnderFire good points on the 4 banger's aftermarket support.

I got into it a bit with a Durango R/T this morning which is what got me thinking about this. He didn't just leave me in the dust, but I was working much harder just to keep up. The 8 speed trans in that thing gave him an advantage over any power difference but still.

I really like gamefreakgc’s reground intake cam and converting it to shim under bucket with headers and keeping it NA instead of blown. (Turbo/supercharger). If I remember adding 40 thou lift really wakes it up.

The 3.4 has a factory Stud Girdle and forged rods and crank. It’s bottom end is strong enough.


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Has anyone experimented with Roller rockers or you don't gain enough to justify the cost of the mod.

I could definitely see the stock exhaust as well as air intakes being smoothed out would gain some.

My SOHC Saturn has hydraulic roller lifters. I can’t imagine what it would take to do that conversion with how close the cam lobes are to the valve stems.


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Just a thought. As reducing friction should gain HP. However, might be impossible with our head design.

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