Ah dang! I know that feeling all too well (refer to the part about mine only not cranking cause I left the ecu unplugged) lol Glad you got it figured out!

Is everything still running good? Might be trying this myself soon since my headgasket blew a second time

Absolutely! Still runs perfect and I haven't had a single problem since the swap

If you decide to do it and have any questions, feel free to reach out!

@P_nlsn Notice any increase in fuel mileage with the long tube headers or does it just breath better?

I'm also curious where you sourced the engine as well. $1200 seems like a good price.

It's hard to say because I added retarded exhaust cam gears, longtube headers, newer fuel injectors, and fixed a hadgasket leak all at once. I have definitely noticed an mpg increase, I just can't pinpoint exactly why/how much from each mod because I did so much at once.

I got it off a local guy on Facebook Marketplace. He was parting out his totaled 4runner and I think he was originally selling the Tranny and Engine together, but we talked to him and got him to sell them separate so we got the engine

I know this thread is a couple years old now, but any advice with the main timing chain tensioner? I put everything together and went to turn the engine over by hand and the tensioner retracted a few times then would extend again. As a result the timing is all thrown off so I have to start over. Did you do anything special to that tensioner besides just bolting it up and pulling the retaining pin for it?

I wish I could be more help, but as far as I can remember, there wasn't anything special about doing the timing chain work. Is it possible the tensioner you got is a defective unit?

Possibly. I'm about to go see about getting another tensioner from the stealership and ask them about it. I spun it over by hand more and got back to TDC, and all of the timing marks at the crank and cams are still lined up. So I do think maybe just the tensioner is defective.

Here's a video of what my tensioner is doing: - YouTube

Did yours behave like this when you spun the engine over by hand? Or did the tensioner stay out the entire time?

That definitely looks like a bad tensioner to me. It should be holding more pressure on the chain so it stays out and doesn't go in like that. I'd be curious to hear what the stealership says

Keep me updated. I'm sorry you're having trouble, I know how much it sucks to get stuck in the middle what was supposed to be a quick project

So finally posting an update, but it works!

For quick reference, I opted to use the motor from an 06 Tacoma since that's what I could find on FB Marketplace for a good deal, but everything written in this thread beforehand is still applicable. The only other difference with the Tacoma motor that I noticed was that the oil filter housing has a cooling circuit that runs to the thermostat housing and back. Otherwise, same changes are required as detailed above.

The tensioner behavior ended up being a non-issue; a service tech at the dealership said that's just how those oil-pressure supported tensioners behave in the absence of oil pressure. I spun the crank over ~200 times in order to make the timing marks all line back up 3 times without issue before I put it together.

Got everything put together and went for a first start, then it ran like absolute crap and gave me tons of misfire codes and other codes. Crap. After swapping around coil packs and spark plugs, checking harness voltages, and trying everything I knew, I gave up and towed it up to Toyota. Turns out I had left a chipped piece of the old VVT solenoid in the valley of the motor, and it got wedged between the lower intake manifold and the heads. So, when I torqued the intake manifold down with that piece in there, it cracked the manifold and created a massive vacuum leak directly into the valves....pay attention kids and clean up your work surface properly.

Swapped the intake manifold from my old motor over, and she ran like a champ. Had 2 leaking hoses at the thermostat housing that I had to replace, and then no issues so far after 200 miles of driving on it! Going to Windrock this coming weekend for it's first wheeling trip in almost a year.

I plan on adding a lot more details and pics to this thread and/or starting a separate one. Thank you P_nlsn for compiling the information here that you did, it was so very helpful to follow! Excited to post more info on how it went for me, tips and tricks, etc.

That's awesome you got it running! I had no idea some timing chain tensioners, especially ones for the 1gr, relied on oil pressure for their hydraulics. That sucks about the cracked manifold, but I'm glad you got it all worked out in the end.

Have fun out at Windrock!

You're very welcome. I've gotten so much knowledge and help from this forum, so it's always my hope that my posts can pass that along