The cars that had the 1UZ from the factory are very cheap around here with interior, exterior or transmission problems, I've seen countless 90-94 LS400 and SC400's over the course of the last year around here for well under 1k, some were running and driving but wrecked.

There is also a lot of support growing for putting the 1UZ into Pickups and 4runners, 2 local companies have popped up within the last couple of months that are selling bellhousings for W and R series 4wd transmissions as well as prebuilt harnesses, which solves the 2 main hurdles with the swap, they aren't super cheap or simple like the small block Chevy, but should get much better milage, run smoother and fit better in the engine bay.

Looking up specs for the 1UZ says that it gets 250 HP.... to me that's a power house compared to the 125 HP 3vze.

From what I've seen, with light modifications like intake and exhaust, you'll get about 210-230WHP through a manual transmission, add in a good tune on an aftermarket standalone ECU and you're closer to the 250 mark.

Either way, yes it's a much more lively engine than the 3.slow, the power curve is way better too.

Now the real challenge: getting all of that for my 4Runner while spending hardly any money.

I'm working on putting in a 3RZ, yeah. It'll be a huge improvement over the 22RE, but a 1UZ or LS would be even better.

If you're thinking swap, hard to go wrong with a 3.4. It's "only" a V6, but it bolts up to your bell housing and motor mounts, and you can buy a conversion harness and still finish the swap under $1000 if you buy the right donor truck. That's 180 very cheap and easy horsepower. A 1UZ swap would be a lot more complicated.

Yep, a 1UZ would be fantastic, but cost to finish the project, including everything you'd need, and have the truck driving on its own power down the road, you're at least 3 grand into it. While a lot will carry over from the donor car, to do it "RIGHT", means to adapt a bunch of stuff in the dash, get exhaust system run properly and still have it efficient so you get full power of out that engine, and have it all tuned and dialed in costs a LOT more than just throwing in a V6. Those can be done dirt cheap, even with a full build on the engine!

I too would love a 1UZ in my truck, but the economical way to make power would be Chevy V6.

And I know you can get a cheap sub-1,000 dollar lexus as a donor car with lots of other issues, but for me, putting an engine that has more than 100,000 miles in my truck without at least going through and doing a mild rebuild to make sure all is well before the swap would be a bad decision. Just that alone will cost you near 4 or 500 bucks more (full gasket kit, water pump, timing belt, whatever else would be done on a 100k service), and that doesn't include any repairs if you find something wrong.

And, if any of you wanna swap a 1UZ into your vehicle and adapt an R-154 trans to it, I've got a friend selling his one-off bellhousing right now!



Ain't she purrdyyyy!?!?!?!?!

Oops! Forgot to show this one in my last post! You can put a 1UZ into almost anything! Like a Merkur!!!!

The 3.4 is able to use the 2nd Gen's motor mounts??

I haven't done it obviously, but that's my understanding. If you wanna know for sure there's a ton of swap threads on Yotatech, or just ask @BigBluePile . He's got a 3.4 in his 3.0 first gen.

How much is he asking for that bellhousing? I need one for my Corona project.

And the 4.3 doesn't fit too well in the bay and the NWOR swap kit is pretty crappy, We've chased endless problems with our neighbors 4.3 swapped 92 pickup.

I shot him an email a little while ago, if I don't hear back from him today or tomorrow, I'll call him on Monday for ya.

Awesome man, if you don't know, could you ask him if it uses a hydraulic TOB or a standard slave cylinder setup? Been hoping to find one with a slave clyinder setup.

I can probably answer that question, unfortunately:



He might be out of town for the weekend, haven't heard back yet and he usually gets back to me pretty quick...

Tons of info out there. Mine was even MORE complicated as it was a 22R-E vice a 3VZ. Mine was a three day thrash fest to put together. However, I did help get a 2nd gen 4Runner 3.0 swapped over to a 3.4 in an easy day.....