4.0 v6 to 4.7 v8 conversion. What's involved?
- Thread starter inscarguy
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Purely based on speculation, a running V8 truck would probably be needed to donate all the fiddly bits and connectors, harnesses and such.
Swap motor, ECM, presumably the transmission and Tcase and their harnesses and controllers.
Anything that plugs into something that's different between the V8 and V6, swap the V8 parts in until everything is connected.
If successful, it'd be a nice V8 truck with a V6 VIN code, a great story, and probably a lower resale value.
If failed, two half assembled hulks that don't run.
Frankly, a URD Supercharger for the V6 would be much easier, cheaper, more reliable, and would do a faster 1/4 mile time than the completed V8 swap. No one's ever done the swap (that I'm aware of) because the power difference between the two, naturally aspirated, isn't worth the effort. And blower kits for the V6 are readily available that would thromp the naturally aspirated V8 in power/torque.
It's not economically viable and the results are available from the factory, so why bother.
Swap motor, ECM, presumably the transmission and Tcase and their harnesses and controllers.
Anything that plugs into something that's different between the V8 and V6, swap the V8 parts in until everything is connected.
If successful, it'd be a nice V8 truck with a V6 VIN code, a great story, and probably a lower resale value.
If failed, two half assembled hulks that don't run.
Frankly, a URD Supercharger for the V6 would be much easier, cheaper, more reliable, and would do a faster 1/4 mile time than the completed V8 swap. No one's ever done the swap (that I'm aware of) because the power difference between the two, naturally aspirated, isn't worth the effort. And blower kits for the V6 are readily available that would thromp the naturally aspirated V8 in power/torque.
It's not economically viable and the results are available from the factory, so why bother.
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Inv4drZm
Senior Member
I was going to type exactly this but I got lazy and let someone else do it for me. I agree with everything here.
AuSeeker
Elite Member
Ditto as to what Inv4drZm says, I too was too lazy to type all the above!!
I personally would just buy a V8 T4R, you will spend more than a good condition V8 T4R would cost trying to do the swap successfully, so buying one you would have more money left in your pocket and have 2 T4Rs, the V6 and a V8!!
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inscarguy
Member
Thanks for all the replies. I do have a v8 4runnrr already but my GF kinda claimed it after I built it the way i want. Go figure.
We were on our way home from my sister's the other night, she had the v8 and i had the v6. If it was not for the fact that i can "drive" it would have been alot different.the v8 is clearly much more powerful.i miss that. The v6 just does not have the oomph of the v8.
I also had on my mind is the 03-04 v8 and find a trd supercharger. I figure that would be a sleeper yet have the best of both worlds.
If if its not in the cards I will look into the SC for the v6. How's the TRD SC . for the v6?
We were on our way home from my sister's the other night, she had the v8 and i had the v6. If it was not for the fact that i can "drive" it would have been alot different.the v8 is clearly much more powerful.i miss that. The v6 just does not have the oomph of the v8.
I also had on my mind is the 03-04 v8 and find a trd supercharger. I figure that would be a sleeper yet have the best of both worlds.
If if its not in the cards I will look into the SC for the v6. How's the TRD SC . for the v6?
The TRD blower for the V8 is crap compared to the URD. That's hard for me to even say given that, to me, a positive displacement blower is the "true" supercharger... URD's rig is a centrifugal Rotrex (a cold side of a turbo charger with a belt driven transmission instead of a hot side).
The V8 TRD unit is not intercooled nor are there provisions at all in its design or installation for intercooling. The speedshop that puts my truck back together after I break it had concocted up a rig that could intercool the chamber below the lobes but we could not find a suitable tuning solution that would give a promised outcome (without rewiring the entire truck for a standalone). Anyway, I let the TRD blower slide on by to the next guy who had more money than brains to install it.
Now, there's many people who have the TRD unit running successfully, no doubt, on piggy back ECUs and other tuning solutions. We wanted a tuning solution that would take full control over the fuel/timing, not just step up fueling under boost conditions. The URD kit appears to satisfy this requirement. It's just been on the backburner for me, for a while.
The stories of "weak rods" in the 2UZ is misguided as that the rods are plenty strong but the TRD supercharger was distributed with a completely inadequate tuning solution coupled with a lack of intercooling; result is a recipe for blown engines and the rods happened to be first thing to go on these motors. It's a great idea on paper but doesn't work in reality.
Scribb was talking about an outfit that knows how to parallel wire ECUs into the V8 so that the OEM ECU can control the transmission & truck and the aftermarket ECU can run the motor.
His thread: Blew up my V8, Starting Over
No matter how anyone slices it, modifying the V8 for power beyond some long/short tube headers and an aFe intake (the Volant intake actually decreases power) is completely custom work (read: hideously expensive).
The only other "kit" power adder I know of for the V8 is the URD supercharger. (well, yeah, there's the Bullet kit, but seriously, who would do that over Gadget's stuff?)
Basically the V6 is a blank slate with tonnes of options (because it's shared with a lot of other trucks).
The V8 has 3 or 4 bolt-on kit style power adders available... all custom beyond that, so milage out of mods will be directly proportional to the planning and skill that went into their selection and installation.
All that said, I'd rather have the URD supercharger kits over the TRD stuff. TRD should stick to making stickers, wheels, and skid plates that enthusiasts sell on craigslist because they upgraded. Gadget designed an ECU specifically to run his gear in a Toyota. TRD subcontracted out the tuning system of the V8 S/C kit and it was, in many people's opinions, "slap-banged together". It's easy to agree they really screwed that up, so I doubt they thought of everything with the V6 kit; but it just happens to still work "good enough"... to not explode. Gadget's ECU system kicks into limp mode at any time operating parameters leave normal accepted specifications... saving the motor from doom if some water comes into the gas tank, or whatever.
EDIT: For those interested, a very very very long time ago there was a Scandinavian (I think) speed shop that had a blower manifold for the 1UZ. Supposedly it bolts right onto a 2UZ, for an Eaton blower like the M90 or M112. I don't recall the website anymore as that the outfit has gone under, no doubt the parts falling into antiquity. I didn't bite the bullet and buy one then because I still had no way to tune.
I've seen a few remote mount turbos done on 4Runners. But unfortunately not many owners document crazy builds, if anyone does them at all.
Penny for one's thoughts
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Chris In Milwaukee
New member
Would it be easier to buy a GX given the above?
Easy, take it back from the girlfriend, she’s not the wife. Give her the v6, if there’s a problem.. then she wasn’t meant to be..
Johns06yota
Member
you would be better off doing a ls swap if you have the space to do the work. I'm helping my buddy do an ls swap in his 4runner and he is no more than 2k into this and that includes all parts and a complete Silverado we are using for parts.
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