bad head gasket, fix or motor swap, want to keep manual trans

[Reinout]

well yes, I generally agree with you, I am quite crazy at times.

But in this case, I do have a friend with a shop and a two post lift, engine hoist, stands, ect. What else about the swap would be crazy?

☺ It's inevitable that you will find SOMETHING during the swap that you didn't account for. At least that's how anything works for me. But to be honest I have not done an engine swap so I can't say if that'll happen to you. You could very well be 100% solid with a weekend's worth of work and never have a problem with it.
[MENTION=221666]Joelzy[/MENTION] mentions some good things to look at while you're doing it too.

 

[Joelzy]

☺ It's inevitable that you will find SOMETHING during the swap that you didn't account for.

100%

sounds like someone likes to hunt for work :hunter:lol

there is zero need to go into a healthy block and replace that knock sensor. that is literally asking for more work. and hardly a challenge to go back and replace if you had to.

lol i figured someone might say that but i'd rather do it all at once if i have the time. not saying he will need to do the VCGs but if so, and the intake is coming off, might as well, IMO.
Mine had 140k on it and the sensors looked ok but the harness was toast and the insulation disintegrated in my hand. after reassembly i chased a vac leak through my intake man and pulling all that crap apart got old quick.

 

[STI_MECE]

get good freinds with your local toyota dealership and get employee pricing....AND next day delivery. If I make an order before 4PM, it will be delivered the next day by 8AM. And that is on 90% of the stuff i needed other than obscure shit the POS got rid of.

Then you problem disappears when you need pats you didn't account for.

But the better thing to account for is screwing up good parts you already have that you ruin while installing them on the new engine.

I accidentally picked up a new seal to drive in a new seal.....dont ask me. my wife distracted me lol luckily a camshaft seal was in stock at local dealership. cost me 9 bucks with discount.

 

[phattyduck]

With a lift and a helper and skill, a 1 for 1 engine swap in a weekend would be fairly easy - assuming no rusted fasteners.

Get all the maintenance work done on the new motor beforehand, of course... And have fluids, etc. ready.

-Charlie

 

[mtbtim]

i think it depends if the powerplant got hot enough to warp the block/head. if you catch it early enough im sure you can get away with it, although if it were me and i managed to not overheat it, i would still check for flat-ness. everything is already apart and out. what is one more small thing to do? hell, if you dont do it and the mating surfaces are not flat you will end up doing it over and over until you get them flat.

was your subaru an open deck head? if so, they seem go to through headgaskets fairly quickly. how do i know? i have an 02 WRX apart in our shop right now.

i have seen a lot of folks use a feeler gauge and a straight edge. you should be able to do the heads off the car no issue and the block in the car without issue.

Dont' know what kind of heads my 99 Subaru had. All I know is those boxer engines were notorious for blowing head gaskets.

And in response to the others who commented on my question, I would agree if the engine was overheated, the chance of warping is fairly high. If the engine wasn't overheated, than why would you assume your heads or block are most likely going to need resurfacing? And yeah, definitely check the head and block surfaces to be sure, but I just didn't understand the comment that it's almost a certainty that you're going to need to do some resurfacing as part of a head gasket job.

 

[brillo_76]

If you have to ask this then I'd say "yes" you're bat-$hit crazy [emoji5]



I sure as hell couldn't do it! I'd have to tell me wife that we're not going to be use Cliff (we named it) for a few months [emoji5]

Love the name if the runner Cliff. I have a few of mine named.

Tetanus 1 and Tetanus 2. I need a better name for my 97 5 speed but I think of one when its completed.

It would take me a while to swap an engine due to time I have allocated for garage.

Sent from my SM-J337V using Tapatalk

 

[brillo_76]

well yes, I generally agree with you, I am quite crazy at times.



But in this case, I do have a friend with a shop and a two post lift, engine hoist, stands, ect. What else about the swap would be crazy?

Let's face it we are all crazy. You can get it done in a weekend.

People say I am crazy for fixing frames but I don't ask anyone to help me and it's my thing.

I probably have the only 2001 sport 4 runner in PA. That every bolt underneath can come out. That was neglected by PO and spent its life here.

Do your thing [MENTION=302380]rexassian[/MENTION] . That's what I do and I honestly don't care what others think. . I never did and I am not going to start at 43 years old.

Good luck with your switch and keep us posted.

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[rexassian]

Let's face it we are all crazy. You can get it done in a weekend.

People say I am crazy for fixing frames but I don't ask anyone to help me and it's my thing.

I probably have the only 2001 sport 4 runner in PA. That every bolt underneath can come out. That was neglected by PO and spent its life here.

Do your thing [MENTION=302380]rexassian[/MENTION] . That's what I do and I honestly don't care what others think. . I never did and I am not going to start at 43 years old.

Good luck with your switch and keep us posted.

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Thanks! will definitely update.

Dont' know what kind of heads my 99 Subaru had. All I know is those boxer engines were notorious for blowing head gaskets.

Yea, I played with a couple subarus before getting into the 4runner, all blocks except for STI are open deck or semi-open deck. But the fault in early subarus were the gaskets themselves IIRC. Also, they are much easier to work on just due to being smaller and lighter IMHO.

sorry i meant oil cooler seal, its right behind the oil filter on the driver side of the block

Ahh, gotcha, thanks, I was wondering what that was in your build thread.

 

[Dieselchessy]

If either motor is dirty, you’ll loose time cleaning.
I’d replace the oil pan gasket sealer before putting the engine in.

I’d also do the intake gasket and knock sensor harness. Every time I pull one of these apart the gasket area around the water channels between the intake and the heads is corroded and crumbling.
It’s only a few nuts and maybe 8 bolts more work then you’ll already have done to get the wire harness off.

If you got 2 guys that can both work and not stand around watching each other you could do it in a weekend.

Replacing all the stuff the gentleman above suggested would be a good idea.

 

[Reinout]

Love the name if the runner Cliff. I have a few of mine named.

Tetanus 1 and Tetanus 2. I need a better name for my 97 5 speed but I think of one when its completed.

It would take me a while to swap an engine due to time I have allocated for garage.

Sent from my SM-J337V using Tapatalk

Bit of a post-highjacking but: My wife named our 97 Cliff because the color and the edges we tend to drive on in the PNW.

Our 2011 VW got the name Gunther cuz it's german

Then our 2007 4runner we tossed around a few names: Forest (I Hated that one), CLiff Jr (stupid), and I'm a bit of an anti-automatic person and this of-course is an Auto. So Otto (albeit a German sounding name) came to be.

 

[Fadiddy]

Rebuilding a 5VZ is tons of fun....

2JZ? Great motor, except that's not really a 4x4 engine. You need displacement for these vehicles, not high revving HP engines. If I had a chance to swap in a different motor, it would be an LS hands down. Small, lightweight, huge displacement, and very reliable.

You can always do the turbo or supercharger route for the 5VZ, however, that engine bay is very cramped and troubleshooting issues if or when they happen would be a pain in the ass.

Good luck.

 

[APhelps]

Rebuilding a 5VZ is tons of fun....

2JZ? Great motor, except that's not really a 4x4 engine. You need displacement for these vehicles, not high revving HP engines. If I had a chance to swap in a different motor, it would be an LS hands down. Small, lightweight, huge displacement, and very reliable.

You can always do the turbo or supercharger route for the 5VZ, however, that engine bay is very cramped and troubleshooting issues if or when they happen would be a pain in the ass.

Good luck.

How is the supercharger cramped? I'd imagine swapping in an LS motor would be a lot more difficult to work on.

 

[Fadiddy]

How is the supercharger cramped? I'd imagine swapping in an LS motor would be a lot more difficult to work on.

More for the turbo than the supercharger. The supercharger takes the place of the intake plenum, so not so much on the supercharger. However, the turbo....yikes.

 

[APhelps]

More for the turbo than the supercharger. The supercharger takes the place of the intake plenum, so not so much on the supercharger. However, the turbo....yikes.

I'm confused why anyone would turbo the 5vz other than doing it for as a way to prove their capabilities as a fabricator or just to do it.

If you want the 4R to be have some more power the SC makes way more sense than an engine swap or turbo by a large margin.

 

[mesooohoppy]

i thought being on here i could escape the LS fanbois. i guess not. oh well.

 

[Fadiddy]

Oh brother, not here too...

 

[mesooohoppy]

Oh brother, not here too...

hey you are the one that brought it up. LOL. im assuming that if you LS swapped it an wanted to keep the 4wd, youd have to source a new trans and xfer case, which just adds $$. if youre pushing a good amount of power through it, youd probably have to swap the rear end, which is also more $$. theres a reason i can only find 2WD LS-swapped toyotas (im sure there are 4wd ones out there somewhere)

while i agree a 2j would be a terrible candidate (for other reasons then you list), im assuming you dont know that the 2j came in a AWD config (see altezza gita). you can make a crap load of power with a simple single turbo swap, head studs, and a new headgasket. a 2j has no problem moving stuff, despite what drivetrain you are mating it to.

the real issue with the 2j is weight distro. without pushing is real far back (and having to possibly mod the firewall) your weight distro is going to be all dicked up. one of the biggest downsides of an inline six. this is where an LS shines.

 

[Coward]

So, I have a 1999 4wd manual transmission right now and I really love it. I just lifted it this past summer and have taken it wheeling a few times and really want to keep this for the long haul. The PO took care of timing belt/water pump/etc. However, I've had seeping valve cover gaskets as long as I've owned it, which is about 10K miles now. I'm not sure of the exact milage as the cluster was swapped at some point but it reads 160K now.

Sadly, confirmed that there is fluid in the #4 cylinder every morning after sitting overnight so head gasket is needing replacement. My question is around whether it would be worth the replacement or try for a swap, with the requirement that I really really want to keep my manual transmission so I'm not leaning towards a v8 swap although I did read there are some adapters available like this one

I was thinking instead to buy a later year (lower milage) wrecked manual trans taco or FJ cruiser and take the motor/trans/t-case from there and swap it in to mine. It would certainly be easier to stick to a 3.4L 5vz based engine which came in tacos up to 2004 but what about the later 4.0L V6s with manual trans like the the FJs and tacos? Has anyone done something like that? How hard is it to splice up the wiring harness or is there a company like xat racing that can make a harness? Obviously, engine and transmission mounts would have to be fabricated, new driveshafts made, etc.

Does anyone have experience with this or am I creating more problems for myself? Curious what the crowd thinks would be the best option here. I've read a bunch of threads but definitely admit that I could search and read more still. Probably the cheapest option is to find a 3rd gen 4runner and swap the engine and keep everything else but if there's a good alternative, I'm definitely willing to explore that.

Thanks in advance

I have a 1996 manual that burned a valve. I pulled the heads off myself and had them worked over at a machine shop. They replaced 2 valves and all the guides and seals for $650. The heads were not warped. I replaced all seals and gaskets associated with pulling the heads off along with the timing belt and water pump (it was time anyway). I think I spent $1,100 total to fix it.

To me, I knew how well my 375,000 mile motor was serviced and used from day one. So I never considered a used motor. I already had one! Anyway, 50,000 miles later it runs as good as new, leaks no oil, and uses no oil.

Like others have said as well, replace everything your going to touch. For everything else, if it's not leaking leave it be.

 

[JohnMc]

Just whip the heads off and get a mechanics flat edge and check everything. If you haven't overheated the hell out of it - you should be able to clean it up and reassemble with all new gaskets. It's not all that hard, in the grand scheme of things. Or maybe my 'grand scheme of things' needs an adjustment. It's easier than swapping in a replacement motor, IMO. And *FAR* easier than swapping a different motor into the vehicle.

Quite often, a blown HG is accompanied by the drive continuing to drive it after the coolant is gone, and *that* can certainly ruin things. But catch it in time, don't keep driving it, and the HG failure in and of itself won't have much if any collateral damage.

My wife did the HG's on her '96 this spring, at a bit over 300K miles. Everything checked as flat, no damage other than the HG itself. Did both sides, obviously, the other side was in similar shape, just hadn't let go quite yet. It had the earlier version of the HG which is partially steel, partially composite. She replaced them with the latest style MLS gasket.

At 300K, the bores on her motor still have very little lip at the top, and a fair amount of crosshatching still visible. Looks good for another 200K in there, at least. I think she's put another 10K on it since then, no issues.

 

[plcfcng]

before you go and put the heads back on be sure to check Valve lash. With over 200,000 they are usual out of spec even if they are not noisy. I find I better off getting them to the machine shop let them do the head tear down resurface they will set the lash because you need diffrent size disks. Worth the money for all the other work you do.
:lever: