Can you put 5m motor in a 4runner? If so is it worth it?

[airdreams1]

Tried Google for the information but didn't feel like searching for hours.

Just wondering if anybody has ever put a M5 motor in there 4Runner and if the swap was worth it? Is there a lot of modifications that need to be done ? How much time in modification involved or any other information?Have somebody offering me one for what they say is a pretty good deal. I believe he says he has the all the wiring harness, turbo manifold and whatnot for it as well.

My 4Runner has the 3vze in it now. But after only 1200 miles my head gasket blew again. Never overheated or anything like that. Just ended up with white smoke coming out of the exhaust and obvious smell of antifreeze. So before I go about rebuilding it I thought I would check in to the swap I'm asking about.

Anyway if you have any information I would appreciate it. thank you

If this information helps or not I don't know. But I do have the solid axle swap with the 3in springs. Just in case that makes any difference. Also the transmission is the r150

 

[airdreams1]

Well I've been doing a bunch of research and I'm still completely lost on this swap. I read a lot of guys putting the 7mge motor in but I'm still not getting the full amount of information needed to know if the 5mge would really be worth while swapping. Of course everyone claims that the 7mge has higher horsepower ratings

What I'm not finding out is if the Supra motor is a front or rear sump oil pan setup. What all is that exactly needed to get it in there other than one guy saying that Fuel and clutch lines need to be moved to the other side. And one guy said the EGR valve might hit the brake booster. Other than that I have not been able to find much other information whatsoever.

Most of the thread seem to be extremely old so any pictures or links to any other bills or whatever seem to be always gone. So if anyone has any information that might help me out please let me know. I'm supposed to let the guy know by this weekend if I want the motor.

 

[Rockdawg84]

Looks like you would have to swap out your transmission. The 5m will bolt up to a W series trans with a simple bellhousing swap but I don't know about the R series. I knew a guy with one in his 1st gen and he loved it.

 

[ChildrenOfBodom]

I wouldn't say a 5M is anywhere near worth it when you can do a 7M - and even 7M's aren't that great.

Got a 7M in my 89 Supra that will one day get transplanted in my 87 4Runner, but not until a 2JZ finds its way into the 89 Supra.

It's a good motor if built right, makes decent power, just not a good motor to swap in without rebuilding first. No point to add the extra weight if there's no turbo, IMO.

I vote against the 5M, my vote is for 7M, 1UZ V8, or 1JZ/2JZ.

edit: R series transmissions are compatible with all of the listed engines, bell housings are easy to get. Got 3 7M to R series bells at home right now. Chances are they'll also work with the 5M.

 

[Rockdawg84]

Well if we are voting on other options then I vote for a ford 5.0. Northwest offroad makes a nice bellhousing that lets you bolt one right in. Just sayin' :becky:

 

[airdreams1]

The motor in question has less than 200 miles on it..... guy has a turbo for it as well...

 

[Rockdawg84]

honestly I agree with CoB. For the work it is going to take to do the swap I don't think the 5m is enough advantage to make it worth it, even with the turbo. you might gain 20 or 30 hp but it is a lot of work for that.

 

[ChildrenOfBodom]

A deal is always a good thing, if it's a cheap 5M, and you're looking to have something that just plain works without spending a lot. Stock for stock, a 5M would be my choice over a 3VZ.

The turbocharging game though... there's a whole different deal. Begin rant:

You won't get a whole lot of bang for your buck with the 5M. Sure, it'll beat a 3VZ, but with the effort and cost to turbo a 5M, you'd not be far off in labor and cost from an upgraded 7M-GTE swap. You'll net less power with an upgraded 5M turbo w/ bolt ons than a 100% stock 7MGTE. All of the turbo stuff is there and ready to go when you get a 7MGTE. A lot of folks need to run the 7M ECU/harness/injectors on 5M's just for the turbocharging aspect - why do all that work for anything less than the real deal?

The 5M guys who have MK2 Celica Supras and 1st gen Cressidas do 7M swaps regularly, as its a fairly considerable upgrade in bottom end strength, potential, and parts availability. 7MGTE = 230hp @ crank completely stock.

Since turbocharging a 5M is limited without bottom end work, consider what it takes to upgrade the 7MGTE into a beast. A set of ARP head studs and metal head gasket is preferable to push high boost, stock pistons are okay to a point. There's a well documented upgrade to the 7MGTE that nets 320-400hp depending on turbo and boost level. 320hp is attainable with a 1UZ MAF (25% larger than stock 7MGTE MAF), 550cc injectors (25% larger than 440cc 7MGTE injectors), larger fuel pump, a fuel pressure regulator, and an SAFC II to tune it with. You'd have to run a downpipe for either motor so 3" would be every bit of diameter that you'd need to run this setup.

Push a larger than stock turbo and a decent front mount intercooler (2.5" tubing is plenty) and you could be hitting 400hp with the right tune. .57 trim CT-26 turbos are affordable and can run 15 PSI all day long. This is all on entirely stock 7M internals excluding a head gaskets and some head studs - no similarly equipped 5M could come close.

This has just been my experience, I run just about this exact 7MGTE setup in my 89 Supra turbo. The whole setup will be going into my 87 4Runner in the future. That truck has a W56, but N/A 7M's came with W58s, so there's even a compatible OEM bell for that swap.

 

[airdreams1]

This is why I Figured I'd ask here.... figured you guys would know better than I do. According to the guy he claims that that 5m motor is producing about 300 HP. I assume he means with the turbo but I'm not positive. And again I was looking at this mostly for something that might be a little easier to work on and hopefully more reliable than the 3vze.

Whatever I do and I don't want to spend thousands of dollars to get something put in that is somewhat reliable. That being said all the guys that keep telling me to do a 3.4 swap or trying to say they can do it for $1,000 or less and I don't see how that is even physically possible. Hell I can't even find a completely totaled out truck to pull the motor from for less than $1,500... then there's buying a wiring harness modifying the exhaust modifying everything else which all has some cost to it. Plus there's a bunch of other miscellaneous BS but you have to spend money on just to put that used motor in your vehicle. By the time you're all done the average people that I've seen him do it and do it right have had anywhere between three and $5,000 minimum into the swap. I just don't have that kind of money.

So it sounds like my only real option is to just get my heads off and get the head work done replace the head gaskets and hope for the best.