Engine Swap Question

[dogtail]

no need to remove it and i'd imagine more of a pain to do so unless it needs work.

I got lucky in that my tranny was out of the 4R when i bought it. Rebuilt the motor and hooked the tranny and TC up in my garage. Biggest hurdle was fitting it all in as one but i wanted to swap the core support out anyway.



were you able to get the motor and tranny out as one with the core support in place? I considered and even with the TC off and a load leveler it looked like there was no way.

I have not pulled this one out yet, been too busy. My previous ones have been pulled out attached on scrapped rigs that could chop up. This one will come out attached and go into the good rig attached. Couldn't find any good videos or write ups on it. But many have been done it with out the split.

 

[Joelzy]

I have not pulled this one out yet, been too busy. My previous ones have been pulled out attached on scrapped rigs that could chop up. This one will come out attached and go into the good rig attached. Couldn't find any good videos or write ups on it. But many have been done it with out the split.

interesting, i took measurments and made a paper model and thought there was no way it would fit but always wondered how people went about it otherwise. :noidea: ah well

 

[dogtail]

interesting, i took measurments and made a paper model and thought there was no way it would fit but always wondered how people went about it otherwise. :noidea: ah well

Would be nice to have it well documented with video. Theres nothing really that I found out there. There's one crappy video on Youtube, but their camera battery went dead right as it was coming out.

 

[STI_MECE]

Just get a metric but ton of extensions , good universal sockets, and a helping hand if your in a crunch. and some nice leather gloves to prevent slicing your hands on the heat shielding:cry2:

I pulled my engine and dropped it back in by myself. Just need about 4-5' of 5/16inch chain, and some hooks. transmission jack with titling adjustments and a 2 ton hoist.

If you go full bore your gunna need a bigger hoist or your gunna have to lowerthe front end of the truck down to pick the entire trans & engine assembly out.

But I am a 4x2 so I did not have to deal with the front differential or T case, you still have to go through the same procedures though. I just have more room to work with hand tools.

best advice. have patience. it should drop in and out like a glove

 

[gamefreakgc]

So it seems nobody is saying removing the trans is necessary. But, I can now see why the FSM says to do it this way. When [MENTION=102606]infamousRNR[/MENTION] and I did the trans swap on his 2002, it took us some time to line up the trans with the engine even with a transmission jack with the ability to be adjusted and tilted perfectly to line up with the motor. I'm envisioning a real struggle getting the motor to line up with the trans. I'm guessing you guys had to disconnect the trans from the crossmember to help line things up.

For the guys that are leaving the harness attached to the trans and transfer case, how much of the top end of the engine do you need to remove to get the harness completely free of the engine? I've removed the harness completely one time but it was on a motor that was already pulled and on a pallet and I don't quite remember what it will take to get the harness completely free of the motor.

I still don't know which way we will go with this. I don't know what's worse. Spending the extra time to pull the transfer case and trans so we won't have a horrible time trying to mate the new engine with the transmission or foregoing the trans and transfer case removal knowing there we will have a serious fight on our hands getting the two lined up.

I've pulled 5 engines and replaced 1 (my 98). The steps I take for pulling an engine with no intent to put it back in are very different than if I'm planning on putting it back in if that makes any sense. If pulling the engine with no intent then just yank out the whole deal and be done with it. Just pull the wiring harness through the firewall and don't unplug anything.

If you plan on putting it back in you'll have a heck of a time getting the engine + transmission back in as one piece and even more trouble if you try and pull the 4WD transmission & transfer case separately. It just creates a lot of extra headaches and even more parts you have to take off. The simplest way I found to do it was:

1. Remove engine+transmission harness. Some of the clips on top of the trans are tricky to get to but just be patient. There's also a few places where it has pigtails that can be disconnected instead of doing all the plugs and 10mm bolts that hold the harness down. The engine side of the harness is pretty simple, you do have to pull the upper plenum/intake manifold off though to get to injectors.

2. Remove engine. This part is easy enough.

3. Replace new engine. The hardest part is like you said, getting the engine & trans to mate but with some patience it's not hard. You'll want a jack under the transmission (should have had one there anyway upon removal since there's nothing to support it with the engine gone) so you can have about 10* of angle adjustment. An engine leveler is a must here since the 5VZ-FE's like to point up to the sky when you pull them. We improvised and used heavy duty ratchet straps to pull up the backside of the engine so it was more horizontal.

4. You're home free!

Hope this helps.

 

[mtbtim]

I've pulled 5 engines and replaced 1 (my 98). The steps I take for pulling an engine with no intent to put it back in are very different than if I'm planning on putting it back in if that makes any sense. If pulling the engine with no intent then just yank out the whole deal and be done with it. Just pull the wiring harness through the firewall and don't unplug anything.

If you plan on putting it back in you'll have a heck of a time getting the engine + transmission back in as one piece and even more trouble if you try and pull the 4WD transmission & transfer case separately. It just creates a lot of extra headaches and even more parts you have to take off. The simplest way I found to do it was:

1. Remove engine+transmission harness. Some of the clips on top of the trans are tricky to get to but just be patient. There's also a few places where it has pigtails that can be disconnected instead of doing all the plugs and 10mm bolts that hold the harness down. The engine side of the harness is pretty simple, you do have to pull the upper plenum/intake manifold off though to get to injectors.

2. Remove engine. This part is easy enough.

3. Replace new engine. The hardest part is like you said, getting the engine & trans to mate but with some patience it's not hard. You'll want a jack under the transmission (should have had one there anyway upon removal since there's nothing to support it with the engine gone) so you can have about 10* of angle adjustment. An engine leveler is a must here since the 5VZ-FE's like to point up to the sky when you pull them. We improvised and used heavy duty ratchet straps to pull up the backside of the engine so it was more horizontal.

4. You're home free!

Hope this helps.

What I found with the clutch job we did is the back end of the transmission is heavy because of the transfer case. Wouldn't the trans be more prone to want to pull up and not dip down when balancing on the cross member once the engine is removed? I was thinking if we kept the trans and transfer case in, we would have to support under the transfer case to help get the trans lined up with the engine.

 

[gamefreakgc]

What I found with the clutch job we did is the back end of the transmission is heavy because of the transfer case. Wouldn't the trans be more prone to want to pull up and not dip down when balancing on the cross member once the engine is removed? I was thinking if we kept the trans and transfer case in, we would have to support under the transfer case to help get the trans lined up with the engine.

That was not my experience, because the transmission is much heavier than the transfer case. The bulk of the transmission (clutches, gears, etc.) is forward of the cross member right above the pan, and the entire pan is in front of the cross member. It likes to fall forward.

 

[mtbtim]

That was not my experience, because the transmission is much heavier than the transfer case. The bulk of the transmission (clutches, gears, etc.) is forward of the cross member right above the pan, and the entire pan is in front of the cross member. It likes to fall forward.

Cool, good to know. When we had the trans jack under the pan of the transmission when doing the clutch job, it was definitely back heavy but the trans mount does sit further back then where we were supporting it so it makes sense that the different balancing point would allow the front end to be heavier than the back end. Thanks!

 

[fourfive]

For those of you that have swapped out a motor on one of these rigs, did you feel it was necessary to have the transmission out of the vehicle? The first step in the FSM states to remove the transmission. I'm guessing this is not necessary. [MENTION=102606]infamousRNR[/MENTION] are going to document a motor swap this coming week and I wanted some confirmation that the removal of the trans isn't necessary. Common sense says it's not necessary but these are uncharted waters for us and I wanted your guys feedback before diving into this. Thanks!

[MENTION=120071]mtbtim[/MENTION] & [MENTION=102606]infamousRNR[/MENTION], if you had to do another 5vzfe swap (with an automatic trans), would you still remove the transmission & transfer case like the FSM suggests or attempt it with the transmission & transfer case still bolted to the vehicle?

 

[brillo_76]

I have done two of these complete swaps on 4x4 V6. I personally remove the transfer.. Then the transmission. Lastly the engine. Granted I am currently working off jack stands.

I am sure it can be done easier ways and faster. Just how I do them. Except cars. I mostly pull engine and transmission together.

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[mtbtim]

[MENTION=120071]mtbtim[/MENTION] & [MENTION=102606]infamousRNR[/MENTION], if you had to do another 5vzfe swap (with an automatic trans), would you still remove the transmission & transfer case like the FSM suggests or attempt it with the transmission & transfer case still bolted to the vehicle?

It's hard to say which is the lesser of two evils. If you remove the transfer case and trans, getting the engine out and back in is a breeze, but you had to spend that time to pull trans and transfer case. When it comes to getting the trans and transfer case back in, having them separated and going in one at a time makes it easier. A trans jack only works well when the transfer case isn't connected. With it connected, it's too back heavy and messes up the ability to make fore and aft adjustments.

We just shot an engine swap on a 2nd Gen 4runner. We put a 3.4 Liter in it. We kept the trans and transfer case bolted up. Pulling the 3.0 wasn't that hard but getting the 3.4 married up to the trans was a bit of a pain in the ass. We used a trick with a ratchet strap to give the engine hoist more adjustment which definitely helped with the mating.

I'd have to say now that I've done it both ways, I'd probably keep the trans bolted up and fight a bit with getting the engine mated with the trans. We were doing it on a manual transmission which makes it a bit harder because you have to align the input shaft splines with the pressure plate and then finally get the end of the shaft into the pilot bearing. With the automatic, you just have to worry about getting the alignment dowels on the engine block aligned with the transmission bell housing.

Check out this video of us dropping in the 3.4 into our new buddy Brendon's 2nd Gen 4runner.

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[brillo_76]

We just used a harbor freight low profile with another person up front to mate the transmission and engine back together. The 2nd person can move the engine back as it sitting on the 2 engine mounts bolted up. That seems to be the easiest way o found so far. I would recommend verifying your torque convertor is fully in too.

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[brillo_76]

We just used a harbor freight low profile with another person up front to mate the transmission and engine back together. The 2nd person can move the engine back as it sitting on the 2 engine mounts bolted up. That seems to be the easiest way I found so far. I would recommend verifying your torque convertor is fully in . As if its not the entire way in it will not go back together. Do not use bolts to pull them together or you will be having the torque convertor stuck to the flex plate and you will not be able to bolt the flex plate to the torque convertor either..

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