Engine swap

A

Ahlem

New member
I haven't posted in quite a while. The 4Runner was purchased by my son a couple years ago and I got it going while he was at school at Michigan Tech.
It's been his winter snowboarding vehicle. He finally got tired of taking his life into his own accelerator foot every time he merged. So out comes the 3.slow and in goes this. He's done a very nice clean job with great attention to detail.
Quite a bit of fabrication and it looks like it cam from the factory this way. Today was the first start after analyzing the wiring harness issue for two weeks. It was a super simple ground issue. Runs super smooth and will take another week or two to button up some minor details. Not bad for a young kid.
He did almost all of the work himself. I'm looking forward to a ride. I don't feel at all sorry for the Lexus 400 that donated the motor.
 

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Both the 4Runner and the Lexus 400 are 1993. The 4Runner started life in Florida and it's really clean. The transmission came from a second generation 4Runner. Custom Stainless Steel exhaust, trans cross member, engine mounts and front steering linkage were all fabricated by my son. He had the flywheel machined to accept the 4Runner clutch. He added a cold air intake and made a custom stainless steel hard pipe to make the radiator install a lot easier. I will ask permission to take more pictures. What do you want to see? It will take another week or two to finalize some simple details. He may add the Lexus control unit for the fuel pump at some point.
 
Here's another picture. At some moment in the near future I will post the 3.0 140K motor, transmission with transfer case and drive shaft on the classifieds.
 

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This looks awesome. Would love to hear more about what's involved in the swap and photos of the fabrication done. Strongly considering an engine swap if mine turns out to be pooched.
 
The ECU is the unit from the Lexus. My son spent many hours last winter pouring over the wiring diagrams for the Lexus vs the Toyota and detailed out the hybrid wiring diagram and labeling a lot of wires. The self serve yards around here don't charge much for wiring harnesses and he acquired an extra 4 runner one and an extra Lexus one. The connectors came in handy when he put the two together. I'm not familiar with the 4Runner transmission numbers but it's a 5 speed stick from a similar year 4 runner. He had the motor and transmission dangling from an engine hoist for a while as he fabricated the motor mounts and the transmission cross member. He removed the steering linkage and fabbed a notch in the oil pan for clearance.
I'll get some photos up shortly. It looks stock FWIW.
 
Anyone know how to adjust the tach to accept the signal from a v8?
The little knob in there doesn't have instructions.
 
That's sick. Any fabrication to the engine bay to make it fit?
I couldn't ever do something like that.
I have dreams of installing a Cummins 4bt in mine, all that needs is 4wires, and motor /transmission mounts haha!
 
Ahlem said:
Anyone know how to adjust the tach to accept the signal from a v8?

The little knob in there doesn't have instructions.
Click to expand...


When I did the 3.4 swap in mine I had to add a resistor on the back of the tach circuit board across 2 specific terminals. No idea who found that out but I found it on the internet like 10 years ago. You could try googling that (3.4 swap tach fix) and maybe lead you down a rabbit hole.

Great looking swap. I had a fair amount of hurdles with mine including cruise control, power steering pressure switch and the AirConditioner as well. Having the entire vehicle that engine came from will help you immensly. Keep us posted.

Wanted to add, mine needed a 10K ohm resistor soldered to the tach. So what's likely happening is the little knob you're turning isn't changing enough resistance and like mine, I had to add additional supplemented resistance. I would take out the Lexus tach and see what value you have across its adjustable knob. Then go from there. Here's a link to some good info. I'm bored so I'll keep looking for you
http://www.mindspring.com/~jayk3/toyota/tachmod.htm
3.4 swap info for tach ( no idea if it will work on yours)
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f131/3-4l-swap-tach-mod-85960/
 
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That's rad for sure. Would have been cool to see some documentation pics or thread, but thanks for sharing.
 
Just posted the 140,000 mile motor, automatic transmission and transfer case in the classifieds $400 for all local West Michigan pickup. The motor includes all the peripherals. Such a deal. It ran well just didn't have the oomph of the v8.
 
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