Motor swap question- need help

[DC Longskate]

I have a 1994 Toyota 4runner that has blown its third head gasket. I bought it 10000 miles ago and put all my savings in to it hoping that it would be a reliable vehicle. I am first year school teacher and prior to that I was a solo painting/carpentry contractor. With the economy and new regulations on contractors it is hard to stay alive as a solo carpenter- over head is outrageous. So I was under employed for since last April, then I got this teaching job a few months ago. Needless to say I am broke. Then my 4runner blew the head gasket and more that likely it is going to be too expensive to fix.

My plan is to grind it out for a few months with out my truck and look for a cheep wrecked 4runner that I can pull the motor from and put it in my 94, and I can do this my self. My 94 is in fantastic shape other than the fact it does not run. Plus I dumped all my savings into it. So I kind of have to find a way to fix it.

My question is do I have to put the 3.0V6 in it from the second generation 4runners or trucks(which all seem to have the gasket problem and I would like to avoid that problem again if at all possible) --- OR--- can I put the 3.4L 5VZ-FE V6 from the third generation 4runners and trucks. To move motor mounts would be out of my league and I know the third gen 4runners had a larger build. I’m assuming I can not easily interchange the two motors but im hoping I can as it may be easier to find a truck from the third gen that has a motor worth using. Please comment with all your thoughts. And by all means if you have any better ideas please let me know.

Thanks
DC

 

[bhowle]

I have a 1994 Toyota 4runner that has blown its third head gasket. I bought it 10000 miles ago and put all my savings in to it hoping that it would be a reliable vehicle. I am first year school teacher and prior to that I was a solo painting/carpentry contractor. With the economy and new regulations on contractors it is hard to stay alive as a solo carpenter- over head is outrageous. So I was under employed for since last April, then I got this teaching job a few months ago. Needless to say I am broke. Then my 4runner blew the head gasket and more that likely it is going to be too expensive to fix.

My plan is to grind it out for a few months with out my truck and look for a cheep wrecked 4runner that I can pull the motor from and put it in my 94, and I can do this my self. My 94 is in fantastic shape other than the fact it does not run. Plus I dumped all my savings into it. So I kind of have to find a way to fix it.

My question is do I have to put the 3.0V6 in it from the second generation 4runners or trucks(which all seem to have the gasket problem and I would like to avoid that problem again if at all possible) --- OR--- can I put the 3.4L 5VZ-FE V6 from the third generation 4runners and trucks. To move motor mounts would be out of my league and I know the third gen 4runners had a larger build. I’m assuming I can not easily interchange the two motors but im hoping I can as it may be easier to find a truck from the third gen that has a motor worth using. Please comment with all your thoughts. And by all means if you have any better ideas please let me know.

Thanks
DC

While you may find some info here, you should probably head over to YotaTech and check out their 3.4L swap subforum. As far as I know, the motor bolts into the stock mounts and up to the 3.0L transmission, but you'll need to either pay someone to wire everything up, or spend the time to learn how to do it yourself. You'll also need a 2" BL to clear the 3.4 so that the hood will close (or build a custom hood/spacers to clear).

I'm sure I'm missing quite a few more things to make the swap work, but there's plenty of information out on the internet about doing this

Here's the link to the YT subforum: 3.4 Swaps - YotaTech Forums

 

[Joehert]

Make sure you call a dealer and see if this head gasket failure is covered under the recall they issued on a number of the 3VZEs. It didn't work for me, but I know of others that saved a lot of money by having the dealer fix it for free. Good luck!

 

[DC Longskate]

thanks a ton for the link!!

 

[90toytruck.]

only prob with toy doing the recall is they wont resurface the heads who did the rebuild the first time ? can you do the work your self ?