Rusty Red

New bumps installed and I made some plates to hopefully make these one last a little longer and possibly work better too!

Nothing like a sketchy lathe setup on a Sunday.

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Been lagging on updating this thread. Took the minion on a trip with the boys to Briggs Camp and Telescope Peak. The trip was absolutely awesome. Did lots of 4LO wheeling. Good times!

Truck did great, but was definitely lacking power in the high passes. I was reduced to 2nd gear and like 40mph is some sections.

This motivated me to look into a more power. A supercharger is available for my 3.4, but they are $2k used and $4k new. Then I would have a tired 250k mile 3.4 with a super charger. 3.4’s hold a ton of value so there is some value left in doing a swap.

I have been reading and researching, landed on a 2uzfe swap out of a Tundra or Sequoia. The early ones use the same transmission/transfer case that I already have. Same fuel line connections (different pump but that’s easy), same power steering lines and same A/C system. A little wiring to integrate the Tacoma body harness to the new V8 ecu and bobs your uncle!

Anyone have a line on a wrecked tundra or sequoia?! 😂

Pics from the last trip….IMG_2988.jpegIMG_4456.jpegIMG_4459.jpegIMG_4471.jpegIMG_4484.jpegIMG_4504.jpegIMG_4535.jpegIMG_4542.jpegIMG_4536.jpegIMG_4534.jpeg
 
Cal Mini Trucks!!! I took all my left over parts from El Rojo after the roll and part out. Also bought hard line for a rack from them way back! Cool resource, always recommending them!!!
 
Honestly for a taco, I would look at the later 1uz or the 3uz from the early gs430s that I think still used the a340. Those motors were alloy blocks and way lighter if I remember right. The 2uz is a great motor but it's heavy.

Sean
 
smokeysevin said:
Honestly for a taco, I would look at the later 1uz or the 3uz from the early gs430s that I think still used the a340. Those motors were alloy blocks and way lighter if I remember right. The 2uz is a great motor but it's heavy.

Sean
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When I started looking into this, the early 1uzfe was the choice, but these motors are getting old and have some real old tech…dual distributors, coils, a weird intake and lots of aging expensive parts/sensors.

The newer VVTI 1uz and 3uz are awesome, but they never came with the 4spd (A340) transmission I have. The later Tundra/Sequoias had a A750 5 speed with a pretty unique transfer case.

The Lexus 3uzfe had A650 5 speed that isn’t compatible with a transfer case. There is a guy in New Zealand that makes an adapter, but it’s $2,500, I’m poor.

To do either one of these, I would have to run both ECUs,(one for engine, one for the transmission) or get a stand alone transmission controller.

I want this swap to be as plug and play as possible, so getting a donor truck with the same transmission/transfer case as I have now greatly simplifies everything.

Michael Allen from Total Chaos swapped in a 3uzfe into his sweet sleeper 1st gen, but he runs a 5spd which greatly reduces wiring.

The idea is to have as little downtime as possible and not miss any adventures.
 
I wouldn't dispute any of that. I have a '91 1UZFE and while parts are still available the last junkyard motor was a bit tough to find, probably has 250K miles, all the rubber had turned to plastic, and most the plastic was super brittle. I will say it does behave differently than my DD Tundra 2UZFE, both with A340 trans. It feels like it wants to rev and is way more balanced in the upper RPM.

The motors are longer so you may have to cut out the front core support, delete the mechanical fan, or cut into your firewall. The heads are also wider so mine make intimate contact with the brake booster in my pickup. I have a spare block and also the Sequoia in the garage with no inner fenderwells if you want to take some measurements.
 
This is just me thinking out loud, but how much value/worth do you think youll get out of your current 3.4? Im not trying to be rude or disrespectful at all, but I dont think youre going to be rolling in ducktales money by selling your 3.4 (to fund a V8 swap). Rough estimate says youll spend between $2.5-$4k doing a V8 swap, then the fun part of trying to make it legal - or doing *other things* for legality and always having that in the back of your mind when a cops behind you.

Maybe its just me, but if I have the choice of buying a 200k+ mile engine private party for $1k, or a 50k mile engine from an import place for $2500, Im buying the second one. OR, like you said, youd be into a S/C'd 3.4 for about $4k and itll be a relatively simple and easy (and quick-ish) power addition. Sure, your current motors tired, but when/if it gives up the ghost, you drop another $2500 for a JDM 3.4 and bobs your uncle.

[All price guesstimates are from when we did a 3.4 swap 10 yrs ago, I have no clue what a JDM engine costs these days]

Edit: Looking at the HP/Torque numbers of the SC'd 3.4 VS a 2UZ, the bolt-on power improvements of the 3.4 is the direction I'd be going all day long. Just my $.02

And a google search has JDM 3.4s at $1900-$2800. Plug and play for you.

Also, there was/is a member on here that works at magnuson (IIRC he said something in the "what do you do for work" thread), maybe he could get you a hook-up? If you find him let me know, I need all of the accessories for a 3.4 supercharger lol
 
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desert_steve said:
This is just me thinking out loud, but how much value/worth do you think youll get out of your current 3.4? Im not trying to be rude or disrespectful at all, but I dont think youre going to be rolling in ducktales money by selling your 3.4 (to fund a V8 swap). Rough estimate says youll spend between $2.5-$4k doing a V8 swap, then the fun part of trying to make it legal - or doing *other things* for legality and always having that in the back of your mind when a cops behind you.

Maybe its just me, but if I have the choice of buying a 200k+ mile engine private party for $1k, or a 50k mile engine from an import place for $2500, Im buying the second one. OR, like you said, youd be into a S/C'd 3.4 for about $4k and itll be a relatively simple and easy (and quick-ish) power addition. Sure, your current motors tired, but when/if it gives up the ghost, you drop another $2500 for a JDM 3.4 and bobs your uncle.

[All price guesstimates are from when we did a 3.4 swap 10 yrs ago, I have no clue what a JDM engine costs these days]

Edit: Looking at the HP/Torque numbers of the SC'd 3.4 VS a 2UZ, the bolt-on power improvements of the 3.4 is the direction I'd be going all day long. Just my $.02

And a google search has JDM 3.4s at $1900-$2800. Plug and play for you.

Also, there was/is a member on here that works at magnuson (IIRC he said something in the "what do you do for work" thread), maybe he could get you a hook-up? If you find him let me know, I need all of the accessories for a 3.4 supercharger lol
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I love the debate and conversation!

Here is my take on it and why I’m going V8. The supercharged 3.4 and stock 4.7 make similar HP numbers, 250ish. The 4.7 beats the SC 3.4 on torque by a good 50ft/lbs, 260 vs. 310.

The SC 3.4 makes all it power and TQ up high in the rpm range when the iron lung is spinning fast. The dyno charts say 3,500+ RPM is when they start to work good. I don’t think this is a problem, just the nature of a SC engine.

The V8, especially the 4.7, makes more power and TQ lower in the rpm range. I think it will make the power much more “useable” for me. Big flat torque curve from 1500-4000. This is where I want the power.

Also, the supercharger really needs the 7th injectior and premium fuel to fight the pinging at high rpm. The 4.7 can run on CA cat piss 87. Important for me as good gas can be hard to find deep in the desert and Mexico.

Cost……

Well we don’t play with trucks in the desert to save money. It all cost lots of money. I think I can get around $800-$1000 for my current motor pretty easy.

A 200k mile sequoia can be had for around $2000. Once I steal the motor, ecu wiring, sell off some parts and scrap it, I figure be into it for about a $1000. Add another $1500-2000 for all the other miscellaneous stuff that adds up so quick.

Your estimate seems pretty accurate.

Let’s remember the most important part of this….V8 noises!! The Japanese bald eagle noises will be glorious!

Thanks for reading my Ted Talk on 2000’s Japanese truck engines.
 
I had a supercharged 3.4 with headers urd and all that stuff. It worked good but definitely didn't have poop below 3K RPM's so I geared the truck to get me into the power quicker, but then the Rev limiter was kicking in.

I had a 5.3L 4L80e I was going to swap into my Tacoma because torques, dgaf about staying toyota (it's a heavily modified prerunner, far from "stock") so I could get more torque and potential power as limited as my budget would allow.

I also got the cam swapped with headers 5.3 4l80e for 1400 so was gonna actually make some money selling off the 3.4L and auto trans when i did the swap. v6 is cool, staying Toyota is cool, but for what we do just LS swap it and really make some power easily and have parts available everywhere for cheap/easy to get.
 
Makes total sense on the usable torque. Most of my "off road experience" has been powered by 22re's or ford OHV 4.0s. The 3.4 that we swapped into my 4runner is an absolute monster in comparison. Im not a power-monger in terms of driving style, so a 3.4 is PLENTY of power. That said, the sweet sound of a SC'd 3.4 makes me happy in the pants.
 
Yes the supercharger, no cats and blown out mufflers on my Tacoma sounded awesome. I wanted the whistle so I did a turbo on my 68 Ford 6.0 mainly for the sound, a little extra power can't hurt though.
 
desert_steve said:
Makes total sense on the usable torque. Most of my "off road experience" has been powered by 22re's or ford OHV 4.0s. The 3.4 that we swapped into my 4runner is an absolute monster in comparison. Im not a power-monger in terms of driving style, so a 3.4 is PLENTY of power. That said, the sweet sound of a SC'd 3.4 makes me happy in the pants.
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I’m not a power snob, contrary to what people think of me putting a 6.0L in my truck. I did it because it’s SO much easier to drive. Long highway stretches are way easier being able to pass without downshifting and the truck screaming just to pass a few mph faster than the person in front. Also helps offroad for getting on top of whoop sections out of turns.
 
For everyone that’s v8 swapping and lives in Commifornia are you finding a state ref that’s fair, hot smog, out of state registration or live in counties that don’t require smog checks?

I would love to drop an 5.3 w/ 4L80ein my taco. But I wanna keep registered here in Cali and not deal with headaches of hot smog and such. Kinda leaves me the SC as only feasible option. Maybe if a close friend or family moves out of state, but once it’s swapped and registered out of state it would never be able to be registered back in Cali if needed!

Big time first world problems!!! 😆
 
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