Considering swapping 1gr (4.0L) into my 1st Gen Tacoma

Went back to the wrecker yesterday to check out the donor and measure some stuff. Started it again and the 4.0 purrs like a kitten. I keep getting way too excited.

I am honestly starting to stress about a couple of the potential issues. Probably the biggest is this whole immobilizer BS. I really really don't want to spend the money for an aftermarket ecu. I have been looking for a way to completely bypass that crap but have not been successful so far. In order to keep it cheap I will maybe have to keep it all in tact but that means transferring a whole sh#@ load of extra junk onto the 97. For reliability and bush rig simplicity I don't need that sort of garbage. Me and my mechanic friends are hoping there is some magic wire you apply 5v to and it's good to go. I guess I need full schematics? The longer I wait the more chance someone starts robbing parts off the donor yet i dont want to buy it and then decide I chose the wrong donor.

 

Well take a chance or wait for the right setup, or a Tacoma deal that DOES NOT have the imbolizer system in the ECU, or maybe buy this deal and find a used ECU
that does not have the imbolizer as part of the ECU

 

What do you mean by the "right setup"?

I like the idea of an ecu with no immobilizer.

 

Find another Tacoma that is wrecked that has the 4 liter motor and NOT a immobilizer system or by this wrecked truck and then find a used ECU out of another truck that did not have the immobilizer system and then you can use that ECU Instead of buying a new aftermarket ECU

 

Ok thanks

 

I would buy the truck and figure out that stuff later, I sure if it fell through you could get your money back out of it because it's a deal

 

How do you know which Truck has the immobilizer crap and which doesn't? I'm also looking into swapping a 4.0 1gr-fe into another rig and no way in hell I'll spend a grand on megasquirt or similar

 

What I am learning is that the chip keys will have a dot below the plastic. And it will have a big black head.
I called toyota with the VIN and he told me that it does have the immobilizer.

 

Just tape that key somewhere under your dash maybe? Would that work?

 

I am just worried about how integrated it is into the 07 truck and that I will need to transfer a boat load of stuff over. I think the friggin dash panel is needed. I am also worried about reliability. One of these damn components gets unhappy or the taped key falls off and I will be stuck out in a bog somewhere.

 

Another concern is how the heck do i get toyota to make me an extra key. They probably wont just do a vin lookup and hand me a key. I live 400 km from nearest dealer. Even if I trailered my bogger to them my vin will be for the 97 and like heck they are gonna wanna give me a key.

 

They might. Won't be cheap tho. What do you need it for tho?

If the 07 already has the immobilizer then I doubt that any trucks with this 4.0 don't have it. You might have to swap over the entire ignition circuit tho I have heard that people got away with taping the key to the transponder but that was from a Tundra swap... I'm still learning the engine management components. Certainly the hardest part of these swaps now...

 

I will have only one key. I like to have a spare because I could loose one pretty easily. Yes I would expect that the entire ignition hoopla will need to be transferred over.

Maybe I should just look for a 4.3 or something. This just seems ridiculous. I was going this route because I thought it would be easier to get the drive line all hooked up but maybe it's not easier at all.

 

The easiest way to bypass the immoblizer is to get a ecu that doesnt have one, usually real basic models wont have an immobilizer. Tundras with the 4.0L wont have an immobilizer usually.

 

Since a few people said to do a V8 I'll make a comment. I'm too much money to back out deep into a 2UZ and have had issue after issue with getting parts because Toyota has stopped supporting the motor and the aftermarket has never really started supporting it. If I was to do it over again it would be a Chevy V8 or a 1GR-FE (4.0l).

 

I feel your pain man. I really should have built on a different platform. It may be time to cut my losses and strip as much goodies of this thing as I can and just build a different rig that has a 6 or 8 cyl. I also would like to have more room for passengers. A 4.0 would be so awesome but the more I learn about this the more I think I am going to have a lot of headaches. I just wish I didn't dump so much cash into these axles. All the other stuff can come off pretty easily and the rest of it was custom welding and fabbing that I did but wasn't very expensive.

 

What rig is the 2UZ coming from and where is it going into?

 

Maybe just do a 3.4 swap plus supercharger? Should be easier (throttle cable?), there's a thread on here where a guy in Colorado recently swapped one in a 98 regular cab

 

2UZ came from a 2001 Tundra and is going into a 1999 Tacoma.

 

Yeah that's not easy. Been done several times but always with huge amounts of fabrication blood sweat and tears.

Hope you'll achieve success! Auto or manual?