05 Tacoma SAC and 4.7 V8 Swap

Well this isn't my first SAC Tacoma, but unfortunately my first one was totalled after hitting some ice and piling into a tree. I decided to get basically the same truck I had before and rebuild and improve on the first build.


I originally had a 4.7 from a 2002 Tundra however I decided to get a 2005 engine since it uses the same transmission as the 4.0 V6 and would make it easier to swap in. For those thinking what's the point of doing the 4.7 swap it's the torque numbers I'm after. And I'll be doing some other mods to improve on the V8 as well.


Originally I had some 40" MTR's but having heard of tire failures decided to change it up to 41.5" Pitbull Rockers. Also I was motivated to upsize because of the loss of ground clearance. My previous Tacoma ran 37s on a HP Dana 44 and Tacoma rear. Under the pumpkins going to tons I lost a bit of ground clearance even being on 40s.


For front coil overs I went with 16" Kings and some spaced bump stops to 3".




Originally I was running the early Super Duty Dana 60 front and Sterling 10.5 however it made more sense to upgrade to the stronger 2005 and up front axle. The brakes are bigger, the knuckles are bigger, and the unit bearings are also bigger. Having already set up the rear axle with 5.13 gears and ARB I just added the parts off the newer rear axle to gain the extra width to match the front. For the most part it is bolt on. However the weld on Caliper mounts have to be ground and rewelded to work with the new style hubs and rotors.

 

I sent off the knuckles to get some machining and some beefy high steer put on. In the end the truck will have a 8" double ended ram hydro assist set up.




The rear clearly is much wider than stock of 65" my previous build ran a full size 78 F250 Dana 44 converted to 6 lug with 10 bolt parts. The newer full size diffs are much wider than the older full size diffs. The rear axle is set up with 5.13 gears with a solid pinion spacer and ARB locker.





Got the front IFS all cut out which is fairly painless and can all be easily removed in one chunk. Next put the cleaned up front axle in place to get an idea as to where things are going to sit. The front bumper is going to have to be trimmed and I'll be ordering up some fiberglass fenders to hopefully not get hassled on the highway as much...

 

The engine I needed the pan assembly from a 100 series Land Cruiser to move the sump to the rear for clearance. I also got engine mounts off of 4runner hoping that the engine would bolt into the Tacoma without issue. Unfortunately the frame engine mounts have to be relocated but they do bolt up the V6 is just further back. The transmission is the same other than the torque converter and bellhousing. But a quick swap from the one that came with the engine and it was good to go. The wiring is the same to the trans and the tcase so that was beneficial in moving up to the 2005 engine. The interface to the truck wiring for the most part looks to be plug and play. There will be some changing of plugs from the V6 for 4x4 actuation and minor things like that. The V8 computer the plugs all plug in from the truck but I will cross reference pin locations to make sure everything is where it should be.



Here are the mounts tacked into place in the new location. Next I need to measure up a rad from a V8 4runner to see if it will bolt into the Tacoma. The coolant outlets are completely opposite of where they need to be from V6 to V8. Also I have to start completely over since my truck had a rust hole in the frame I got a new frame from Toyota with the recall. It's a nice bonus to be having a clean fresh new slate to work with and to properly coat once all the fab work is completed.




Shaved quite a bit of weight off the front axle. And because the cast stretches so far there isn't much tube exposed. However the cast will be able to hold a decent weld without failure due to the steel it's made from thankfully. With the proper welding procedure it will be plenty strong to hold up without ripping apart. Also using all EMF large rod ends and bushings for the links. Really nice high quality parts and basically just down the road from me.



I got some ruffstuff diff covers when they were on sale, they should protect the expensive parts of the axles quite nicely. I definitely don't have to worry about denting these at all.

I haven't really been documenting this build as well as I have with previous builds but plan on now getting on top of that with more pictures and more detail as to what is going on moving forward.

 

Much want

 

Welcome to TW. Excited to see this build unfold

 

Damn...1 ton SAS PLUS engine swap.

This is gonna be awesome!

 

@Torspd

 

Subbed.

 

@beertimecontinuum for the engine swap.

 

Suuuubbbb!!

Welcome to TW @canadian bum !!!

 

This has my interest on both conversions. I eventually want to swap a 2uz/a750 into my FJ40.

 

All in!

 

Thanks for all the welcomes. I'm looking forward to getting this truck done so I can get some wheeling in back in California as well as make a trip to Utah. Here is a before and after of the old truck.

Nice, I have a 40 and 45 I've been working on as well that I'll get back at once this one is wrapped up but I've got a couple 1HDT diesels for them that I'll be swapping in.

 

I remember your old build, I believe on TTORA. Welcome!

 

Yeah that's where it was. Doesn't really look like TTORA is as lively anymore what's the story on that?

 

Some company bought the forum (Vertical Scope I believe, same people that have since bought Pirate4x4), and it just fell apart and people stopped using it. It's a shame too, it was a great forum with loads of good info/write-ups.

 

Soooooo sub'd for the awesomeness to come! Must have been a hard hit on the old truck to push a steel bumper in like that, hope you came out from that one ok.

 

Really? That's a bummer, I haven't been on either forum for a while. I check out Ih8mud from time to time but haven't been on the forums as much as I used to be. Looking to get back into it more.

 

Yeah I was fine. And it was quite the hit. Even bent the nose of the crank.

 

Subbbb