BartMaster1234's (Almost) Supercharged 2.7l 1998 PreRunner 4x4 Conversion [Build Thread]

I don't have a parts truck yet! Only doing the 4x4 swap for now. Debating on whether I want to do a 5VZ, 2JZ, or Tundra v8 UZ swap. I live right by a Copart and Mannheim hub so I'm waiting for a good parts car to pop up.

 

So can you reuse the transmission? I don't know anything about auto's - just that manual transmissions are different for the 4 banger and v6 and therefore the driveshafts are too.

 

It's getting there! I only need the correct front differential now.



Finally took the time to organize my hoarde of Tacoma parts.

 

You can indeed reuse the A340E 2WD transmission for a 4WD system. The only difference is the length of the output shaft which on the A340E isn't long enough to accommodate a tail section and transfer case. The A340E and A340F are identical in exception of aforementioned output shaft.

The V6 and I4 variations do have differences. The v6 transfer transfer case has a side transfer case shifter, wile the I4 transfer case is top shift. The bellhousings between the two are also different but can be transferred from your original transmission.

A good shop can swap the output shaft for you, but with the cost of labor it's cheaper to just buy a new transmission. I only paid $250 for mine when a shop would charge a couple hundred plus the cost of the output shaft to convert the A340E to an A340F.

 

You stole my word of advice haha, didn't I suggest the same thing to you? But yeah tranny jack is the bomb, I use mine for too much other stuff haha. Also @BartMaster1234 you are a mad man and I'm loving it. A whole drivetrain swap which includes welding in new transmission and engine mounts as well as swapping every piece of wiring in the front 2/3 of the truck. Plus adding 4x4 components. All in a couple weeks. Who's your dealer and how are their prices so low you can afford to do this and crack at the same time. I'm impressed man, if you ever need help on something you let me know!

 

Thanks a lot man! You're right I am absolutely crazy. I've just always loved mechanical things and electronics. You combine the two and you get automotive technology.

People ask me when I'm going to finish working on my truck and I tell them never. I swear by the end of this truck's life every single part is going to be replaced by something else.

There's this awesome full service yard up in Reno I found through car-part.com - it's called NNAWG Reno Airport. Jeremy is the dude who hooked me up over there. They have a million 4WD Tacomas and 4Runners there. I found that Tacoma parts were exhorbintantly rare and expensive in California, and 4WD stuff nonexistent. It comes down to the fact that you don't need 4WD at all anywhere in the Pacific Northwest besides a few areas. It snows in Northern Nevada hence why the prevalence of 4WD Tacomas.

The Toyota scrapper up in Sacramento wanted $600 for an A340F without a transfer case. You drive over to a state where 4WD is more common and I bought the same A340F with a Transfer Case for $450.

I just did my research and was patient. Posted some threads on here asking for help and six months later I had everything I needed for my swap. Including new replacing seals and parts I'm only $1500 deep.

If I were to do this again I'd just buy a whole parts truck. A lot more convenient and easier to make money back.

 

Unless you don't like driving your truck I'd stick with a Tacoma engine but I have driven my truck about 220 miles in the last year and 200 miles of that was the drive home from picking it up so I can't really give advice I can't take myself lol

 

Me too man, me too. Almost decided to turn it into my career, love diagnostics the most. Hell I still might, but for now it makes for a badass hobby and I'm lucky to have a job with an extremely flexible and open schedule for auto fun. Go forth and learn, without my Tacoma I probably would have stagnated in college, only fitting I destroyed it at the tail end of my time in college oops. Like I said, if you need help lemme know, I have so much leftover info from doing this stuff over the summer, plus some tips for stubborn shit.

 

I've been watching South Main Auto on youtube getting a feel for the diagnostic process - it's how I always thought mechanics should do their job, but so few do. It's cool watching him know what scan tools to use for which vehicles. It's taken me so long to figure out all the stuff I know about Tacomas, I'm glad it's just my hobby, but it's probably like learning a language - the first one takes the longest and they get easier from there huh?

 

Definitely! I honestly have no idea what I'm doing. I'm just taking it one step at a time. Haha.

 

You reading my PMs? i was just telling @BartMaster1234 about that channel earlier. You're right he does the job how it should be done and take appropriate shortcuts when he can.

 

lol it's not the first time I've hacked your sh*t - I guess we travel in similar e-circles - yeah the "torque to spec" gag never gets old. He was torquing a crank bolt on a Kia with a torque wrench when he said "If you guys weren't here watching I'd probably zip this on with the gun." I laughed - he's got enough instinct with that thing, it doesn't matter for him, but I like how he doesn't lead others astray by show boating on critical things and does it the appropriate way for someone that doesn't have the same amount of experience. I learn at least one good tip almost every video I watch no matter how minor of a thing he's doing. Love that channel.

 

His ongoing gag with with just saying click when he's using normal ratchets kills me. Also today's vid when he busts out the smoke machine and calls it an industrial grade vape or something to that effect. A solid dude doing solid work. Always learn a lot in his vids on electrical diag, hell my test light is my right hand man most of the time that's all you need to solve an issue.

 

I actually took an Intro Course into Automotive Technology at my local college over the summer. I had one hell of a time. It's crazy the textbook I had was 102 chapters and 4 inches thick - taking that class really made me appreciate what mechanics do on a day to day basis it's not easy. I almost died when we got to the electrical section. My god I never want to hear the word Ohm again in my life. Don't get me wrong electrical design is fun, it's just a really hard concept to understand. Determining Resistance and Amperage in Parallel and Series circuits given certain variables were probably the hardest things I learned from that class.

In case I haven't posted these yet, here are some pictures from the shop. Hunter Engineering, a tire balancing and alignment rack manufacturer, uses it as their training facility so all the equipment was the newest in the industry at the time.

I did an alignment, changed the rear differential oil, flushed and recharged the air conditioning system, and tested all the fluids. One thing I wish I did was run it on a Dyno, they had one there. My professor didn't know how to use it unfortunately.



Here's my E320 getting an oil change. One thing I love about that car is how easy it is to change the oil filter compared to the Tacoma. At least the Germans got one thing right. You just unscrew it from the top of the engine block.



And here's that aforemntioned textbook. 102 chapters and something like 1,500 pages.

 

Yeah I've got to get a test light - so far my $5 HF multimeter has tracked down parasitic draw from my Scangauge II that was killing my battery since I only drive the truck once a week around the block for street sweeping. The thing I like about the SMA channel is once I get my blue tooth obd scanner going with my phone I'll be able to do a lot of the basic stuff he does - that and my truck is so basic that a lot of things that give people problems with modern electronics don't really apply to my truck.

@BartMaster1234 looks like you got the crash course in autotech - looked like a good way to learn everything hands on! How much do those black and yellow license plates run you? I'm still waiting for the 80's blue and yellow ones to come out.

 

Didn't even realize they were releasing Black and Yellow ones!

Think I paid something like $110 initially? I believe it's only $5-10 extra per year after that. Well worth it in my opinion. I love the look so much I'm considering painting my badges yellow to match it.

 

Right on - no they're not afaik, but the blue and yellow ones give me that 80's mini-truck vibe I love from old school movies I used to watch as a kid. Plus I'm planning on painting my truck earth tones lol

 

I wish they would re-release the 1980's era license plate. That's by far my favorite one.

 

Those are sweet too. In Maine growing up, they had one choice - a white plate with a red lobster - really!? Now there's a few more. I think California's got some good designs - fashionable and I'm waiting to put on my palm tree license plate frame. I want to air brush it first - most of my truck will be plain, but it needs a little pizaz lol

 

Man Red Lobster is has a hell of an advertising campaign.