CK’s 3rd gen build thread

Decided to go ahead and start a build thread.

I’m a bit busy at the moment, not only with the truck but it’s busy season at work, so I’m just going to jump right in with where the truck sits now. I do plan to add previous mods and work to this first post, in chronological order, as time permits.

first a little background about me: I’m a gear head to the core! Did my first engine swap at 14. I fitted the wrong motor into a car, a Ford Probe in which I replaced the 2.0 i4 with a 2.5 JDM Mazda V6 (that I ran with a Megasquirt) at 18. I went on to built many race cars and rigs in my twenties. Within the last 10-15 years I’ve took on some LS swaps including my most recent truck build, a 2008 S10 2wd with an actual LS1 with full body integration. Anyway on to the point…



One week ago on a pretty typical trail I put the #5 rod through the block. Read about it a little more here. I went back and forth on doing my thing and swapping in an LSx but in the end and with lots of strong and stern persuasion from my wife I ordered a 47k mile salvage yard 2GR-FKS with a 6mo warranty. Main reason I decided against an LS swap was to retain value and to not loose a bunch of creature comforts / body systems. Getting the LS to run and drive is the easy part, I like my radar CC and factory dash / radio displays and climate control and Bluetooth and everything it’d be near importable to integrate so I guess I agree with her.



#5 plugwell spewing oil as soon as I pulled the plug


The truck when it blew. You can see the driver side camber but you can’t tell it’s at almost equal of an up angle


the pan before I saw the hole and I was still thinking about slapping a rod in it and calling it good.


Finall found the hole yesterday


Yesterday I pulled the motor in preparation for the R&R. The new motor should be here mid week. I also partially disassembled the old one to really get a grasp on what happened internally.







That’s where it sits now. I’ll update this thread as the truck goes back together.

 

Place holder

 

Lol...your garage floor looks like a crime scene...oily footprints etc

Have you checked out this thread?? :

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/another-blown-engine-m-o-r-r.758212/

Sub'd

 

Looks like a garage floor should. Can’t stand all these wanna be “builders” with a clearly never worked in garage with finished drywall and a nice painted non-stained floor lol.
The barn is actually one of the biggest reasons we bought our house, the third bay [not pictured] is un-poured and just compacted 57’s.


Yea I’ve seen that thread, I even saw the MORR video before the thread and hoped at that time it never happened to me. To late now.

 

Engine is to be delivered sometime between today and Wednesday so I went ahead and got some parts ordered. I ordered a stage 3 Kevlar/ceramic clutch from Phoenix Friction and the metal Lexus coolant bypass pipe from my local dealer. I’m still debating on the URD V2 y pipe vs just deleting the cats myself and doing the reroute (my buddy has a hydraulic exhaust bender). I think I can probably sell the cats for nearly the cost of the URD pipe.

 

I've got the URD y pipe that I put in to avoid rerouting the exhaust pipe. I just had to configure the mid skid plate a little differently since the pipe from the driver side crosses under the transmission instead of under the transfer case, but since I made my own skid plate it wasn't a big deal.

Enjoying the thread BTW, thanks for posting the details of the issues and fix. The hydro lock thing is new to me so I've learned a lot from reading this and other similar threads.

 

Very cool. The points you made about the integration are exactly what I mentioned in your other thread as why I wouldn't do a swap. And you'll be back on the road in a much shorter period of time. I work in a very organized shop. But yeah oil stains everywhere. We clean it weekly but real work happens and man do old cars leak. Many days I wish we could get away with an outdoor lift and a steam cleaner.

 

Will there be any interference with my RCI engine skid?

 

You should take a look and the drivers side valve cover and youll see the way the pcv valve is setup, it has a funnel that goes way down.

 

Not sure about RCI, depends on whether they have any reinforcement on the top side and if it will conflict with the exhaust.

 

@mlcc oh I have, I studied them side by side pretty closely. The root of the problem isn’t the valve cover / PCV, it’s the oil drain-back passages in the head.
Is the VC / PCV system a poor design? Hell yes, but that alone isn’t causing the oil pooling and if it weren’t for the pooling issue oil would never reached the PCV irregardless of how poor the design may be.

I’m still seriously looking into drilling & tapping the head and block and running a tube between them to drain excess oil that can’t naturally drain when off camber.

 

Not related to the build but I got a new truck today. Doing taco Tuesdays right!




p.s. you guys can follow along with everything vehicle & off-roading related I do on IG @No_Access_Offroad

 

Hell ya finally a real tacoma.

 

Some progress on the 3rd gen today- got the ECGS clamshell bushing installed and rebooted the CV (boot was destroyed by a stick earlier in the night the engine blew). While I was in there I noticed the oil definitely had water in it so it seems I’ll be doing the T-case fluid and raising the breathers while I’ve got it apart.


I also spoke with Estes (the freight company delivering the engine) this morning; delivery is on for tomorrow!

 

Were you able to get the puller behind the needle bearing without chipping the race? When I did mine I tried and tried but eventually had to force it back there and chip it. I was able to stick a magnet back there and fish out the broken piece pretty easily though. Just curious if other folks have had that issue or if there is a way to finesse it back there without chipping anything.

 

I made my own copy of the bearing puller, and got mine out without damage.

 

I “clearanced” the tool as shown in a couple different YT videos and it went right in with no forcing.

Big news, as expected this was waiting for me when I got home! My non car buddies are coming over tomorrow (mostly for moral support and help drinking my beer and eating my food lol) while I final prep the engine and do a few last items the truck needs. Then Sunday my other buddy from work who wheels with me and builds his own rigs and I trust to help is coming over and we’re gonna get it stuck in there and hope to have it running before the end of the day.




In other news, I stopped at another buddies house and traded the bald tire 15’s for these Toyota rims with AT’s that have >50% life left.

 

This was at the end of the day.



Had to call it so we could hit the trails in the Subaru for a bit of fun.