2nd Gen Tacoma 4.6 V8 1UR-FE and GX powertrain Swap

Thank you for not LS swapping..... following.
I have done the GX brake swap on my '15 and it is well worth it.

 

Badass

 

following. Always impressed with the talent and energy here.

 

Guessing you're going from an automatic to an automatic?

The community here seems to be pretty strongly against a Toyota V8 swap into Tacos, which is kinda sad. My dream vehicle was a V8 with a stick shift and 4X4, and while I can find Ford 7.3's with stick shift and 4X4, there was no other V8 option with Stick in my area... Hence, I ended up with the Tacoma.

The crazy mofo in me wants to shove a twin turbo LS3 in my Taco, but I don't think I'm going to have the money to do that for a while. D:

 

As much as I would love to have a 6 speed manual in this I would be moving backwards with this build. When I was researching this project, I figured I'd get an auto Tacoma since the GX460 is auto. The stock ECU is an automatic only, and I don't want to do a standalone because I am not sure if I can retain vehicles stability control and the electronic brake booster. Not to mention the additional cost of wiring and ECU would be insane. Why spend all those resources when I already have all of that and settle for a pretty good auto transmission. The electonic booster works way better than the vacuum booster thats in the tacoma right now. My last tacoma was a 6 speed manual, it was cool but this build is cool even with an auto.

 

I am okay with V8 swaps and I think the Tacoma should've come with this engine from the factory as an option. Toyota makes the best engines and is the best manufacturer in the world. I like to think of it like this: it is not the manufacturer's product that you are buying, but rather their supply chain. Continuous improvement is a culture at Toyota. I have thoroughly enjoyed tearing down this Lexus so far because I have observed the incremental changes in design improvements. For me it is not all about power and thats why I don't like it when people just say put an LS in it. I like when systems integrate reliably and a clean build.

 

I agree. I've got the 6sp manual and love it... would love to have it mated to a 4.7 or 4.6 v8 more!

 

Yeah, agreed. Kinda makes me sad that so few of these swaps get done; if more people did them, then there would be better support for doing them, making them more accessible to more people.

Also agree. I doubt that the stock 6MT would survive long mated up to a 4.6 or 4.7, especially if someone was crazy and supercharged that V8 as well...

If I had the money, I would do a 6.0+ V8 with turbos hooked up to an Electro-Hydraulic sequential manual box, but as it is, I'm probably going to have to find a V8 that was offered with a manual, and just live with franken-powertraining everything anyway. o,x

 

Urdusa com offers a reinforced t56 I believe for the tacomas( has much higher gearing, numerically lower, than the RA-60) that is hydraulically actuated and mates to the 1gr-fe so may be able to mount to the v8s as well.

 

Can't wait to read through all of this and the finished product. May end up doing mine if this goes well. Keep us updated. Great stuff.

 

Sub’d

 

I went ahead and plamsa cut the engine mounts off of the lexus frame today. After looking that the tacoma engine mounts, you can see in the pics below that the Tacoma mounts resemble a tower with a plate at about 45 degrees. The lexus engine mounts are more flat with stamped contoured frame to support the underside. I think the reason for the tower design in the tacoma is because the 1GR-FE 60 degree V shape whereas the 1UR-FE is a 90 degree V shape. I decided that I am going to take the lexus engine mounts, bolt them to the engine, get the engine into location, tack it in place, remove engine, mig weld the mounts in place. I will rest fit it with the radiator fan in place to make sure everything up front clears. Also import things to consider:

-Engine location relative to the fire wall
-Header clearance of cab
-AC lines hook up

Edit: Additionally I roughly measured that both vehicles frame rails at the shock towers are 28 inches which is really good news.

 

On a side note, it appears the steering rack bolt locations are the same and the main harness at the ecu fire hole appears to be the same which is also nice.

Lexus firewall hole:



Tacoma harness:

 

I love/hate threads like this. I love to see someone doing this but I hate the fact that it makes me acutely aware of how incompetent I am when it comes to mechanics. Im subbed for this.

 

It didn't happen overnight, it happened with years of curiously screwing things up and learning from it.

 

Ive been screwing things up for 50 years.

 

You should put some kind of rust prevention on that flywheel / starter gear thing and the part where the crank and transmission input connect. For some reason they rust very easy and quickly

 

Sounds like you intend to keep the mech fan with the viscous clutch. Are you planning on using the Lexus radiator and fan shroud? If so, assume you know that the stripper coil needs to be the same distance from the radiator for correct fan operation?

 

Yeah I figured if I get the fan distance to radiator pretty close to factory that it should operate like normal.

 

Great lessons for you both to teach your kids as well. It's called Win or Learn...

I'm sure it didn't happen overnight @dpanibratets but not everybody learns as completely as you. You said it well, and I quote "I like when systems integrate reliably and a clean build". Your words and deeds match; this PLAN is clearly no hack job!