2nd Gen Tacoma V8- LQ4/4L80E Swap plus smattering of extras

I had some decent progress today and finally got the frame under its own weight!! I started cleaning up the front diff before I called it a day so that's next to go back followed by the rack.
The rear spring perches are squashed up against the axle so I can move the frame around. It needs to be tacked into place where it will stay for a while until I have the drivetrain located and I can properly set the pinion angle.

Coming together finally.

 

That’s some beautiful scenery to be doing truck work in.

 

Probably not a bad idea

 

Yea the view can be pretty killer when the sun comes out and the even better when the snow leaves which I hope is soon.

 

I’m an Arizona boy, the snow is what made it killer to me

 

I've been fighting with the snow and cold all through this build and I'm over it haha. Send me up some of that sun/heat!

 

I've been slowly getting some things ticked off and making some progress while I've had family stay for the last month.

First off the cab and bed are back on after a hiccup on the mounts that needed moved a wee bit.


Then the fun times of getting the drivetrain in has taken longer than I wanted. With the bellhousing of 4l80e being much larger than the A750F I massage the firewall to help slip the oil pan behind the diff/ADD tube.
Short of cutting the firewall to ensure that the oil pan fits with modifications to the pan I opted to cut the pan to get it behind the ADD tube and miss the diff. I ended up removing a lot of material to help drop the engine and push the transmission back far enough.
The oil pan is with a very capable welder who builds boats as I haven't got the tools/experience to weld cast aluminum. I'm hoping to get that back this week.

Out of curiosity, I did weigh the Toyota drivetrain fully dressed and it came in at 335kg/738.5lb. In comparison, the Chevy drivetrain dressed but minus engine oil came in at 440kg/970lb. The LS is a cast iron block and heads so naturally a lot heavier by comparison. I am planning on changing the heads out to aluminum and from what I have read that can save up to 45kg/100lbs.

I have changed the headers to the Summit Racing LS conversion headers with the V band clamp as the ones that were on the engine were hitting the frame where it bolts to the downpipes - they were Edelbrock.
While I was on the Summit site I decided to get some parts to freshen up the engine seals/ oil pump/ fuel pump/ front and rear main seals plus gaskets/oil filter re-location/ Truck Norris cam and necessary parts go with this upgrade.

Then @WormSquirts was getting rid of his 37s so I picked those up as well so adding the more to the list for parts needed extra attention for fitting to the truck haha. Boy has this snowballed..

 

Also if anyone needs a modified oil pan for Gen 3 / Gen 4 engines I have one that I am not using. I got this from @tacotunner06 but it hasn't worked out for me.

 

@Pittsy

 

man bummer it isint gonna work. You still able to use the oil filter adapter?

 

Yea a bit annoying it didn't work out but all good. Yea the oil adapter is off already this was the only photo I have of it at the moment.

 

Stoked you're making progress man, can't wait to see it rip. You're way ahead of me!
Gunna look dope on 37s as well

 

Thanks dude! Yea it's slowly coming along. Agree it should sit pretty nice with the 37s. Just want it done so I can go camping and wheeling

 

OMG,
You found a rare gem in being all case iron. There weren’t very many of all iron engines made that *I* know of. But I’m definitely not an expert on the numbers that were manufactured. I’m all aluminum as is @tacotunner06. IDK how many are all aluminum but just an FYI the aluminum block is one half the weight of the cast iron block. I believe the aluminum block is 109lbs or somewhere around that number.

*Edit* I just heard cast iron heads are 60 lbs each heavier than aluminum. But until I see it on a scale IDK…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_M9I6_DpYzg

 

looking good man got any updates?

 

Truck is rolling and driving. There have been some setbacks to getting it to a daily driver status.
I’ve had to move the truck 4 times which has been a killer to productivity. An FYI to anyone wanting a big project is have the shop space attached to where you live.

The old logging shop where the frame / cab / bed and engine swap happened.



This is where I got a lot of the electrical done and converted to SUA.



and how much room I had when the truck was in there.


First ‘drive’ was about 200’ very rewarding but that’s as far as it went. First time out in the open in a long time!



Due to an idle issue and mostly time constraints I had it towed to shop 3 a couple of days before surgeries in the Fall.





The plan was my buddy who works here was going to knock off the list a few things while I was incapacitated due to shoulder and a hernia surgery but that never happened so @WormSquirts came to the rescue. He drove a few hours north and picked up the truck and took it to his shop ( number 4) where it currently is and I’ve been going down when I can to tick stuff off the list.

 

Since getting to his shop I’ve managed to get the tuner to come by and sort the idle issue out prior to him taking it for tuning which meant we drove it to get some gas for the first time in about 15 months.



I’ve tubbed the firewall for 37s and in the process of cycling the tire to bump and removing anything in the way I took most of the inner fender out.
So the decision has been made to remove the inner fender/ core support and rebuild it so it can take some abuse and while I’m there build a new bumper.
The rabbit hole deepens and having a daily driving truck is always just so close.

First time building an exhaust and I’m pretty happy with how it came out. It’s 2 1/2” from the headers out into a 2-1 Borla Pro XS muffler #40348, I ordered the wrong X pipe so decided to add that in later.
To be honest I might just leave it as is as it sounds great and at idle isn’t that loud at all.


In hindsight I wish I had just cut the inner fenders out from the start instead of cycling the tire and removing metal etc. Would have saved about 1/2 days work I think.
I think this young pup might have been the cause of most of the wasted time while doing that.

How it started vs


How it ended up




@WormSquirts had a 40 mounted up so we threw it on for shits and giggles. At full bump it was fine but at lock it hit the cab mount which has been relocated. It was to be expected though.

Another first was going through the snow process of not setting the truck on fire which I had been forewarned that it will happen.


Now that the inner fenders are gone and I was trying to figure out how I wanted to build a new set plus core support, @tacotunner06 had dropped off a UMP filter / engine cage / bypass hoops and coil bucket mount for me. So I started on getting that in place which required so finessing with the oxyacetylene torch to make it fit.
I was very surprised to see how much the frame flexed from on the lift vs on its own weight. Probably about an inch or more from what I remember.

 

Can't wait to see and experience this thing ripping man. Gets me super motivated on mine!

 

I want a fancy intake like that. I have the classic cone filter with a sleeve over it.

 

I have a ump I'll sell ya, I need to get two, and I don't have space for two of the size I got