What have you done to your Tacoma today? 1st Gen Edition

Installed a spare tire carrier....

 

Swapped out my grille and rear bumper and painted the chrome on the front bumper. Forgot to take before pics, so pulled some random shots for comparison.

Before:




After:

 

Also towed my buddy's '98 home with a tow strap after his head gasket seemingly popped on the way back from Crown King

 

Took it out for a drive today for the first time. Performed ok but started surging at idle a few mins in. Also still has high idle ~2000 rpm. I cleaned out the IAC and replaced the gasket before installing the throttle body but then took it back out today and checked resistance and it wasnt even remotely in range so I think my IAC valve is shot. Ordered a cheap one on Amazon cuz OEM is $400 or something insane. Will see how it works.

 

Installed new IAC, idle is at about 1100, so seems to have fixed it. Took it for a real test drive and perfomed ok, still some minor idling issues but mostly settled down. I think after a drive cycle itll balance out. Brakes are super soft now though, I accidentally let the master cylinder drain out when I removed the drivers side caliper so I think I might have to pull it and bench bleed

 

So I went and pulled a 5vz for my buddy to throw in his '98 with a blown head gasket. First time pulling a motor and managed to get it out in just over 5 hours. Pretty satisfied with that



My Alcans really handle the weight of an engine nicely though:

 

One question for everyone:

Is it normal for the torque converter to be pretty well stuck on the rear of the motor? I have no experience with automatic transmissions.

 

If it was stuck to the front you'd have bigger problems.

 

Lol, I don't know much about automatic transmissions, but I do realize that the rear is better than the front.

I guess my question is will it come off simply enough with a little encouragement from a pry bar?

 

DO NOT use a prybar! Yes that’s normal since you didn’t unbolt flywheel from the torque converter. There are 6bolts holding it on and one of them is painted black, mine looked like very dark green.The painted one has a shoulder that helps with the alignment of the flywheel to torque converter and is supposed to be put on first during the assembly. Your going to need to turn the crank one full revolution to be able to access all of the bolts. You will see 1 maybe 2 bolts , turn the crank a bit and another one will show up, repeat the process until all 6 are off.

 

Thank you so much!

My dumbass was thinking prybar lol

 

Started on a rear box for the truck. Time to get the battery off the front fender and the air compressors. I plan to tuck all of my wiring back here rather than out in the engine bay.

 

Access to the bolts mentioned will be from below the back of the engine. When the trans is still mounted, the bolts are accessed thru a small inspection plate. I suspect you had to remove that plate cover when you separated the engine from the trans.

Is the truck this engine is going into also an auto?

 

Now is the time to do a dual battery setup.

 

No the truck this motor is intended to go into is a manual transmission truck. So did I screw anything up by pulling this motor with the torque converter on it still?

 

Seems unlikely. The TC and the flex plate it is mounted to will be of no use to you. You will have to reuse the old flywheel from the original engine.

 

Okay great. That's good news. We were planning on reusing quite a bit from the old engine, considering the truck with the blown head gasket is a '98 (4wd 5spd) and the donor vehicle was a 2004 Prerunner (w/auto trans obviously).

Would you recommend a new pilot bearing, or can the old one be transferred over from the '98's motor?

 

Definitely new, they're like $10 for a good Nachi one

 

Since you are in there, now is the time to do all that stuff. Don't forget a new rear main engine crankshaft seal too.

 

Okay roger that. We're also planning on doing valve cover gaskets, spark plug tube seals, rear main seal, new PCV valve, new motor mounts and likely a new clutch. Most everything else we're thinking can be reused from the motor that blew (earlier style throttle body, plug wires, coils), and accessories (PS Pump, Alternator, AC Compressor, Fan).