Frankenstein Build: Stock -> 37's on IFS -> SAS

Wow a fully assembled weld in one!? That would have saved me so much headache. That's a pretty good price too!

 

I have an idea thanks to your build that will hopefully come to fruition where your air compressor tank is I shall put a small smoker. Made out of an air compressor tank.

 

Alright, I'm back after a few year hiatus working on this tank!

There has been a LOT of changes in the last couple years that just took time away from the Taco. As posted before I own a shop specializing in Toyota's. I work on A LOT of them and sometimes finding motivation to work on my own projects is very difficult. I also purchased a 4th gen 4Runner which has been my main project. The 4Runner is about where I want it minus a few things I'm working on like a +2" LT kit and full skids:


On top of that I now own my very own house!! It's up in the mountains near hiking, fishing, and most importantly, off-roading. My wife and I have been very busy moving and I've been slowly setting up my garage. It's not necessarily the dream garage but it's an awesome start and it's fully my own. Now that I'm further away from my shop I've been spending less time there working on trucks and more time with product design and shipping orders. Because of this I have a lot more time and motivation to work on my own things. I no longer need to drive to the shop or my grandparents, I just walk down to the garage. It's awesome!


I also got a new dog (Great Pyrenees) and purchased a Jeep as a daily driver (I know, I know). The Jeep is a '06 TJ with 190k miles, manual transmission, and the *powerful* 2.4l 4 banger. It will be getting a 3.5" lift, 33" tires, a regear, and a rear locker. It's perfect for putting around the area and I couldn't pass on the price since I bought it from a family member. I needed another 4x4 car for my wife in the snow so she will get the 4R and I'll be in the Jeep.



Now that I'm on my own, I'm also on my own for tools. I have a decent amount I've collected over the years and of course I can always grab them from my grandpa or borrow them from the shop but I need to go get them and remember to return them. I've slowly been building my "nice" tool arsenal with Icon hand tools and Milwaukee power tools. The Icon stuff isn't the greatest (especially after using Snap-On tools in the shop) but for a home shop they seem fairly decent. And you can't beat the lifetime no questions asked warranty! I was able to take the air compressor from my grandpa since he wasn't using it and I had a nice place under the house to put it.


I then needed to get the taco to the new place. I haven't driven it in years but to my surprise it drove 40 miles on the freeway and up the mountain without any issues at all! My wife followed me in case there were any and somehow I even beat her to the house. It rides a bit rough and I think the Locked shocks are going to go away as one of the front ones already started leaking.


The next concern was whether or not it would fit in the garage. Good news, it fits with plenty of space, especially if I take out the boat and tractor.


Now on to what the Taco needs to be "done" in no particular order:
-V8!
-Tube front end
-Lower steering box
-Rust removal
-Remove axles and clean them/powder coat or paint them
-Finish cleaning frame and paint it
-Build front drive shaft
-Rebuild rear drive shaft
-New shocks
-Mount 40's on beadlocks
-Build front bumper

 

It’s ALIVE

 

On life support but ALIVE none the less!

 

Well I’m assuming I’ll not be ready for KOH? Lol jk. Upland gang here let’s hit a trail!

 

START OF THE V8 SWAP
Let's be honest, this was inevitable. I decided to bite the bullet and get it done before I tube the front end. Conveniently we're working on a V8 swap in our shop on one of our buddies 3rd gen 4Runners. After living with my 4Runner for a year I am convinced the UZ family of motors is truly great. After 1 trip out riding passenger with me my buddy came to the same conclusion and thus was his motivation for his V8 swap. That said, we decided a 1UZ is the best V8 on the planet. My buddy is a few months ahead of me so all I'm doing is copying his work. I have a few changes to make (like custom motor mounts and the need for a rear sump oil pan) but it's essentially the same truck, his is even manual too!

We pulled his motor out of an $800 LS400 we purchased but that was a lot of work and I don't have the space for another broken vehicle. I needed to find one already pulled. After months of searching I finally came across a great deal I couldn't pass up, $200! We went and compression checked it and all cylinders read 90+ PSI while hand cranking it. That was good enough for me so I bought it:


I immediately got to work stripping it down and to my surprise it seemed very well taken care of:






It had its oil changed at the very least. I did find some Chinese parts (like a water pump and 02 sensors) but that's all getting replaced anyway. The only real issue I found was a cracked upper coolant passage:


Ok, cracked is an understatement, it was completely broken in half:


My guess is when they did the water pump they yanked a little too hard and snapped it. No big deal, these are plentiful in junk yards and fairly easy to pull.

I didn't spend too much time checking sensors and cleaning the intake because this motor is getting something special, a supercharger! My buddy has been hard at work researching and ordering parts for his motor and we've had him order X3 of everything. One for him, one for me, and one for my business partner. We're all doing V8 swaps so why not get everything at once?

For the supercharger we were going to go with M90's but we found something better, M112's from 04-05 mustang Cobras. They are a little harder to find but we managed to get 3 of them for under $500 after lots of hours browsing FB Marketplace. It needs to be from the Mustang as the intake is on the correct side. They're currently getting machined down for the next part, the manifolds


We found a company called Elate Mfg out of New Zealand that makes some super nice SC manifolds for UZ motors. We opted for the ones with inter coolers and saved on shipping by ordering, you guessed it, 3 of them! Their customer service was awesome and the manifolds appear to be very high quality.


I have a timing belt kit on order and I'll be spending the remainder of the week cleaning the motor. I also need to find an oil pan that will work for me. I'm hoping a Tundra or SC400 oil pan sits back far enough because if not I'll need to get a custom one. Once I have the oil pan, supercharger back, and timing belt kit on I'll yank the 5VZ and start getting the 1UZ in its new home!

 

Maybe KOH 2030? Come on up! I have the 4R and there are lots of fun trails near me!

 

You’re the pro I just moved to the area not so long ago man. I’m down!

 

Unfortunately they've been building homes, closing gates, and cracking down on off-roading in the area. Lots of places I used to go even just 5 years ago are full of houses now. it makes getting out harder and harder. Lots of Lytle Creek was closed with the recent fires, I'm not sure if the gates are open again or not but I wouldn't be surprised if they stay closed for a while.

 

Got some fun parts this weekend! The super charger manifold looks very high quality. I should have the SC back from getting machined down sometime this month and I can start putting it all together:




From doing some test fitting it doesn't look like the rear coolant crossover pipe will fit but I found a Japanese one that should fit up. I ordered it from Amayama (lexus part #1635650020) and it should be here within a month or so.

It doesn't look a Tundra 2UZ oil pan will work either as they are more or less a center sump oil pan. I'm going to do some research on aftermarket pans but so far the DIY ones seem like a pretty good option if I can find someone selling them still. Worst case I'll just spend some time making my own.

I'm also looking into adapters for mating the 1UZ to the transmission. I think I will be going with one of these Ebay kits:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/286165212893

 

Green sticker?

 

It will probably get an out of state registration. I have family out in AZ that would love a rock crawler

 

a 1uz? I need to catch up in this thread lol let me know if you have any 1uz questions.

Here was my journey
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/5lugfurys-v8-swap-and-sas.635262/

 

@Malek claims otherwise on the pan...

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/your-unique-mod-on-the-1st-gens.118241/page-118#post-30350343

Might save you some effort

 

Had to scroll up on this one. Cool build here!

The Tundra oil pan worked for my 1UZ swap because I kept IFS. You may do better with the SC pan or custom pan as you’ve mentioned, unfortunately.

Adding on, I used XAT’s adapter kit. It’s a solid piece and will save you the headache of welding a ring gear. The only “downsides” are you need the donor bellhousing and switch to a Chevy hydraulic throw out bearing with a bigger Landcruiser master.

 

That's too bad, I think there is a swap pan for S chassis nissans that also pushes the sump far enough forward to stay out of the links and avoid the top of the diff which would be harder with a rear sump.

 

Thanks! It's been a long slow process haha.

I was looking at the XAT stuff and it seems like you can put together a SUPER nice setup, beyond what I want to do haha. We have a machine shop who fit the ring gear up for us. My buddy actually just got his back today:


It only cost $30. The only thing we need to find is a place to balance the thing. I'm thinking a driveshaft shop might be able to get it pretty close. Maybe a machine shop who specializes in engines would have the tooling as well.

On a fun note, we got our 1st snow this weekend! It's my 1st time living somewhere it snows so I'm learning a few things like shovel your driveway BEFORE it turns to ice!

 

Mitch at Mitch Made has a beamed UZ Tundra that you might want to see - I think he had to make a pan that cleared the beams also.

https://www.instagram.com/mitchmadeinc/?hl=en

 

I got one of these diy kits
https://www.ebay.com/itm/176344576191?gQT=1