Calling all 3.4 EXPERTS I need help

Forgive me if this should be in the technical chat area.

Ive owned my 95.5 Tacoma for exactly 2 years now and its been a headache I’ve loved dearly. I bought it with 158xxx on the clock for nothing in terrible cosmetic (and come to find out mechanical) condition because it had been owned by a volunteer fire fighter and had done 100+ through my town and the backwoods on the limiter its entire life. 6 months down the road it blew a head gasket so I tore it down and saw that a spot in the exhaust port had been welded so I really should have bought new heads then but I was a poor college student so I lapped the valves, put new seals in, threw the gaskets on and called it good. Not even a year went by when the head grenaded. Now that that’s out of the way I can get to the important part. I scraped and scraped and finally got enough money together to buy a gorgeous flawless 2004 20,000 mile tundra engine. And I saw the clock it had 20,3xx on it. I kept all the accessories from the Tundra, put new OEM Timing belt, Water pump, clutch, quad-electrode plugs, and Oil pump on it, swapped the wire harness, mounts, and flywheel, slapped it in and I was back on the road with no worries. 8 months later Ive had no problems. A friend calls and asks me to swap an engine in a 98 that ripped a piston skirt for some cash and I said sure. This truck is exactly like mine just a 98. He hauls in this nasty junkyard motor he bought without even seeing a picture for $1100 Saturday that according to the tags came from a 96 4runner with 80,000 miles and looking at the vac lines and flywheel I could tell it was out of a 2wd 5 speed. I pulled off the timing cover and the belt looked like it had just a few short miles before it was going to pop so I’m calling B.S. on the 80k miles. (Theres a reason I’m giving you all this information I promise). I got everything swapped over on the engine stand and got the motor back in and running by Monday night. Heres where my problem is. I don’t even get my foot in it and I notice this truck has more power at ¼ throttle compared to mine. I get it up to op temp and hammer it a little through the gears and I’m at 80 before I know it. The truck will absolutely blister mine. So heres my question to all you 5vz people. Why is this truck so much more powerful than mine and how do I get mine there. The trucks have the same wheels, tires, gears, transmissions, cabs, trim packages, stock mufflers and no egr. Shouldn't an engine with now 60,000 miles 8 years newer out of a 2wd grandpa truck have more ass??

My thoughts: My engine came from an automatic truck, could a sensor I missed be limiting it? It certainly doesn’t feel limited or weak, until I got behind the wheel of this 98... I know the ECM plugins were different than mine, did Toyota tune the 98s better than the 95.5s? I have no cat and an open air filter, the 98 has a cat and a stock air box, could that have anything to do with it? Can you tune these trucks and might there be a tune loaded onto his ECM causing it to run so well? I have a very small exhaust leak and a CEL for the front Oxygen sensor could that really make what feels like a 30 hp difference? I have quad electrode plugs he had me put in single electrode autolites regardless of what the little sticker said, could my plugs be gone after 40000 miles or just not burn as hot as the autolites? He had me put a fuel filter on and I have no idea how long mine has been on my truck could that make a difference? I will answer any questions you have to help me out and go out to the truck and look at any numbers/sensors etc you want me to. If you spend some time helping and getting back to me Id be glad to pack up any extra part I might have that you want or need and send it your way as payment for your time within reason ofcourse.

Thank you!

 

What plugs do you have? When you say quad electrode I think I bosch, which is a no. Replace plugs every 30k with Ngk or denso twin prong plugs, probably isn't the main thing wrong though

 

run a compression test on both engines? and could the CAI extra air noise be throwing you off on the seat dyno?

 

I'm pretty sure they are bosch quad electrodes. But I will go get some NGKs tomorrow and put the compression tester on it while I'm at it and see if dickhead will let me comp test his. And probably line them up in our little 8th mile strip. And jberry thats where my money is too I just dont know why. According to every article I read there is no power difference per year. One thing I did think about today is timing. Could I have advanced his motor just by putting the slack in the timing belt on the wrong side? I did change it out. With no tune change would it still give him more power? I really really don't think I retarded mine because my marks were perfect. It took me 3 or 4 tries but they were perfect I know.

 

Not timing belt but, I would even venture to guess the cams could be different to meet different year emission standards.

 

Now you've made me wonder if toyota changed the cams or a sensor or even something in the coils that is disagreeing with my ecm. I looked and the tundra v6 had 190 hp just like the tacomas but maybe theres a something different in the tundra engine my ecm isnt set up for that the tundras is set up for to get that 190 horsepower. If anyone has any suggestions on who would know differences year to year and truck to truck please let me know.