Comatized99's LBT (96 Taco 5 Lug)

Back ground:

96 Tacoma 2rz 5 speed Manual reg cab

Current Mods:
tach cluster
Shifter console w/ cupholder
97 4runner leather steering wheel
15" Heep wheels
Toyota radio w/ CD player
3" lift spindles
AALs
Lift shackles

 

I see you cant just stick with the stock engine hahah

 

Stock is boring, and the grass is always greener on the other side. Haha

 

Got bored Sunday afternoon and started looking through my box-o-4runner wiring. As it turns out, I literally have two complete 97 4runner wiring harnesses. So, I did what any guy would do. I plugged one back together, got a can of brake cleaner, and some jumper cables and gave the ok 3.4 a test. By the time I got the idea to video this for my thread, my carb cleaner was almost gone... So it's running kinda ruff... I'm already looking forward to this thing in my truck.

https://youtu.be/hwLOqb-LY6A

 

Finally received the manual ecu plugs. I somehow ended up with all 3, 3.4L engine ecus. You can see that both the auto ECU's use the same, 3 row plugs, and the manual uses 2 row plugs. I plan to swap the manual plugs into the auto harness. Should e pretty straight forward but a little time consuming.

 

I borrowed my friends snap-on cylinder leak down tester to see what kind of shape my 80$ 3.4 was really in.

The results: I tested each cylinder twice, except cylinder #2 (driver front) and that one was tested 3 times. This engine has not been run since I made the video above, so no oil or anything helping the rings seal.



Cylinder 2




I'm going to try and get my compression tester back from a friend, and see what that turns up. I'm guessing it's going to be fine. ..

 

Small update:

I performed a compression test, and the highest number I got was 200, and the Lowest was 185. So, the numbers are pretty good for 200k plus miles, and so are my leak down numbers. The question still remains, why did someone ever think that the head gasket was bad? Well, I think the answer is found by the water pump.


I now have the front of the engine stripped down to the oil pump and block. It's hard to see in the picture, but coolant was leaking from the passenger side of the water pump. At some point, someone had removed the pump, and instead of replacing it or the gasket they reused the pump, and used RTV to seal it.

I hope to be able to order a timing belt kit soon and get this engine buttoned back up.

I also had to track down a new (used) balancer after my SST broke my old one....

 

Finally got around to ordering my timing kit.


3.4 stripped down


Cam, and crank seal installed, along with new idler pulleys, belt, tensioner, and oil filter.

 

Not much progress in the last 6 months, until this weekend.

I finally found a set of lift spindles for a good deal. Easy to install, and a decent amount of lift. For the rear, I installed a set of lift shackles. There is still a little squat in the back, so I'll likely track down some AALs. Wheel spacers are also on the way for the rear.

 

Lift looks good.
Will be doing this myself, what brand is the spindle & shackles??

 

I bought the spindles off here, I believe they are doetsch. The shackles I believe I was told are Downey? I'm not sure. They are old.

 

I went ahead and ordered Add A Leafs for the rear. It now sits level if not just a touch higher in the rear. In my humble opinion, it looks perfect. The 235s feel a bit heavy, but hopefully the 3.4 will make up for that.

Speaking of 3.4, my "to do list" is pretty darn short now. I have completed the conversation of my auto engine harness to a manual. I left the extra wires in the original plugs, and taped them to the main harness.

The only thing I have left is re-pinning the one dash ecu plug. It's 10 wires, so no big deal.

Hopefully before spring I'll have the 3.4 under the hood.

 

Well... Not a lot of progress.. truck turned 277,000 miles.

I have made some slight changes to the motor swap plans...