My #Shitytaco Long Travel LS shitbox build

I’m not saying that whatsoever, I’m just saying it’s not going to be cheap!
There are the direct injection LT engines that are starting to become more available but you better count on paying $5k PLUS US dollars for an engine by time it’s all said and done!
The days of going to a wreaking / Junkyard and getting an LS for $500 are long gone. Plus I think those $500 engines were fairy tales⁉️
Kind of like the red bumper sticker I saw on a Motorhome going down the freeway that said;
“It gets 35 MPG! Everyone else lie’s why can’t I?”

 

the original oil pan I used was the l92 truck pan which worked pretty well but I wasn’t “exactly” what I wanted. So I went down the rabbit hole of fabing pans. The second one was a steel pan that I cut the whole sump off of and made a new sump section. This pan was a horrible idea. The flange warped and it dumped oil from the oil filter ports…actually just cut it up and threw it away today. My current pan now is a cx racing aluminum flange and a fully fabricated pan. I have about 400 into this pan since I had to make it, then fab a cradle and have it decked to make sure it wouldn’t leak. If I did it again I would have just made the truck pan into what I wanted…which oddly enough is exactly what I’m doing for @Camazon right now…lol. And yeah I should be at hammers all week.

I think 500 dollar motors do exist..but they are either iron block 4.8’s or 5.3’s which I think are worthless. But I’m not sold on the 5th gen let’s yet. The third and 4th gen’s are just soooo easy to get parts for.

 

Gotcha! Yeah I'm aware that I'm stumbling down a deep dark rabbit hole. I keep saying "but for a bit more I can get this" and eventually you end up looking at blueprint crate engines.

That's too funny, Cam is a good friend of mine, we are kind of going on this engine swap adventure together. I'll likely be building a full custom chassis though due to rust issues, so I won't have the cross member clearance issues you ran into. The JD guys are trying to convince me to go with a TTB setup, but I don't know how far I want to take this thing. It would be rad to just throw in a couple hundred more hp and a cage and call it good, but my frame is so bad that I have to basically build from scratch anyway, so then I may as well link it etc etc until it's a taco body on a fully custom chassis.

 

Do not get GSI. (Do not get DOD for that matter, either.). They gum up the intake and injectors are way more expensive.

 

What's GSI? I assume DOD is the cylinder deactivation or whatever? I've been reading as much as my brain can handle on LS swaps, but there are so many different directions you can go. I've also heard the L8T would be the perfect engine, and there is a very low km one available, but it is a lot more expensive.

 

GSI = gasoline direct injection so you never get that shot of gas cleaning the back of the intake valve… and of course they still route PCV back into the intake… catch cans help but not a whole lot.
DOD is the cylinder deactivation, which is never want on an off-road truck. You can delete the hardware (same work as swapping cams)

 

Despite all of the great advice, I think I'm going to go with the easy to get, and cheap, LQ9/4L80e/Tcase combo that's local here. It will be a bit heavy, but I have a lot of different things I need to spend money on for this build, and I don't want to dump all of it into just the engine. I should still be able to get closish to 500hp at the crank with that I think?

 

yeah as long as you don't go too heavy on everything else up forwards i'm sure you'll be fine. might have to up your spring rate a little bit but hard to say before hand.

 

Used to run 16x650, but it felt stiff, Currently running 18x600, and it sits too tall, ordered 16x600, but probably won't ever install them haha. What's one more?! hoping the front bypasses will help tune things in once I get all this other stuff sorted

 

@tacotunner06 I think I'm going to be going the same route as you with the L92 now... I'm still tossing and turning a lot, between that and the lq4/9 just to save money, but I really like the advantages of the L92. Did you stick with a VVT cam, or did you ditch VVT? I'm thinking if I go for the L92 this week, I'll be leaving it in stock form for now, and maybe do a VVT cam in the future. Are you happy with the power? I guess you're around 470 compared to stock 403?

I'm basically ready to pull the trigger. Truck cab is gutted right now, starting on the cage and frame repair, and I really want to just do the LS at the same time to make the engine cage easier. You ran the stock pan for a while and it was fine?

 

Hey, yeah was just talking to Cam about it when i was up dropping the pan and axle off at his house on monday. he said that was the route you where leaning. and no i ditched the vvt cam and went with a summit racing truck cam. it kept a decent amount of lower end torque that alot of the higher lift cams take out in favor of top end hp. and yeah the powers good but it grows on you and you always want more...lol. I do want to eventually throw a lsa supercharger on it but for now it rips for sure. and as far as the pan yeah i used the one i sold to cam for almost a year before trying to do something different which didn't work than to the full aluminum custom pan i have now. but it did work well it just wasn't exactly what i wanted so i had to change it....the downside i've had since swapping this truck is constantly changing stuff for no real reason other than just being picky i guess. only thing i did have to do was cut the crossmember down to clear the pan better. i basically just chopped an inch out of the top of it almost all the way across.

 

next time you're up this way, you should swing by our shop, we are just north of the truck crossing border!

I think I would be pretty happy with the stock 403hp for a while. I know what you mean always wanting more, but maybe by the time that happens I'll have enough money to throw at the engine. I was thinking I would just keep the VVT, at least for the mean time, and just run it as is. I like the idea of better fuel economy, whether it actually is in practice on a truck like this, I don't know.

Once I get the motor, I'll be hitting you up a tonne for how you wired it. I was originally going to go with a holley stand alone, but since this engine is more expensive, if I can make it all work with the stock gauges, that will save a bunch of money. Do your tach, speedo and temp gauges all work? Were you able to make the CEL work as well? If I go this route I'll be picking up the engine this weekend.

 

so for the wiring i just went with a psiconversion harness since it was far easier than trying to strip and redo the factory stuff since mine didn't come with a harness to start with. the nice thing there is its a standalone harness so its like 8 wires and the truck will run and drive. as far as the gauges i used a dakota digital converter box which i am not using anymore since i went to a haltech dash now. only one i couldn't get was water temp but someone on here figured out a way just can't remember where it was. i just used a obd gauge reader for water temp. eventually i changed to a edge cs2 since it allowed for oil temp and pressure sensors to be added. if you want either the edge cs2 or the dakota digital box i'm selling both of them.

 

what sending unit did you use, and did it tie into your oe fuel gauge okay?

 

fuel safe tube style from kartek. And no turns out the Toyota is like an inverse of what I bought. I think Toyota is like 100-0 where as the one I got is 0-90. So I never was able to get it to work. There might be a correct sender out there somewhere but now I’ve got a haltech dash so now should be able to work great.

 

man im really bad at updates but hey heres a picture...lol

 

Hey Guys,
I got a chance to see this Truck in person. And boy I can say it’s one sweet street legal Pre-runner with lots of HP or the ultimate 4x4.
I joked at Chris and asked him how much is actually still Tacoma? I think his reply was the cab sheet metal is or something to that effect.
I can say he’s one the nicest guys you could ever meet! Chris it was very nice to meet you and pick your head for info. Now the hard part is remembering everything you told me especially at my age, i’m in the beginning stages of dementia…

 

I’m always happy to answer questions!

 

Still on 35s tho

 

killin me here...lol