BimmerTim's Tacoma Build (tdi swap) and Trip Reports

I just re-read my post and realized I completely glossed over the point I meant to make... if you can get a 4.30 8.4" rear without a matching front, you can pull a front from a 4Runner. That might be easier than waiting for a matching set.

Or you can just pull the 4Runner front and use it as an excuse to buy a Truetrac or Eaton e-locker from ECGS.

 

Just found this thread. What a great one. Loved all the build-y bits and trip-y parts. Great storytelling too. Kudos. Can't wait for more!

 

Thanks Dan. I've been following your thread for a minute, which has been a pretty large inspiration.

 

In early January I decided I was going to pull the injectors, injection pump, and ecu to send out for rebuild/upgrade. I wasn't planning to do anything with the timing other than swap in new parts, so I marked the crank, cam, and injection pump gear, and belt with a paint pen. That way I can mark the new belt and just toss it on and adjust the injection pump timing via VCDS.

The pump is staying as an 11mm pump, the injectors are being rebuilt with PP764 nozzles, and the tune is for those things as well as deleting the ASV and EGR. Sticking with the VNT15 for the moment.

That didn't quite go as planned... The ECU and injection pump came out no problem, but the injectors had a TON of mucky debris in the cups around the body. I did what I could with compressed air, vacuum, brushes, etc. to get them cleaned, but when I pulled #3 a bunch fell into the cylinder. To be on the safe side I pulled the head and order up a head gasket kit too.





I'm glad I did for several reasons. There was obviously a good amount that fell in, even on the other holes.

Since the head was off I figured I'd do the cam, lifters, and valve stem seals while I was there. I opted for a new OEM cam and BRM black nitride lifters. However, when I pulled the valve springs out to do the stem seals and flipped the head over the exhaust valves were very floppy in the holes. At that point I knew I'd be sending the head off for a fly cut and valve guides. Luckily, I only needed exhaust valve guides, so the total was only about $700.

Pic for reference of why I leaned toward doing the cam and lifters.



Since I lost the crank timing marks when I did the swap I had to find TDC again. When I did, I drilled a small window into the bellhousing and marked the flywheel.



Everything finally came back in last week, so I jumped into the rebuild this weekend. The refreshed head looks out of place on that rusty block. I'll probably need to do something about at some point.





Rebuilt pump is looking pretty fresh too.



All of the timing bits installed.



Pretty well wrapped back up. I cleaned up everything I took off during this project before reinstall. It looks worlds better/cleaner than it did before. I used the drift punch method to seat the new injectors.



The first drive was illuminating... The truck seems to have plenty of power now. It feels 100% like a different truck. I haven't gone down the highway yet, because I still need to set the timing with VCDS. Even with the VNT15 it has enough power to blow through the stock Toyota 22RE clutch, so I've been doing some research on the clutch side of things. Seems like I should be able to go with a stock late 90's NA Supra clutch, which would be good for quite a bit more power, but retain the OEM pedal and engagement feel.

I'll post another update later after I set timing and run it down the highway, but so far I am absolutely ecstatic with this phase of the truck. I'm also REALLY curious to see how this affects mileage.

 

After some messing around I think I finally have this sorted. It turns out the boost spike and blowing through the clutch was a symptom the VNT actuator vibrating out of adjustment. Essentially the exhaust vanes were trying to make all of the boost all of the time. I went to adjust, but found the actuator rod was too short. It wasn't an issue when all stock, but with some mods it did and was putting me into limp mode constantly.

I jerried the rod longer, set the length and now it makes normal power without limp mode. EGTs stay in a more reasonable spot too. While trying to sort this all out the truck basically only idled or was being driven hard, and still got 26.5mpg on this most recent tank.

With the work done and appropriate boost this is plenty powerful to live with. I will end up putting a larger turbo on, but not to make more power, just to make power more efficiently with less EGT.

So far, I love this swap and truck.

Now I need to start planning my next trip.

 

I finally installed the long probe and hooked up all of the VDO gauges in the truck today. It's so much easier to wrap my head around the sweeping EGT gauge compared to the numbers. Obviously, with the probe in the exhaust flow the readings are higher and faster now, which is nice.

When running at around 70-80 mph in 5th at 23-2500 rpm, if I hold the throttle steady it'll sit at about 1200 degF. Going up a grade it'll sit at about 1450 degF. If I really lay into it I can get it to about 1500-1550 degF, but not really any higher. Similar story with the A/C on, but on average the temps are slightly higher.

I also realized that I never really showed the latest gauge panel setup in detail, so here are some pictures.









I'm going to live with these gauges and setup for a while to see if I like the layout and not having a real radio. If the Bluetooth only is tolerable I'll probably change the gauges to a different style. Mostly because I'd like to have a more useful third gauge than outside temp. I just don't want a mechanical oil pressure gauge and they don't have an oil temp gauge in this style.

But, so far so good.

Next things are just more wrapping up of little bits. Specifically, I still need to wire up my glow plugs, though I haven't really needed them to this point. Once those are wired in the CEL should be gone. I also still have to figure out how to integrate the Tacoma cruise stalk in. It works very differently than the VW one, so I'll probably have to brush up on my coding and fiddle with an Arduino.

The exhaust is not finished completely either. It's currently just dumping down after the muffler, which is directly under the passenger seat, and it drones like a mofo. The muffler I have installed is a Vibrant Streetpower. I've really liked those in all of my car applications, but I think it might be too loud for my truck taste. Thinking about either changing to or adding a Vibrant Ultra Quiet resonator to see if I can get it quieted up some. I also have a high flow diesel cat to install. The intent there is to lessen the diesel smell at idle or when you're standing around it running.

Any other changes or upgrades are out a bit and not set in stone.