Best/most compatible engine swaps for 1st gen Tacomas 4x4.

This is a hard question to really answer .

Not having any idea of the OP skill set .

Wiring might be there Super skill and with the proper prints any engine is simple

If They are talking about rebuilding I would venture a engine or two may have been swapped .

What is the end goal forced induction 500whp plus ??

Stock trouble free for another 1/4 Million miles ??

I would have to say all around easy would be a bare long block of what you have throw on the Engine Harness new hoses and belts maybe fresh injectors call it good.

 

Few finer points haha:

The OP wants something to sit in his garage and tinker on so it’s where he wants it to be when the day comes.

Also, my only other post in here other than the one you quoted I told him to get the exact same engine he has already..

I also stand by my quoted post lol

 

Where is the OP located? Location determines options.

 

Yes good point what kind of emission laws must be met to be street legal.

 

Just my thoughts. If you want to do anything, get a junk yard long block of your same motor, completely rebuild it all, have it machined. All new arp bolts and studs all around or new oem at least, if your really worried but if there's not an arp for it, it's probably fine. All new gaskets, have parts cleaned and painted or coated, get all new wires, plugs, small parts like distributor, water and oil pumps gears, etc. Could build a motor capable of hitting 1mil miles and still going strong at 300+hp if you take the long slow route. I mean if your not rushing you have the motor out. You can literally make it as nice as possible just keep making it better until your motor goes and then boom you have everything, easy swap in. Maybe even have a new transmission ready to go with it or whatever. You can even have the motor ran and tested with out being mounted in a vehicle so you know it's good before you put it in yours. That's actually kind of my current plan kinda

 

Depends what you mean by best and your end goal???

The most compatible and simple is the engine you have now.

All other swaps are limited by your turn around time and your skills and budget.

Anything can be fabricated and built with enough budget.

 

Best, cheapest and easiest is to take care of the current engine.

Necro thread but good for future searching

 

https://youtu.be/qp1AtJ_apyc

this might be the way to go for a 1st timer

 

I hate when I do that

 

YouTube has been a blessing and a curse to the car community. Tons of information. Lot's of ridiculous swaps. Most happen with unlimited budget and resources making them seem simple and achievable. Most aren't.

 

The vast majority of swaps are with 60's era muscles cars for obvious reasons - smog exempt, little or no electronics or complete electronic support packages.

I remember that there was a cottage industry for swapping 80's jaguar engines with domestic V8's but that's because the OEM engine was crap.

Also big brother is basically trying to eliminate any tinkering with ICE engines, CA is now checking ECU checksums to see if the owner has reprogrammed it and other states seem to be adopting CA standards. I'm not saying it cant be done legally even in CA but seems like your asking for headaches dealing with govt red tape.

I had some issue with CA DMV because a car I bought had some unresolved issues (unknown to me) and let me tell you that was one SOB of a headache I would not wish on anyone. The car was fairly low cost and I would have junked it just to be rid the problem but I couldn't even do that!