Cam gears for V6. Add power AND mpg

2010 and after FJ are dual VVTi.

 

Funny you mention that. I remember installing these like it was yesterday. I had to use like a 3 foot pipe to loosen the bolt while my dad held down the other can from moving. When I loosened the second and final one it sounded like a gunshot as well. Immediately after that I proceeded to clock my chin from the torque that I had to put into loosening that thing. My face was hurting the rest of the install.

 

Ok that makes sense. A guy at work has a 12’ that I put a new serpentine belt on and noticed it had the twin VVI.

 

That pic was a buddy’s truck. I knew what I was in for. On mine the first time I thought I snapped the bolt off in the cam.

 

That's funny! I've been around the block long enough to know they won't snap like that if they are just overly tight due to time and vibration, that being said, it still doesn't give me the most confidence in the world when something is that darn tight and I have to bust out a giant pipe like I had to in order to loosen it. I wish I could had fit a gun in there, I would had blasted that thing off so fast.

Fun times.

 

Only partly mistaken as has already been mentioned. 2007-2009 FJ's have the same single VVT-i engine while 2010+ got the dual VVT-i engine. The engine in my FJ is out of a wrecked 2012 Tacoma.

 

Wait, so just to clarify- you have a 2012 engine meaning it's NOT a single vvti? If its not single vvti- these gears won't work for you.
EDIT- I see you said 2012 Tacoma and not fj. You're good to go

 

I have a 2012 Tacoma engine in my 2007 FJ, so they will work.

 

Where are the dyno numbers!

 

If you provide la feria to do said dynos then someone will do it.

 

My Pass side was like that and when it popped the inside of my elbow went right into the top crease of the fender. Suffice to say that was really painful and arm went numb and was sore for weeks.

 

Y'all make it sound worth it for me to drive to SoCal and have @greenEFSI do it for me.

 

It's really not as bad as everyone makes it sound. Mine popped way easier than I expected after reading a lot of these posts.

 

That's quite the drive! From my experience older trucks or supercharged trucks have cam bolts that put up a fight, all others are a bit easier to loosen.

 

Its really only a like 5 outta 10 on difficulty scale. The cam bolts are literally the hardest part. The rest is just unbolting/unplugging stuff that can only really go one way back together.

 

everyone on here makes it sound way worse than it is. I was mentally prepared for a battle and was surprised how not that hard it was. Big wrench and a breaker bar made quick work of it.

I lived dangerously and used the Mercedes torque adapter mentioned earlier in this thread on my breaker bar to pop the cam bolts. It didn’t break and was way easier than a pipe on a crescent wrench.

 

Curious to what your findings are with cam gears without IMS.

I took mine out awhile back, MAYBE .25-.5mpg more... MAYBE (well within normal variances)... but what i have noticed is how lethargic the truck is without the IMS in the mid range, when i get time i am going to cut a new fiber gasket and get it back in.

 

I had the opposite, lower MPG, went from getting at least 15 consistently to 14. Even babying it I only got 14.5. And you’re right, feels like it lost a little bit climbing hills. Will be putting it in after I finish tracking this tank of gas.

 

Yeah sounds about right, like stated MAYBE better mpg, but its hard to have consistent driving habits.

Watch out if the 4 runner is anything like the tacoma, there is a wire harness loom that runs at the top of the firewall just below the cowl, i noticed that with the 110k miles i had on my truck with the spacer in the heater core lines rubbed on the wire harness loom and started to wear into the outer sheath. I will be sorting that when i do reinstall the IMS.

 

Thanks I’ll have to check that.