Diesel swap?

Well I wish you luck, report back!

 

Good luck !

 

years ago (20 to be exact) I swapped in a toyota 2LT in to a 1990 4runner that had a 3.0 V6 in it, it was a mechanical injected diesel from a 85 I think, the 2LT made 75hp at 5000rpm and made 50 at 1800rpm,(had it on dyno) and would haul the doors off the 3.0 engine, fuel mileage was double the v6. only issue was reliability of the 2lt, they dropped valve seats regularly and ruined engines, anyway since then toyota has diesels in other parts of the world and they might be an option as plug and play, Back then you could import a 1/2 cut diesel truck from japan and it was a common swap into a gas truck. might be a another option, although parts procurement might be slower as requires ordering out of country....

 

Swapped a 318 Dodge motor in a Full Size with an Industrial Water Coooled Mitsubushi(company was an engine distributor I worked for) motor mounts and alignment sucked..., yet curious what year is the Tacoma,can oyu get buy with no smog regs because it is "antique" ? what state are you in as here in Mass. the DMV sucks

 

Look into a JDM half cut Prado with the 1KD. There’s one listed on a site for $8500. That’s the best bet. It’ll have everything you need.

 

Thank you both for the great suggestions. I will definitely look in to it, but i think for right now atleast i want to stick with the duramax. Im just not to familiar with the jdm engines and ive been around duramaxs’ my whole life practically. Thanks for the tips though, I greatly appreciate it.

 

Here in Las Vegas,you could not do a swap,way too strict smog control laws.

 

I’ll believe it when I see it, these threads always come up...very rare we actually the work done.

 

In georgia unless you live around metro Atlanta there is no emissions or any other inspection.

 

I would still have my 70 chevelle with open headers ! lol

 

Oh if its older than 25 yrs old no emissions either.

 

I'm a mechanic of over 16 years and I couldnt swap in a custom motor with my skill set.

The problem is the fabricating. You need mounts, bellhousings, driveshafts, and solutions to problem you don't even know about. A JDM Toyota diesel would be ideal, but otherwise you're looking at a deep money pit.

 

25k-30k easy for a diesel swap done right .
Thats why nobody does it.

 

I’ve seen this happen before. Bunch of dudes yacking over beer and anything that comes up. Next day after alcoholic bravery has worn off, so let’s get started on that, huh what oh yeah I’ll call you when I have time.

Absolutely no disrespect intended to you and your friends. To me, it’s a word I take seriously. I have people I know, and people I call friends. First is many, second is very few. If you know you can count on your friends that’s super. If maybe no, think about how difficult it’ll be doing it on your own.

 

well you could always just stick to the cookie cutter thing that would make you popular
rancho shocks, step bars made from printer paper, and spacer lift
and spend your life listening to dumbfucks who post stupid shit on the internet and don't have the balls to do any cool shit themselves

it applies to many things
you lead or follow. you set the example or you copy people

pretty sure dudes in Dubai and whatnot, who may not be on forums
are swapping Nissan GT-R engines into old Toyota trucks to race up sand dunes
but again, that's not the thing here
the thing here is spacer lifts to climb up a 10ft tall hill in California and call it off roading

URD supercharger adds forced induction to make barely more power on an already poor MPG engine

truck diesels usually come with a turbo and are torquey + efficient
If you talked to Chevy for parts prices, then that means it's probably even cheaper to get the same parts somewhere else, than a dealer parts dept. that marks up the price for profit.

question is how would you pass smog

definitely a big way to save money
if a shop charges $150/hr (to have their guy get paid $22 to do it)
and quotes 20 hours+
well, you do the math

for what it's worth, Hilux version of the Tacoma came with diesel option
meaning the chassis might be able to handle diesel
maybe you could use some of the parts like instrument cluster, idk

you could be right
may as well look at it from both sides
could be cheaper to just buy a Chevy Silverado diesel
that will be high priced due to people knowing what they are
even old ass Cummins Dodge Rams people still want like $15K for them, might be stick shift
and big so who knows how well it fits on trails off roading

closest thing I've ever seen to this is taking the 1.9L TDI ALH diesel motor from an old Mk4 VW Jetta
and putting it into an Audi B6 A4 (02-05) mated up to the manual trans and quattro drivetrain.
I think the bell housing already fit/mated up to the engine
which is still I4 turbo just 0.1L more displacement than the factory gas one, and diesel fuel instead of gasoline
but Audi and VW is the same company
IDK what coding they had to change with a scan tool or what wiring work is needed
but many parts of those vehicles are the same/shared I bet
for example, of those brands regardless of what model, 'G85' is the name of the steering angle sensor, and so on...

but yeah. Duramax sounds cooler than trying to ship over the diesel engine of a Hilux
If people manage to Duramax swap Hummer H1's
I bet a Tacoma can also be done.
Question is how hard, and at what cost?
people with H1's usually have more money. And good H1's with a quality Duramax swap seem to ask $100k for the whole vehicle when for sale.
vs. $22k for a Humvee on Craigslist (slow factory diesel) or whatever a stock H1 civilian version costs without the Duramax swap.

 

Passing smog wouldn’t be to hard depending on what state you’re in. My state, non commercial diesels are exempt from inspection anyhow.

 

Something you may want to consider.

Service costs comparison, fuel cost comparison, Cold Weather Start issues, Maintenance cost comparison.

Even a "wayyy cool" mod could empty the wallet with incidental costs.

 

I looked into all that stuff and since that 3.0 duramax gets 29mpg in a full size 4x4 silverado, i could only imagine what it would get in a mid-size 4x4 tacoma. Thankfully florida never gets too cold so thats a plus. And finally, most of the maintenance and servicing i would do my self which saves a big chunk of cash.

 

good luck with your project, please post as you go!

in the past I also built an 82 4x4 with a 350 SBC 4 barrel, dual exhaust mild cam and 2200 stall torque converter, back then (1990's) it would burn a tank of fuel an hour! turbo350 trans and stock 4:10 toyota diffs, 3000rpm @60mph, what a beautiful sound out the exhaust and the intake, surprized many a driver, who were not expecting a v8 under the hood.
still have lots of old video of mud bog events and sand drags, I think I broke/twisted 3 rear drive shafts till I built one out of 3/8 wall tubing, the toyota diffs are pretty robust. miss that truck, although today I dont think I could handle the rough ride, suspension the old trucks did not ever have!