My $500. project 4x4

Thank god the rest of the country isn't as screwed up as Cali with the emissions BS. We can put any engine in any car without a bureaucrat to tell us yes or no

 

Dmonkey i was considering having my local mach. shop rebuild my shortblock, but since the po toasted the heads i need to replace them that's why i was asking if the 99 heads were compatible with my 04 block. I plan on keeping this truck and i would rather rebuild than go with a used engine because then i know what i have. Thanks for the link, i'll contact them and see what they say.

 

Oh,heads will probably be good, that whole 02 motor for 1400 sounds good though tbh, it will need a new timing belt though.With swapping the heads on, i'd be concerned the rest of the engine is as fubar as the heads. When/if you call Luis, just say one of his customers from Custom Tacos suggested that he'll have info.

 

I can see 1400 if you are going to replace the timing belt,water pump and tune up and drop it in. Go with the 99 for $600 if you are going to pull it apart and rebuild. Just looking at rebuild kits they appear to be the same


1995-1999 TOYOTA Tacoma 3.4L V6
1996-1999 TOYOTA 4Runner 3.4L V6
1995-1998 TOYOTA 100 3.4L V6

 

Have we determined if a 99 will drop in? What I'm suggesting is that this truck will be a very long lasting truck and perhaps the correct way to go about this is to repair for the long long haul rather than a more "make it run right now" solution.

 

He is not going to drop it in, he wants to freshen it first.


1995-1999 TOYOTA Tacoma 3.4L V6
1996-1999 TOYOTA 4Runner 3.4L V6
1995-1998 TOYOTA 100 3.4L V6

 

I would swap in one of those toyota diesels from Japan.

 

I'm undecided on rebuilding my shortblock and purchasing re-maned heads or just buying a junkyard engine, my question is where is the vin located on a 3.4L? If i buy used i would like to carfax the vin# to verify year, model and miles. Thanks.

 

I GOT A MOTOR FROM A JUNK YARD!!! rebuilding that bad boy, 5VZFE and its gonna rip. you can pull a longblock in about hour and a half with two people.

 

vin patrial is on driver side bank, just forward of the oil filter. hard as all can be to read unless its out. go to junk yard and pull long block... swap heads, send yours out to be rebuild, 400 to 600 you could have two motors

 

Its been a while, i've been moddifiying my 4runner lately, but i finally located and purchased a low mile tacoma engine, only 69k miles, from a 03 tacoma prerunner from a salvage yard in Tuscon, $1200. plus $285. shipping. I was surprised after i unwrapped the shipping plastic to see a hole in the plenum, it was'nt there in the pre-purchase photos that i received and the plastic shipping wrap wasn't damaged. I'm gonna use my old plenum, i'm just concerned about any loose pieces of aluminum in my engine, i'll inspect when its off. Hopefully the inside is as clean as the outside. I'm gonna replace the tb and wp along with the oil pan/gasket and valve cover gaskets. I've read here that since the donor truck was a prerunner and my truck is 4x4 that i would need to swap out the ex. manifolds too. So now my $500 dollar project is a $2 grand project.

 

Finally got around to pulling the motor out tonight. I degreased the engine bay, it was bad because of the leaking oil filter.

 

Finally got the replacement motor installed and running last night. 69k miles on it. I replaced the t.b., w.p. and related parts, drive belts, rad. hoses, oil cooler hoses, Aisin clutch kit[wanted a marlin crawler kit but it's unavailable], t-stat, plugs and wires, valve cover gaskets, oil pan gasket sealant from toyota. Truck runs/drives good but now i have a po325 and po330 bank 1&2 knock sensor circuit malfunction codes, hopefully i just forgot to plug in a connector. I just picked up and quickly sold a 00 4runner, but before i sold it i removed the 2 brand new G.Y. wranglers RT/S from the rear and mounted them up on my taco. Now i just need to purchase 2 more matching tires.

 

Congrats, don't know about prices in MD but that's about a $10,000 truck as it sits out here in CO. Drive it / wheel it for 50k and sell it for triple your money!

Problem is, the more you drive it the less you'll want to sell it. Don't tell the wife that yet.

 

The reason for the knock sensor codes is i forgot to plug in the connector, lol.

 

At least it was a cheap easy fix.

 

This is awesome

 

I was pissed at myself for forgetting to plug in a connector, but happy that's all it was. I purchased and mounted/balanced the 2 new matching tires last night at work. Next on my list is changing the diffs, manual trans and T-case oils. I'm gonna drive it stock while i save my $$$ for a suspension lift.

 

Yea Silver02 with the $500 purchase price of the truck, $1400 for the 69k mile used motor, all the maintance parts and the 2 new tires i estimate i'm under $3000 for a nice 2004 147k mile 1st gen, way under book value. I kept all the parts receipts so i can add up what my total investment is. It helps that i'm a auto tech and can get a discount on parts and have use of a fully equipped shop after hours. Between wrenching on my chevelles, the taco and my 4runner my wife complains that i'm at work more than i'm home, lol.

 

Awesome deal there! I think even my wife would go along with a deal like that! She is...ummm...frugal.