How about another 1UZ Swap!?! 3rd Gen 4Runner 5VZ -> OBD-II 1UZ

[jdmhn8]

First, hats off to Smitherz. I decided to throw this build on this site because this is one of the best resources for 1UZ swaps, and I'm not a big fan of some of the other Toyota truck sites. Smitherz Tacoma is the shit, and this site definitely provides one of the most comprehensive outlines on how to do this. And it's a LOT of work...

So a few weeks ago, my 5VZ finally died at 219K. I think it spun a rod bearing (I'll find out once I tear it apart). Pretty disappointing for a Toyota engine, but more motivation to get started on this swap. Bought a 95 OBD-II (260HP/270 ft. lb. variant) LS400 1UZ and trans with 140K on it off ebay a few weeks prior to the 5VZ dying, so it was sort of a blessing in disguise.

Engine looked pretty good. But thank god I opened it up first; when I took of the intake manifold, each port was full of water. Clearly from the fucktard that power washed then engine, but alarming none the less. Would've been instant hydrolock for someone just swapping it in as is. Turned it upside down, sprayed some Amsoil Metal Protector in each cylinder, along with a little oil, vacuumed that out, so I'm pretty confident the bores are protected from rust. It cranks over super easy by hand, and aside from a ton of smoke when I first fire it up, it should be fine.

This isn't just an engine swap. I plan on refreshing and upgrading the entire truck so it can go another 200K. That means a rebuilt diff, new axle seals, tearing out the interior for extensive rewiring and soundproofing, painting a lot of neglected suspension components, preserving the frame against rust inside and out, new lighting, new gauges, alot of 99+ 4Runner upgrades into my 96, some paint defect removal and replacing anything else that looks past its prime. Hoping to have this thing back on the road by the end of April. Having no job makes this my primary focus for the next few months.


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A few months ago in CO

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Lots of upgrades coming in here.

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Today in Phoenix. Nice time of year to be out in the garage! KM2s have about 30 ft. on them so far!

I'll add to this when I actually make some decent progress. Hopefully the V6 will be out by this weekend!

[Smithers]

Thanks for the props. Glad to have another swapper getting ready to take the plunge. It's a lot of hard work and most people don't understand just how much goes into this our trucks. :) Those tires look awesome on your truck. I need to start thinking about rubber as well. But anyhow looks like you're well on your way. Keeping the stock 1UZ mated with the automatic is wise and you'll have minimal headaches. I'm also looking forward to doing some soundproofing and interior work as well. That's the fun stuff. And when you have your engine ready to fire up first take the plugs out and watch the crap fly right out of the cylinders. I would probably take the plugs out right now and put a small vacuum hose down the cylinders and make damn sure there isn't any water still left in there. Small clear tube and then duct tape it to a larger shop vac works great. Then spary some lube in there to keep thing protected for the next couple months.

And the grand daddy of all tips. The first thing to do before you take your engine out is to cut the top front of the radiator mount so that you can slide the engines in and out with ease. When your swap is done just weld it back in and grind is smooth then paint. This way you won't hardly have to lift the engine upwards more than a few inches to roll it out.

Cut it out!
http://www.fourwheelperformance.com/1uz_tacoma/tacoma_cut4swap.jpg

[jdmhn8]

Finally yanked out the 5VZ. What a pain. So many wire connectors and hard to reach bolts. Coming from Honda swaps, this is certainly more difficult,

You're right man, I should have cut that radiator support. I was hoping I could preserve my A/C system by keeping the condenser and compressor in the truck, but now I see that I have to swap the 5VZ top plate onto the 1UZ compressor. So that made yanking the engine a huge pain. Had to lower my tire pressures and crank my coilovers down to clear it.

Definitely cutting it when I move the 1UZ in and out! Just need to find a welder to tack it back in...

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Next step; prep engine bay for paint, remove the awful and overly complicated 4Runner charcoal cannister and begin fitting the 1UZ.

Gonna use some VHT Satin Black Epoxy to paint everything. Supposedly you can use this stuff without primer (I wouldn't), and it dries way harder than normal alkyd spray paints (Krylons, Rustoleums, etc.) Fan tips also leave a way better finish than conical tips.

Also been working on cleaning up the Green Monster. It was pretty funky when I got it, and I couldn't stand putting a nasty engine in with all the work going into this swap. Hit a bump with t-belt because I forgot to order a new tensioner.

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[Smithers]

Oooo That green is smooth. I like it. Looks like you are well on your way. Just concentrate on the engine swap... not the AC just yet or your head will start to hurt. :) You'll be wanting to use the Lexus AC unit. Then it's a matter of making the lines reach the other side of the engine is all. When I get my cage built then I'll monkey around with the AC lines. They will need to be custom made/modified so some TIG will be needed. Just make sure and plug the holes on the AC compressor when you remove it.. same with the LEx one while the hoses are unhooked. All contaminates must be kept out of it until it is hooked up again. There are seals inside of it that must be kept oiled. I was told by an AC repair tech to put some kind of oil into it and cap it off until it's used again. As for having room for the AC radiator that's another story...

[jdmhn8]

A/C is gonna be a pain. Definitely need it, but you're right, it has to be one of the last things I do. I'm sure I can find a shop to make me some custom lines. The Lexus compressor rolled on it's side and some neon green oil came out, so I'm sure it's good to go as far as storage is concerned. With an electric fan, I think routing the lines across the engine bay will be fairly easy.

And I think all I have to do with the condenser is rotate it 180°. Seems the mounts are symmetrical and there's actually a hole on the bottom of the core support on the driver's side that looks like it was made for routing the lines through to a 1KZ or 3RZ compressor.

Power washed the shit out the engine bay today. I'm covered in grease and dirt head to toe. But, it makes it much more pleasant to work in and went a long way toward getting it prepped for paint.

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Had my friend pop off all the door panels. I'll be filling these with some Damplifier with some Ultra Touch insulation on top of that. Should definitely keep the db's down.

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Started on the trans, too. It was really sad to drain out all the super pricey Amsoil ATF, but I hate to reuse fluids for reliability's sake. I REALLY want to get this done first so I can check at least one thing off the list. I think I'll finish this by the weekend. Chewy's teardown and install of an A340 4WD output shaft is a godsend. Good stuff:

http://www.uzswap.com/forum/index.php?topic=192.0

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I'll also be shimming the accumulators per this thread:

http://www.supraforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=267655

Too many boxes of parts piling up. Costs are adding up fast. I used to be in to Hondas, and after doing a 180HP B18C swap that was $2800 just for the engine and trans (not to mention the other $300-500 for mounts and wiring), I have to keep telling myself that if I come in under $4000 for 260HP, I'm doing something right!


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[Smithers]

Great progress. I have a CHERRY condition 1992 B18 Acura Integra :-)

http://www.fourwheelperformance.com/honda/acura_integra_00.jpg

I was a turbo rotary fool back in the day. Talk about wasting money! But at least I was burning the most rubber and scaring all the Honda import drag guys away like you wouldn't believe. Then I realized... hey I can drive a big ol'truck for all this money. You wise up at some point and find that you get a lot more for your $ with trucks, not to mention WAY less attention from law enforcement.

I can't wait to see how you dampen your door panels. I need to do the same to mine bad. I can't wait to get started on my truck stereo stuff. Your engine bay looks super clean. I would just roll with it. I just painted mine because it was super nasty even when stripped clean. But it's not that much trouble and it would compliment your trick engine as well.

Just some motivation... I drove mine around all day and it was probably the funnest day I have had in a long, long time. With the muffler on it's really quiet and I got to hear my engine howl. The 1UZ isn't a torque monster (not a problem in our little trucks) but the top end is KILLER! Mine is a little modified yeah but they all scream on the high end from the factory with a good intake and exhaust. I hope you can tighten up that transmission a little so that it can take the power with your large tires. We need to re-gear out diffs bad. Or did you put newer gears in it already?

I'm also considering your tires for my next set. I'm going to snatch up some Walker Evans rims and I need to get ready to find some tires for em so they will be ready when I shred mine up. I'm just worried about that tread pattern being loud on the hwy... I guess I can Google it.

Chewy did a GREAT service for all you 4runner owners out there by posting up his work. He's got it going on! Keep up the good work. You just have to make progress consistently and you'll be on the road again before you know it.

[jdmhn8]

Shit, I had the same gen. Integra! My first car. Never made it fast (though I bought $3K worth of parts to build an awesome big cam B18B, but never did it), but I hammered it on tracks all over AZ and CA. Then I had that same revelation. But it was a great car, and a few weeks back, my buddy in Flagstaff actually ran into it's 3rd or 4th owner since I sold it 5 years ago. Definitely not what it used to be! How someone could swap out an ITR intake tube and legendary Comptech filter for an ebay intake boggles my mind. But I digress...

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Another update. Busted my hump the past few days with a few projects.

First, I did the sound deadening in the doors. Not so fun. Those sheet metal edges are sharp as shit and you're guaranteed to run into them while rolling this stuff flat.

Damplifier is awesome. Great product. Sticks FAR better than any of the other shit I've used in the past (Cascade, Dynamat), and has zero odor.

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This Ultratouch stuff is solid, too. So easy to work with, and glues up really nicely. Much much better than foam type insulators since it's far denser, and the reflective barrier as well as the thickness of the insulation should add some R-value to the interior once I get everything covered. It's also treated to eliminate mildew or funk growth, so no worries there.

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I used the Loctite for the Ultratouch and the PL for the plastic door barrier, which is just 3mil painters plastic. You can't just use silicone since it won't stick to the plastic reliably. This stuff is a pain to work with, but is super effective and remains elastomeric.

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The end result. Knocking on my door before this, it sounded like flicking a coffee can. You could actually feel the panel vibrate with each knock. Now, it's like a mahogany door. Soooooo solid. Night and day difference. Door has a lot more heft to it, and closes like a Lexus. Totally worth the emo slash marks to my arms. Grand total; about $200, and that includes enough of everything to do a 4Runner top to bottom. Not too bad.

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Then, I decided to get it on with the engine. Tensioner finally came, so I finished the timing belt. Got it lined up PERFECT on the first try. Very stoked. Went back together easy and looks infinitely better cleaned up. It was way funky when I got it. Just waiting on the guy I bought this swap from to send me a driver's side distributor (sent 2 passenger side ones), the upper plug wire cover and those nifty slatted pieces that go from the valve cover to the intake manifold. Should be good at keeping rocks out of the deep ass valley.

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Note the oil filter mount. I'm not even going to mess with the stock location. Every Japanese vehicle I've ever seen has a horrible filter location. So I'm gonna mount an engine oil and transmission filter on the frame rails, and add big ass coolers for each. No more mess and it should prolong each fluid's service length.

Sent my harnesses off to Phoenix Tuning yesterday so they can hump them together. Very curious to see how plug and play it is. I know Chewy on UZSwap used them to do his harness, but I haven't been able to get in touch with him and ask for details on fitment.

Finally, I started the transmissions. What a fucking mess! Absolutely terrible! ATF everywhere. Looked like a slaughter house floor. Just when you think it's drained, another pint or 7 comes out. Disassembly isn't too bad, though. All the write ups and link to FSM pages I posted earlier are great.

Why not just swap input shafts and be done with it iinstead of doing all this work to swap output shafts? For one, a trans from a most likely well maintained Lexus (fluid was still quite reddish) with 140K gives me much more piece of mind than a beat on box with 220K on it, despite the fact I ran $150 worth of ATF in it! Secondly, there are a few subtle differences in where sensors and whatnot mount on Lexus and 4Runner boxes. And finally, the Lexus A340 is just plain stronger. More clutches, more steels (1-2 more per gear), both of which are a bit thicker, and undoubtedly different valving makes this effort worth the end product; a crisp, firm shifting, bulletproof 4WD automatic.

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I was hoping to use the 4Runner filter, since it dips lower into the 4WD trans oil pan. But, the intake ports are very different on the valve body side. Oh well.

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For the accumulators, I ordered a 3/4" 7075 aluminum rod to cut the shims from. Only $11 for a foot, and I think this is a better route than washers. From what I've read, 7/16" shims are what the Supra guys are running. I don't think I want to do that tall, maybe 3/4" or so in B-2 and C-2. Won't mess with C-0. I'll document this when it comes in. Also ordered heim joints to make some decent sway bar endlinks.

After doing this, I don't think replacing the clutches would be too bad. That is, if this thing actually works when I get it all done! The insides look simpler than most manual transmissions I've opened up. Word is the A340 series units are good for around 325 WHP with Raybestos Blue clutches, which is good to know if I ever decide to yank everything and build it for boost.

And get some more vids of your Tacoma up! Definitely wanna see it as you work out the bugs. Curious as to what kind of power you can squeeze out of it with the Adaptronic. I always thought 1UZ's had nearly all the torque available from 2000RPM? I think my 4Runner has 4.30s (e-locker). I have dreams of breaking loose my tires on dry pavement someday...

[Smithers]

I'll be working out the gearing sometime in the next couple months when my project funding works back up. For now I bought some Walker Evans rims and I have to start thinking about some tires for them. I'll be fabbing up some cross braces for the chassis and stuff so I have plenty to do as I strengthen the whole rig up. All I have to say is that my friends are scared when they go for a ride with me. :D It is enough to intimidate me a little because we sit pretty high off the ground now and the engine revvs forever... and I let it rev! But hey good to see your progress. If you need any whacky little engine parts let me know. I have lots of spare stuff laying around.

Send your injectors off to have them professionally cleaned and spray tested. I'm sure that's part of the secret to my engines success. You'll surely be ripping those tires loose on dry pavement... it won't be a problem. I think I'll want 4.88's...

[jdmhn8]

Been out of town for a while, so here's a small update of what I've gotten done since then.

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FINALLY dropped the engine in. It looks great! Fits fairly well, BUT, there's some serious issues.

I had a modest 1/2" body lift on the truck to begin with, and I was really hoping to not add anymore. That's impossible, though. The 1UZ is much wider and flatter than the 5VZ, and it mounts the bell housing considerably higher than the 5VZ. So, now I'm waiting on an 1 1/2" body lift to come in. I figure I can try the 1.5" first, then add my 1/2" pucks if that's not enough.

Also, an issues I haven't seen on the other 95+ trucks that I'm having is some interference with the gaggles of ABS lines coming from the master cylinder. It's really affecting how far back the engine can go in the bay, but I'm thinking more body lift will remedy that.

Been busting my ass on the interior. After I pulled out the carpet, I noticed all of the jute backing was damp. I pulled the carpet in June of last year and powerwashed it. Guess it wasn't completely dry when I reinstalled it, and it can't dry at all once installed (carpet is rubber backed so zero air flow). That explains the musty stink I've endured for the past 9 months.

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Ripped all the jute off, carefully traced and cut new pieces from my Ultra Touch roll, and repadded the entire truck with twice the thickness as the stock jute. Should really make the interior mega quiet.

Also added Damplifier and Ultratouch to the roof, which sounds like a sheet of drywall when you tap it, not like a soda can!

I also dicked around and started to make some endlinks. Pretty easy and the heim joints are cheap ($9 each) since I don't think a $50 PTFE lined joint is necessary.

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My awesome ebay headers came, too. I think these are identical to what Smitherz used, and I'm glad I went with them. Look well made, super thick flange and the welds are certainly nice enough.

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This week, I'll have the interior reinstalled, finish up the wiring for all my aux lights that will sit on my new roof rack, install an alarm and hopefully get that body lift so I can measure for engine mounts!

[Smithers]

Lots of work getting done. Very good. Yeah those headers are amazing for the price. I cut and rewelded my shock towers to fit them to clear. :D I intend to fully chop the towers off in the near future when I cage the whole thing. Can't wait for that. :rolleyes:

That green is damn nice. You have lots of interior work to do but it should be nice like a Caddy. What did you ever do with those Volk rims from your Acura? Boy if I ran those on my car I would get pulled over quick by the local law! Those look awesome but they look to racer'ish and would get me tickets for sure. :-P

[jdmhn8]

Yeah, I saw how you chopped the shock towers. I REALLY want to avoid that, but it looks like that may be requisite to fit these things. I either have to buy a welder, grow some balls and slice those towers, or have to go for SC400 manifolds, which I know would fit better, but are such a performance compromise.

I had 6 sets of wheels for that car, typically 2 at a time! Eventually sold the Volks for nearly as much as I paid for them new. I was seriously considering some TE37Xs for my 4Runner years ago, but I would hate to mash up a $650 wheel offroad.

[RMA]

Whats up Guys!!

jdmhn8 thought id sign up follow your build over here. I wish I could have also used those headers it seems that everyone is trying to use those . But a 1" body lift would have made it impossible.

Having to rework the #1 exhaust tube to clear the steering and then reworking the flanges , i just wanted something simpler.Maybe on my next one I will use them just to see the difference in power.

and I always thought a 1" body lift was enough for this engine into these 3rd gens, but your saying its not working for you ..interesting to see how much lift your really going to need ..

Good luck man ..
Smithers great site man been browsing for a while lots of great info...


OHH and I like how the new post go to the top .. freaked me out for a bit but then .. cool.

[Smithers]

Hey good to see ya man. About the body lift it is necessary in my eyes as it makes fitment much easier and heck it benefits the tire clearance and ability to turn larger tires much better. 2" lift on these trucks is mandatory in my eyes. It makes life much easier and actually makes it feel like a real truck.

The header mods are not so easy but they will make people into better fabricators. :) No doubt about that. And the shock buckets really will need to be cut down. It won't take one bit of integrity out of the mount and when you grind your weld smooth and paint it not one person will notice. My body lift is like 3" just about. I had 2 before and just went up to 3 during the swap because I made boxed mounts for my custom front end and I had to decide right then how high while taking into consideration my future modifications. I want my truck to be proportional and since I'll be going with the wide stance long travel front suspension sometime I opted to go 3" higher. My bed is still at 2" since I hadn't bothered with those mounts yet. I want to box those mounts as well but when I do a rollcage then it will change completely so I might as well wait. Never ended project...

[jdmhn8]

Glad to see another swapper here! Was hoping to attract others here. Smitherz build so comprehensive, I thought it would be great to put a ton on info in one place.

Still no body lift. Guess 4Crawler is cracking those HPDE molecules one by one. Ordered it 3 weeks ago now...

So I'm at a standstill with the engine. Can't work on the mounts, fitting the trans or anything really productive. Been forced to work on more of the tiny jobs. I HATE WIRES!

Picked up a set of SC400 manifolds. I hate to do it, but I think I'm gonna go with those. I just don't have the time or skill to fit the ebay headers, and as much as I hate to lose ~10HP, I have to do the SC400s, which fit quite well.

Worked on a gauge mount for the extra DIN slot. Ordered a nifty one from Gloshift, which turned out to be a piece of shit that wouldn't fit no matter what. So I made my own out of a piece of 1/8" ABS. Requires a lot of clearancing to the center bezel to fit it, but I eventually got it to sit perfectly.

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Applied a piece of matte black vinyl film to the final product. Matches the sheen and finish of the bezel well, and hides all my ghetto Dremeling. The alarm and Alpine plug and play amp also live behind the gauges. The pic of them and their gaggle of wires is disturbing. Wires are evil...

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Roof rack came. Working on making some low profile mounts for it. This thing fits great, and with the extension, takes up most of the length of the roof and only overhangs the sunroof a few inches. $240ish shipped for the rack, extension and a Thule net.

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Installed these awesome power connectors for the roof lights, too. Had them for years, glad I finally get to use them. I'm positive they won't leak and a great way to have a cheap, removable connection for roof stuff.

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Put vinyl film on the roof, too. Pics when I get done doing the rack mounts, but it seems tough and isn't too bad to apply. Paint was super dead up there, so this should protect it for a few years before I have to do a respray.

Fuse panel and relay in the very back for reverse/tailgater asshole lights and an inverter. Exciting...

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And finally got the trans done. Just waiting on some AN fittings for the fluid input/output cooler lines.

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[vegask]

Saw this thread and had to join. My 5vzfe and trans are getting pretty tired so I am researching some different swap ideas.

Question about engine placement, if you were to remove/relocate the 5 ABS lines that run across the firewall, would you be able to sit the engine any lower?

Also, do you think there would be any way (with cutting) to run this engine/trans without a body lift?

[jdmhn8]

As far as I'm concerned, there is no feasible way to do this swap without at least a 1.5" body lift. You would have to cut or beat the shit out of the trans tunnel to avoid the body lift, and possibly clearance around the brake booster.

I don't think the ABS lines (or rear heat lines) will be an issue with the body lift.

It's now been over a month since I placed my order with 4Crawler for the body lift. Sucks ass. Can't do anything until I get that!

[Smithers]

Cancel your order and just make your own. :) It's just some spacers and longer bolts. You can buy all that on your own for cheap. Waiting for a month for a body lift is insane. You should be able to get a body lift for that truck overnight!

[RMA]

yea , i made my body lift .

ordered some 2" x 12" hpde whatever rod online and cut to 1 inch lengths with chop saw, bought some longer bolts and done ....spent $22 bucks on the whole thing.

heres one site , its not the one i ordered from .. cant remember the name of that one.
http://www.k-mac-plastics.net/hdpe-rod.htm

[Smithers]

Crazy huh!? And if you go any longer you can weld on an extension to your steering shaft. I have pictures somewhere on here showing how I did it. The steering column comes out easier than you think if you elect to do that. And your thread is 2 pages long now, woohoo.

[jdmhn8]

OK so finally got the damn body lift. I was seriously looking on Mcmaster Saturday for the raw material to make my own when the mailman dropped it off.

The kit is of so so quality; certainly could have done the same myself. The only thing I really needed were the 9th and 10th body mount brackets ('96 4Runners are missing these), but the welds are shit and one of them isn't square by 0.25". I give the 4Crawler body lift kit a 3/10, mostly because it took over a month to get something so basic.

Back on track!

Was hoping to get away with just 1.5", but the bell housing was contacting a bump on the passenger side of the tunnel. It would technically work if you pound the sheet metal for clearance, but I chose to add my 0.5" blocks back in just to make it less complicated. These pics are the final 2" body lift setup.

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Up top, the clearance is a bit better. Still tight around the ABS lines, but I don't think the engine will move much longitudinally under WOT with very rigid mounts. Much more room around the rear heat lines and heater core connections.

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Should finish the templates for the mounts tomorrow. Really hoping to have this thing running my mid-May!

[Smithers]

I'm using the stock engine mount rubber and transmission mount rubber which holds the engine in place very well with very little movement at all. I replaced the factory engine and trans mounts 3 years ago so they are in good shape. The originals might not have held the engine so well. My headers were maybe 1/4" away from the upper control arm hardware and there are no signs of contact so that shows how little mine moved. I would beat back the firewall a bit where your valve cover came into contact. Shame to have scratched it like that!

The only thing I'm really afraid will make your life miserable is the steering shaft spacer you have on there. The header will need to squeeze by that bukly apparatus. =\

[jdmhn8]

Well, it's been a long, long time since I've had any updates.

And unfortunately, it looks like this project has gotten the best of me.

I'm officially out of money, deep into the red, and not really close to getting it done. Still trying to track down parts (pain in the ass), and I still have quite a few expensive purchases to get it running right. Notably, $600 for an exhaust since I can't weld.

I think I'm throwing in the towel. Really hard to do, but I don't have much choice at this point. I've been borrowing a car from a friend for about a month now, and there's no clear end in sight for this swap. I think it's best to cut my losses so I can at least buy a cheap daily driver to get to work.

Unfortunately, that means my truck is out of commission until who knows when. So much work in it, and I can't enjoy any of it until I can rally the funds to put a 5VZ back in. I might just part it out and get back into Honda's. Really lost a lot of interest in anything Toyota because of this experience! Oh how I miss engine swaps that take just a weekend...

Big thanks to Smitherz for keeping such a detailed build of his Tacoma. But one thing the pictures can't tell you is the incredible investment of time and effort it takes to attempt a swap like this. Even with a good plan of attack, it's still full of set backs, tight fitments and brain melting issues. Should have definitely budgeted a cheap car for a DD in my initial plan.

Probably have the engine and harness on eBay, TTORA, Yotatech, UZswap and Lextreme in the next few days...

[Smithers]

Man I feel your pain. It's extremely hard to do a 1UZ swap into anything. I have an insane amount of work into my swap and no one can even imagine how hard it was to keep motivated on my truck. I tell you I had to work through some really cold nights, some rainy days and also cash in some favors from friends and you can only imagine how hard it is to get OTHER people motivated to help you out. I had to take about a 2 month break almost on mine and go ride motorcycles and save up a little money. I just made sure that every time I worked on it I accomplished something. What's worse is when your working on something and your friends drop by and just want to hang out which totally distracts you to the point where you can't do a damn thing but stop working or just sit there and tell them to leave.

I wish I was there to do your exhaust for you. So can you make a list of the things that you would need to do to finish your swap? It might not be as bad as you predict to get to the end maybe? I've seen some people swap these engines into old trucks with hardly any money at all so I'm thinking you can go into economy mode and get it rolling maybe? The wiring should be intimidating you I hope. That's one of the easier parts as these engines just need a few wires hooked up to them to run.

Having another means of transportation is mandatory when doing this difficult of a swap. I save a lot of money by having motorcycles around that are super cheap to get around on. And trust me I am still paying off my credit card that I filled up with all sorts of $$ from buying all sorts of parts I didn't think I would need in the beginning.

[Kokanee Ranger]

that is a very saddening story, I too want this engine... in a 3rd gen.. but ive heard some success stories and some pretty bad failure stories... getting 2nd thoughts myself.
ive contacted someone, who claims they can put a 1uz into anything. and will charge from $3000-$5000 to do it... I may go that route and get someone experienced installing these engines...
since i dont have much mechanical knowledge.
very fast learner about these things and very good at hands on stuff, but it seems too much for my plate to take on by myself...

[Smithers]

It's just a ton of work! That's about how much I would charge but that's just labor. And I wouldn't feel like that was enough money while I was doing it either. :) The result is incredible BUT it comes at a huge cost... and don't forget about the down time. It could be done in less than a month if you have all your parts ready but people don't realize how bad it sucks not to have your truck on the road for that long. You also have to have a steady income so you can keep shoveling it into the project. If you run out of cash and can't keep it coming to pay for random parts you might (will) need then you're dead in the water. The last couple weeks of my install were painfully expensive. I had to swap in some ARP hardware to hold the cylinder heads down properly and once I did get it running the charging system wasn't working... the only thing I DIDn'T replace or buy new was the alternator and yep, it was bad and I had to buy a new one. And the high power alternators for the Lexus cars aren't cheap no matter where you get them.

[zukijames]

i think thats my motor!