87 4Runner 1UZ swap, get comfy

The 1UZFE EGR Delete Kit is available for sale here.

numbchux

Member
Messages
101
Location
Duluth, Minnesota
Here's the Truck:
34928385193_7c1be9ef75_c.jpgIMG_52134495177976 by Numbchux, on Flickr

I've had this thing for about 10 years. Bought it with a blown 22RTE (loose drain plug after oil change), put a 22RE in it which had been really poorly maintained and blew a head gasket. I decided I wanted more power, so about 8 years ago I swapped a Chevy 4.3 in it, but I used a '92 "Vortec", which is a one-year fuel injection, being the first year of the Spider injection, and last year of mechanical transmission. It's never run quite right, and when some transmission problems began about a year ago, I decided I was done with it.

I debated 5VZ or 1UZ for some time, and watched for good donors.

A few weeks ago I picked up a T100 Transfer case and adapter.

Then a 1UZ swap popped up on Facebook Marketplace. Engine, transmission, accessories, manifolds, cats, wiring, ECU. So I snatched it up.
46774601922_7bfac5783c_c.jpg2019-01-21_08-35-58 by Numbchux, on Flickr

It was listed as an LS400, but one look at the hydraulic fan pump, and oil pan I was pretty sure it was from an SC400.

Since I'm going to be tinkering with it for sometime, and want to move it around the garage so we can still park inside, I built a crude little wooden cart with some castor wheels:
46180786634_6b611c3abf_c.jpg20190126_145302 by Numbchux, on Flickr

Then I found this neat tag riveted to the RH side of the block, right behind the alternator (that's the alt in the upper right foreground of the picture, and block heater at the top).
46180785784_edc7ee3b5f_c.jpg20190126_202554 by Numbchux, on Flickr

Complete VIN. MY 1994, 11/93 SC400.



I did a little exploratory surgery to see what maintenance parts I would need. Yanked the A/C Compressor. Gutted the hydraulic fan pump (test fit with another serpentine, I can now route a belt straight from the crank up to the idler). Somebody was careless with plug wire routing, and they're pinched under the covers and damaged, so I'll replace those. There's a little oil in each spark plug well, so I'll do valve cover gaskets. Probably pull the intake and do the starter now, instead of waiting until it's in the truck.

There's oil beneath the front of the LH valve cover, might be the gasket, might just be careless oil fills. Also there's oil between the oil pump and water pump. This seems strange, not sure if it's running down from the valve cover, or leaking from behind the oil pump.

It's got traction control, I haven't decided if I'm going to gut this throttle body or replace it...whatever.

Planning a Transgo shift kit and RADesigns rail shifter.


Won't be a fast project, but I hope to whiddle away at it over the winter, and bring the truck into the garage once the weather breaks (Probably April or May).
 
I think you will find the oil will be from spillage rather than leakage.

To make traction control work you need all the supporting rotors and sensors so don't even think about it.

Besides having unlimited wheelspin is part of the the fun
 
I think you will find the oil will be from spillage rather than leakage.

To make traction control work you need all the supporting rotors and sensors so don't even think about it.

Besides having unlimited wheelspin is part of the the fun

No, I have no desire to make it work. Just haven't decided how I'm going to delete it, by modifying this throttle body, or by replacing it with one without the extra parts (which I see on ebay for fairly cheap). But that's pretty low on the priority list right now.

I did a tutorial on sorting the throttle body. Already had quite a few people follow the instructions. Its on my youtube channel. I can post a link if you want.

Cool, if you've got the link handy, otherwise I'm sure I can find it (I'm at work now, so I can't search for it).

I'm going to gather some parts, and take the timing cover off and get some good pictures of the oil, and exactly where it is. I bet it's spillage and/or leakage from the valve cover, but being that it would be so much easier to deal with now than after install, I want to be absolutely sure.



I stumbled across a picture of a 1UZ with the intake rotated around this morning. It sure would be nice not to have to relocate the fuse box and battery for the airbox....since I'm planning to pull the plenum to do the starter now, I'm going to look into that.
 
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I did a plenum swap recently too but on a 2003 2wd to match up with the airbox. I got some footage but havent done the video yet and not sure if I will on that one. It turned into a much bigger job/ On the early surf / 4 runner I normally move the battery and leave the fuse box. I do have another with a swapped plenum here but it's my own so well down the list. Too many other jobs to do rather than my own one.
 
I've rotated the plenum and yes it is a bigger job than you think.

You need to move a few hoses around as well as modify the wiring loom for the ISCV and T/b.

Then things like the vacuum hose for the brakes is at the front of the engine so it needs changing.

Allow half a day as it sort of snowballs once you start it.

I ended up swapping mine back to stock and just ran longer induction pipes as the ISCV was inaccessible at the rear of the engine bay.
 
I've done several rotated manifolds on Subarus....that all sounds easy :p

Seriously, though, thanks for the feedback. I'm planning to pull the intake to do the starter anyway, so that gives me an idea on what to look for. Part of me wants to do some serious vacuum system simplification, and part of me wants to just leave it alone (probably with new hoses).
 
I'd leave the vacuum system as Toyota made it.

I have never come across anyone who said (or claimed) there was any benefit in getting rid of it.
 
Rod, we are lucky as we generally get jdm engines without egr and they have only a few vacuum lines. The usdm engines have a few more along with egr, some california spec engines got air injection too and i always convert them to jdm spec.
 
Yea, I think there are 3 VSVs (I think one controls the EGR). There's 3 separate vacuum lines that wrap around the front of the plenum (zoom in on the picture above of it on the cart in my garage), as well as some long hoses hanging off the motor (I assume for a charcoal canister). The engines on eBay (mostly JDM) have none of that.

At some point, I'll buy a TIS subscription for a couple days, and download all the manuals and see how it all works before I make a final decision on how much to keep.


Even with Toyota reliability, there are SO many components and possible failure points. It'd be nice to simplify it. Although, by "failure", I'm really talking about a vacuum leak, so that's not really the end of the world.
 
Did some more exploratory surgery. Got the intake and valve covers off. Did a compression and leakdown test, but results were all over the place, mostly indicating that this thing has been sitting for quite a while. No shortage of carbon buildup. I think I'm going to proceed, and start it on the "stand" like this, and get it up to temperature and do the compression test again before I tear the engine out of the 4Runner.
 
I see poor compression after engine have been sitting for a while all the time and its rarely an issue once they run however it plays with my mind a bit. The lastest one got the water blast inside and out and we will be cranking up oil pressure before fitting. Its nice to fire them up before fitting too if possible.
 

Not much to update, gathering information and more of a plan before I pull the trigger on some of the parts orders.

I just thought I'd say, I've had some time over the last few days to really start watching a few of your videos. There is a huge amount of information there, it's so cool to see you rifle through a bin of slightly different parts (thermostat housings, oil filter housings, etc.) . So thanks a lot! I really like replacing the traction control sensor with a fitting for the idle air, so that settles my mind from spending the money to get a non-trac body.
 
Still gathering parts. Got a batch from the local Toyota dealer, a couple from a Lexus dealer, and a good sized box from RockAuto.

I had the starter rebuilt at a local auto electrics shop this week. I picked it up today, he asked me if this thing was in a fire. All the plastic and rubber in the thing was cracked and dry, the bearings were completely cooked dry. Glad I didn't run it as-is, or just slap some contacts in it.

I discovered that a 9/16" freeze plug (Dorman 555-008) almost fits in the upper opening in the EGR adapter. It wasn't as tight a fit as I'd like, but I was able to tweak it a bit, and with some locktite around the edge, I'm pretty happy with it. cost 50 cents, and looks much cleaner than an aftermarket block off plate.
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2019-03-07_12-59-11 by Numbchux, on Flickr

I hit a deer with my winter beater last Thursday. This sucked, but it gave me an excuse for a UPull run. While I was there, I pulled the shifter assembly (transmission and tcase), and linkage from a '97 4Runner. With some research, I think I'm going to buy the manual shift shaft for that transmission (still available from Toyota, and fairly reasonably priced) and convert the Lexus trans so the shifter is on the LH side. This will save me a bunch of time fabricating shift linkage and getting the levers the right length and all that garbage.


I'm going to buy a 2 day subscription to Toyota TIS on Monday, and spend my lunch breaks (I don't have very good internet at home, so I'll do it from work), and download a bunch of manuals for this swap (the Lexus, obviously, but also T100, '97 4Runner, and anything I can about the '87), as well as for my Celica summer car.


Then I'm hoping to prep the wiring harness, put the intake back on and set it up to test run on the stand before I pull the trigger on the big parts orders and take my truck out of commission.
 
I got my money's worth out of a 2-day TIS pass. lots of factory manuals, diagrams, etc. for this project. Too bad they don't have stuff for the '87 on there, but I knew that.

Modified the throttle body. I discovered that the bore for the bearings for that butterfly is perfectly sized for 3/8 NPT. I quick drill with a 1/2 bit to clear out the thin flange that holds the bearing there, and I was ready to tap.

Couldn't find almost any options for a brass 3/8 NPT - 5/8 hose barb adapter (Local hardware store had it in Nylon...). But www.fittingsandadapters.com had one, I was able to find $15 worth of stuff I needed from them, so I got a clamp-style hose barb, and a plug for the other side.

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20190315_173751 by Numbchux, on Flickr

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20190315_173740 by Numbchux, on Flickr


I've got some seriously brittle connectors, so I've decided not to remove the harness completely from the engine. I'm fairly confident that I can do what I need to prep the harness by popping the top off the plastic run across the back of the engine. I got all the unused connectors labeled and identified
 
Seriously brittle connectors are par for the course with these engines.

The engine could be approaching 39 years old.

Smart move to leave as much alone as you can.
 


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