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1GR-FE 4.0 V6 Swap into 1987 4Runner

171K views 197 replies 43 participants last post by  jedrattle 
#1 ·
OK, I realize this is not a Tacoma, but the motor is so I think this swap would interest a lot of you guys out there.

Details of swap:
Motor - 1GR-FE out of 2 wheel drive Tundra
Trans - RA60 6 speed manual
T-case - Dual Inchworm gear drive cases with 4.7:1 in rear case

I started looking for a donor vehicle about a year ago and I finally gave up the search after bidding on $17k rolled FJ Cruisers, looking at trucks that were rolled, battery explosion under the hood, driven into rivers and left there, burned out vehicles, etc.

I didn't want to start with a junkyard motor for fear of "nickel and diming" ourselves on all the small bits and pieces, but then I came across a 2wd Tundra motor, in a wrecking yard in the Seattle area. It was a manual trans truck, so it had the flywheel, it was a 2wd, which ought to have less wiring to convert, and it had only 25k miles on it.

So here's the truck, and here's the motor. Watch as I tear into it. And keep your fingers crossed, I know I am...









 
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#52 ·
The new motor was about 3 inches shorter than the 22RE and the 6 speed is about 2.5 inches longer than the stock trans, but with the adapter the motor was able to sit perfectly in the engine bay, and the t-cases were able to remain in their stock location, so no drive shaft mods or new holes in the floor were needed.

Here's some pics of the frame rails and new motor mounts

Cut these off


Cleaned up the frame and made some frame plates








And new motor mounts




 
#54 ·
Modifying the pan took a bit of work. I first had to figure out what I was going to cut off. Some of the oil pan bolts are inside the pan, so I had to figure out if they were going to remain there or if I would put them on the outside.









I decided it would be better to keep them inside the pan, because there is a drain back hole that would also have to be modified to allow it to function. And with the new aluminum welded up on the outside of the bolts, there would be a bit more oil left in the pan. So I started cutting...



And machining



 
#57 ·
please tell me that tcase mount is going away and some sort of new xmember with dual OE mounts are replacing it. ;)


As usual...awesome work.
 
#58 ·
Thanks Chris.

Yeah, I don't like the amount of leverage that puts on the trans assembly. Having the crossmember all the way in the back is ok on a stock W56 or whatever, but when you throw an adapter into the mix, and a 5/8" thick one at that...I am concerned.

I want to do like I did on the blue '06 DC, and have two x-members; one on the t-case and one on the trans, making t-case removal super easy and alleviating the stress in the middle.
 
#59 ·
you've seen my setup, right? single xmember but with two OE mounts, tranny and crawler. (which I need to pull and check for a busted mount at the moment :p)
 
#63 ·
There was some warpage to the pan after all that welding, so I had to skim cut the surfaces to get it back to true.

On another note, I figured out a way to get some oil volume back by running an external cooler. There are plugs at either end of the oil filter housing, one in and one out. That's where I'll do the final hookup.

As far as the sump is concerned, I may have to do a kickout to keep a good amount of oil around the pickup. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it.
 
#64 ·
And on a side note, the exhaust manifolds from a 2010 FJ Cruiser will not bolt on to a 2006 model 1GR-FE. I ordered new manifolds based on the customer's pointing out that they are more of a tuned "header" design than the older log style manifolds.

Any one want to buy a brand new pair of manifolds?
 
#67 ·
Yeah, it's going to be really cool. V8 horsepower with V6 packaging. I'm really amazed at how well it fits so far.

The motor is out of a 2006 Tundra 2wd truck with a 6 speed manual. I chose a 2wd because there is less wiring to contend with. The hard part was finding a 2wd donor with a manual. It's the same motor that comes in the Tacoma too.
 
#68 ·
Not sure if you are still going to try to convert it to a cable throttle body, but if you want to just play with the electronic throttle control until then. All you need is 10 amps going to pin 7 of connector E3. Its a green with yellow stripe (G-Y) wire.

Good luck!

Navy
 
#70 ·
I started building the exhaust the other day. We ended up being able to return the wrong manifolds to Toyota (thank you) and we purchased some new '06 manifolds. I was hoping the cats would fit in the engine bay...and the would, but the cats hit the frame. So I cut the cats off and I'm relocating them downstream a bit.

We bought 304 stainless tubing, bends, a collector, v-band clamps and O2 bungs from SPD in Rancho Cordova. It's going to have a 2" y pipe into the cats and then the collector and 2.5" out.

A couple pics.
2010 vs 2006






2006 manifolds




Cut the cat off
 
#71 ·
That's the resonator. Cat's are further down in the Y pipe.

You'll want to add in a resonator further down the line (16-18") or that engine will have a nasty rasp similar to a civic coming out the tail pipe.


edit, just read that you plan on relocating them.
 
#79 ·
couple of things...you gonna wrap those cats with anti-heat blankets or something? that combo is going to put out a heck of a lot of heat in that one location.
I'm guessing there was no room for easy header mounting.

how much clearance between the top lip of that xmember tranny mount and the tranny? the OE rubber will flex a little more than 1/2".

and...how hard would it be to stuff a 4.0 in a 2000 Taco? :p
 
#82 ·
A lot of heat...yes. I am going to build aluminum heat shields to go between the exhaust and the cab. And thinking of wrapping the portion that goes under the trans, but that might be overkill. Besides, header wrap severely decreases the lifespan of tubing, even stainless. It's the heat soak that just kills it.

I'm not sure I understand your question about the trans mount.

If it fits in the 2nd gen trucks, it ought to fit in the 1st gen Tacoma. Everything but the stock cats fit in the bay. The front even has enough clearance for a stock cooling fan. The hood clearance, on the other hand, is not sufficient. I'm building a custom plenum, but you could probably do it with a body lift.

All in all I think a V6 is a better swap than a V8, unless you absolutely need tons of horsepower. And this motor still produces about 250-260 HP...not enough? Well cool then, V8 it is...
 
#87 ·
I'm almost finished with the fuel system now. I am using the stock 22RE pump and replacing the hard feed line with 3/8 (was 5/16). I found some quick disconnect to AN adapters that I thought I'd try, even though they were for a Chevy LS motor. The Russell Performance part numbers are 640863 and 640853. The 1GR-FE fuel inlet and outlet nipples measured at 3/8 and 5/16 respectively.

Here's a pic of the adapter.


Installation was a bit of a mind bender as I realized that the nipples were made a bit different form the standard LS nipples; they had another step in them which meant that the quick release mechanism in the adapter fitting would not slip over it...unless I put the quick release clip on first and then the adapter on over them. But here's the catch...they will never come off now, because that second step interferes with the clip. Hard to visualize, I'm sure, but I'm just glad they worked out.

I also used an adapter fitting to go from the stock flexible hose at the fuel pump to the -6 tube nut on the new 3/8 hard line. It is also a Russel part (670521), and I ran an inline OEM style filter for easy over-the-counter replacement. It also uses -6 tube nuts and nipples.

More pics later.
 
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