Anyone made the 3.0 runner v-6 work well in the truck?

[KevinM]

Hey
Looking at picking a 89 Ext cab truck up from my buddy as my next project. It sits motor and drivetrain - less right now, but is jacked up (don't know what amount body/susp) on 35's. I really like the way it sits and think it would be a good start into offroading,etc.

It will include a stripped down 93 4Runner with complete engine/tranny/transfercase and ecu/harness. All running fine at the moment. After reading up around here, I'm starting to wonder if the 3.0 will work OK. I keep seeing the 3.4 or people with the 2.4 running in their rigs, but not too many who are happy with the 3.0. (would also consider a 7M, since all my experience is with building nice singled old school supras - just not ready to have to adapt the tranny with my first project on the truck)

So, what (if anything) has anyone done to make the 3.0 more friendly to big tires, etc?
And, In your opinion, is the 3.0 worth the time considering that I already have it and would not have to source/fab too much?

Links to info/faq pages other then the ones here would be helpful as well.

Thanks
Kevin

[illiand]

what engine did the ext cab originally have? unless it was a V6 as well you are going to have to fab up motor mounts and possible tranny mounts to make the V6 work. if you go with the V6 have the dealer check the VIN befor you rip it out of the 'runner so see if the Special service campaign for the head gasket has been done yet, if not you might be able to get it done and end up with, at the very least, a 3VZE with alot more life in it.

If the pickup came with the 22re you might as well stick with that or swap one of the following instead: 3RZ (2.7L from newer tacos), 7M, 7M-GTE, or a "L" series diesel. Any of those will get you better power and/or reliability, most of those engine options will get you both.

I personally have never had any problems with either of my 3VZE toyotas (94 pickup 190K, 88 4runner 290K), but from what i understand i am the exception rather than the rule. Still beats a chevy though...

[KToy]

love the 22re but its as powerful as the 3.0

2.7 newer taco motor kicks ass.

as does the 3.4

or the lexus v8 is a sick motor as well.

if it were me i would run the 22re or the 7mg cuz they are so plentiful and a bit cheaper than the new motors.

my opinion.

[KevinM]

Thanks for the replies. I still need to find out which motor came in the truck. I don't mind fabbing motor mounts, but it would definately be another push toward doing the 22re depending on how easy it is to mate it to the tranny.

As far as the 7M, I have 2 spare gte motors with metal HG's which I would love to use. My biggest concern, like I said was dealing with the bellhousing.

So, yeah, either way, I'm most concerned with what it takes to get the tranny/drivetrain to work with whatever motor I go with.

Anyone sell the adapter that I've seen people use to between the 7M and the r15? that is in the 4runner?

Kevin

[22REkid]

Thanks for the replies. I still need to find out which motor came in the truck.

It's easy to find out what engine the vehicle had by looking at the engine label under the hood. It usually is stuck to the inside of the hood and says "CATALYST" on it. It will tell you the engine family and displacement and a whole bunch of other stuff. 22RE all the way though, for real!

[illiand]

As far as the 7M, I have 2 spare gte motors with metal HG's which I would love to use. My biggest concern, like I said was dealing with the bellhousing.

So, yeah, either way, I'm most concerned with what it takes to get the tranny/drivetrain to work with whatever motor I go with.

Anyone sell the adapter that I've seen people use to between the 7M and the r15? that is in the 4runner?

Kevin

if you have the bellhousing that came with the 7MGTEs a 4 cylinder trany of certain years will bolt right up to the supra housing. still have to buy the tranny, but already having the motor will save you some money.

Didn't the 7M supras come with an r154 transmission, or was that the 2jzs? if thats the case i have heard of people swaping the input shaft from the r154 into the r150f (v6 transmission) and the rest bolting right up. not sure how accurate that is though as they may have been talking about the r151 that came with the turbo 22rets in 86 and 87.

Chech out www.supracharged.com for everything you want to know about swaping a supra engine into a toyota 4x4.

[KevinM]

3rd gen Supras had the R154's in the turbo model and the w58's in the n/a's. mk4's have the getrag 6spd. I'll have to take a closer look and compare the 4runner tranny to a spare r154 that I have. If that were the case, I'd be a ecu/harness and mounts away from a 7m'd truck which would be sweet.

I'll get some pics up once I have time to see the truck in daylight again.

It's looking to be a christmas time project.

Thanks much for the input so far.

Kevin

EDIT

This is off Mike's site which strikes me as odd:

"The problem is that there was no bell housing produced by Toyota to accommodate the combination of the 7M-GTE/7M-GE engine block and the R series transmissions"

7mgte/r154 is stock... not that I have any experience with the r150f. I will be real curious to see them side by side.

[illiand]

i think i got that notion from some other board, though i cant for the life of me remember where now. i think the guy ended up fab'ing a custom bellhousing by welding the front of the supra housing to the end of the truck housing because he wanted to lower 1st gear on the truck transmission.

the 4 cylinder transmission you would want is the W56 found in 85-95 22REs, thats the one that bolts up to the supra housing (presumably the n/a with the w58 trans). Another good resource for info about toyota trucks is www.marlincrawler.com.

[gravityfrog]

3rd gen Supras had the R154's in the turbo model and the w58's in the n/a's. mk4's have the getrag 6spd. I'll have to take a closer look and compare the 4runner tranny to a spare r154 that I have. If that were the case, I'd be a ecu/harness and mounts away from a 7m'd truck which would be sweet.

I'll get some pics up once I have time to see the truck in daylight again.

It's looking to be a christmas time project.

Thanks much for the input so far.

Kevin

EDIT

This is off Mike's site which strikes me as odd:

"The problem is that there was no bell housing produced by Toyota to accommodate the combination of the 7M-GTE/7M-GE engine block and the R series transmissions"

7mgte/r154 is stock... not that I have any experience with the r150f. I will be real curious to see them side by side.

if you go to the website supracharged.com it is wholly devoted to the 7m swaps one person over there has swapped the output shaft from the r150f into the r154s casing somehow, you should check that site out if you go the way of the supra