1987 5vz Build

Awesome build, can't wait for final release...Big fan of the 87' 4R, but mine was the underpowered, highly dependable 22RE.

 

End of October and the days are getting cooler out here. Was able to get the 3.0l on an engine stand and harvesting parts from it that are needed for the swap. I believe it went through a couple head gaskets before i purchased it with a blown head. Con - everything is covered in oil and grease. Pro - there’s no rust anywhere and everything cleans up easy.

Also have been reading a lot about the AC swap since I want everything to work in the truck.

 

One more little October update. We had an awesome 70f day yesterday and I was able to open the garage up and shoot some paint. Urethane Sealer /Base / Base /Clear / Clear. To say I learned a lot is an understatement. I had a lot of issues with the urethane sealer spitting when I first got the gun going. Swapped out to a smaller 1.3 nozzle and fixed the issue a bit. Looking back I think the primer was just a little too thick for the gun and I should have done a 4:1:1 with reducer to help flowability. Welp lesson learned for when I shoot the body. Here’s some in process and after photos.

 

It was strangely warm yesterday. I noticed Oregon plates in one of your pics. Where are you located? Build looks like it's coming along! Makes me regret selling my 86.

 

Hey thank you, yeah slowly but surely it's getting done. I'm much more comfortable with the mechanical/electrical stuff over the paint so I'm glad the bay is done. I'm over in Bend, there's surprisingly few first gens out here, or any 80's models at that. Sucks you got rid of your 86 :/, these things are getting harder and harder to find.

 

I replaced it with a 66 mustang so not a terrible trade off I guess hahaha. There is a place in creswell ( south of Eugene) called Toyota swaps only. They do a lot of work with 3.4 swaps into older rigs. If you run into any issues they may be a good source for help/parts. I've got a 92 pickup I was going to 3.4 swap but ended up just rebuilding the 3.0 in it with head studs and got rid of the crossover in the exhaust.

 

I'm just down the way from you, in Klamath Falls.
I've got an 87 4Runner, with some small electrical troubles. The cabin fuse block, behind the driver's kick panel caught fire. Melted completely. BUT: I have 2 replacements for it. Complete dash panel wiring harnesses. I've assigned the work to my favorite mechanic, Holmes 4WD, but he and his techs absolutely HATE electrical work, so they keep coming up with excuses not to do the work.
I figure the work can be the fuse block only, or the entire wiring harness. That includes the pigtail going out to the engine compartment fuse block.

Overall, it's in decent shape. Not great, but decent. Lot's of body rust, especially the roof, but not deep. pretty much surface. New timing chain, new CV joints, and so forth. It ran great before the fire. Hell, it would even start and run afterwards. Not well, but it would run.
It has AC, but I pulled the belt for it off 15 or 16 years back. I'd wager all the Freon (factory original, R134) may well have all leaked out by now, but I have no idea. It worked pretty well when I pulled the belt off, but that was a while back. Since then, I stole the idler pulley for the PS pump, but I have a couple new ones spare in the truck.
Factory original jack and it's tool kit.

$5,000.00 takes it away. Bring a trailer and your checkbook if you want it

You seemed to be looking for a 1st gen 4Runner. I don't know if this fits the bill, but we're fairly close, at least. 2 hour drive.

Pat☺

 

Hey Pat! That sounds like an awesome rig you have, I’ve got family in Siskiyou and am through K falls all the time. I think my wife would leave me if I brought home another project lol. I for sure wouldn’t be doing the swap in mine if I still had the old 22RE in it.

 

Ok I’m going to break down the next few posts over the activity that was performed. It was a busy weekend and I got a lot done!

Post 1 removing the tar/sound stuff from the floor.

I used the dry ice method as it seems to be the most suggested way to remove this sound deadening. A few tips that I learned from the process are

1 - Always wait longer than you think. You can hear the material pop and separate from the metal. Should lift away I was pulling 6-8” chunks off at a time.

2 - Use larger pieces of Dry Ice. I was crushing the blocks with a hammer at first but this was pretty inefficient. I figured greater surface area would cool the tar quicker but I was wrong.

3 - save the parts over seams for last. These parts are a pain and don’t separate from the seam as easily as the smooth metal areas. Patience is key

 

Post 2

First gen 4 runner Tach Mod 3.0 - 3.4 (3vz-5vz) first gen 4Runner 85, 86, 87, 88, 89

I’m throwing this post up because I had to dig and dig and dig for the information to do the mod. All the videos I found were for the 2nd gen T4Rs and 3rd gen pickups 89-94 gauge clusters.

I purchased the 10k resistor from Yotashop.com for this mod.

Removing the front shield from the gauge cluster was pretty simple, don’t forget the two metal pieces that hold brackets for the dash, these have two little black tabs that hold the front on along with the clips. I fought with this for longer than I care to admit.
There are 5 screws on the back directly behind the tack. 3 in a row and two a little down from the three (little ones) close together. Once removed you can pull the tack out the front with a little love, it seems stuck but it's not.

Below are pictures of where to solder the resistor.

 

Post 3 - Reconstruction + locking glove box + Supra Radio

A couple photos of putting the rig back together. The Radio is from an 89 Supra I believe, these things look amazing with all 80's glory when all the dash lights are on.

The transfer case sticker on the glove box was from a rig with autolocking hubs which makes me think the original 22re-3.0l swap was performed in the 90's. I ordered the correct sticker as replacement.

Lastly, I was able to get a clinometer for the rig! It cost an arm and a leg but I guess that’s the way these things are now a days.

I am currently waiting on the carpet kit to put the interior back in to get some of my shop back. Dynomat extreme will go in under the carpet in leu of the tar to reduce road noise.

 

Was able to pull the 5vz out of the donor, there is a lot more wiring on these things. I am still struggling to figure out what actually needs to be pinned out in the conversion. I am thinking that it has something to do with the fuse box under the hood.

The flywheel is at the shop today getting resurfaced. If all goes as planned I will drop the motor in this weekend after some heavy cleaning.

 

A few more updates. Sound matting partially installed, it looks like I will need 2 boxes to cover everything. It rolled in pretty easily although it was a bit stiff since it was cold in the shop. The new carpet kit is warming by the fire getting ready to be laid in and holes cut out tonight.

Most of the swap components have been performed on the 5vz.

• Dip stick move and plugged hole in the water pump.
• Baffle swapped
• Oil pan swapped and sealed.
• Motor mounts swapped
• Top plate of the AC compressor changed over.

I am waiting to put it back in until I get an oil cooler delete from yota shop.
Also waiting for new belts to show up.

 

Swap time!

 

Does anyone have a 89661-35280 wiring diagram. Looks like the 3vz was out of an 89 r4unner. Thanks!

 

This will get you close, 88 3vze

 

Thanks Se7enine! I guess the last piece I am missing is the IH1 and IH2 pin out diagrams. I have spent most the day reading and downloading everything from TIS that I can, it sounds/looks like the first gen 4runners didn't have a "standard" wiring. I Found a nice pinout PDF from SacRunner on Yotatech. Hoping that one gets me close enough and I can trace the unknowns back to their relay/input.

thanks again!

 

Alright I’m stuck looking at the body wiring harnesses. I have all my plugs but the IH2 and the one I have are different. Here’s what they all look like.
The one on the left is the one that is confusing me. Should be IH2 16 plug but it’s a 10. Thoughts?

truck was 87 4Runner with a 3.0l swap from an 88.
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f160/3-4-swap-wiring-theory-themonch-223093/

thanks!

 

Is the other side of that plug available for comparison? IE: Is the male side currently IN the truck? If it is, what does it match? After all, plugs have two sides, and if the other side of the plug that's confusing you is on the harness that's in the truck, you should be able to just look at it and compare it to what you have available. Then, you just need to match up wire colors on both side of the plug, and away you go!

Is that any help?
Pat☺

 

Thanks Pat! The other side of the body harness plugs are in the truck. I have a bunch of pictures of them for comparison to try and figure it out. The main thing i am confused about is why it isn't an IH2 plug with 16 holes. Does anyone have the Overall 87 4runner EWD? I would be happy with the multi cluster at minimum.

Thanks!

 

Cool thread, though it does make me sad that you used such a clean 3rd gen manual 4runner as a donor since those are pretty hard to find. Alas its going to a good cause.

 

All the wiring is mapped out, I will build the conversion harness this week. The wiring was simple once you understand what you're looking at. I reviewed 15-20 build posts and then pulled the 97 diagrams from TIS. A word of advice for anyone who is doing this with a pre 1990 3.0 3v, (1988 toyota 4runner/truck or 1989 toyota 4runner/Truck Wiring is here attached. (TheMonch on yotatech was a huge help on this part of the wiring.) Note: TIS does not have pre 1990 EWD's.

A couple other things that got me.

• The battery harness a B-L cable to the battery and a B-W starter relay to the ECU. The starter wire is lost in the swap.
• Use the original trucks under hood fuse box and run an 8g cable from the battery to power hose systems.

The Swap

• 1997 Toyota 4runner 5vz-fe manual (T4R) with ABS and ADD. 3.4l
• 1988 Toyota 4runner 3vz Manual (T4R) with manual hubs. 3.0l

 

All wired up, I left the 4 AC wires loose but covered to wire in once I get the rig running. Currently working on breaking down the battery harness and swapping over all the plugs for the alternator/4WD/transmission.

 

When I swapped mine from 22r to 3rz I took all the Tacoma's harness and pulled all the components from the engine bay and replaced all the original 4Runner parts with the Tacoma's. Only splicing I had to do was rewire the rear of the 4Runner which was inevitable as the original wiring was damaged from a shotty trailer harness splice. I also didn't like all the safety sensors controlling when I could open the rear glass. That part I'm slowly still rewiring.

 

It's Alive!

Started up first crank, I still can't believe how well the swap went. With the reinstall I went with 5qts of Castrol GTX and 1/2 quart of marvel. Red asian antifreeze and was able to get all the tubes routed in the back. Some of them are a little long so I will be trimming those a little later. Also a lot of research into what upper and lower coolant tubes would work going to the radiator.

It's idling a bit high righ now ~1.8-2k RPM. All the reading I have done says it's probably the IAC or throttle body. I was planning on replacing the throttle body anyways. (When i flipped the motor to install the oil pan it leaned and crushed the cruise control attachement.

 

MMM I contemplated pulling the body harness but decided against it. I figured maybe one day but not today lol. I do like the idea of the rear window on a different switch than stock. When purchased the truck the rear window worked. Three days later I rolled it down and it never went back up...... Once I pulled all the interior pannels off I found some new relays in there from the previous owner. I'll be removing all the new stuff and seeing if I can get the origonal wiring wokring again... if not I'll probably do what you're doing. Might reach out for help to see how you wired the rear key switch into a new circut.

 

I stumbled upon your thread yesterday and absolutely love the pics and seeing what you are doing. I am not the type who would enjoy doing the work, but rather one who if spare change (and then some) would come along, would love to commission work like this. Your truck is looking great.

Would it be intrusive if I were to ask you how much financial commitment you have already put into this project and how much more you expect?

 

Hey Tylandus, not a bad question at all. Below is a rough breakdown of the costs:

1. 1987 4runner - $2,000
2. 1997 4runner - $3,000
3. OME lift kit - $1,000
4. 33x10.5R15 BFG KO2 - $950
5. Paint/Primer/Clear - $2,000
6. Swap parts (crossover, clutch, surfacing, enging tune up kit, fluids) $1,200
7. Interior - $1200

I'm not sure how much more will be put into the truck, as i am almost done with the build. All that's left now is the remainder of the body work and to shoot paint.

• Custom exhaust ~$900
• Breaks $450-500

I would like to eventually put onboard air into it and put lockers front and rear but that's a pretty big investment (we will see). Trying to keep the whole thing under 12k but im almost there, hoping to part out the 97 and recoupe some costs.

 

That's not too shabby! I am sure you are saving a ton doing most of the work yourself.

 

The truck is pretty much put back together now awaiting the rest of the body work. The shop has been a little to cold to Paint so I’ve been doing a bunch of sanding and smoothing door dings and cleaning. Cleaning everything I I find the smallest amount of dirt and dust on.

I also picked up my 33x10.50R15 KO2s this weekend. What a difference a new set of tires makes!!! (The left are 31x10.50R15s for comparison.)