94 4runner mild build

[Mac5005]

Ive had this 94 4runner since 04. Bought it wrecked and with a blown head gasket. Fixed it all up, and drove it for several years until it blew the head gasket again. After fixing the 3.0 the first time, I said I would never do it again.

In 2009ish, I swapped in a 5.3/700/208, never finished the plumbing or wiring. Went to Harlan, and broke a bunch of parts on my YJ, and sold the 5.3 to a board member to fund the rear 4 link and coilovers on my Jeep.

The 4runner has been sitting since then at a friends house. Picked it up this spring, and have been slowly cleaning it, and getting it ready to move again.

I bought a 99 s10 from a wheeling buddy in Pittsburgh, and he drove the truck down to the Charlotte Auto Fair this April. I put it on the trailer, and brought it home to part out as a donor.

The plan currently is to get the 4.3 and 4L60 and a 1991 241 swapped in and get the project running and driving again. Keeping IFS, and the only lift is a 3" body to make the firewall to bellhousing interference better.

Long term plan would be long arm IFS in the front using T100 CVs and coilovers, and t100 or landcruiser width rear axle with longer links and better link geometry in the rear. Possibly swap back to a 4.8/5.3.

Biggest tire size I want to run is 35", it sits on 33" now. Ideally I want to DD this some again, and take it on some light trail rides when my Jeep is down, or I don't feel like using the tow rig and dragging the trailer.

 

[Mac5005]

Bringing it back home.

Donor s10

Motor and trans out

In shop, ready to start fitting motor and trans. One thing I did before was to drill out all spot welds holding front clip on. Going to make it removeable so working on the front end will be much easier.

2wd oilpan for 4.3

 

[Mac5005]

Ordered gm# 15724744 from eBay for $40 shipped.

6 bolts on trans side matches 4L60,
6 bolts on tcase side matches 241-c.

Length is 4.437", so only lose 7/16 of max spline engagement, leaving 1.937 overlap.

Perfect factory gm 4L60e extension housing / transfer case adapter to use an older passenger drop np case behind the newer 4L60e.

The clocking of the bolt pattern is identical to angle of older gm adapters with the top bolt on the tcase at the 12:00 position.

Cut some of the floor to allow engine to be placed as far down and back as possible. Theses will be filled in, or made into removable panels for bolt access.

After getting engine as far down and back as reasonably possible, and the trans and tcase as high as possible, I mocked up the front drive shaft.

Decided to order a clocking ring to allow tcase to be clocked downward to get front shaft farther away from trans pan, and more directly in line with front diff. Won't give up any more ground clearance or break over angle than the front diff area or gas tank hanging down.

Thinking of raising the gas tank the 3" up that matches the body lift.

The 2wd pan is required with keeping ifs as it is 2" shallower. Also cut some of the lip off it, need to cut some more. It's pretty close to the front diff.

Some more pics of mocking the engine up and checking clearances.

 

[Mac5005]

Got the right NP241 (dana300) clocking ring from @4wheelsupply and bolt it on. Works perfect for front drive shaft clearance.

Got the motor mounts all tacked up,
Trans mount all tacked up, started putting front end back on to check for fan/tb/radiator clearance.

Engine is in final position, only thing left is to cut some more off corner of oil pan for clearance.

 

[Mac5005]

Looked at the stock driveshafts tonight, and the front is too short and rear is too long, which is expected with the length difference with 4l60\241.

Haven't decided on whether to order the ~$400 SYE kit from JB conversions, and shorten 9" on rear output, or order this $100 slip yoke that has flange.

View attachment 194155

If I order that, I still have to drill and tap the output of 241 to bolt it on.

Here is a pic of the front toy ds and a front Chevy ds.

I need the Chevy double cardan to attach to the 241, and the toy ds to attach to the front diff.

The toy shaft is 1.625" OD, and the Chevy is 1.875" OD. I'm hoping the Chevy is .120" wall.

My plan is to cut both, and slide the Toyota DS inside the Chevy DS, and weld it up.

I would then have both the correct ends and correct length.

Anyone have any experience with the tube thickness on Chevy front Driveshafts?

 

[Mac5005]

Here is the pic from above that didn't post.

Drive-lines.com "flange sleeve"

 

[Mac5005]

Worked on the exhaust y-pipe some today. Had to make my own 2-1 pipe.

This was all in the midst of helping my dad get his all original 67 Pontiac tempest running.

Two pieces of 2" coped, into a 3" to 2.5" adapter, into straight piece of 2.5".

Welds don't look good, got full pen, dont care for cosmetics when it will get painted and wrapped with heat wrap.

 

[Mac5005]

Good progress today, got the exhaust done to the muffler, got the front driveshaft done and bolted in.

Cut the Toyota front shaft, and the Chevy front shaft, mated the two together with a piece of 2" something laying in my scrap rack. Work out pretty well, and only took an hour.

Used some shim stock to keep everything centered correctly.

 

[Mac5005]

The welds from the new exhaust pipe to the old were horrible. The factory gm pipe I cut on the s10, were the correct shape, and cleaned up great, but welded like some low grade stainless that was coated with aluminum.

First side I cleaned up with just a wire wheel, and had to go back and grind out porosity and re weld, and repeat that several times.

Second side I ground down with 60 grit flap wheel after the wire wheel and polished out with 120 grit. Helped a lot, but still had to grind out half with porosity and re weld.

Best weld method was to trigger weld it, with machine turned way up.

Here are a few pics of that joint.

This one shows the coating burned back farther than the weld. It was really odd. Welded like it was double layer.

 

[drkelly]

Front DS pass underneath the tranny pan? I guess that was the reason for clocking the TC down?

The Chevy 4.3 must be a taller motor than the Yota V6?

I like this build.

 

[Mac5005]

Front DS pass underneath the tranny pan? I guess that was the reason for clocking the TC down?

The Chevy 4.3 must be a taller motor than the Yota V6?

I like this build.

You nailed it. Clocking ring was to gain ds clearance to trans pan.

Yes the ds passes under and barely to the pass side of the trans pan. It starts farther towards frame and moves farther under pan as it approaches the front diff.

I'd say the 4.3 is a bit taller than the 3.0, the biggest difference is the height at the bellhousing. This is the why the body lift is required with keeping ifs.

With both the 4.3 and the 5.3. There is a sweet spot where the engine/oil pan/exhaust/front diff/bellhousing all fit together correctly. It's creates a spot where there is 3/4" everywhere.

The 4.3 isn't that much shorter than the 5.3 as the accessory drive and water pump are much longer.

The 5.3 was farther back in the frame as the lack of distributor let me push it back another 3/4" or so than the 4.3.

 

[Mac5005]

The plans is to mount the radiator and ac condenser to the frame, separate from the front sheet metal.

This way if any work needs to be done to front end, remove bumper and fenders and then unbolt the radiator support and inner fenders.

This means figuring out and fabricating a way to make the whole front clip removable.

Where I drilled the spot welds to remove front clip

I then made a box to slide in this pocket. This box will eventually get welded in.

The front clip will have a matching flange welded to it that will bolt on.

Planning to weld a couple studs in the firewall for the inner fender support as well.

 

[Mac5005]

Redemption for the terrible exhaust welds.

1/8 cold finish plate, 110v Lincoln squirt gun, volts on C, wire on 6, .023" wire , 75/25.

 

[Mac5005]

As far as I got before running out of time and had to get everything ready for work this week. Marked the pass side for cuts.

 

[taylor1]

Good ideas on the removable front clip and radiator/condenser. I need to do something similar if I ever want a/c back in my 85 5.0 4runner.

 

[taylor1]

Any updates?

 

[Mac5005]

Haven't touched it lately. Found a nice hood and fenders at a local junkyard.

Been too busy working on my jeep, and helping my dad with his truck getting them ready with hopes to head to ivy branch in wv, in two weeks.

Also been helping him get his 68 Pontiac running and fixed all the brakes.

Hopefully more updates after the WV trip. Lol.

 

[stinkbomb]

Dude, you're gonna have to notch the bellhousing for WFO throttle! Looks good though

 

[Mac5005]

Dude, you're gonna have to notch the bellhousing for WFO throttle! Looks good though

Dafuq?

 

[stinkbomb]

Dafuq?

Post #3, picture number 5.

 

[Mac5005]

Post #3, picture number 5.

Hahaha. Thinking about a foot print gas pedal relocation bracket.

 

[Mac5005]

Worked on this some today. Dropped the fuel tank and cleaned it out. It was full of schlack and rust.

Rolled some rocks around with fresh gas, used a wire brush on a drill, and rinsed with acetone before vacuuming any remnants out.

Next was get the 4.3 fuel pump installed in the 4runner sending unit.

Got pretty luck as the pumps are identical. Replaced the hose with ethanol resistant hose, and used a new strainer on the pump.

Only catch was on the wiring. The 4runner pump has 1/8th wide terminals, and the 4.3 pump uses 1/4 in wide terminals.

I popped both plugs apart, soldered the 1/4" terminals onto the 4runner wires and plugged it in.

The height, diameter, mounting, electrical plug, and hose are all the same between the two pumps. The replacement 4runner strainer went right on the 4.3 pump.