Originally posted by Vato Loco
OMG! That thing must fly.....

Originally posted by Cebby
If I'm not mistaken, that's Cannonball Run on the DVD...

Hello Fellow Toyota enthusiast,
I submitted a request hear for help on doing a swap from the old 3VZ to the 5VZ engine. Well, I got a good lead to a company that helped me make the swap VERY VERY easy. Much easier than what my friends have gone through swapping a chevy small block V8 into their Toyotas. I like the fact that my Toyota is 100% Toyota and NOT a Chevota!! I did install the engine will a few performance enhancements. My 5VZ is running with a TRD Second generation Supercharger, Downy Headers and a INJEN Cold Air Intake. All said and done. The engine is putting out just over 300 Horse Power and a ton of torque. 300 Horse power in a Two Wheel drive is a ton of fun. Traction is my current challenge. My truck is a 1991 Two Wheel Drive X-cab. The truck is an original V6 Truck. Some people question me on that since they are kinda rare and most of the V6 Trucks are 4x4s. In my conversion. I used the 3VZ oil pan & oil pick up tube. The 3VZ Motor mounts and brackets. The 3VZ Alternator and the 3VZ radiator fan. The 3VZ A/C compressor bracket mounts just fine to the 5VZ engine. All these 3VZ parts mount onto the 5VZ perfectly. In fact when you have both the 3VZ & 5VZ engines upside down and the oil pans off. They look virtually the same. The two blocks are VERY similar. The 5VZ bolts up just fine to the 5 Speed Tranny. The 3VZ Flywheel and clutch will NOT work on the 5VZ engine. The throw out bearing for the 3VZ clutch does work. The 3VZ Starter will NOT work. The reason to use the 3VZ fan is because the 5VZ fan will not clean the fan shroud on the older 3VZ radiator fan shroud. The 3VZ fan mounts on the 5VZ clutch just fine. In fact the 3VZ & 5VZ fan clutches are the same. The Radiator does remain in the original location. The Downy Header make the exhaust system much easier to deal with. The downy headers dump down each side of the engine rather than using the cross over pipe that the stock manifolds use. The TRD headers are not recommended since they cost two times as much and still use the cross over pipe design. The fuel system in my 1991 Truck is just fine to supply enough fuel and pressure to the 5VZ engine, even Supercharged. The company I was told to goto. Made me a custom harness to interface the 5VZ engine harness & ECU to the 1991 Truck body harness. This whole conversion is completely reversible if I ever wanted to put a 3VZ back in my truck, but why would I. Anyone with a bad 3VZ should convert. Well worth it!! I get 26 MPG on the highway with an average cruising speed of 70 MPH. Around town is another story for fuel mileage. Not very good, but hey I am having way to much fun just to baby it around town. One more thing you have to address when doing the conversion. You either have to install a 2 inch body lift or a Hood Scoop. The reason is the 5VZ engine intake plenum is a few inches taller than the intake plenum on the 3VZ. I did the hood scoop option on my truck. The web listng I have listed hear is to a photo gallery of my truck and of the 5VZ engine. I am roughly into the truck a total of $1,800 as of this posting. I bought the truck pretty much the way you see it for $300. Yes, that is Three Hundred Dollars. Other than the engine swap I did. I put on the wheels and tires. I sold the old 3VZ engine on eBay for $1,200. That is 4 times what I paid for the whole truck. Then I made about another $600 on the other 3VZ parts I didn't need that were in the engine compartment. I bought the 1998 5VZ engine with 9,000 miles on it for $600. The engine was fully equiped will all accesories. I had to hunt down a ECU, Starter, Air Flow Meter, Igniter and a Flywheel. I found all of these parts at a local junk yard hear for $400. So bewteen all the selling of the old parts and the buying of the engine and supercharger which came with the headers. I am only into the truck about $1,800. I got the Supercharger with the headers on eBay for $2,000. That is a very good price for a second generation supercharger. I was lucky and the seller on this auction included the extra bonus being the new still in the box Downy headers. When I bought the truck. It needed a timing belt. That is why I got it for $300. $35 for the belt and two hours to istall it and the truck was running perfect. I drove it with the 3VZ for 5 months. Since I was into the truck for nearly nothing. I figured I would check into swaping into the 5VZ. Well now you know the story and I hope this helps anyone that is looking to do what I did a little easier for them. Thanks and enjoy the pictures. Oh yeah, The Black fiberglass conopy you see in the background of a couple pictures did come with the truck. Heck, the canopy is worth what I paid for the whole truck. What do you think? Cut & Past the web address below in your browser to see the photo gallery.
Thanks for reading,
Matt McCullough

Originally posted by Highland Runner
Here is a question for you guys on this swap. The 1-2 swaps I've seen both say a body lift of 1-2" is needed. I don't think this truck has one. I don't see why a body lift is even needed. Looking at my 2nd gen and my wifes 3rd gen, the 3.4 looks smaller than the 3.0. Do you all think there is enough room without the body lift? Maybe it all depends on the motor mounts.

Originally posted by MTL_4runner
UK, maybe you can post his email....with his permission of course.....so people can ask him questions directly.

Originally posted by beachtaco
sounds like a good idea. i like to know who did the wiring harness... if it's just a little more to swap a 3.4 instead of rebuilding my 3.0.