FOCUSHERE

any pic updates i love this thing i have been watching since day one!!!
rock on!

Rather Diesel

Update:

I'm picking up the engine wednesday. My brother sold his truck, so it took a while to line up a rental. Sold the engine, head, starter, MAF sensor, throttle body.

I started school two evenings a week to become a machinist, so the progress may slow some. I've been gathering parts from ebay for the rest of the build. I'll keep you updated. Thanks to all for the input. It's really appreciated.

Roy

lr9788

been almost a week. any updates at all or is school taking alot of your time? how is school btw?

Rather Diesel

I picked up the engine and trans on Wednesday. I think I did well on this purchase. The injector pump appears to be recently replaced. The injectors were sent out to be cleaned and matched. The timing was re-keyed. New filters and a few other items appear to be new as well.

There was a wire under the valve cover at one time, so it took a bunch of Gunk and quarters at the local car wash to get it clean. It must have leaked for months before someone finally caught it. I'm going to remove the engine accessories and do a final cleaning this weekend. The aluminum parts will be painted with Rust Bullet to ease cleaning of the motor from now on. I may paint the block if I can get to most of it. A clean engine will make the fabrication easier, and the photos more beneficial to those following the swap.

A few preliminary decisions have been made. The Mercedes alternator BRACKET will be re-used. A high-output GM alternator will be swapped for the Mercedes unit. The a/c compressor and power steering pump will be switched to the factory Toyota parts. New brackets will need fabbed. I picked up a Haynes manual for the Mercedes since these are new to me. I'll try to document the engine swap a lot better than the rest of the truck mods.

I should have an update on Sunday night or so. I never know what the wife and kid have planned for me until that day arrives. School is great! I wish the pace of the class was faster though. Awesome deals on machinist's tools are all over eBay, and I've been snagging a couple of those every week.

Update soon.

Roy

trythis

Yuo might want to visit practicalmachinst.com

Tanto

Very interesting thread.

**subscribes**

aviator

Thanks diesel can't wait to hear more about the swap as I may do that myself one day.

lr9788

been over a week done anything else ridiculous yet?

Rather Diesel

Wow, with school the truck-time is slipping by fast.

The first time I put the engine in, I cut out the top-center of the radiator support to make access easier. The first test run took about an hour to just get in the engine bay. The accessories were hanging up, and the crank-pulley was getting stuck on the radiator support.

So, I promptly broke out the cut-off saw, and removed the lower section of the radiator support. Now, we're getting somewhere! Easy in-easy out....kind of. I decided it was easier to just remove these structural pieces, and put them back when I'm done, rather than having to raise the engine hoist ten feet in the air, and squeeze it in at a 90 degree angle, and beat the engine leveler (and myself) to death. I want to leave the trans connected for the install.

It looks like I'll be re-using the Toyota engine mounts. After some minor mods, they should work fine. The Mercedes mounts are really wide, and using those looks like a pain. I am going to remove the rest of the accessories on the front of the engine to make accessing the new mounts easier.

I should be going back on this soon, and I'll hopefully have a better update shortly. I'm trying to learn machining, trigonometry, and CNC programming all at the same time while doing the family thing as well.

Roy

GrimReaper

Great build.

I have what I think is a 31 gallon K5 tank sitting here with K5 factroy mounting crossmembers and skid plate plus a custom 3/16 skid I had on my last K5. You have me seriously looking at this mod again.

At one point I was thinking of using it to replace the factory tank for clearance reasons. I think with the factory tank out of the way that I could route the fill neck back up to the factory fill.

Then I was thinking of running a 33x9.5 spare in the stock location just so I don't have to deal with a rack on the back but the more I think about it the More I think that I will probably destroy a spare under there. Still mulling it over.

You are going to be disappointed in the battery time you can run a large inverter. I have a service vehicle that I ran a mobile electronic repair shop out of. Had a couple pieces of test equipment and an occasional Soldering iron. Pulling about 5 amps 110v AC I was low volting a big Deep cell in about 1.5 hours.

I am in the process of building a 12fridge out of a salvaged danfoos bd50f compressor that was set up as a 980btu Air conditioner and a a Igloo Cube cooler. Basically a redneck version of a $1500 waeco for about $50.

A small absorption is really the sweet set up. I have seen several out of Pop ups (about the size of the one you have) show up on craigslist. for $40-100. They will run a lot longer then one would think on a small propane tank.

http://www.waeco.com/en/absorption_coolers.php

Look forward to your updates.

Rather Diesel

Oops, I forgot to add another note, and the above post reminded me. I'll be carrying a Honda generator and 10 gallons of gas. I'll also be carrying a dual-fuel stove as a backup.

In the survival forum we have a saying, "Two is one, and one is none". I want a backup power source for the 110v appliances and a second source for cooking food. With a generator and gas, I'll have this covered.

Roy

aviator

You could pick up a set of solar panels and attach them to the roof. Nothing like getting free power to help maintain the batteries... They sell some largish ones in Canadian Tire stores up here that put out enough watts to run that small fridge of yours, you could check them out on-line...

mastacox

Sweet, then you really are going to be self sufficient! How big is the generator? Are you able to hard-mount it anywhere?

trythis

You could carry some sterno and a match and have a 2nd backup. Then there is wood too.

GrimReaper

Hay thats too easy and not nearly as cool as having a microwave in your truck!

Personally About the only thing I use the Microwave for at home is heating queso and Oatmeal. When I camp I go out of my way to eat good! Nothing tastes better then steak cooked over a wood fire or charcoal! Can't beat a manifold burrito either! But I see where you build will be rescue and taking an hour to prep a meal is not really practical.

We do have a Microwave in the camper. It is nice for quick stuff and frozen dinners when it is the whole family out.

So what generator you looking at EU1000 or 2000 or similar? I have been eyeballing the EU2000 for a while to run the camper when we are boon-docking and need to charge the battery or run the bigger stuff like Microwave. Eu2000 would also run the blower on my gas forced air furnace if we get another ice storm that takes the power out for 40 hours again.

94SRUNNER

Updates?????

texsurfer

Wow! can't believe I haven't stumbled across this thread yet. When I got my first 4Runner (89 v6) i had planned on doing something like this but using the over cab area as the foot portion of a bed that would drop down from teh cieling. my overall interior height was going to be quite a bit higher b/c of this.

As for water supply, what I had found was that for the marine/boating industry they make some very heavy vinyl water bladders for use in sailboats, etc. I had planned on getting two and stuffing one each in the rear sides of the 4runner between the inner and outer skin.

Alas, my 4runner rusted out from too many nights camping on the beach over 4 years so I sold it and picked up a '91. Can't wait to see how this turns out.

Rather Diesel

Sorry I haven't updated for a while. I'm keeping the microwave. I haven't decided which Honda generator I'm going with.

I have the motor squeezed in place. I need to convert my transfer case into a "divorced" setup before I can weld the mounts in the final position. The front driveshaft will be too close to the transmission to guess about the engine placement. Right now, it looks like the radiator will go in the factory location with no mods.

I'm debating trying to use the Toyota five-speed instead of the Benz automatic. This will require a custom adapter plate and other mods, but it may be the ticket for great highway mileage. I'm still researching the "external balance" rumors for this engine.

Thanks for all the input. I'll hopefully be getting more done soon.

Roy

aviator

Divorced Transfer case? Does this mean that the tcase would be seperated frm the tranny by a small drive shaft?
FWIW I think you should stick with the manny tranny and fab up the plate, but I'm just an old gear grinder from way back... can the yota box handle the incrased torque from the benz diesel?
Good luck a.

suprathepeg

Toy gear driven T-case is one of the toughest around. It'll handle that diesel NP. Depending on the power output of the diesel the w56 may not be up to the task though. Maybe a r151f from the v6 would be a better choice.