Today was one of the worst days in history. After all of the extensive work I performed with this OEM-looking swap that I spared no expense and performed no shortcuts whatsoever, my excellent running 2000 decided to hammer a rod right outside the block. No precursors or warning of any kind. Was shifting manually from 1st to second (A340H) and it tached maybe to 3K and BAM!
That's it. No warning. Oil pressure was fine. Cool as a cucumber. This mill had 97K miles on it and sounded like a sewing machine. Ran strong and smooth.
Suffice to say this was unwarranted and rare to say the least. At least I drove it for a month!
Now the dilemma is: do I get a junker and rebuild it or buy a JDM and swap over everything? I know that the dipstick needs relocating. Did that already to mine. Easy. Manifold swaps. Oil cooler/filter position change. All accessories. Swap pans.....I know the drill. From what I gather the internals are identical.
I just feel I might be ahead if I just get a JDM instead of a sub-par rebuild.
Is there any other "things" that are of consideration using a JDM plant?

Any of you folks use a JDM?

Thanx,
Bud

 

Pick n pull, $169 long block, 6 month warranty. I don't really care about miles if the coolant/radiator looks good and it look like the timing belt has been done once or twice (shows an effort of maintenance). I have several higher mileage 200k+ engines that I beat up and they don't fail. I know everyone can't get engines that cheap, still wayyy cheaper than a JDM, and I wouldn't ever consider a rebuilt with the availability of junkyard motors and JDMs.

 

I paid $1200 for a long block (96/97 4Runner) out of a Toyota yard around Sacramento, CA, 3 years ago after the engine I originally bought for the swap showed off it's bad head gasket and cracked heads. That motor has been great and is still running strong for me. I just simply swapped all the new parts from the original 3.4 over to the junk yard 3.4.

I don't personally have any experience with a JDM motor so I really can't help you there.

 

Thanx, Guys.
Around here in SoCal we refer to them as raped-apart. That's pretty much what you will find. By the time I get a block and do all the prep work and decent parts I'm already more into it then just getting a drop in. Don't have the time, room nor the ambition to undertake a rebuild. Don't wanna. Can do it but don't want to. I've found a few yards nearby through car-part.com and can get a guaranteed mill for around 9-bills. This seems the best viable option at this juncture of this whole fiasco. I worked on the thing for the better part of four months and I won't put forth that much effort any more. The fun aspect of the swap quickly dissipated and now at this point I'll fix it and probably dump the POS.
Thanx guys

 

You already have all the wiring and fab work done and that's the biggest part of the swap. I'd go with a used engine and put that in. A vehicle that runs is always worth more than one that doesn't.

Any idea what caused the rod to let go? I'm the curious type so if it was me I'd want to pull it apart to see what happened

Crappy...

 

Well,
Christmas is upon us and I decided to use the money for better things. The truck is gone along with the headache.
Didn't bother to pull it apart to see what the issue was. Just sold it as-is.
Was kind of curious but who knows if it was to happen again. I just did not have any more faith in this truck.
Too bad because it was a really nice vehicle but it was time to move on.

Thank God for my 43 year old truck with an iron engine that will stay together!

Everyone have a happy holiday season!