I am inserting the Dyno results here at the top. Original post is below.

Finally got this thing to the Dyno. No time for tuning really, just a quick check. I was having a hard time smogging it and wanted to see what the AFR was.

1st run was with the AFM 3 clicks rich from stock, 3rd run was 1 click rich from stock.

93 3.0 4runner
4:56 gears
5 speed manual
Thorley headers
flowmaster
stock filter and airbox
full port and polish
Full balance
4 hole flamethrower injectors
31x10.5 goodyear duratracs
timing set at 10 degrees





Original post:
Hello fellow enthusiasts. My name is Evan, I do a lot of reading here but not much posting. This will be my longest post yet as I just got done rebuilding my 3vze.

I bought this 4runner a few years back. It had 190k on the clock when I got it. In the last 40k I have replaced many parts just to get it back in tip top condition. I have done axles, ball joints, shocks, brakes. I had the tranny and transfer case gone through. I replaced both pinion seals, installed a new radiator, AC hoses, timing belt, water pump and everything that goes with that. I have been using all OEM toyota parts when I could afford it as I want to keep this thing another 20 years.

This post is mainly about the rebuild. It has already been done and I have put about 700 miles on the new motor as of this post. I normally do all my own work. I have rebuilt an engine before but these days extra time is hard to come by so I had someone else do all the work. They were nice enough to take some pics along the way so I figured I should share them with you all. Maybe this will help someone in the future.

Edit: I know some will say this was a waste of money, especially after you know what I put into it. I contemplated doing a 3.4 swap, called around and got quotes. I talked to the guys at Toyota only swaps, and got a quote from them. They are very reasonable and I was close to going that route. I even called our local smog referee and talked to him. In the end, being in California and having to deal with a smog referee is what made up my mind. I just didn't want to deal with that. I am mostly happy with the gutless 3.0, it has proven its reliability over the last 21 years so I decided to rebuild it and add a few things to liven it up a bit.



So this was last October when the head gasket let go. The original head gaskets were replaced by toyota under warranty at 67k


Here is the motor at the machine shop. I used the same guy that did the machine work on my old racecar 20 years ago. He and his dad had a speed shop in San Diego. Now he just works part time out of his garage.








I will have to stop here for now as break is over. Let me know if these pics are too big. I hate reading posts with huge pics that make you have to scroll.

 

So here is the culprit. Note, this was the passenger side front. Not the rear as everyone suggests.




Here is the driver side rear. My builder, Larry, said this one was close to blowing also.




This pic shows erosion of the block. Larry said that if I had just put on new head gaskets they may not have lasted long as they don't get a good seal here. No worries as we will deck the block and surface the heads.





This exhaust valve far right was the reason I had low compression on this cylinder. I don't have a pic of it but the valve was really thin and about to burn thru.





Block disasembled. Larry said the cylinders, crank, and bearings looked really good and easily could have kept going.










Found one broken exhaust spring so we replace all of them.




Valve seats and heads before doing any work.

 

Block getting bored. ended up .030 over if I remember correctly.




Freshly bored.







Valve job done.










Everything getting balanced. He said it was surprisingly close. I guess toyota knows what they are doing.











Now for some fun stuff. Heads getting flowed before port work.

 

Heads getting ported.
















The valves didn't clean up they way he wanted so he replaced them all.




Intake prior to porting.







New pistons, assembled and ready to go.







Block honed and painted ready to go.







Crank just needed to be polished as it was in great shape.




Let the assembly begin.




Short block done.







Completed engine.

 

From the beginning I new I wanted to get some headers and help relieve some of the heat issue that the back cylinders see. So to go along with the ported heads, I bought a set of Thorley headers.





I also replace the stock injectors with 4 hole injectors from flamethrower. To top it off I installed a high flow cat.

Larry has his own flow bench. He sent me the flow numbers of the heads and intake, before and after.





So, after all that.....was it worth it? So far I say yes. On my daily commute I am able to pull grades in 5th gear easily that I had to shift down to 4th before. The motor seems to pull much harder from 2000rpm up to about 3500. I haven't gone past 3500 yet as I am still taking it a bit easy on it. I realize I am comparing this to a motor with issues that had 230k mileage but pulling those grades in 5th is enough to make me happy.

My plan is to take the 4runner to a dyno after about 10000 miles. I don't have any before numbers but I would really just like to see what the numbers are compared to what I can find online for stock 3.0 and 3.4s.

Evan

 

Nice work! I don't think 3.0's are all that bad, so I see why you did it.

What are the specs on the rest of the truck?

 

The 4Runner is a 5 speed with about 231k on the odometer. I am the third owner. It has 4:56 gears and 31x10.5 Goodyear duratracs. Unfortunately all my money has been spent on getting it back to a good reliable vehicle. The only things I have added are the lights and tires. Otherwise it's all stock.

 

Bump, added dyno results at top.

 

nice, you can say your engine produces more power than it did off the factory line (if I remember correctly original HP output was 116?)

 

I've never seen the 116 hp your quoting. The only numbers I could really verify was 105 HP at the wheels. There are just too many variables with chassis Dynos. The guy who did mine said he thinks my motor us making 180-190Hp at the crank but admitted its just a guess. He said his numbers are conservative. Doesn't really matter either way, I can feel there's more power so I'm happy.

 

According to Edmunds, brand new 3vze was making 150hp. I was wrong remembering 116. Im glad you feel the difference. I would love to know what my hp is

 

I wonder how many people would be interested in getting there vehicle dynoed. It would be cool to do a dyno day somewhere and see what a stock 3vze vs a stock 5vze vs whatever mods people have done. All on the same dyno, same day, same conditions same operator. Still a lot of variables in vehcicles but it would be cool to see some real numbers rather than seat of the pants feelings.