Topic: 7MGE swap notes and pics

[corax]

I posted this in a few other spots on the web, so I thought I’d also put it up here for anyone looking to go this route. Originally my rig had a 22-RE, so the information I’m giving is geared to a 22RE-7MGE swap, the 3.0 V6 is a bit different.  Also, I swapped in a naturally aspirated engine, the turbo can also be bolted in but uses a different harness, AFM and ECU, plus there is intercooler plumbing to find room for.  The biggest difficulty in this swap is finding room in front of the engine since it is an inline 6, but some creative trimming goes a long way.  The 7MGE is built typical Toyota rock solid, but many have had problems with headgasket leakage - the problem with the headgasket was insufficient factory torque (52 ft/lbs) and is remedied by increasing the torque to 72 ft/lbs.  Actually, rumor has it that the original bolt torque was for an asbestos gasket and then the gasket material was changed but not the torque spec.  A completely bullet-proof fix would include an MLS (multi-layer steel) headgasket and ARP head bolts or studs.

Here are some engine numbers for comparison
20R, 2.2L, 90 HP@4800, 122 Ft-Lbs@2400
22R, 2.4L, 96 HP@4800, 129 Ft-Lbs@2800
22RE, 2.4L, 112 HP@4600, 142 Ft-Lbs@3400
22RTE, 2.4L, 135 HP@4800, 173 Ft-Lbs@2800, 6psi
20R/22R Hybrid, Estimated 135-155 HP depending on build
2RZFE, 2.4L, 142 HP@5000, 160 Ft-Lbs@4000
3RZFE, 2.7L, 150 HP@4800, 177 Ft-Lbs@4000
3VZ-E, 3.0L, 150 HP@4800, 180 Ft-Lbs@3400
5VZ-FE,3.4L, 190 HP@4800, 220 Ft-Lbs@3600
5M-GE, 2.7L, 143 HP@5200, 154 Ft-Lbs@4400
7M-GE, 3.0L, 199 HP@6000, 188 Ft-Lbs@3600
7M-GTE,3.0L, 232 HP@5600, 254 Ft-Lbs@3200, 5psi

Since everyone is considering fuel economy these days, I'll also say that my 22RE before the swap got 20mpg and I recently got 19.5 mpg highway cruising 80mph with the 7MGE (usually about 15mpg on the trail or 17/18 mpg hooning around town with 33" KM2's and 4.88's).

I spent ~ 3 months researching this swap during down time at work and several more months searching for parts in Junkyards.  This swap could also be done by buying a running Supra.  The engine I got from a JDM importer for $375 off ebay (I picked it up in person to avoid shipping).  Total cost for the entire project was less than $1k (can’t beat junkyard prices).  The entire swap took me about 2 -3 days once I had all the parts together, however I’ve since tweaked and changed a few things here and there after driving it awhile.  The biggest obstacle is fitting a large enough radiator that will still allow for an electric fan, a lesser problem is exhaust routing since it needs to cross over form the passenger side to join the rest of the exhaust on the driver side.

The majority of my research came from SupraCharged.com and the write-up that I liked best came from Andrew Hulse’s 1st gen 4runner swap.  
1G 4runner swap pg 1
1G 4runner swap pg 2
1G 4runner swap pg 3

Here’s the thread  4RnrRick had when he swapped in a 7M 4RnrRick’s swap thread, though he had some issues getting a good engine from the local salvage yard and concluded he would have been happier with a 3.4 swap (unfortunately all the pics are gone)


The write-ups above go through the actual install fairly well, so I’ll try to avoid repeating too much.  What you’ll need to get the 7MGE bolted in:
- Supra bellhousing, clutch fork & throwout bearing retaining spring, clutch slave cylinder & hose - Supra’s used a “W” series transmission which uses the same bellhousing-trans bolt pattern as the “W” series truck trans – you will use your stock “W” series trans and transfer case – use a pre ’89 bellhousing, after this Toyota changed the clutch and pressure plate design, pre ’89 is the standard “fork and throwout” style


- 5MGE motor mount brackets – bolt on one position further back on the 7MGE block and allow you to use the stock 22RE rubber engine mounts

- 7MGE Cressida oil pan and oil pump – the Cressida used a front sump oil pan (vs Supra mid sump which interfered with the IFS front diff) which clears the front tie rod perfectly though you  do need to remove the steering damper - also the Supra used a mid sump oil pan, so the dipstick needs to be relocated is using a Supra block, there is already a boss to drill through and it's no big deal using a hand held drill, just make sure you use a drill bit the same size as the dipstick tube, brace the tube to a nearby bolt and seal it up with black RTV

[corax [OP]]

- wire harness – I junkyarded mine for $30 and made sure to be careful pulling it out – don’t break connectors pulling them off, don’t pull on wires and when you get to the big connectors that connect the engine harness to the rest of the vehicle (behind dash) leave yourself ~1’ of wire and take both sides of the connector (male and female side – it makes wiring everything together easier)
- ECU – I was able to mount everything in the stock location down in the passenger side kick panel using the 22RE ECU brackets - it's a tight fit, but works nice if you keep wire length to manageable lengths and tuck them up and behind the ECU


- Vane Airflow Meter to match your engine (smog will want everything to be the same year or newer as your vehicle, but they really have no visual way of checking)
- igniter and ignition coil - I moved the ignition coil to the passenger side so I could use a shorter coil wire

- Injector Resistor (leave this connected to the harness when you get it at the junkyard)

- use the factory throttle cable and fab a simple cable holder –or- use the factory Supra cables, setup and linkages

- factory 22RE fuel pump works fine, no upgrade needed, fuel filter will be factory mounted to the 7MGE block on driver side – need to bend fuel lines to run gas from the passenger side to driver side

- the 7M mechanical fan can not be used, so an electric fan is in order.  I looked for a thin electric fan and found that you can get one with decent CFM under 3" thick.  I wired an electric thermo switch and an extra sensor to warn of possible overheating (220* puts the gauge about 3/4 of the way to the red) - the threads are 3/8" NPT - the 3 hole t-stat housing was sourced from a 7MGTE (turbo) and had the 220* sensor already in it

- I was able to reuse the 22RE P/S pump by moving the reservoir down on the inner fender a bit and having the 7M pulley center bore machined to .710" and hand filing a keyway (7M uses a ribbed belt) - further the 7M A/C bracket needs to be cut up a bit and a simple bracket fabbed up to adapt the pump to the A/C bracket, I also made a nother bracket to brace the pump in an attempt to reduce vibration and bracket flex under belt tension

[corax [OP]]

- for the exhaust I bought 2 tight radius u-bent pieces from Jegs and cut off bits of angle as I needed them to route the exhaust under the Cressida oil pan (with heat shields on top of the pipe to keep heat away from the oil pan) – also try to keep the catalytic converter as close to the engine as possible so it can get hot enough to pass emissions – another option would be to run the exhaust down the passenger side and cross it over under the t-case, there is just enough room to fish the pipe through a hole between the t-case / crossmember / frame rail, this setup would also allow you to mount the cat converter just after the exhaust manifold (while this routing would be easier, I didn’t like it for a couple reasons)



- firewall will need to be clearanced slightly for the EGR valve on the driver side and for the 90* coolant hose on the passenger side (hose barely touches metal if not clearanced)


- relocated battery from passenger to driver side, I used the factory alternator wire to get power from the new battery location to the original fuse box (I later ran an additional 10 ga wire and added a 120 amp manual reset circuit breaker for accident safety)

- the actual wiring of everything is in this link - 7M Wiring - if you are comfortable with a soldering iron and 12V electrical, there’s nothing to it.

[corax [OP]]

Hey Keith, I've been considering doing the swap in my 4runner and I had a few questions I wanted to ask you.  Do you run air conditioning with your swap?  And have you found a way to install the steering stabilizer?  Thanks

No air conditioning yet, though I have had it in mind to go junkyarding for a Honda A/C compressor (correct pulley, correct outlet direction) - but then again, there's not much room in front of the radiator for an A/C condensor anyway.  Supposedly a few have been able to, but it would be a real tight fit.

No steering stabilizer either, though I can't tell the difference.  If you did want to run a stabilizer it would be easy to get a Rancho or similar universal mount (the type that uses u-bolts to mount on the linkage) and just weld two tabs to the frame to mount the other end.

*edit* here's what I did for a steering stabilizer

[corax [OP]]

Here's my final solution for cooling this swap.  It is a bit overkill but hasn't given me any problems to date, including pulling my 5x8 enclosed trailer over the Rockies

A few months back I found a double row, dual pass Ron Davis radiator at a flea market for $25 (too good of a deal to pass up).  Though I wasn't sure if I could use it, a few weeks of staring at it got me going on how to fit it into an already tight engine bay.

(2 of the fins were previously repaired, but they look solid)


Here's how it works.  A dual-pass horizontal-flow radiator moves coolant across the top half of the radiator on the first pass, then directs the coolant across the lower portion of the radiator face for a second pass. One reason this works is because the velocity of the coolant roughly doubles when the coolant is forced to travel across half as many tubes per pass. This creates turbulence in the tubes, exposing more coolant to the radiator tube walls and improving heat transfer.  It also provides a bit of a restriction to coolant flow, reducing the overall flow rate of the cooling system and allowing the coolant to spend more time in the radiator.  I think one of my problems with the single core Griffin was that it flowed too fast with this engine - the coolant didn't have enough time to really cool as it passed through the radiator (but that's just speculation).


I enlarged the radiator opening a bit so I could move the radiator as far forward as possible.

Here it is all mocked up in its final position.  I already had the lower brackets made (just a "J-hook" to cradle the bottom of the radiator), so I just needed to bend and fit the brackets to their final position.


The top hose/inlet is a simple 1.5" neck that the hose slides on to.  The lower hose/outlet though is a 3/4" NPT bung . . . so I got a copper 3/4" NPT fitting, trimmed the overall length down and soldered a "street elbow" on to it.  I also tapped the bung a bit deeper so that the copper fitting would thread all the way in (no threads showing).  The outlet on my fitting is now 1.25" - the stock lower radiator hose is 1.375" - so there sohould be no real restriction that I need to worry about.

top view of it mounted with the plumbing all connected - I found a formed hose that I could cut/splice onto the stock lower radiator hose and used a universal flex hose for the top

Home Depot pipe hanger to hold the long lower radiator hose away from anything it might rub against


Previously I was using a 14" fan on my single core Griffin radiator.  I could fit one 12" or 2 9" fans with the new setup (not enough room between the radiator and the front cross member for the 14").  I did some math on how much coverage the fans would give on the radiator:
1x14" fan = 153 sq.in.
1x12" fan = 113 sq.in.
2x9" fans = 127 sq.in
So 2x9" fans it is then - combined they pull 22 amps when they first start spinning, but settle down to 10 amps at full speed.  Even though I'm stepping down in fan size I should be golden since the overall cooling capacity is increasing - won't find out till I have to pull the trailer again, but I can say that with this radiator the fans don't cycle on nearly as much. 

[corax [OP]]

Did you put the engine and transmission in the truck as together or seperate?  It doesn't look easy either way, that's the part I am least looking forward to.

I put a floor jack under the front of the transmission, pulled just the 22RE out, took the bolts out of the trans mount and slid it back a bit (you won't be able to move it that much because the bellhousing will hit the firewall), to get the 7MGE in the engine bay you might want to take off the crank pulley - although I left it on and ended up bending the radiator support the 1/4" that I needed and then just bent it back.

Hello, I am from california and i have a truck kinda like yours.... I have been reading on the swap with the 7m and would like to ask you some questions regarding stuff you took off and put back on...
I am from cali and u know how they are with smog laws... (biggest douches ever!). I saw you fixed that issue with the oil pan by replacing it with the cressida's one. Also  I noticed you re drilled the oil dip stick thing... but what kinda took my attention was that you removed the steering damper thing. Did that make any difference? Did it shake more? and also how are you doing with the smog certification? You passed it already.. any suggestions or recommendations on what to get for the swap would be great... I have been looking at junk yards to get the mounts, bell housing, etc... I would like a jdm engine but since california has those really strict smog laws.... i would have to look in it... thank you for your time. and also thanks for the great wright ups!!

removing the steering damper really makes no difference, though if you really want you can always fab up a simple bracket later on to mount a damper on the bottom side of the steering linkage (see post above)

I passed the visual inspection with no problems (actually, the first time they failed me for not having an EGR), second time failed the tailpipe test (found an injector seal torn causing a vacuum leak) - when I was supposed to go back for a retest the stations were all shut down due to the budget crisis.  Then I moved back east, so no final  smog results (actually pisses me off because I wanted the sticker)

Just do your research and make a list of parts you'll need.  The swap itself can be easy if you have everythig you need, though if you can do it, I would wait till the engine is in to worry about the radiator and fan.  It is a tight fit, though I've heard a toyota V6 radiator will fit nicely

The engine I used was a JDM, they won't be able to tell the difference (or care) so long as you put all the "american parts" on it.

FWIW, I couldn't get the stock 4 cyl radiator to fit in the stock location without interference with the crank pulley.

I kinda thought that was the case, I know how tight everything is in my engine bay & I have the front all kinds of trimmed out to move parts forward.  I swear I read on Supracharged though where someone used a Toy P/U V6 radiator, might have been 4RnrRick's write-up (just looked at his thread and all the photos are gone).  Meh, it's better to go aluminum anyway.

BTW, if I didn't have the Ron Davis, I might look into seeing how this beauty would fit


AFCO double pass radiator, $235 from Speedway

I skimmed through your build a few times, but can't find how you dealt with the tach.  If I can't score a v6 sr5 cluster, I will attempt the resistor on the stock cluster, as I already have a factory tach and would rather not have a dead gauge in the cluster and a pod one as well.  If I have to go with the resistor, I will try to ghetto the supra cluster up so I can read that one while mucking with the truck one.

Thanks again

Here's a write-up on how to adjust it with a bit of solder and a resistor
http://www.mindspring.com/~jayk3/toyota/tachmod.htm

Here's what I did (I think my cluster came froma 4cyl also, so yours should be similar), there's a dashpot on the tach you can play with.  What I did was hook my DVOM (has a tach function) to the coil and taped it to the windshield so I could read it.  I then drove around for awhile with the cluster still apart/open and adjusted it till the rpm on my DVOM was the same as the tach at all RPM - simple adjustment really.
http://yotatech.com/f116/tachometer-adjustment-screw-177658/

[corax [OP]]

It's not a tough swap, but but there are some points that can hang you up and cause some un-needed grief. 

Make sure you have a wiring diagram and know how to read one.  I forget exactly what it was, but when I did mine there was one wire that needed power or a ground but wasn't mentioned in any of the write-ups I read.  The result being that it would start for a second and then die - kinda like the VAFM wasn't turning the fuel pump on but it was getting that quick 1 second shot of fuel before it started. 

. . . found out that the VAFM ground wire wasn't grounded.  When you first hit the key (cranking) the ECU makes the fuel pump work, after that the fuel pump relay gets its ground through the VAFM so the pump turns off if the engine stops for any reason.  Real easy test: go to this plug and ground the female terminal (use a male spade, connect to battery/chassis ground), if you hear the fuel pump run then your VAFM isn't grounded . . . I wanna say it's the "E1" dark green wire, second from the end of the VAFM connector, you can try grounding it directly here too



Here's some add'l reading on how the VAFM controls the fuel pump: http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTricks/AFM/index.shtml

I think I just used the VAFM to control the COR - with the VAFM disconnected, E1 should have 12V coming from the COR (because it's not yet grounded) and Fc should be dead.  Whenever the Main Relay is "on" there is power to the COR coil, give it a ground through Fc on the VAFM and it'll supply power to the fuel pump.  I'm not sure on the color but it's the terminal on the very end next to E1

wire diagram - normally, the COR is turned on by either the ign switch being in "start" or the ECU supplying a ground (2 separate relay coils)
Try this link for a bit of info - "Both the FPCR and COR are not needed to make this run properly, but you will need to find an alternate way to control the fuel pump."

also make sure all your power supplies and grounds are present at the ECU, I seem to remember an issue where the directions skipped a power or ground wire connection - check the wiring diagram for anything IGN switched, constant 12V and ground

[blackxlava]

awesome writeup.     makes me want to ditch the 22ret and track one down. 

[4RunnerChevy]

Great write-up Keith,  Now its time for your SAS.

[46&2]

Awesome write up. Always wanted to do this swap. Probably gonna upgrade the 5MGE in the Supra to a 7M first but they would be fun in a crawler. Nice avatar too. 

[corax [OP]]

Great write-up Keith,  Now its time for your SAS.

Err, not gonna happen man.  I'm staying IFS and saving my pennies for a long travel - partly so I can justify replacing my rusty rear 1/4s with these works of art in another year

[4runner]

good job on the writeup. I'm gonna be swappin in a 7mge myself maybe over next winter. If i SAS my 4runner before hand do ya think the supra oil pan will fit without mods? Also concidering choppin the firewall to move engine back a few inches. By the looks of it will the brake booster interfere with intake manifold while movin engine back?

[corax [OP]]

I'm not 100% on the oil pan, but I think I remember reading that most SAS's with this engine were using the stock Supra "mid-sump" oil pan.  I don't see that either oil pan would really present a problem, but you can kinda get an idea and figure it out from this pic - keep in mind the IFS steering linkage is parallel to the ground, while a SAS will angle down to the passenger side with crossover steering


Yeah, not much room between the brake booster and the intake manifold (bottom of pic).  I dented my booster in just a little bit to give some clearance.  Your only other option is to ditch the booster and build your own pedal linkage to give the mechanical leverage necessary to go with a manual (non-power assist) brake set-up - probably not advisable on a DD.  There's enough room in front of the engine so you shouldn't have to shift it back, it might just take a bit of trimming to fit your radiator of choice

[4runner]

Thanks for the pics. I think i'll be fine with the supra oil pan. Reason i wanted to move the engine back because i swapped a V-8 in my other 4runner. Nice fit but lil heavy on the front. Rather have equal weight front and rear. Radiator dont bother me, i made custom rad support n fan shroud for other runner n still fit behind the grill. Still conciderin mounting rad in the bed of that rig. Would ya by chance have extra 5m motor mount brackets?
Nice work n lookin forward to the rest of your build