Author Topic: $2000 4.3 Swap Instructions (Read 22257 times)

CapitaCrawler · « **on:** May 11, 2011, 06:41:24 PM »

I know, I know.... There's a bunch of posts and threads and whatnot about the 4.3 swap. Well I'm starting my own to try and do a complete step by step instruction guide and keep under my $2000 budget. I'm sure there are already things out there to show you step by step but I never found them. So i'll try my best to do one here if the brews dont get in the way of me remembering to take pictures during the swap. Also this is going into an 85 4runner.

First item aquired is the bread and butter of this whole operation. 4.3L V6. I got a complete 95 Blazer LT that wouldnt start for $400. I checked out the reason why it wouldnt start and turns out all it took was a simple American bashing on the starter with a hammer made in the USA. Started right up but just to be on the safe side I invested in a new starter for $75 just incase after the install and after a few crankings it goes again. So I wont count this 75 towards my $2000 budget.

Next I tryed finding on ebay some motor mounts and adapters to my stock trans but no luck. This will more than likely be the most expensive part. Well in my head it seems like it. Ive heard of people fabbing their own but I dont have the resources available to do so. Im in the Air Force and live on base and that sort of thing is kind of a no-no. Anyway, I went to advance adapters and got the trans adapter and motor mounts for $550. (military discount and such)

So as it stands I have a total of $950 invested which leaves a total of an obvious $1050 budget left. As I wait for the parts to arrive I will be starting to clean and clear the eng bay of the runner. I have to do some research on what I can and can't remove but I think ive got it in my brain of what needs to happen. Tomorrow after work I will be starting on that.

COToy91 · « **Reply #1 on:** May 11, 2011, 06:59:30 PM »

you will love the power

wakkjobb · « **Reply #2 on:** May 11, 2011, 07:03:52 PM »

This gal has a 4.3 in her 79; the mounts are on pg 3:

http://www.ttora.com/forum/showthread.php?t=172991

Think they ran about $100 for the set... which might be too much for a budget build?

bigarms23 · « **Reply #3 on:** May 11, 2011, 08:34:56 PM »

do you have the whole donor vehicle its cheaper if you do

COToy91 · « **Reply #4 on:** May 12, 2011, 01:55:47 AM »

Quote from: CapitaCrawler on May 11, 2011, 06:41:24 PM

I got a complete 95 Blazer LT that wouldnt start for $400.

TURBO · « **Reply #5 on:** May 12, 2011, 04:33:56 AM »

good idea, cant wait to see how this thread turns out... maybe it will be a sticky in the future

jimbo74 · « **Reply #6 on:** May 12, 2011, 04:47:56 AM »

what base are you at?

do you need to have it smog approved?

awesome score on the blazer for $400!!!!! i think, that right there..... is a big deal, and why you will be able to stick to your budget..... people easily pay $1500 for an engine alone

i am in the af also, 2t251

CapitaCrawler · « **Reply #7 on:** May 12, 2011, 08:31:36 AM »

IM at whiteman missouri. So I dont need that smog crap. What is 2T afsc? Im just a simple BAMF DCC. 2A571

yotaneck13 · « **Reply #8 on:** May 12, 2011, 09:18:08 AM »

ill be watching

Doable · « **Reply #9 on:** May 12, 2011, 01:08:12 PM »

Great price on the Blazer . Wish I would see them around here for that price.
congrates on the find

CapitaCrawler · « **Reply #10 on:** May 12, 2011, 02:11:55 PM »

Ueah I agree. I was finding some vans and such for around 7 and a few blazers for 6-8 but this one was listed for 5 and said it wouldnt start so I called and said I would take it for 4 even. She took it. I'll update my parts list in. Few min

CapitaCrawler · « **Reply #11 on:** May 12, 2011, 05:16:16 PM »

Well here I am thus far. Today wasn't too productive with getting the 22re out besides draining all the fluids out and im pretty sure I dont need to post pictures and such on how to do that. Really I dont think I need to discuss and waste everyones time by posting on how to remove the 22re. Pretty simple and strait forward. RIP IT OUT!!! But along the way of removing items out of the eng bay, there are a few questions that I have been thinking about but sorting them out like... Should I keep my computer in to run anything. Dont think I should because I am most worried about the external fuel pump that I have being on a relay circuit. (dumbest idea anyone would have if they decided to skip relays and hot wire their fuel pump into a IGN hot. My buddy burned down his garage that way. hahhaa) But I will just find and add my pump to the donor cpu. Another would be the fuse box in the eng bay. Ill leave that until i get the new beastly eng in and have it running. The part that takes the most brains will be the wiring but shouldnt be too hard. My friend is good with electrical so he'll be showing me the way to build a stand alone. Again im doing this in the dark learning the best cheapest way to do this swap.

CapitaCrawler · « **Reply #12 on:** May 12, 2011, 05:30:46 PM »

So as I stated above today wasnt too productive besides the fact that all I did in the swap was getting my parts I am going to need. Right now I have a total of $950 left of my initial budget. I checked with Advance adapters and priced everything out. Some items I needed and some I could get on my own. I didnt go the cheapest route by pick and pull because I would like new parts. I got a flywheel thru rockauto.com for $80. I got a 153 tooth flywheel that way I could run the same starter I have and wont have to worry about clearences for the slave cylinder and exhaust (info on that was from AA). Next I needed a release bearing and pressure plate. AA's price was $261. I got a clutch kit thru local auto parts store for an 89 Camaro that includes the pressure plate and bearing I needed. It also has the disk that I will need but its the wrong size and sold it for $35. This clutch kit ran me $100 even minus the sold disk of $35 which came out to $65. Sure beats the crap out of $261. I did some research and i had to order the 10.5" disk thru AA which ran me $122. Next I needed a land cruiser slave cylinder. AA's -$70 RockAuto -$39. Which would you go with??!! So as far as clutch and trans goes I got everything I believe I need. Projects always seem to show their ugly heads when you want to install items so im sure there will be other parts that I need to purchase along the way. I will be documenting everything I purchase (parts, not fluids and junk) along the way.

CapitaCrawler · « **Reply #13 on:** May 12, 2011, 05:43:57 PM »

So just to recap these are the parts you need and prices.
1) Donor vehicle with 4.3L V6 -$400
2) Eng mounts and Trans Adapter from AA -$550
3) 153 tooth flywheel (rockauto) -$80
4) Clutch kit for 89 Camaro 350 -$65 subtracted $35 in selling clutch disk
5) 89 Land Cruiser slave cylinder (rockauto) -$39
6) 10.5" 21 spline clutch disk from AA -$122
TOTAL -$1266 BUDGET LEFTOVER -$744

As of right now this is what I have. Im sure i'm missing some items but ill figure that out as I go. I hope this will eventually help some people out but if it dosent.. I dont care.

4RunnerChevy · « **Reply #14 on:** May 13, 2011, 03:01:57 PM »

CapitaCrawler · « **Reply #15 on:** May 15, 2011, 12:23:12 PM »

Well I got my flywheel in and I doubt I need to take a picture of it because its just a flywheel. The rest of my parts should be in by tues. I got the eng removed from the runner and got the bell housing off the trans. When pulling the eng it started to roll and swing a bit so make sure you support the trans with an axle jack and some wood between the jack and the trans. Also when pulling out the eng make sure it dosent swing too much or youll bend and damage the input shaft. (advice from a friend) Before I yanked the eng out I disconnected the computer and pulled the harness thru the firewall and layed it across the eng. I disconnected everything that was attaching the eng to the compartment. There are a few bolts connecting the bellhousing to the eng. There are two 17mm bolts on top of the housing at 1 oclock and 11 oclock if looking aft from the eng bay. There are two 17mm on the bottom of the housing at about 5 and 7 also looking aft. Theres a stiffener plate on both sides inwhich I removed two 14mm bolts from the housing. You can remove the two on the block but that needed to go anyway with the eng. I removed the slave cylinder from the housing but did not disconnect the fluid line. Behind the slave cylinder there is another 17mm bolt. Took me a bit it find that some beach. On the drivers side I removed the two bolts attaching the exhaust plate to the bell housing. These are also 12mm. Lucky for me who ever installed this exhaust failed to put the 3 nuts on the studs holding the exhaust pipe to the manifold. Once you have all 7 17mm bolts out and 2 12mm and all attaching pieces from eng to eng bay and trans rip that sucker out. Once eng is out I pulled the bell housing off which is 9 14mm bolts. There is one hidden behind the throw out bearing lever. From there im going to clean the eng bay and get some other items removed like the charcoal canister, stock fuel lines (I already have an external EFI pump mounted to the frame rail with 3/8" high pressure fuel line running into the eng bay), coil pack, injector resistor on the passenger side, and everything else to clean it up. The next few days I will be labeling the donor vehicles electronic lines and hoses and what not. I have a labeler which will come in handy. I would suggest it over masking tape and sharpie but as long as its all marked you should be good to go. Pulling the new 4.3 will be a challenge. But this whole operation should be for me anyway.

CapitaCrawler · « **Reply #16 on:** May 15, 2011, 12:26:45 PM »

Heres a few more for you viewing pleasure.

4RunnerChevy · « **Reply #17 on:** May 15, 2011, 12:56:44 PM »

Nice start to a good build.

CapitaCrawler · « **Reply #18 on:** May 20, 2011, 02:49:34 PM »

Well its been a few days trying to juggle work and such and the pain of pulling out the 4.3 without destroying too much crap. But I got the 4.3 out and about to start cleaning and getting it prepped to install. I removed the eng harness once I pulled it out and now working on removed the rest of the harness in the eng bay and some of the chassis. I am giving it to a friend of mine that does well with electrical which will save me about 350 in buying a new harness. I recieved all my parts yesterday from AA and going to be assembling tonight so ill post pictures and such on that portion.

CapitaCrawler · « **Reply #19 on:** May 20, 2011, 03:03:49 PM »

On removing the 4.3 out of the blazer: This was a pain. First drain all eng oil and coolant. Remove radiator. Remove all electrical lines going from the eng to the computer and other areas. Dont cut unless you plan to buy a harness. Next, I took the lower bell housing plate off which was 4 bolts @ 14mm. Then remove the giant a$$ starter. I cut the exhaust at the highest point possible so the eng will be clear to remove. Disconnect front drive shaft from front diff. The blazer uses an assortment from 12mm to 17mm to include 16mm used randomly. (gotta give good props to toyota for being consistant with 10,12,14,17) Next I removed the motor mounts which the passenger side was easy to get to but the drivers side is a pain plus you need two people to get them out. The lower bolts from bellhousing to block are easy to reach but the ones on top are impossible to get to. I removed the fwd crossmember on the trans and used a floor jack to hold in place. Chain up the cherry picker to the eng being careful not to attach to the rear or you will break off the distributor so install a bolt into the block next to it. I then lifted the eng up and cleared away the eng mounts. Pull fwd and let rest back down. Should drop a few inches. Just enough to access the top 2 bellhousing bolts from the top. After that you can go under and access the final 2 bolts at the 6 and 9 o clock positions. Jack up eng and shake the crap out of it to break loose from housing. I didnt care too much about the trans but I plan on selling it and making a few hundred back to my budget. When pulling up eng there will be 3 conduits of wiring going towards the trans. remove those at the points under the car. This is the point im at so ill go clean up the eng and make it look good before its worthy of being installed in a 4runner. The biggest thing I learned so far on this swap is this: NEVER BUY A BLAZER. They are crammed in and horrible to do eng work. F that vehicle. Think im going to take the body to a friends and blast it with every gun I got. Then junk it for $$

CapitaCrawler · « **Reply #20 on:** May 31, 2011, 12:48:03 PM »

Well its been a bit with an update but heres where im at. I got sent the wrong motor mounts so Im waiting on the correct ones. Also waiting on the headers from AA and the new radiator. I also had to get some new fuel fittings that go into the back of the intake manifold. They were both -6 AN fittings. I also got the 90 degree female to barb that attaches to the pressure and return fittings. For the slave cylinder I used an extra steel braided brake line that I got to go from the stock clutch hard line to a 1/4" barb off the slave cylinder. I also had to get random hardware and parts from the parts store that I didnt have on hand. I had to soak the pilot bushing (from bellhousing kit from AA) in oil over night then install it on the crank of the 4.3. Should go in all the way and will sit flush with the flywheel once installed. I got some free flywheel bolts from a friend but if you want new ones they're only $10 at the local parts store. Remember I got the clutch kit thru local parts store for $100 from an 89 camaro with a 350 so order parts accordingly. Once you install the pilot bushing put on 153 tooth flywheel. After that install the 10.5" disk and pressure plate. After that I installed the slave cylinder on the bellhousing, the release bearing, and pivot arm and attached the whole bellhousing assembly onto the eng block. Adjust the slave cylinder push rod to give proper clearance. should have at least an 1/8" clearance from release bearing to fingers of pressure plate. I did this with eng out so i had more room to see. Remove bellhousing assembly and install bellhousing onto toyota transmission. Use old bolts from the old bellhousing. Lube up the splines on the output shaft and install pivot arm and release bearing. Then install the eng. The fit is very tight on the alignment pins to the block so dont force the block to the bellhousing. This is where im at now. I have the eng torqued to the bellhousing and waiting on motor mounts to weld into place. While I waited I plumbed the clutch and bled it and made sure it works properly. Ran 3/8" high pressure fuel hose for the pressure and going to use stock hard line for the return. I gave my friend the 4.3 harness to cut and get rid of all the crap I dont need. He finished it in a few hours. If you dont have someone that knows what they're doing with wiring I would suggest just buying one from howell for $350. This saved me quite a bit for my budget. I have up for sale my old 22RE and Harness and Computer to hopefully put back into the budget. But havent sold it yet.
7) Radiator $120
8) Headers $220
9) Fuel fittings from Jegs $30
10) Random parts and junk $20
LEFT OVER CASH $384

CapitaCrawler · « **Reply #21 on:** May 31, 2011, 01:01:32 PM »

More pics along the way.

yota_krawler · « **Reply #22 on:** May 31, 2011, 03:37:21 PM »

nice

i want a 4.3 hella bad

4RunnerChevy · « **Reply #23 on:** May 31, 2011, 04:42:44 PM »

Looks good looking forward to rest.

CapitaCrawler · « **Reply #24 on:** Jun 01, 2011, 05:49:44 PM »

Well got all my parts in at once today. Like xmas in June. I attached my fuel fittings to the intake and ran my pressure side fuel line. Still have to work out the return. I am still having trouble with the motor mounts but im just going to drill thru the top of the frame on both sides and throw a grade 8 bolt thru just for stability and weld the rest. It will be a hard mount. Before welding in place I will be installing the headers and finding the correct placement I want the eng to be in. Havent started on it today but will start after work. Thanks for the posts also

4RunnerChevy · « **Reply #25 on:** Jun 01, 2011, 07:13:27 PM »

I would not hard mount a 4.3, it looks great though. When you fire it up, see if you have too much vibration. I would run normal mounts, maybe JTR mounts (2.8's with adapter) and back them up with chain.

yota_krawler · « **Reply #26 on:** Jun 01, 2011, 08:07:27 PM »

v-6 tranny or 4cyl tranny?

CapitaCrawler · « **Reply #27 on:** Jun 02, 2011, 06:15:52 PM »

Ive got the w56. But my friend put a ls1 in his car hardmounted and it dosent vibrate at all. Im not too worried about it vibrating around too much. It already rides like a beast so a little eng vib isnt going to bother me too bad if there is any. If the toys werent fully boxed frames i would question it but since it is... ill try it out. Plus youll get a fraction percent better torque when they're hard mounted. hahha But I appreciate your input being as how im new as

to doing a swap to a different eng. Juggling school and work I have limited amount of time to work on it but my deadline to get this pig on the road is 15Jun. we'll see

THK Matt · « **Reply #28 on:** Jun 02, 2011, 08:06:03 PM »

Ill chime in to watch, for future reference, very nice thread so far man.

4RunnerChevy · « **Reply #29 on:** Jun 02, 2011, 08:35:32 PM »

Quote from: THK on Jun 02, 2011, 08:06:03 PM

Ill chime in to watch, for future reference, very nice thread so far man.

Yeah, sure ! Your having too much fun in you new rig. Good luck on your neeew venture !

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