First gen 4runner conversion

Before somebody calls me out on it though. The 3.4 (5vzfe) would take the TDi in a race. hehe. The TDi sucks at going fast, so truly the truck isn't "Fast" at all...yet. I figure 140km/h in a brick is acceptable for now.

Even if the TDI was built up more, you think the 3.4 would still take it? I'm ready for injectors and a turbo upgrade on my 94. Comparing to my Golf just isn't fair.

FredS said:

Even if the TDI was built up more, you think the 3.4 would still take it? I'm ready for injectors and a turbo upgrade on my 94. Comparing to my Golf just isn't fair.

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You'd have to build the TDI up alot more to take the 5vzfe in a "race"....but imho that's not the point of swapping in a TDI...it's having a flat strong torque curve that starts lower down in the rpm range which translates into a fun to drive more usable vehicle that feels quicker than the petrol engine , not to mention the at least 50% bump in FE

Great build! Just read the whole thread and watched your YouTube videos.

Nice build, now you have to get rid of that infamous 4runner sag.

Yeah they all have the saggy ass problem.

ocnaj said:

Nice build, now you have to get rid of that infamous 4runner sag.

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Your wish is my command! (Nods head)


Lots of updates lately. Ive really just been busy just enjoying the truck. Its such an awesome combination! Im completely in love.

Lets see...I managed to get the tach figured out, big thanks to danielg42 for that one. Thanks bud! For mine I grabbed a 10k trimpot from school and replaced the 33k resistor soldered in the back of the tach with it, i think i set it to around ~3k. It took a lot of adjusting between my trimpot and the factory one but the revs are pretty much bang on now. I never realized how low I was revving this thing out...the torque is awesome. With the kkk03 spooling so quick im usually driving around 1500-2000rpm and its great.

New suspension in the rear with poly bushings. Well new to me. Threw in some used front TJ coils with about 2 wraps cut off. Yes it is coil and leaf spring now. Found the idea on yotatech.com, its called the zuk mod if anyone is interested and it rides great. and cheap! What a difference! Totally recommend the poly bushings to anybody as well they are nice and stiff. Managed to pick up some new tires as well. They are 285/75r17 (34x11.5") toyo open country m/t, really nice tires but HEAVY. Truck still moves fine but it has lost some zip for sure. The nice thing is my gearing is decent now, revving ~2k on the highway and 1st gear is actually useful.

I now have about 700km on this setup and so far she has been a beauty. Not a single hiccup, im quite pleased. One thing to really watch out for is vibrations, make sure all hoses, wires, lines etc. are properly secured, isolated. The TDi would love to rub through some of your hoses, something to watch out for.

Its still pretty early to start spouting MPG since i haven't collected much data, but I would take a semi educated guess I was getting ~32-33 with the smaller tires and high 20's now. Once i run through a few more tanks (and stop trying to roll coal ) ill update on fuel consumption.

I also managed to take the yota' on its maiden voyage this weekend. Went up island with a couple buddies for some wheeling. I BEAT this thing, she took it like a champ. Nice to know that I can trust the swap, if anything was going to break it would have yesterday




Will probably get a rear diff locker sometime soon. Need some wheel spacers too, these tires rub like crazy on the frame. Wheels nicely though, the torque is sweeeeet

Oh and some videos too!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MaAKWUSzW4&feature=plcp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epB2s0yk4ek&feature=plcp

So my alternator pulley seized on the way to school this morning and snapped my water pump pulley and completely shredded the serp belt. Has anybody heard of this happening? Will throw up a picture when I get a sec, haha maybe too much abuse on the weekend.

I didn't realize how much force was on that belt, but maybe since my WP pulley was spaced a little too far forward it was getting torqued too much. Its quite odd...never seen anything like it. Too bad! this thing had been without a hitch so far, guess I can chalk it up to an engine with 300k on it.

and unless someone says otherwise, im going to assume the ~3k drive to get me home will be fine without the water pump spinning. Figure its alright, these engine seem to run cool.

Three kilometers is too far to drive without water flowing in the block, no matter what engine it is. That is a recipe for a blown head gasket at the minimum and warped head/seized pistons worst case. I would have it towed or fix it where it sits. I would not drive it more then a block. But that might just me.

Jaysin

P.S. Love the videos and sorry for the problems. Hope you get it fixed soon.

I'd probably fix it where it sits... you could probably get 3k with a stuck thermostat, if you babied it, but without a water pump!? Not likely.

Where were you guys the night of?!

I decided it would be fine to drive home, ambient air was ~4deg that night. I stopped about half way and shut it off, felt the block and head which were still both cold but I let it cool off a bit anyways. Maybe it was a bit cow-boyish of me, but this is tdiclub! Lots of conservatives on here, need to mix it up a bit


If I didnt see it with my own eyes I wouldn't have believed it, im still having a hard time believing a seized alt clutch pulley did this. I will humor other hypotheses!



Who ordered the serpentine spaghetti???



New alt pulley, water pump pulley and serp on the way. Should be back on the road in the next day or two.

haha I guess that's good to know for the future.
Wait for a cold night and go for it!
Although, if my waterpump goes, I've got other issues.

Nice carnage

Well it has been a good 3 months and 4200km since I last updated this thread. Besides the last carnage update, things have been without a hitch. Truck runs well although it smokes slightly on cold starts, since its not getting any worse im not too worried.

Fuel economy is looking pretty damn consistent at ~29-30 US MPG mixed, that's with heavy 34" mud terrains and some lift. I'm certain I would be in the low-mid 30's with stock tires/lift. Always nice telling your buddy you get better mileage than his 1.6L Corolla No complaints here, still loving the conversion as much as the day I flashed it up. The 3" straight pipe still sounds awesome, I get tons of people asking what engine I have and cant believe when I say its only a 1.9L

Busy with 6 engineering courses at the moment, will be going onto summer internship/co-op and hopefully doing some mods on this thing. Definitely a bigger turbo/tune as soon as I can find the time. The old kkk-03 just cant keep up with me. Im extremely happy for now though!

Cheers all,
Myles

Forgot to mention I stopped by a truck scale the other day as well. Truck is tipping in at slightly under 4000lb(1800kg) with me in it. I think the factory curb is about 3800lb so if you subtract a ~200lb me and the difference in tire weight the TDi actually lightened the load quite a bit! Not bad...not bad at all.

Thats awesome. It can only get better with more power

'88 TDI 4Runner

Nice work ToyotaTDI! That must have been a touch horrifying when that pulley failed. Excellent turbo spool and overall a very cool build. Thanks for sharing it.

Holy hallelujah thread revival!

Been working on the 4runner pretty solid the last few months. After I had the rig running and driving there were some other typical Toyota things I had to sort out. Something you guys dont have to deal with *quite* as much.

Lets talk about...RUST!


After busting off the wheel trim, a.k.a rust starters the amount of corrosion was further developed than initially anticipated. After putting some thought into my options, the decision to replace the quarters with fiberglass sections was made.

The sections come from a well known vendor in the toyota community, although I wont say who. My experiences with the product was far from positive, but more on that later.

At the shop. Shout out to my good buddy Chris for letting me work on my rust pile for a few months!


Step 1! Chop chop!



Quarters removed



Initial fitment of fiberglass quarters. This took WAY longer than it should have...way...way


POR-15 on the inner surface rust. This is like getting at the itch you could never scratch!! Satisfying.

Quarters permanently glued using a 2 part epoxy glue.


Time for some primer!


Lots of sanding, then a bunch more sanding. Sanding! Then some paint on the inner jams.


Primed and ready for paint. Off to the paint shop using none other than the 12 valve 5.9 what a beauty of an engine.


At the shop ready for final prep.


Prepped, in the booth, ready to be sprayed.


3 coats of PPG Delfleet Essential single stage epoxy. Color is Toyota radiant red.

~300 hours, a lot more time money and stress than expected. A failed midterm and a lot of beer. The final product.


Final impressions, never doing the fiberglass sections again. Will always weld in new sections in the future. The final product looks awesome and they will never rust, but the fitment was an absolute nightmare. Lots of time to make things look right. Overall very happy with the outcome, the radiant red looks awesome even in low light. A true red compared to some of the orangey ones. Was pretty close to picking VW tornado red but I heard it fades like none other.

Truck is back on the road and ready to take on another Canadian winter. Yee-haw

Damn that looks good! nice to finally see a pic of the whole thing outside after all those teasers on facebook. Your first rocky mountain pin stripe is gonna hurt so bad when you take it wheeling haha.

Looks great

nice work and great color !

I was eyeing a 4runner when i was driving to arizona a few weeks ago and thought perfect candidate.

amazing 4runner, this is always what i dreamed of doing with mine, but i sold to buy a tractor.

How is this beast doing?

riddleyo said:

How is this beast doing?

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Things are excellent. Truck just turned 10,000kms a few weeks ago and has been treating me very well. I have recently moved to Abottsford, B.C. for a job at a performance diesel company and taken nothing but the essentials and the truck with me. So I've had to really trust it lately for the move and life in a new city.

Fuel economy still seems good although I haven't been calculating the exact mpg, always nice to throw 20 bucks in the tank and not have to worry about fuel for awhile. Now if the price of diesel would just come down...it was over 20% higher than regular gas a few weeks ago. The demands these days must be unreal.

Picked up a GT1749VC (aka PD170 turbo) to use in the future. Not even close to plug and play so I have been meaning to get it on for awhile but having to build a manifold and replumb everything + having the truck as the only DD has kept the project delayed. Should be a quick spooler though! I shooting for a minimum of 200bhp, but hopefully 200whp after a tune.

Gave her a nice wash, paint sure is purdy