92 4Runner V6 ALH Swap

You'll likely find better rust free rigs in the desert, while we don't get roads salted but maybe once a year we do have terrible humidity, year round. the south east heat and long summer days kill interiors unless you find a garage queen.

My family from the Pitt area has made one car from two for many a decade with a combo of Northern rust bucket low mile rigs with pristine upholstery installed in high mile rust free southern rigs with mechanical failures.

Sadly we no longer get 500 dollar 4 runners, land cruisers or pickups in our area. But we do have amazing taco stands!

For anyone interested, the 4Runner has been down again since August. I believe the clutch disc has broken away from the hub. Very low motivation to pull it back apart but once the engine comes out again, I'll post some pictures. Still running great though

About to embark on this swap on a gen2 4Runner soon with a doomsday adapter kit. Did the vw a/c compressor work fine with Toyota system? Planning to modify a hose and have a buddy tig weld the fitting if needed. What was your solution for the tachometer? Haven't figured that one yet and have only found spendy adapters in the past. Just running the 4wd vacuum actuation system to the stock ALH vacuum pump is all you need correct?

Have a 1852 turbo, 11mm pump, stripped wiring harness, and head studs on the shelf. Will need to figure nozzles for spare injector bodies I have.

Celco said:

About to embark on this swap on a gen2 4Runner soon with a doomsday adapter kit. Did the vw a/c compressor work fine with Toyota system? Planning to modify a hose and have a buddy tig weld the fitting if needed. What was your solution for the tachometer? Haven't figured that one yet and have only found spendy adapters in the past. Just running the 4wd vacuum actuation system to the stock ALH vacuum pump is all you need correct?

Have a 1852 turbo, 11mm pump, stripped wiring harness, and head studs on the shelf. Will need to figure nozzles for spare injector bodies I have.

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Get a set of .230 then call @burpod

South bend does make an incredible clutch and theirs was on the top of my list until center force had a 100 dollar off deal plus another 20% by buying it from Jeg's. Then the extra 20 bucks for a 3 year extended warranty. It was hard to beat.


Both the center force and south bend I have between my Passat and my BHW 4runner feel nice and smooth. Neither have slipped. I can't complain about either.

Celco said:

About to embark on this swap on a gen2 4Runner soon with a doomsday adapter kit. Did the vw a/c compressor work fine with Toyota system? Planning to modify a hose and have a buddy tig weld the fitting if needed. What was your solution for the tachometer? Haven't figured that one yet and have only found spendy adapters in the past. Just running the 4wd vacuum actuation system to the stock ALH vacuum pump is all you need correct?

Have a 1852 turbo, 11mm pump, stripped wiring harness, and head studs on the shelf. Will need to figure nozzles for spare injector bodies I have.

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I am running my 05 Passat compressor on my old r12 4 runner system. I have a black soft top in the the south, I lose a ton of cold air. It's not perfect like the Passat was but it does keep me from sweating.

I'm still playing with pressures to get it dialed in. Having never played with ac systems before I'm learning as I go. The 4 runner ran the compressor off of a complicated system. To dumb it down I installed a trinary switch like a hot rodder would use to put ac in his 1956 Chevy with an LS swap and under dash aftermarket ac.


Using a 30 amp relay power the compressor and the trinary switch will kill the power to the relay of the pressure gets too great or too low. It also has an option of fan control, the fan would only kick on if the ac hits certain pressure. This was a no go in our 90 plus degree heat, that fan needs to stay on when the AC is on.

The newer compressors are variable, the old r12 systems were not. This makes them a bit less efficient. The valve is adjustable on the Passat compressor, I've not yet played with it yet.


I would like to play with a butane/propane mix in the system rather than 134a but I've not gotten that far yet

PickleRick said:

I would like to play with a butane/propane mix in the system rather than 134a but I've not gotten that far yet

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I use R12A in all my stuff, R12 and 134a systems. Molecules are bigger and it leaks less. My buddy who is a TDI guy sells it on eBay. I have all the stuff to hook up a/c but have not moved forward with actually doing it. Need to fix all my other issues first.

As far as the Tach, I pulled the ecu tach output and fed it right to the Yota cluster. There is a resistor you have to cut and then a potentiometer you can turn to adjust it to fairly accurate.

Just ordered some I think freeze 12 to try, a case of 12 and I think 2 cans is all the weight it takes. I would love a more efficient ac. I'm still learning as I go on this. I need to recharge the little lady's diso 2 as she says it's not as cold as it used to be (feels exactly like my excursion and I had it professionally done).

Perhaps I could tell you the way I've charged my system and you (or anyone) could let me know if I'm screwing anything up.


I don't have a proper way to measure and having an odd ball compressor/vehicle match I've done it by temperature proper in the center vents. I doubt doing it by weight would be a waste in this application, especially doing it in r12a

My method so far has been to evac fully for half an hour (sit over night to check for leaks if applicable). Then pull for an others half hour to ensure no moisture.

I then add approximately 60 to 75% of what the weight should be and start watching the thermometer. I keep adding in small amounts until the temp stops dropping. The propane takes some 20% less than what the original called for so I have that to take in account going forward.


My system has dye in it already and the cheap pet pee finding led uv flashlights work amazing for finding green dye. Don't use this flashlight in a hotel room unless you want nightmares. While running I make sure I have a big shop fan running into the grill. With my winch bumper I've switched to a 24"box fan sitting on the winch. I try to do my servicing in the early am or evening when temps are below 80.


Any tweaks or suggestions to my process is welcomed. My only training is what I watched on YouTube.


If this works better than r134 I'll do both our disco and my excursion

Cheers on the 12a info. I'll look into that.

One other question I've got on the 4runner and the body lift. What is the clearance issue that requires the body lift? Does the valve cover/intake manifold stick out of the hood? I've got capabilities of fabricating a shorter intake if need. What about oil pan clearance? Not sure what I'll be getting into with that issue either

For oil pan clearance I used a 2 inch body lift and the hybrid aluminum/steel pan.


My engine is angled slightly higher in the front which gave it a little more diff clearance. It was installed in order to get a more desirable rear drive shaft pinion angle.

If you don't want a body lift you could also use the drop bracket style suspension lift kit which lowers your front differential about 2 to 3 inches.

I did have to move the frame mount location for the steering damper as it hit my oil pan.

Hi all, I am doing a BHW swap into a 1st gen Tundra and I have been trying to find out how to get the tac to work. I have seen where it has been asked on here but not addressed. Thanks for any help.

Fast-forward in Canada will have the can to dash that would both trick the ECU into seeing the proper gear ratios to make the cruise control work as well as tach signal. For cruise control you need another little wire that takes actual speed/rpm and feeds it back to the ECU as stock ratios.

Thanks PickleRick.

No problem.

davidm2232 said:

For anyone interested, the 4Runner has been down again since August. I believe the clutch disc has broken away from the hub. Very low motivation to pull it back apart but once the engine comes out again, I'll post some pictures. Still running great though

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Just catching back up on this thread. Seems like you've had a lot of hard luck with this project. Egged out pilot and broken center hub are classic symptoms of an eccentric trans/engine relationship. If you do end up fixing the truck check the centerline. Even the dowel pinned acme plates are not centered.