87 2WD Work Truck Reboot

Discussion in '1984-1988 Build-Up/Project Threads' started by SamJ, Jan 30, 2020.

  1. SamJ

    SamJ Newbie

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    Hi everyone, I am new to the forum and looking for a little help and advice.

    A little background, the truck is an 87 2wd base with an auto transmission and a carbureted 20R (obviously not original engine). This was my dad's work truck for the last 30 years or so and I was getting ready to go through it for him and do some long overdue mechanical repairs as well as some interior work and a paint job but unfortunately he was killed in an accident a couple of months ago.

    I have the truck now and still plan to dive in to it but the plan has slightly changed. For him, getting the truck road worthy and back to an original stock setup would have been the best option but now I am exploring some things like adding 4WD fenders, phantom grill, maybe some moderate upgrades to the suspension, possibly disc brakes all around and doing an engine/trans swap. The engine and trans is where Im looking for advice from some of you guys who have been there and done that. I have a lot of experience with restoring and customizing everything from lifted 4WDs to muscle cars and even a couple of imports but I have very little experience with toyota minis.

    Ok, so with all that said, here are my goals and questions, any help is appreciated and thanks in advance.

    Goals:
    1) Swap to manual transmission, preferably a 5 speed
    2) Engine swap to increase HP/Torque, nothing insane, just more than the stock 100ish (give or take) hp that the factory 22R produced. Im looking for a reliable daily driver setup with decent MPG and decent power. I dont want to have to do a lot of suspension and/or frame reinforcement. I would also prefer to stay with a toyota power plant and trans although I have explored the option of a ford 302 or a GM 4.3.
    3) Buy a wrecked donor car/truck to get drive-train, ecu, harness, etc. instead of buying all this separately, this seems to be a cost saver.

    Questions:
    1) Has anyone done a swap with a later model tacoma 2.7 and if so were there any major issues or lessons learned? (Most of the swaps Ive seen are for lexus V8s or 302/350 V8s)
    2) Is there a motor/trans swap that is considered pretty simplistic as far as bolting up, frame and firewall clearances, etc that will be a decent upgrade over the original?
     
  2. _Quickfox

    _Quickfox Enthusiast

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    3rz; that said..2rz turbo.

    Not that I know anything about it..
     
  3. SamJ

    SamJ Newbie

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    Thanks Quickfox. Does anyone know if the 3RZ will bolt up to a W55 or W56?
     
  4. _Quickfox

    _Quickfox Enthusiast

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    Not certain, but a quick glance at the 4x4 forums might help. From what I can tell the 3rz uses a r-series bellhousing and the 2rz mates with the w-series. I believe also the r-series (Like a turbo truck or a Supra) bellhousing will bolt to W58.

    I just ask Google questions. Lots of discussion over on the Crawler boards.

    -Aaron
     
  5. SamJ

    SamJ Newbie

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    Update. I spent a week troubleshooting a rich mixture issue and a bad voltage regulator. I've learned more about aisan carbs and toyota emissions/vacuum routing than anyone should know, lol. So the verdict is i have a bad carb combined with a stopped up egr passage and a number of assorted vacuum switches that are bad. I just ordered the weber 32/36 with a throttle space and an egr delete kit from LCE. I'll get to lose a ton of vacuum hoses and sensors so that should clean it all up. I also got some body work done, should be ready for paint by next weekend. Hopefully gonna get an alternator and order a header and MSD coil this week.
     
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  6. Pearce

    Pearce Toyotaholic

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    Gm 1 wire is a good swap to do. Just need to buy the bracket. The 4x4 parts store near me had it. But then again you can probably find a high amp rebuilt Toyota alternator for a little over 100. Maybe even less. The gm would be good for a pickle down the road that has you needing a new one right then.
     
  7. jetas

    jetas Grand Toyotaholic

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    I think trail gear has the GM alt bracket. I think i spent like $150 for the bracket and alt when i did the conversion. Im using a 3wire, Same idea tho.
     
  8. Perkolator

    Perkolator Toyotaholic

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    Sorry to hear about your dad but glad to hear you're keeping his truck alive!

    I've got no advice on handling that, but personally it took me 4yrs before I got my emotions in check enough to work on my dads' project Oldsmobile. I've been meaning to contact estranged half-uncle to see if he'll sell me my dad's old 86 2wd Toyota work-truck that he DD'd up until 1999 when it puked a rod at 350k after he bought a new truck.

    Curious why are you wanting to invest in a header and MSD ignition if you're planning to engine swap? Those parts are not exactly cheap and to me that's money that should go toward your engine swap and other upgrades that will be kept on the truck. I'd probably just stay with a 2rz/3rz swap as it's fairly common and well documented online. I wanna say I've read you don't even have to move engine mounts to do this swap

    I did the GM alternator swap on my 20r, I used the Trail Gear bracket and did have to modify it to fit. Seems to still be working and puts out 14v, so I guess it was a success!
     
  9. SamJ

    SamJ Newbie

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    Thanks Perkolator. What kind of Olds? 442?

    So the plans have changed, at least temporarily for the engine swap. After i started working on the truck I found out it is the 22r that came in it, not a 20r after all. Not that im worried about the 20 vs 22r, not much of a power difference in the two, but since it's original and seems to be in good shape I figured why not ride it till it dies. But until then I would like to get as much as I can out of it with the header and maybe upgrading the coil and wires. Also the msd will work on anything I swap to in the future. I looked at the gm alternator but the brackets i saw were so expensive that it seemed cheaper to go for an 80$ one from autozone. Maybe im looking in the wrong place for the bracket?

    Im also reconsidering keeping the auto transmission. If I end up doing an engine swap I will without a doubt convert to a manual but for now im thinking once I get to work on the interior I might add a cool b&m floor shifter or something. The thing I dont like most about this truck is it's a column shift but i've converted 3 on the trees to the floor before so i doubt converting this auto will be much different.
     
    Last edited: Feb 21, 2020
  10. jetas

    jetas Grand Toyotaholic

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    Jesus the prices went UP! I think i paid like 30-40 when i got mine
     
  11. Perkolator

    Perkolator Toyotaholic

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    I don't remember what I paid for my bracket, but the Trail Gear one is around $70 at most places
     
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  12. Pearce

    Pearce Toyotaholic

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    Yeah mine was about 75 after tax about 2 years ago. The benefit of it is you get many more options when it comes to replacements. Some auto shops may even have them on the shelves. I got a chrome 110 amp for about 60 off amazon.
     
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  13. Markus Vandevender

    Markus Vandevender Member

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    So if you do happen to want to do a 3rz/2rz swap, any W series or G series trans will bolt up to the RZ block using a W59 bell-housing. W59 is the original trans the RZ motors come with. I actually have one sitting in my backyard if you need it. Things you will have to take into account is the W59 bell moves the starter to the opposite side, as well as the slave cyl, so you'd have to reroute your wiring and your clutch line. Ive never swapped this motor but i did swap a G52 into my tacoma crawler at one point to get the stronger tcase.
     
  14. SamJ

    SamJ Newbie

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    Thanks for the info Markus.

    So, the update:

    Carb and egr block plates are installed and after a little cranking on it, it roared to life. It's amazing how many vacuum hoses I got rid of, it really cleaned up the engine bay.

    I got the grille, fenders, front bumper and valance installed. Almost all the body work is done and im really close to being ready for paint. I ran into a little snag behind the driver's fender, it had been wrecked at some point and the core support and front left support were crinkled pretty good so that required a little work to get it all straightened back out but all and all it looks pretty straight now.

    I also got a pretty nice seat cover but I need to do some work on the seat padding on the driver's side before I install it, it's pretty bad. If I have time this week I need to rip the interior out and do some clean up and painting. I also installed a tach on the steering column.

    The header is being ceramic coated now and should be ready mid-week and I need to figure out what Im going to do with the exhaust. Thinking about a single in/dual out muffler and piping an outlet on both sides behind the rear tires.

    Next on the agenda...wheels and tires. Im trying to decide what kind of setup I want to do, either bigger diameter rims and low profile setup or maybe smaller diameter rims and more sidewall truck tires.
     
  15. SamJ

    SamJ Newbie

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    Im gonna have a go at posting a couple of pics here. First are photos of the truck a month or so ago when I finally got it down here before I did anything to it. Hopefully this works :)

    20200207_134900.jpeg 20200207_134930.jpeg 20200207_134946.jpeg
     
  16. SamJ

    SamJ Newbie

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    Here are a couple of pics showing the before and after damage I found under the front drivers fender. Unfortunately for my neighbors this took a lot of beating and banging to straighten. I also used a couple pieces of angle iron to flatten out the damage and then added a piece of steel for added support after I got it straight.

    20200209_173230.jpeg 20200216_134831.jpeg 20200228_125052.jpeg 20200228_125110.jpeg
     
  17. SamJ

    SamJ Newbie

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    This is where Im at with it currently, most of the body work is done at this point. Need to do a little fine tuning on the body panel alignment and she's about ready to paint.

    20200229_071429.jpeg 20200301_155759.jpeg 20200301_155812.jpeg 20200301_155839.jpeg
     
  18. SamJ

    SamJ Newbie

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    Engine bay with Weber carb and emissions delete. Need to repaint a couple of things like the brake booster and the radiator but all and all its looking pretty clean. Once I get my header back I plan to spend some time under the hood cleaning, polishing and painting.

    20200229_071509.jpeg
     
  19. SamJ

    SamJ Newbie

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    So i did some painting/cleaning/polishing and some cable management under the hood. I also painted the inner fenders, firewall and core support. 20200331_091027.jpeg

    20200331_091010.jpeg
     
  20. SamJ

    SamJ Newbie

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    Been a while but I got the interior done, new seat cover and I vinyl dyed the dash and interior plastic and I also added a little sound system with custom 6x9 speaker pods in the doors. I did spray in bedliner, dropped it 2 inches, added wheels and tires and to complete the work truck look I painted the aftermarket parts, water-sanded the paint and then shot some random primer here and there. I also tracked down some electrical issues and replaced the leaf spring bushings.
     

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