3FE engine beef up (1 Viewer)
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Not really. A few vendors sell a header and a snorkel. Man-a-fre sells a hi-po rebuilt long block.
Its a tractor motor. Keep it fed and watered well and get used to the slowspeed
Its a tractor motor. Keep it fed and watered well and get used to the slowspeed
Oh yeah
Welcome newbie
Welcome newbie
Welcome!
I have a 2f and a 1fzfe, but understand your concern. Do a thorough tune-up for starters. Use OEM parts. Read the posts on lubricants - there's some thought that synthetic in the diffs and transfer will help milage.
A great stereo will help the time pass.
Nothing "bolt-on" will do diddly. If you are ambitous, you might explore the idea of shaving the head. This will raise compression, and is the single biggest improvement you can make. You'll have to go to premium gas though.
Use the search, and I'm pretty sure this has been covered.
When the sun is shining, Cruisers don't get there first...but when the weather is foul, or the road is lousy...
I have a 2f and a 1fzfe, but understand your concern. Do a thorough tune-up for starters. Use OEM parts. Read the posts on lubricants - there's some thought that synthetic in the diffs and transfer will help milage.
A great stereo will help the time pass.
Nothing "bolt-on" will do diddly. If you are ambitous, you might explore the idea of shaving the head. This will raise compression, and is the single biggest improvement you can make. You'll have to go to premium gas though.
Use the search, and I'm pretty sure this has been covered.
When the sun is shining, Cruisers don't get there first...but when the weather is foul, or the road is lousy...
bjowett
Supporting Vendor
The 3FE in normally aspirated form has much potential... it just needs to be discovered. I'm sure there must be a few folks around here who have built something good.
Several people have redone the exhaust system after the headers and also bored the throttle body with good results. I am not one of them yet so I can not comment on the improved performance. Also getting an extreme valve body will help with slow shifts for perceived performance.
Mark
Mark
bjowett said:
I love the 3FE that Robbie at Slee rebuilt for me last year. .060" OEM pistons, .060" head mill, port matching of head, intake and exhaust manifolds and rebuilt injectors and bored out throttle body (3mm) by RC Engineering. Eisenhower Tunnel at 11,000' used to be a 40 mph/second gear grind. Now doable at 60+ mph in third gear with a similar load in the truck. Wasn't cheap and requires 91 octane but I'm super happy with the results and best of all it is 99% stock - even the cam.
Anything you can do to make a motor breathe better will improve performance.
Port and polish.
Headers.
Free flowing cat.
Free flowing mufflers.
Wider throttle body.
Tuned intake manifold (think headers on the intake side of the motor).
If you're going to get a new camshaft, make sure you match the valves and ports to it.
There's a book called "Engine Math" or similar that has formulas for literally everything that
affects a motor's efficiency and output.
Talk to a speedshop. See what they'd recommend. They will probably be very vague and
just quote you dollar amounts for what they'll do, but if you listen between the lines, you
can get an idea of what they mean.
If you throw enough money at it, you can make any motor scream. Including your F/2F/3F-E.
It's all about how many cubic dollars you have under the hood.
Port and polish.
Headers.
Free flowing cat.
Free flowing mufflers.
Wider throttle body.
Tuned intake manifold (think headers on the intake side of the motor).
If you're going to get a new camshaft, make sure you match the valves and ports to it.
There's a book called "Engine Math" or similar that has formulas for literally everything that
affects a motor's efficiency and output.
Talk to a speedshop. See what they'd recommend. They will probably be very vague and
just quote you dollar amounts for what they'll do, but if you listen between the lines, you
can get an idea of what they mean.
If you throw enough money at it, you can make any motor scream. Including your F/2F/3F-E.
It's all about how many cubic dollars you have under the hood.
3fe
wheels,
I have a set of domed forged Aluminum pistons that raise my compression to ~9.2:1. I have noticed a great increase in power, but until I dyno it I cannont say how much. ( no I am not saying that the FJ-62 is a race car now, but compared to before.... ) I have also replaced all bearings, seals, stock CAM, oil pump, water pump, and many other parts with genuine Toyota parts, head rebuild,a .040 over bore, and the 3FE ceramic coated 'equal length' headers. (not sure how much I am gaining from them though) The .060 bore is the max you can go and if you ever plan on rebuilding the motor again you cannot bore the cylinders anymore. I am planning on the injector rebuild, and throttle body bore, in the near future. The Extreme valve body will help you feel like you have more power by improving shifting and converter lock-up. All those, plus a less restrictive exhaust will help but not as much as a SBC would. The SBC is lighter and has at least 200 HP or much more and in the end will probably cost the same as what I did and am planning on doing. But I love my 3FE. Another way to get more 3FE power to the ground is to get rid of the A440F (tranny) and put in a H55F 5-speed manual Toyota tranny. I am toying with that idea because the 5 speed has so many advantages over the A440F on road and off. The FJ-62 will never be fast with the 3FE, but I would trade fast for reliability any day. My 3FE had 300,000 original miles before I rebuilt it. And it would have gone more too.. Good luck in whatever you choose.
Andrew
88' FJ-62
97' FZJ-80
01' Tacoma
wheels,
I have a set of domed forged Aluminum pistons that raise my compression to ~9.2:1. I have noticed a great increase in power, but until I dyno it I cannont say how much. ( no I am not saying that the FJ-62 is a race car now, but compared to before.... ) I have also replaced all bearings, seals, stock CAM, oil pump, water pump, and many other parts with genuine Toyota parts, head rebuild,a .040 over bore, and the 3FE ceramic coated 'equal length' headers. (not sure how much I am gaining from them though) The .060 bore is the max you can go and if you ever plan on rebuilding the motor again you cannot bore the cylinders anymore. I am planning on the injector rebuild, and throttle body bore, in the near future. The Extreme valve body will help you feel like you have more power by improving shifting and converter lock-up. All those, plus a less restrictive exhaust will help but not as much as a SBC would. The SBC is lighter and has at least 200 HP or much more and in the end will probably cost the same as what I did and am planning on doing. But I love my 3FE. Another way to get more 3FE power to the ground is to get rid of the A440F (tranny) and put in a H55F 5-speed manual Toyota tranny. I am toying with that idea because the 5 speed has so many advantages over the A440F on road and off. The FJ-62 will never be fast with the 3FE, but I would trade fast for reliability any day. My 3FE had 300,000 original miles before I rebuilt it. And it would have gone more too.. Good luck in whatever you choose.
Andrew
88' FJ-62
97' FZJ-80
01' Tacoma
wheels said:
I'm not Andrew, but SBC = small block chevy
overhanger said:
Hey Overhanger,
Where did you have this done? About how much did it cost? How long did it take?
Thanks!
From all anecdotal evidence, a freshened up F/2F/3F-E will blow you away compared to
what you're used to. Pimp can prolly back me up on this.
Most of us are close to 200k, if not more, miles. My guess is the F family of engines is due
for its first overhaul at 100k. At that point it should be well-seasoned and should have
flexed and warped all it needs to to attain its final shape. After that, it should be good for
250k miles at least.
If I get a new job soon, I may have access to an inexpensive, rebuildable 2F core.
I plan to bore it .020 over. Align-hone the crank bores. Mill the head just enough to level it.
Deck it just enough to level it. Maybe polish the runners and portmatch the manifold
mounting surfaces.
The above will likely net me 10HP and 20ft/lb over factory, and another 250k miles. It'll
definately last me until I can do my impersonation of HZJ-60_Guy with a 12H-T.
what you're used to. Pimp can prolly back me up on this.
Most of us are close to 200k, if not more, miles. My guess is the F family of engines is due
for its first overhaul at 100k. At that point it should be well-seasoned and should have
flexed and warped all it needs to to attain its final shape. After that, it should be good for
250k miles at least.
If I get a new job soon, I may have access to an inexpensive, rebuildable 2F core.
I plan to bore it .020 over. Align-hone the crank bores. Mill the head just enough to level it.
Deck it just enough to level it. Maybe polish the runners and portmatch the manifold
mounting surfaces.
The above will likely net me 10HP and 20ft/lb over factory, and another 250k miles. It'll
definately last me until I can do my impersonation of HZJ-60_Guy with a 12H-T.
Robbie at Sleeoffroad.com did the work at Christo's shop in Golden, CO. Cost? Man, I have those receipts buried at the bottom of the Cruiser receipts box in case anybody else (wife) ever goes looking through it! Parts alone were over $3K, I think but I'm going on memory that has been sublimated. Time was longer than an engine building-only shop as Robbie is the only mechanic at Slee and I wasn't pushing since I had other wheels. Got a little nervous as Cruise Moab dates got closer last year, though, but Robbie got 'er done and the engine has rocked ever since. I'd do it again, just the same way. There are some engine companies that do stock rebuilds like Jasper.com that have good reputations, I just liked giving Christo and Robbie the business and I was able to do all of the porting work myself.
Time was longer than an engine building-only shop as Robbie is the only mechanic at Slee and I wasn't pushing since I had other wheels. Got a little nervous as Cruise Moab dates got closer last year, though, but Robbie got 'er done and the engine has rocked ever since. I'd do it again, just the same way. There are some engine companies that do stock rebuilds like Jasper.com that have good reputations, I just liked giving Christo and Robbie the business and I was able to do all of the porting work myself.
skimming this thread... definately interested in seeing some pictures of the slee built 3FE overhanger..
TPI's headers were the headers you got or made your own?
and jasper is jasperengines.com and to save time its like 5425 for the remaf. engine.
TPI's headers were the headers you got or made your own?
and jasper is jasperengines.com and to save time its like 5425 for the remaf. engine.
sourcemine said:
Look at any old 3FE and you'll see what the engine in my truck looks like. It's all stock, including the exhaust manifolds - no headers on it. Stock exhaust manifolds on a 3FE are short, straight and there is plenty of metal to grind out to help them flow better. The rest of the exhaust system was built very similarly to the pictures that you posted of your truck although I stuck with two O2 sensors. Din't your pictures show a single O2 sensor bung?
I've heard only good things about Jasper rebuilds.
No I used both 02 sensors run one after the other, no CEL or anything, just used one modern ODBII cat versus the two old OBDI cats.overhanger said:
