Not exactly NEW, but pretty new. I have been ogling your rides here for years. Ive always been in a weird spot though. I made enough money to not want an 80 as my DD and not enough money to have as a toy. I usually go way overboard with my toys so I knew I wouldnt be able to do all the things I wanted to do to it.
Things have changed. After 20+ years of machining and tired of being the fastest guy at the special Olympics, I decided that I had my last confrontation. I am in my second year in engineering school and just applied to proschool here in Bend Oregon. Now at the ripe old age of 39 I am in the Energy Systems Engineering program at OSU Cascades campus. So needless to say I have downsized my payments from a 2011 tundra to a 2001 tundra, and now a 92 LC(no Payments).
So I found this LC for 1500.00 with a weird noise in the front end. I figured it was a birfield, so I ordered up the stuff and rebuilt the front end. While I was under the bruiser I noticed a shiny ring around the rear driveshaft flange. HMMMMMM!!!!! Well I didnt pursue it because I wanted to see if my first hunch was wrong. After the PM on the front end, the noise was still there. I climed back under it and investigate further. Sure enough the shiny new looking metal was from the exhaust hangar that tore loose and left the exhaust resting on the driveshaft flange. Pulled it up and rewelded the hangar and BINGO! No more funny noise! Oh well, the front end needed new seals and juice.
Next on to the radiator that was weeping. Ordered up a new radiator and decided I would PM the seals on the timing cover to stop the tiny oil leak that was present. After putting it back together I had a gusher not just a an oil leak, but a river. So I am sure you now know I accidently didnt pay attention to the bolt length not seeing any noticable difference when I took them off. Well I put a longer bolt in the short spot and pulled the oil pump cover away from the block. Damnit! So back apart it came and after pulling the valve cover to get to the pushrods so I can PM the oil pump cover seal, I see the worst GLOB of crap I have ever seen in a valve cover? Well that sucks. I also found junkyard nomenclature on the back of the valve cover. So that explains the condition of every bolt and fastener on the thing. If it wasnt oiled over it was rusty. Not ideal. So after pulling the head it looks like I would want to do the bottom end. No hatch left on the cylinders. Not bad but not something I want to put my money into.
So knowing I wanted to do a 1UZ swap I started looking for parts. I found some put not wanting to rush my work I knew I didnt want to do that quite yet. I need this truck back on the road in as fast as timeline as I can. I started looking for a good running 3fe or even a good bottom end of a 2f. Its funny how 2Fs are now worth more than scrap metal. A guy here in town had a few but he said it wasnt even worth his time to pull a motor for less than 800? WOW?
Well I was on Craigslist the other day looking for options and found a wrecked 96 with low miles and leather interior! I didnt think too long knowing what is possible with these engines. If you havent checked out the sand drags in Dubai then look it up on Youtube. The 1FZ has gotten a bad rep for head problems, but with a cometic HG and some good head studs, they are amaizing. Much more aftermarket support than a 3FE. I think if they can push 2000 horsies than I will be good. So I ended up getting it delivered for 1500.00. For what is normally an 800 dollar tow bill from Portland I would say I got it fairly cheap. No lockers but I will address that later on.
So for now I will be freshening this 1FZ up a bit with a little lower compression for what will follow.
So what is a complete 3FE with ECU worth? I know the 2FE guys want the ECU and top end so that may help me offset my costs a bit, but how much? I will be selling then entire running gear out of the 92, so if anyone in Oregon would like it make me an offer.
I will now go back to my usual researching of the vast knowledge base on this site in preparation for the months to come as I get my swapping underway. I can tell you that I am much more excited than my wife! She knows that it will be cool when its done but for now its a big mess.
Thanks for reading and stay tuned for the build thread. Remember though I am going to be very busy with School, two boys, and trying to keep the wife happy, so this may take a while.
Jason
Redmond Oregon
Things have changed. After 20+ years of machining and tired of being the fastest guy at the special Olympics, I decided that I had my last confrontation. I am in my second year in engineering school and just applied to proschool here in Bend Oregon. Now at the ripe old age of 39 I am in the Energy Systems Engineering program at OSU Cascades campus. So needless to say I have downsized my payments from a 2011 tundra to a 2001 tundra, and now a 92 LC(no Payments).
So I found this LC for 1500.00 with a weird noise in the front end. I figured it was a birfield, so I ordered up the stuff and rebuilt the front end. While I was under the bruiser I noticed a shiny ring around the rear driveshaft flange. HMMMMMM!!!!! Well I didnt pursue it because I wanted to see if my first hunch was wrong. After the PM on the front end, the noise was still there. I climed back under it and investigate further. Sure enough the shiny new looking metal was from the exhaust hangar that tore loose and left the exhaust resting on the driveshaft flange. Pulled it up and rewelded the hangar and BINGO! No more funny noise! Oh well, the front end needed new seals and juice.
Next on to the radiator that was weeping. Ordered up a new radiator and decided I would PM the seals on the timing cover to stop the tiny oil leak that was present. After putting it back together I had a gusher not just a an oil leak, but a river. So I am sure you now know I accidently didnt pay attention to the bolt length not seeing any noticable difference when I took them off. Well I put a longer bolt in the short spot and pulled the oil pump cover away from the block. Damnit! So back apart it came and after pulling the valve cover to get to the pushrods so I can PM the oil pump cover seal, I see the worst GLOB of crap I have ever seen in a valve cover? Well that sucks. I also found junkyard nomenclature on the back of the valve cover. So that explains the condition of every bolt and fastener on the thing. If it wasnt oiled over it was rusty. Not ideal. So after pulling the head it looks like I would want to do the bottom end. No hatch left on the cylinders. Not bad but not something I want to put my money into.
So knowing I wanted to do a 1UZ swap I started looking for parts. I found some put not wanting to rush my work I knew I didnt want to do that quite yet. I need this truck back on the road in as fast as timeline as I can. I started looking for a good running 3fe or even a good bottom end of a 2f. Its funny how 2Fs are now worth more than scrap metal. A guy here in town had a few but he said it wasnt even worth his time to pull a motor for less than 800? WOW?
Well I was on Craigslist the other day looking for options and found a wrecked 96 with low miles and leather interior! I didnt think too long knowing what is possible with these engines. If you havent checked out the sand drags in Dubai then look it up on Youtube. The 1FZ has gotten a bad rep for head problems, but with a cometic HG and some good head studs, they are amaizing. Much more aftermarket support than a 3FE. I think if they can push 2000 horsies than I will be good. So I ended up getting it delivered for 1500.00. For what is normally an 800 dollar tow bill from Portland I would say I got it fairly cheap. No lockers but I will address that later on.
So for now I will be freshening this 1FZ up a bit with a little lower compression for what will follow.
So what is a complete 3FE with ECU worth? I know the 2FE guys want the ECU and top end so that may help me offset my costs a bit, but how much? I will be selling then entire running gear out of the 92, so if anyone in Oregon would like it make me an offer.
I will now go back to my usual researching of the vast knowledge base on this site in preparation for the months to come as I get my swapping underway. I can tell you that I am much more excited than my wife! She knows that it will be cool when its done but for now its a big mess.
Thanks for reading and stay tuned for the build thread. Remember though I am going to be very busy with School, two boys, and trying to keep the wife happy, so this may take a while.
Jason
Redmond Oregon
.
