engine swap ? (1 Viewer)

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Jul 19, 2017
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Grapevine Texas
I have a 1991 fj80 with a 3fe it's my daily driver the motor locked up due to an oil hemorrhage. I found another engine out of a 97 fj80 it's the 4.5liter they want several hundred bucks for it. can i swap the two engines easily meaning can I just drop the new one in or is there alot of extra work to make the new engine fit?
 
Not......even......
 
I have a 1991 fj80 with a 3fe it's my daily driver the motor locked up due to an oil hemorrhage. I found another engine out of a 97 fj80 it's the 4.5liter they want several hundred bucks for it. can i swap the two engines easily meaning can I just drop the new one in or is there alot of extra work to make the new engine fit?

Do a search for more detail but the short answer is no. Sorry for the engine loss - seems like it should be easy enough to find a replacement 3FE.
 
find another 3fe for cheap...i will hate for you to spend all that money to retro fit the 4.5L and have to pull it later for head gasket...
:bang:
 
The 1FZ is a better motor, but since you have a '91, it will be 1,000 times easier to just swap in another 3fe.
 
You need an engine from a 1991 or 1992 to get the same. You may be able to get one from a little OLDER make to get what you need for hard parts, but you will have work to do.

Post up in the "wanted" section above.

Check with @arcteryx or @slow95z to see if either has a 91 or 92 3FE engine that could be rebuilt or dropped in.
 
The 1FZ is a better motor, but since you have a '91, it will be 1,000 times easier to just swap in another 3fe.
It might have a little more power, but doesn't mean it is better. One can argued the 3FE is more reliable than the 1fz-fe, for me, reliability trumps speed for offroading....but i get it. There is no love here for the 3FE, but everyone is crying when their HG fails.
 
ok so the price of the 97 engine is $200.00 does that change anything as my budget is non existent.

No, because you will need the OBD2 compatible computer to run it, the transmission MAY not bolt up (I don;t know) the engine mounts are different, the exhaust is completely different side of the truck....so, that is a HUGE change, so NO. Even if it was "free", it's not FREE!
 
Might be able to make out by finding a 93-97 shell/with a blown motor, putting your $200 1FZ into it (don't know how mechanically inclined you are), and parting out your current '91. Just a thought.

Looks like you're near Dallas, but there's an LX450 with a blown motor for sale here near Austin: 1997 Lexus LX450 w/ blown engine

The guys absolutely off his rocker on the price, (honestly not even worth half that), but just giving you options.
 
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Agreed, if you are going thru the trouble of engine swap, might as well drop in a V8 or diesel platform etc. Why settle for something with a small marginal gain in performance.
 
It might have a little more power, but doesn't mean it is better. One can argued the 3FE is more reliable than the 1fz-fe, for me, reliability trumps speed for offroading....but i get it. There is no love here for the 3FE, but everyone is crying when their HG fails.

I lived through 3 failed HG's on a 3VZE within 180,000 km's.....now that was pain. (1 warranty replacement) My 1FZ is at 445,000 km's on OG head gasket according to previous owner who bought it new. I know it eventually will fail, and I am probably super lucky it hasn't for me yet. I won't cry, I will simply ARP + MLS the thing while doing a full rebuild. IMO it wasn't the design of the motor but the design of the mid 90's head gaskets that were the issue. From what I hear even the new OEM HG should last near a lifetime. Shrugs, I like more power rather than less.
 
It might have a little more power, but doesn't mean it is better. One can argued the 3FE is more reliable than the 1fz-fe, for me, reliability trumps speed for offroading....but i get it. There is no love here for the 3FE, but everyone is crying when their HG fails.

One could argue that the earth is flat too. Doesn't make it so.
 
ok so the price of the 97 engine is $200.00 does that change anything as my budget is non existent.

if you have the space to store it you may be able to trade someone for a 3fe or freshen it up a bit and sell for a little profit. other than that save the money youll need to swap in a 3fe.

you could go a different route and do a v8 swap but considering the budget for a swap is nonexixtant easiest route will be just replace whats in there.
 
i have a good 3FE engine, message me if i want to go back with that.

If you want to swap then you honestly need to just buy another truck. there is so much different... even the cluster is different.
 

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