So my 97 LX450 has 230k miles on it right now. At about 150k the PO changed the head gasket, but did not do any head work. Due to such, right now I am burning through a quart of oil about every 700-900 miles. I know the gasket is still fine since my coolant looks great, dipstick looks great and I dont have any performance issues that would show up normally with coolant in the cylinders. So this now brings me to 3-4 options. Before I talk about the options lets me preface with the truck itself...it if lifted on OME's, 37's, Nitro 5.29 gears, and armor all the way around. Its a heavy pig. Granted I dont have a RTT and dont do overnights in it so I dont have all the kitchen or sleeping gear (I come back to base camp at the RV every night). I do have my standard tools though and spare water and food for emergencies. I DD the thing and pickup my kids from school, work, etc as well as off road with normally between 5-7 total humans in it. 2 adult and 5 kids or 1 adult and 6 kids normally, but off road it is normally 2 adults and 3 kids or 4 adults and a kid or two. Did I say it was a heavy pig going down the road? The 5.29 gears for sure help it out, but it still has a hard time pulling a grade. In no world would I ever consider buying a pulling an overlanding trailer with this.
So now back to the three options. With what weight I am trying to get around, I am starting to come to head with what direction I need to take this thing...
Option 1 - Rebuild engine. This would fix my oil burn and more than likely give me some performance gain back. This would be the cheapest option.
Option 2 - Rebuild engine and then supercharge it (if I can still find a supercharger somewhere). Take option 1 add $4500 and gain a good amount of power.
Option 3 - 5.3/6.0/6.2 chevy swap - Great power gain, good MPG increase, but if I understand correctly, I have to change the trans out with it, but can get an adapter for the transfer case? I will have to either also have to have a trans with a really low overdrive or change the gears down to maybe 4.88 so I am not driving at 3000 RPM's at 75 MPH like I am now.
Option 4 - Cummins swap - My friend Walt owns TAV LLC in Albuquerque NM. He has put the new 2.8 cumming repower in both an FJ40 and late 80's SAS'ed taco. Now the taco is light, but the FJ40, not so much. Granted, I am heavier than the 40, but not sure how much. He was pretty confident that the 2.8 cummins could handle an FZJ80, but the rumors are out there that they could be coming out with something in the 3.5-4.0 liter diesel repower very soon. If this is the case, I would lean in that direction instead of the 2.8. In any case, this would require a trans swap out as well as for sure a gear replacement. This option would cost a crap ton of money I am sure, but I have a hunch that if I ever had to sell it, I could post it up here and get call after call for it.
Now due to the fact that the insurance company would not give me jack squat for it if totaled or damaged, option 4 may not be that smart of an option...but would be VERY VERY cool.
For those of you that have done 2 and 3, what is the approximate cost of doing it. I am pretty handy so I would be able to pull the existing motor out and could do a standard rebuild on my own, so option 2 I can do with my own labor. However option 3 would be hard since I dont have a welder nor know how to do it correctly. Because of this, I would have to have a 3rd party shop go in and do the frame work, motor mounts, cross members, etc. I also would prefer to have the original gauge cluster work so it would require some wiring harnesses and I am sure some controllers to have the chevy output signal get converted to the proper signal for the toyota/lexus tach, oil pressure, coolant temp, etc.
Ok....discuss...
So now back to the three options. With what weight I am trying to get around, I am starting to come to head with what direction I need to take this thing...
Option 1 - Rebuild engine. This would fix my oil burn and more than likely give me some performance gain back. This would be the cheapest option.
Option 2 - Rebuild engine and then supercharge it (if I can still find a supercharger somewhere). Take option 1 add $4500 and gain a good amount of power.
Option 3 - 5.3/6.0/6.2 chevy swap - Great power gain, good MPG increase, but if I understand correctly, I have to change the trans out with it, but can get an adapter for the transfer case? I will have to either also have to have a trans with a really low overdrive or change the gears down to maybe 4.88 so I am not driving at 3000 RPM's at 75 MPH like I am now.
Option 4 - Cummins swap - My friend Walt owns TAV LLC in Albuquerque NM. He has put the new 2.8 cumming repower in both an FJ40 and late 80's SAS'ed taco. Now the taco is light, but the FJ40, not so much. Granted, I am heavier than the 40, but not sure how much. He was pretty confident that the 2.8 cummins could handle an FZJ80, but the rumors are out there that they could be coming out with something in the 3.5-4.0 liter diesel repower very soon. If this is the case, I would lean in that direction instead of the 2.8. In any case, this would require a trans swap out as well as for sure a gear replacement. This option would cost a crap ton of money I am sure, but I have a hunch that if I ever had to sell it, I could post it up here and get call after call for it.
Now due to the fact that the insurance company would not give me jack squat for it if totaled or damaged, option 4 may not be that smart of an option...but would be VERY VERY cool.
For those of you that have done 2 and 3, what is the approximate cost of doing it. I am pretty handy so I would be able to pull the existing motor out and could do a standard rebuild on my own, so option 2 I can do with my own labor. However option 3 would be hard since I dont have a welder nor know how to do it correctly. Because of this, I would have to have a 3rd party shop go in and do the frame work, motor mounts, cross members, etc. I also would prefer to have the original gauge cluster work so it would require some wiring harnesses and I am sure some controllers to have the chevy output signal get converted to the proper signal for the toyota/lexus tach, oil pressure, coolant temp, etc.
Ok....discuss...