I Have Questions for all 3B Owners (1 Viewer)

[Gimme a 60]

Hello 3B owners,



As some of you may know, I am swapping a 3B diesel into my FJ62. It has come to my attention through experience and anecdotes that the engine is very slow, and I am no stranger to the fact. However, I am more talking about the specifics of daily driving a 3B powered rig, and the enjoyment of driving one.

Do you guys enjoy driving your 3B powered rig?

Is it fun to drive? Do you ever prefer the gasoline counterparts like the 2F or 3FE?

How does it drive on the highway or in the town? How slow are you guys on the hills?



Also, looking at the torque curve of the F-series motors compared to the 3B, the F series seem to create a lot more torque than the 3B ( even at really low RPM) yet many people who know things about the 3B say it’s a pretty torquey motor…… Perhaps there is more torque at idle?



Anyway, I am just trying to understand a little bit more about the 3B as I have not driven much…. Just so many people say that it is so slow its useless, but I am not a speed deamon anyways.



Thanks

 

[rick_d]

I am of the belief that you should not use an engine older then 1990. You will be disappointed in a 3b 60 series.

1hz, hdt, or hdft are the better diesel choices in 2023.

 

[rick_d]

Ask greg bowie what he thinks.

 

[David*BJ70]

The 3B is an excellent engine that offers a «just enough decent» performance.

You'll know how to appreciate this engine if you keep in mind what is written above. It will consume much less than the 3FE.

With the 4.10 diff, it will be a slight gain in vitality over the BJ60 with the 3.70. You'll have a hard time passing cars and may have to shift into 4th or even 3rd gear on long highway climbs. In city, well, no problem.

I enjoy driving my BJ42 as much as I enjoyed driving my ex-BJ70. I also enjoyed driving my ex-BJ60 but that was before I had a 12HT and a 1HDTFE

 

[Gimme a 60]

The 3B is an excellent engine that offers a «just enough decent» performance.

You'll know how to appreciate this engine if you keep in mind what is written above. It will consume much less than the 3FE.

With the 4.10 diff, it will be a slight gain in vitality over the BJ60 with the 3.70. You'll have a hard time passing cars and may have to shift into 4th or even 3rd gear on long highway climbs. In city, well, no problem.

I enjoy driving my BJ42 as much as I enjoyed driving my ex-BJ70. I also enjoyed driving my ex-BJ60 but that was before I had a 12HT and a 1HDTFE

Yea the 3fe with the automatic is so boring. Like god.

 

[roma042987]

4.10 and 31" tires you'll be happy.

 

[FJBen]

I don’t think you will be happy with a 3B. I’ve owned an FJ62 and yes it’s a bit slow and boring.
I currently own a BJ74, 13BT 5speed. It’s fun, spritely to drive and I would for sure not want any less power. 3Bs are slow! Of course I live at 5000’ altitude and go much higher so that takes even more power away.

As for enjoyment, it’s a Land Cruiser…most are slow but we love the whole rig.


I would not swap that in. You would be much happier swapping an H55f in by far. @PabloCruise has a 3FE h42 setup and and it flat moves here in Colorado. The only place he struggled where the 2 diesels didn’t was mountain passes at altitude…our turbo diesels didn’t struggle the affects of altitude as bad. Other than that, she scoots along pretty dang nice.

The 3B is old and slow parts are becoming increasingly non existent. I realize you can find them cheaper, but don’t expect anything better performance wise.

 

[Gimme a 60]

I don’t think you will be happy with a 3B. I’ve owned an FJ62 and yes it’s a bit slow and boring.
I currently own a BJ74, 13BT 5speed. It’s fun, spritely to drive and I would for sure not want any less power. 3Bs are slow! Of course I live at 5000’ altitude and go much higher so that takes even more power away.

As for enjoyment, it’s a Land Cruiser…most are slow but we love the whole rig.


I would not swap that in. You would be much happier swapping an H55f in by far. @PabloCruise has a 3FE h42 setup and and it flat moves here in Colorado. The only place he struggled where the 2 diesels didn’t was mountain passes at altitude…our turbo diesels didn’t struggle the affects of altitude as bad. Other than that, she scoots along pretty dang nice.

The 3B is old and slow parts are becoming increasingly non existent. I realize you can find them cheaper, but don’t expect anything better performance wise.

But at the end of the day you would rather have a gasser than a diesel?

I drove a 3B once and loved it. So much more character than the 3fe.

 

[Fedtime]

I’ve only ever owned LCs with a 3B. 1981 BJ42, 1982 BJ42, 1983 BJ 60, 1985 BJ70, and a 1985 BJ60. I’ve driven across Canada in my 1983 BJ60, and put many miles on the others. In my view, the 3B is one of the best engines ever made. The driving experience with a manual transmission is one of my favourite things in life. Others may want more power and I suppose for them that is fair enough. Nobody would claim that the 3B is burning up the 1/4 mile. But I love it for what it is. Sturdy, reliable, economical, easy to work on - it is a long list of positives as far as I am concerned.

 

[bj70bc]

i have only recently thought of my 3b as 'adequate' since i put a turbo on and tuned it accordingly, and thats in a 70 series not a heavier 60 series.
The 5 speed helps and the 4.11's help, big heavy tires dont though
It still is slow on hills and the highway, around town it goes fine

 

[FJBen]

But at the end of the day you would rather have a gasser than a diesel?

I drove a 3B once and loved it. So much more character than the 3fe.

Well I guess it all depends….great answer huh?

I love my 13bt. My BJ74 weighs 4600lbs. I zip along with 34” tires and average 20mpg. I love the sound, enjoy chugging around in it. I would not want less power. My rig came with a diesel, so no need for swap.

If I had a good running fj62, the 3b would be the absolute last diesel I swapped in. It’s a good engine, but there are just better choices. Good money after bad. For me it would need to be nearly free for me to put it in something.

What are you wanting the 3b for?

You won’t have more power, actually less. Your maintenance costs will go up. Fuel price…10mpg gas is the same as 20mpg diesel here. Injector pump rebuild is about $1,500 now. Your pre-cups in the head are Probabaly already cracked, and will crack again along with a good chance the head itself will crack and need replaced. Highway driving is going to suck on any altitude or inclines.

That said, it’s a cool engine and diesel. If you just want a hobby project to put around in the slow lane and deal with the short comings then have at it.
If you want a vehicle to go all over camping and putting miles on, over landing or whatever the kids are calling it these days, an h55f will make that 62 a pleasure to drive for a fraction of the headache and costs of that 3B.

Imo, unless a sweet deal falls into your lap for a 1hd Ft, save up for a 1HZ/h55f swap. Completely future proof your rig with an engine/tranny that’s still being made by Toyota today.

 

[Gimme a 60]

I’ve only ever owned LCs with a 3B. 1981 BJ42, 1982 BJ42, 1983 BJ 60, 1985 BJ70, and a 1985 BJ60. I’ve driven across Canada in my 1983 BJ60, and put many miles on the others. In my view, the 3B is one of the best engines ever made. The driving experience with a manual transmission is one of my favourite things in life. Others may want more power and I suppose for them that is fair enough. Nobody would claim that the 3B is burning up the 1/4 mile. But I love it for what it is. Sturdy, reliable, economical, easy to work on - it is a long list of positives as far as I am concerned.

Yea that’s why I like it.

 

[Gimme a 60]

Well I guess it all depends….great answer huh?

I love my 13bt. My BJ74 weighs 4600lbs. I zip along with 34” tires and average 20mpg. I love the sound, enjoy chugging around in it. I would not want less power. My rig came with a diesel, so no need for swap.

If I had a good running fj62, the 3b would be the absolute last diesel I swapped in. It’s a good engine, but there are just better choices. Good money after bad. For me it would need to be nearly free for me to put it in something.

What are you wanting the 3b for?

You won’t have more power, actually less. Your maintenance costs will go up. Fuel price…10mpg gas is the same as 20mpg diesel here. Injector pump rebuild is about $1,500 now. Your pre-cups in the head are Probabaly already cracked, and will crack again along with a good chance the head itself will crack and need replaced. Highway driving is going to suck on any altitude or inclines.

That said, it’s a cool engine and diesel. If you just want a hobby project to put around in the slow lane and deal with the short comings then have at it.
If you want a vehicle to go all over camping and putting miles on, over landing or whatever the kids are calling it these days, an h55f will make that 62 a pleasure to drive for a fraction of the headache and costs of that 3B.

Imo, unless a sweet deal falls into your lap for a 1hd Ft, save up for a 1HZ/h55f swap. Completely future proof your rig with an engine/tranny that’s still being made by Toyota today.

Yea dang, I hope mine doesn’t need to have parts rebuilt. I heard these things run along time with just oil changes. Mines pretty young.

 

[Gimme a 60]

Yea I have spent a lot of money on getting my swap started.


I was under the impression that these engines are sought after compared to gasoline versions.


My dad used to have one with over half a million km, and he never spent a penny on it- he told me if I had to buy a Crusier I would want one with a 3B.

We will see how the swap goes. But I’m not missing the 3FE and a440f, it’s lame and it sucks and is no fun at all.

 

[bj70bc]

I do like my 3b BECAUSE its ancient technology, ie. technology i understand just wish it had more go juice
yes easy to work on, there are still parts available too
1hz or 1hdt would be better but there is always a swap possible in the future
and i did really enjoy turboing it myself without any kind of 'kit', although most of the turbo spec and ideas came from this site (thank you btw)

 

[theglobb]

After putting 60,000 miles on my 3B powered troop carrier in 2 years and having an FJ62 for a year or 2 while in high school, I feel like I'm decently well experienced in both of these.

The 3B is a great engine for what it is... a forklift engine or a 3rd world country people hauler. I love it and it was honestly pretty fun to wrench on, that being said I do not think you would be happy or satisfied with it until the end. It really isn't fit for North American road ways, especially in heavier vehicles, I can see how a BJ40 would be ok to drive but a 62 or a 75. My 0-60 time was literally 1 minute and 22 seconds, any hills I went up I would be stuck crawling up in 1st gear, sometimes 2nd around 10mph. The FJ62's poopbox of a transmission did suck, it was one of the main driving points of switching to a manual cruiser. If I were to have kept my 62 I would have just swapped an h55 into it. I've heard this really unlocks the true potential of the 3FE, then whenever it dies you will already have a good base to do a diesel swap or whatever else you would want.

On the upside, the 3B is such a simple engine. So easy to understand, repair, just anything. The lack of speed led me to turbo mine, pushed mine over the edge and blew up the crankshaft, put another one in and it blew up 200 miles later. It was a 400,000km engine without much-known history so no fault to the 3B as a whole to that one...

If you do go on with the swap just be weary of turboing it, there are safe(ish) ways to do it, just do a lot of research. Best of luck whatever route you take, don't mean to get your hopes down, just my 2 cents

 

[-MaTTi-]

Bone stock 3B is not so bad (in BJ42), it can burn rubber in 2nd gear on wet asphalt and goes 80 mph.

 

[jim land]

I like to drive my bj42 in town or city , on flat road it is fine and can get to 75mph , the dark side is , busy road and lose momentum on long hill, the thing is you need to accelerate before long climb or you get pass by 18 wheelers as you keep on downshifting

A fj62 is too heavy for a 3b

 

[Gimme a 60]

I like to drive my bj42 in town or city , on flat road it is fine and can get to 75mph , the dark side is , busy road and lose momentum on long hill, the thing is you need to accelerate before long climb or you get pass by 18 wheelers as you keep on downshifting

A fj62 is too heavy for a 3b

Yea because I totally don’t have to go up hills in 3rd gear in my fj62 while being passed by everybody.

 

[Gimme a 60]

Maybe I will put in 4:88 gears.