Had a thought. This is random as all hell, but I believe I'm thinking on a keyboard (out loud so to speak) as I've been thinking about my old rigs and the age, power, mileage and other contributing factors. The fj(z)80 and it's big butt weighing in nearing three tons, and having the 3F heartbeat is very compatible to my 80' pickup with the 20R. Not completely gutless, but no powerhouse by any means, when accelerating in a moment where it's needed leaves you feeling like the old girl is dependable, but not the hottest thing on the block. Actually, rather slow against 98% of modern autos and trucks. The 20R I owned was flat as a pancake for an engine. It could be removed and mounted to a 48" bar with a sharp blade, and 14" chainsaws would laugh at it. My 3F was a sloth when I first drove her around the block. Almost had that same feeling. I've done 5.29 diff gears as it's on 37's, the part time kit, open element air intake, downpipe (exhaust, non turbo) with high flow cats and muffler and all new pipe. I hope to tear the head off in 60k mi or so, and I'm thinking I'll do a slightly better camshaft at that time, and some headwork beyond stock. At that time I'll probably put in a tuner and screw around with the fuel a bit and see if I can get some more out of it. Otherwise, unless going full blown custom rebuild, or an entire engine swap, these things really are slow! Guess it's a losing battle in a sense, I sure hope the cam and head work do the trick. I can't go too crazy with that though as our CA smog laws are tough as we know. I already have to run premium fuel as the timing chain is old and stretched a bit, so cheap gas and just the right amount of throttle give it an either detination knock or a combo of that and some wrist pin noise/knock. I even went with the 5.29's and it's a bit of a help. Yeah I have a bit of suspension sway that soaks up some response that could be taken as pep, but I'm pretty bummed on the size of this engine and the performance, and again, it's much better than when I got it. Sorry, I guess this is the fjz80 version of having the blues. Guess I'll just baby it to 250k and hope the internals help this thing move! The full width axles down the road with steeper gears will help it a bit, but then I'll have even bigger tires!
Ohh the joy of finding the happy place! A friend that is going to dive into the computer and do the tuning said a Supra engine swap is much easier than expected, but along with extensive tuning and the need for a better suited torque converter, it's not too bad, and an idea for down the road. Cheers guys n gals, have a great rest of this weekend!
Vincere Vel Mori
