Wow! who knew! I just bought a 1990 automatic with what seems like a blown head gasket for 200 bucks. I haven't checked the crank play yet but I just may do this swap. I check the curb weight on the LS400 vs the trooper and they are virtually the same! The gas mileage on the Lexus is much better. Kudos for figuring the swap out!
When I first saw this video I wondered if you would save the specs for the adaptor. Reading down deeper in the comments, I see you are going to sell one. Cool. Any plans to fab the motor mounts also and possibly a plug-n-play wiring harness? I am still working out my long-term Trooper plan. As it stands now, I have a daily driver 2.6/MUA5 that is fine but rough and 210k on the clock. The 4ZE1 leaks from every seal and not due to blow-by or pcv. The donor Trooper is another 2.6/MUA5 with what I think is just a blown head gasket. It is sitting and slowly getting used for minor parts. I had planned to yank the motor on the donor and do a full rebuild and put in the daily driver Trooper sometime late this year. Now you have me thinking this swap might be the same cost with not a ton more effort. This swap gives me warm fuzzy nostalgia for the 4AFE 1.6 in my Corolla that I bought for $325, owned for seven years, and drove round-trip from Seattle to Boston TWICE. I want that Japanese reliabilty and I personally prefer the power delivery of a 4-valve motor. I look foward to future videos about this swap. You are a pioneer!
I'm running a re-manned 3.5 on my 98 trooper. It has about 35,000 on the new motor. Thinking of doing an oil catch can, whatever I can to help it from sludging up. Eventually I'd like to do some sort of engine swap to give it more power!
Hi Johnny. only just caught your video as im now doing similar but into a mazda bongo. would you be able to tell me which pins on the 28 pin plug i need to fire my engine. i just keep getting conflicting answers on google. cheers fella. im in the UK. nice build by the way.
Where are you located? I have a CLEAN 01 75k miles auto i want to swap. Been sitting in my yard for 5 years. I daily my 02 5 speed Trooper 220k running great. East coast MD
I got the same parts car... Im trying to put in a 87 elcamino chevy ... How hard to do and where can i get motor mounts & tranny adapter plate for. 200r4 @????
I've been wanting to get a v8 in my trooper for a while now. Not sure about the route you went with a lexus motor but that's lack of any experience working on or messing with lexus/toyota motors aside from a 22re. Good job, though.
Just wondering is this build using a 4 speed transmission or the 5 speed from the diesels and would there not be issues with the power output of the 1UZ?
Absolutely not a 4 speed. Not a 5 speed from a diesel. MUA5 from a 2.6 powered Trooper. They're stout and bulletproof. No problem bolting a V8 to it, been done many times.
Hey Johnny, definitely interested in this build. I have been toying with the swap for a couple years. I have the 1uz sitting on a stand in the garage. Are you going to have a build on the planet? What did you do for the flywheel and clutch setup? Did you use the 1uz starter?
I'm banned from planetisuzoo. I've got a lot of time and money invested in sorting out all the details, I'll share them with you if you buy the kit from me
I believe there is a perfect solution to every problem, you just have to put the effort into finding that solution. The 4ZE1 and it's inherent issues has been a fundamental problem with the Trooper since they were new. It really is too small of a motor for a 3800 lb 4 wheel drive truck, but add to that it's propensity to blow head gaskets and burn valves and the difficulty in finding replacement motors and rebuild expense it really is the weak link in what I consider to be an otherwise bulletproof vehicle. I've been on the quest to find the perfect transplant for about a decade now. I've looked hard at many options, things from the 3800 to the iron duke, the Isuzu diesels and yes at times even the Chevy small block and LS motors. One of the top criteria in my search was that the motor would be readily available at very low cost. Back in the "good old days" you could go to the junkyard and buy a replacement used engine for a couple hundred bucks, that's rarely the case these days. You asked about the Isuzu V6 and this is a prime example. we live in a free market society with supply and demand dictating prices and when you have a motor like the 3.2/3.5 which are lemon motors that get caked with carbon, stick valve lifters, clog oil galleys and eventually throw rods the result is a lot of demand for the few running motors by the many people who own nice looking low mileage Troopers with a very low supply of good motors due to the inherent problems. A good running low mileage 3.5 will bring about $2000 last time I checked. But would you even want that motor under your hood knowing that it's a ticking time bomb? When a motor is good they can be bought cheap because there is virtually no demand. Cars get wrecked with good motors and head to the salvage yard but if the motors are reliable then there is no demand for those motors. There are a lot of examples of this and the LS is a good one. They made a bizillion of them and most of them are still running. They can be had a dime a dozen. The reason I didn't go with the LS was because I felt like a japanese SUV should sound and feel like a Japanese car. Not only that but when you're doing an engien swap there are a lot of things to consider like what transmission are you going to use, which can very quickly increase cost and complexity and although you can easily bolt an LS to the MUA5 with the 60 degree GM bellhousing, these are not the trucks we're trying to fix. Those trucks already have the benefit of a reliable motor to begin with, although underpowered, they have the 3.1 and 3.4 to easily fall back on. The LS power plant is almost double the weight of the all aluminum UZ-FE. The UZ-FE was produced in a time and place identical to the first gen Trooper and uses much of the same type of components and methodologies which makes the wiring and mounting a breeze. The LS400 even uses the same automatic transmission as the first generation Trooper so if you're doing the swap into an automatic 4 cylinder it is a bolt in affair. The UZ-FE is powerful and quiet and very distinctly Japanese and in my opinion based on years of research the most ideal engine to be transplanted in the first generation Trooper.
Well I understand where you are coming from. I have a 97 Rodeo with the 2.6 Engine w/160k that has a blown head gasket. It is only 2wd, but it has the 5 speed transmission. I have been debating on whether to repair the 2.6, junk the truck, or look into a motor swap. To redo the head and perform the necessary preventative maintenance will cost at least $600 or so. The guy I bought it from just said that it always needed coolant and he just kept driving it like that until it died on him one day. I had looked into turbo charging the 2.6 engine, however most of the parts have to be sourced from OZ and shipping is expensive. I refuse to consider the Isuzu V6 swap due to the reliability of the engine. They are plentiful in the junkyards around here. I'd love to have a Rodeo with some decent power and passable gas mileage. Your project intrigues me. Picking up a 1UZFE Engine is cheap and parts are readily available.
Ok, well I should have the adapter to mate the UZ motor to the MUA5 in a couple days. Let me know if you decide to go with a UZ swap and if I can help out. Are you on the V8 swap facebook page?
Seeing your video was the first time that I even considered doing a V8 swap. I will have to find the page. I will follow your progress. I am sure I will have lots of questions if I go this route!
