April 8th...

Today we continue working on a 3.4L swap in Cory's 4runner. The swap has not been as easy as some of the yotatech write ups would suggest. But Ted knocked out the new exhaust crossover pipe and had the motor stabbed late last night. We are adapting the wiring harness and computer out of a 97 4wd T100 with an automatic to work with the factory 3.0/automatic set up.

Beyond the new exhaust pipe, the stock oil pan off the 3.0 was swapped on to the 3.4L, as well as a dip stick tube. The cover over the steering shaft rag joint will be removed and a shorter belt will be used to keep the alternator from hitting the steering shaft. Also, the AC fittings are slightly different. We may swap the v-belt clutch off the old 3 liter motor with the serpentine clutch off the 3.4 compressor. This seems like the easiest solution. Hopefully, there won't be any more gotchas. ORS use to build a wiring harness kit, making the swap pretty much a bolt on. Unfortunately, they went under. Good news is Ted is a wiring whiz.

With Al's buggy, we anticipate having the 4 link brackets in today or tomorrow. Hell, they were ordered on the 26th! We have all the heims, tubing, and hydro steer parts. We're just waiting on the tabs so we can link out the front suspension. Chris is lead on that project. After the suspension and steering are done, it's getting some tube work and a remount of the rear coilovers.

On my end, I'm working on a few little things... tuning a webber 34 on a YJ, working on a friend's car, and replacing worn suspension components on the race car. Before we went out this weekend to the test track, I spotted a crack in a lower suspension mounting bracket, which we immediately welded up. After beating the hell out of it for almost 100 miles, some play developed in the unibearing on that same corner. After talking with Dave Bonner, a Class 5 unlimited guru it seems that the poly suspension bushings in the lower swing arms are most likely bad, causing the bearing failure and most likely the crack in the suspension bracket. So That's what I'll be working with.