After 12 years of running a 7MGE swap in my 1st gen 4runner, it's time for a change. The 7M is a great engine and has never let me down - not a single head gasket issue after putting ARP head bolts in it and has towed my trailer from coast to coast several times. But, it does lack a bit of giddy-up when towing my racecar or when flat-towing rally cars off stage. This swap has been done several times in different configurations, so this isn't anything new or ground-breaking, just a collection of what I find (hopefully) works.
tip of the hat to Cebby's thread

My 4runner originally had a 22RE in it, so here are some numbers to compare
22RE, 2.4L, 112 HP@4600, 142 lb·ft@3400, iron block/alum head, weighs ~320 lbs
7M-GE, 3.0L, 199 HP@6000, 188 lb·ft@3600, iron block/alum head, weighs ~460 lbs
1UZ non-VVTi (89-97), 256 HP@5400, 260 lb·ft@4400, alum block/alum heads, weighs ~360 lbs
1UZ VVTi (98-99), 300hp@6000, 310 lb·ft@4000, alum block/alum heads, weighs ~360 lbs
2UZ VVTi, 230-270HP@4800, 315 lb·ft@3400, iron block/alum heads, weighs ~540 lbs
3UZ VVTi, 300HP@5600, 325 lb·ft@3400, alum block/alum heads, weighs ~385 lbs

A lot of info on the engine can be found HERE or elsewhere in the Lextreme forums
This engine was voted to the Ward's 10 Best Engines list for 1998 through 2000 and is based on Toyota’s CART/IRL race engine.

I've been researching this swap for several months, and recently started collecting parts. the 1UZ never came with a manual trans behind it. Inchworm makes an adapter to bolt a gear drive transfer case to the back of the original auto trans (http://www.lowrangeoffroad.com/toyot...hwormgear.html), but I wanted to keep the truck manual.

Manual trans adapters are available for a variety of different manufacturer transmissions. Since this is going into a Toyota, I only have to worry about deciding between the W or R series transmission. With correct differential gearing and sensible driving habits, the W trans should be able to hold 300hp somewhat reliably - keeping the W trans would make a non-VVTi swap easier. I plan on using the VVTi version of the 1UZ which will be right on the edge of reliability for the W trans, so I opted to use the R150f instead. This is the transmission found behind the V6 4runners and pickups and has been known to hold up to 400 ft/lbs of torque reliably. The transfer case is chain driven with a planetary reduction instead of the gear drive reduction unit behind the W trans - as long as you're not planning on severe duty/abuse, there is nothing wrong with the chain drive transfer case, besides, it's also geared lower (you can always get an adapter to mount the gear drive transfer behind the R trans if you want more low range gearing options).

Here are some more numbers:
Gear ratios: 1st - 2nd - 3rd - 4th - 5th - Rev
W56: 3.954:1 - 2.141:1 - 1.384:1 - 1.00:1 - 0.85:1 - 4.091:1
R150F: 3.830:1 - 2.062:1 - 1.436:1 - 1.00:1 - 0.838:1 - 4.22:1
Transfer case low range ratio:
Gear drive 21 spline RF1A: 2.28:1
Chain drive/planetary 23 spline VF1A : 2.57:1

There are 2 different adapter kits for the R150f -- pre- and post-'96. Pre-'96 the input shaft length is about 6.25" from the face of the input bearing retainer, after that it changed to about 7.5". The R150f used a cable driven speedometer up to '93ish, afterwards it changed to an electronic speedo (good to know if you plan on keeping the stock cluster). In '96 they also went to multi-cone synchros for 2nd and 3rd gears for better shifting, as well as a synchronized reverse gear to prevent grinding the idler gear when shifting to reverse.

There are adapter bell housings available to keep the clutch slave external, but I've heard they can be poor quality and require more work (for example, you have to mill the clutch slave boss to the height you want and then drill/tap the bolt holes, many of those kits include a flywheel but you need to cut the ring gear off the flexplate and weld it onto the supplied flywheel). Some kits also come with 3VZ or 3SGTE (MR2 turbo) flywheels which have had their bolt holes elongated to match the 1UZ bolt pattern - originally, I thought that was inviting balance problems, but then I realized that the flywheel is kept concentric with the crank via a centerbore, so shouldn't be an issue (though I think some of them may require you to use the thin flexplate spacer between the flywheel and crank).
Xcessive Manufacturing offers some products for the 1UZ swap, but nothing specifically for Toyota trucks
Northwest Toys has a number of products specifically for Toyota truck swaps

For the manual trans adapter, I'm planning on using the kit from http://www.1uzfeswapkit.com/. It's a bit pricey (about as much as a JDM 1UZ complete), but comes with everything I should need - adapter plate, flywheel & flywheel bolts, hydraulic release bearing, hoses, pilot bearing. The 1uzfeswapkit flywheel allows the use of a clutch and pressure plate from either a '90 4runner or '94 Turbo MR2 (both use a 9.25" diameter clutch disc), so plenty of options are available. I think I'll be using a Spec Clutch Stage 2+ (rated to 450 ft/lbs) or Stage 3+ pressure plate and disc (rated to 500 ft/lbs), which will hopefully, keep nice street manners.

Here's the R150f I found on CL for $100. I bought it from a guy who does does a fair number of Toyota part-outs and offroad builds, he has a garage and a reputation to maintain, so I'm satisfied with a hand-shake guarantee that there's nothing wrong with it


after some time in the hot tank at work (the input shaft bearing retainer needs to be modified for the hydraulic clutch release bearing & I want to "de-pin" the transfer case for twin sticks while I have it out)


At one of the local PickNPull junkyards, I dropped the trans out of an LS400 so I could snag the bell housing. Many of the 1UZ's on ebay come with a transmission (which could be sold off if you only want it for the bell housing), but a few hundred can be saved buying the engine by itself. Note the “U1” cast into the bellhousing, supposedly, there is also a U2 cast but you are not likely to see it in this country – the U2 cast has a slightly different offset and may not work with existing manual trans adapters.