1995 Tacoma / 1998 Tacoma Part Compatibility

Greetings fellow Tacoma lovers. My name is Bill, I have a 1995 Tacoma 4x4 with 2.7 L 4 Cylinder engine and a recently blown head gasket.

The cost of replacing the head gasket and having my almost certainly warped heads milled seems to have likely totalled my truck. Several days ago I found a 1998 Tacoma 2WD with a V6 that was partially rolled, crushing the roof on the driver's side.

I'd just like any Tacoma gurus on could I swap the engine from the 98 into the 95? Or failing that, could I possibly swap the cab from my 95 to the 98? They're both extended cabs and look very similar.

The 1998 is mechanically sound, drive train and frame intact, the body damage to the cab is very significant though. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated, and may I say that I'm happy to become a member of this community!

 

Welcome to TW!

 

Short answer: yes.

If your truck is a "95.5" then you can swap a later motor in as a direct swap as the 95.5+ has OBDII and everything will play nicely. Some things like MAF and manifolds vacuum lines etc may need to be reused from the earlier model however.

BUT!

That's only true when replacing a 95.5 2.7 with a 96+ 2.7, "same same" as for you, you want to put the 3.4 in place of the 2.7 and that's going to require a ECU, harness, transmission, etc swap.

The 3.4 4x4 is going to be a 6 lug, is your 2wd 2.7 a 6 lug or a 5 lug truck? The frames and suspension are entirely different.

Yes the bodies are the same sans some slightly headlight and grille differences.

A full on body swap is a LOT OF WORK.

I started a body swap on a 4Runner once and it turned into just a full on part out.

 

Welcome to TacomaWorld

 

Yeah, I'm seriously thinking about tackling a body swap on them, anyone know of tutorial videos or guides for doing a body swap on a Tacoma? Ive never attempted anything like this before, but I'm guessing the bed is fairly easy to remove and switch. The cab on the other hand I assume will be a major chore. Do you think it could it possibly be done in one full day?

 

No matter which way you go there is lots of work Then Having No idea of your skill level Who knows you might stretch Truck Frames for your Day Job.

I can not see any way you might get this done in a long weekend with a few good helpers.

what about your fabrication and welding skills Wiring and reading schematics??

Bottom line I would think real Hard on finding a low mileage used engine just like you have by far the easiest maybe the most cost effective.

 

One day?!

Hahahahahahaha!

NO


With a Handful of your best buds with good experience you might be able to do it in a weekend.

That is if you were rather experienced and knew you had all the tools and parts needed on hand (but asking for a how to video suggest this might be beyond your abilities) along with a two post lift to pick up the body and were able to roll the frames out and underneath it. If you're doing this yourself, and you don't have a vehicle lift you are asking for a world of hurt.

Yes getting the bed off is easy, it's like 6 bolts. The body also is only really held onto the frame by 6 bolts...

But...

I would expect to have both trucks down and inoperable for at least a month unless you don't work a normal job and can work on it every day for a solid week.

There's just so many things hoses wires and more you will have to disconnect even on a same to same swap and you're going to have to swap over a hell of a lot more because you're going from essentially two different trucks.

In order for the v6 to work you're going to have to swap out the computers and wiring harnesses behind your good truck's dash which means pulling the entire interior you will almost certainly encounter a need for parts you don't have which are going to be dealer only items and you'll have to wait for those to arrive.

I'd be willing to help you if you're close to Florida but man coming from someone whom has done this before you are way under thinking this.

I'm really sorry to tell you this as I know it's not what you want to hear but it is what it is.

Trucks take about 2 days to build in a factory when everything is brand new and there's hundreds of people working on the assembly line.

And you're basically doing it once in reverse and then again forwards in your garage.

Yikes.

 

Just for the record you don`t need to gut the interior when doing( pretty much any swap) the 3.4 swap since you have both Trucks and the 4th plug on the ECM that gets merged to whatever cab harness you end up with

you still need the EWD`s for both vehicles to not go insane.

I would not wish this on anyone that has not done at least one engine swap from a different year.

 

Welcome to TW!