[arloey]

Okay, So here is the story:

I have a 1997 Tacoma Extra Cab, SAS Dana 44, USA Alloy, Etone Electric front locker, TRD rear locker, Marlin 2.28 Duel Cases, Chevy Leaf-springs in the rear, Steel Rock Crawler wheels, 35” Toyo Open Country tires.

It did look like this….

But a little over a year ago it was rolled :mad3: and ended up like this.

I ended up buying a port-a-power, doing a little body work, installing a new windshield and she ended up looking not to bad….



Here it is now.

I found a wrecked 2002 4-cylinder automatic 2wd 4door on craigslist for $6,500 with a clean title.

The frame has some damage…

Here's the Plan:
- SWAP the cabs
- get some off-road fenders
- built some sort of an exo-cage
- add Hydro-Assist steering
- drop the gears front and rear

 

[NorcalVP]

It all comes crashing back... Mine is actually back under the knife getting a new front axle, front locker, gears, sliders, ect...

As for advise on your swap. Take your time.... The physical swapping of the cabs was pretty easy. The front 4 cab mounts like right up, and the rear two need to be scavenged from the 02 frame, Same for the front two bed mounts. Make sure you keep the bolts from the 02 cab, because the rear most are longer than your Extra Cab.


Get copies of both Wiring manuals for each truck (year specific) then map out the wiring changes... The two wiring systems are totally different, and it is anything but plug and play. Making the 04 interior work with the 97 engine was by far the most time consuming part of the entire swap. You will find that Toyota changed a lot when it comes to the wiring and EVAP controls between the two generations.

Since your cab was a 4 Cyl, and I'm assuming that your 97 was a 3.4L, You may have some additonal work to do.

Label everything!!! Nuts, bolts, brackets. Take lots of pictures for reassembly.

Here are some in-progress pics of mine durring the swap.
http://www.deserttaco.com/gallery/v/Truck+and+project+pics/Cab+Swap/

Feel free to ask any questions. and Good Luck

[email protected]

Steve

 

[Elsie]

very nice. Good luck with this. It is going to be very sweet when you finish. Call me up anytime and I'll give you a hand. Good luck.

 

[arloey]

Seeing as how the '97 wiring loom isn't just going to plug into the '02, i was wondering if I get on '02 3.4 wiring loom and sensors for my '97 engine will it plug into the 02 cab. I tried searching to find if anyone has done a 2.7/3.4 swap, but could not find anything. I'm just curious if the wiring matches up or if i'm just better off re-wiring the entire thing.

 

[NorcalVP]

Seeing as how the '97 wiring loom isn't just going to plug into the '02, i was wondering if I get on '02 3.4 wiring loom and sensors for my '97 engine will it plug into the 02 cab. I tried searching to find if anyone has done a 2.7/3.4 swap, but could not find anything. I'm just curious if the wiring matches up or if i'm just better off re-wiring the entire thing.

I would imagine that you can make anything work... But assuming since the 02 was a 2.7l, you'd need to get an ECU also. And there's no guarentee that'd it would work anyway.

I used my 97 3.4l 5 speed ECU and engine wiring harness. I cut the two connectors off of my 97 Cab harness that connect to the engine harness and grafted them onto the 04 Cab harness. I then used all of the ECU plugs off of the 97 Body harness and grafted them onto the 04 harness.

Other than a EVAP code every once in a great while, I haven't had any problems using the spliced harness. I think this would be the best bet to make it work. Not to mention that you live in the Peoples Republic of California, so you'll want to keep it regestered as a 97. Not the 02 for smog reasons. So you'll want to keep the 97 ECU. Not to mention that you already have all of the parts to make it work.

One other option, You could use the 97 interior. Pull the wiring harness, dash, wheel, HVAC, Heater ect out and install it into the 02 Cab. I didn't have that option since, my 97 didn't have any power windows, locks, ect....

 

[arloey]

my 97 has a salvage title and the 02 has a clean title so i would like to get it reg as an 02. I know it goes by the frame but how often does dmv check the frame.

 

[broncoboy351]

I don't think you will be able to register is as an 02 since smog will be looking for a 2.7L and you will have a 3.4L the only way around that would be to take it too a ref but the motor in the truck has to be the same year or newer than the truck. Youre probably gonna be stuck with a 97 salvage title with an 02 body.

 

[Tacoma_Kyle]

This may or may not help.

A while back I had to swap fuse boxes. Yeah...fun. Anyhow I had no idea what to look for but tome guy on TTORA said he had one. I looked at a photo looked the same so I bought it.

Every wire down to color matched. I think it was off a 4cyl tacoma. Mine is a V6. Dont know the year though (from the harness). Anyhow point is either Toyota standardized really well though the years or I got fuckin lucky.

 

[NorcalVP]

my 97 has a salvage title and the 02 has a clean title so i would like to get it reg as an 02. I know it goes by the frame but how often does dmv check the frame.

The DMV Doesn't give a rats ass what you have there, as long as everything matches. And if they suspect that things have been jacked around with they'll send you for inspection and will scrutinize everything!... After you complete your swap, you'll need to contact CHP. They will do the inspection and Re-Vin the truck. The officer that I had do mine told me that they go off of the chassis Vin (Frame) so you'll probably have to keep the 97 Vin.

According to PRC law, you cannot put an older engine into a newer vehicle... You'd be OK, sticking an 02 engine into your 97, but not the other way around... If you decide that you really want the 02 Vin (Read Not worth it...) You will have to update the 3.4 to '02 specs. That means 02 ECU, 2 cats, newer Heated o2 sensors, new throttle body, ect.... Everything needs to be 02 spec, and the BAR will check it Even the stock air box needs to be used (from what I understand). And the 02 airbox is different from the 97. as is the MAF.

I jumped through all of the hoops when I registered mine, They sure don't try to make it easy, and there is no place that all of the information is all in one place. Getting a hold of the people who can do this stuff isn't easy anyway.


Trust me, Keep the 97 Vin, or even better get a custom build "blue sticker"... That way you may not end up with a salvage title.

Steve

 

[NorcalVP]

This may or may not help.

A while back I had to swap fuse boxes. Yeah...fun. Anyhow I had no idea what to look for but tome guy on TTORA said he had one. I looked at a photo looked the same so I bought it.

Every wire down to color matched. I think it was off a 4cyl tacoma. Mine is a V6. Dont know the year though (from the harness). Anyhow point is either Toyota standardized really well though the years or I got fuckin lucky.

Kyle, I think you got very lucky. I have seen quite a few different fuse boxes from varying years of Taco's The amount of differences from 97 to 04 is staggering. If you are really interested I can scan just the two ECU pages from the 97 and 04 and show you that they really are very different. The 01-04 seems to be a bit more standardized than the first gen.

 

[johnnytwelvepack]

This may or may not help.

A while back I had to swap fuse boxes. Yeah...fun. Anyhow I had no idea what to look for but tome guy on TTORA said he had one. I looked at a photo looked the same so I bought it.

Every wire down to color matched. I think it was off a 4cyl tacoma. Mine is a V6. Dont know the year though (from the harness). Anyhow point is either Toyota standardized really well though the years or I got fuckin lucky.

Not to get too far off subject when i did a 96 3rz swap in my 85 runner MOST of the wiring that had to be spliced for the lights still used the same color code!?!

 

[arloey]

Just bought a new taped steering box and hydro assist ram; from inch worm for my build. I also got 4.88 gears and going to have my knuckles turned 5*. In the meantime I have the quad cab ready to be lifted of the frame just need to get a crow of people to help.

 

[arloey]

What you guys running to cool your power steering. I burned my pump up from not using a a cooler. I was wondering if using the Automatic trans cooler in the radaitor would be to much cooling with my hydro asisst system?

 

[NTC_Lee]

http://store.summitracing.com/partd...&part=DER-13200&N=700+306501+115&autoview=sku

there ya go.

 

[arloey]

Here are some updated pics I removed the cab by myself today.

 

[extremetoy]

thats funny. At least you got it off.

 

[arloey]

Got the dash wire harnes out of the 97 taco yesterday going to use it in the 02.
I was wondering if anyone has ever made a 01-04 dach cluster speedo work on one of the older trucks.
I think I can change the plug to make it plug in, but it has a electric speedO and the 97 is mecanical. I can take the sencer off the 02 trans and put it on my trans.
Will the electric speedo work with my 97 computer so i dont have a check engine light code?

 

[NorcalVP]

Got the dash wire harnes out of the 97 taco yesterday going to use it in the 02.
I was wondering if anyone has ever made a 01-04 dach cluster speedo work on one of the older trucks.
I think I can change the plug to make it plug in, but it has a electric speedO and the 97 is mecanical. I can take the sencer off the 02 trans and put it on my trans.
Will the electric speedo work with my 97 computer so i dont have a check engine light code?

I'm using the 04 cluster in mine... But I am using the 04 cab wiring harness. Both speedo's use a pulse driven system. You'd need to do a little wiring, and get a new speed sensor for the T-case. Another thing you'd have to consider is the 02 cluster is out of a 4 Cyl, and the Tach will be off. I don't knoow about anything else, most of it is just dummy lights, so it would be easy enough to modify to work.

 

[arloey]

Come to fiend out the 02 cluster has the same plugs as the 97. So mabe all the gages will work without any mods; that is if the speed sencer from the prerunner trans will work on my transmition.

 

[NorcalVP]

Before you go plugging them into the cluster, you may want to grab a wiring diagram and verify that all of the pin outs were the same. I'd hate to see you plug in the connectors and have it short out the cluster