Toyota 3RZ 4 Cylinder Engine Swap - More Turtle Power

Before we plucked the tired four-banger from under the hood of this off-road powerhouse, we gave it one last run-on the dyno, that is. We took Clampy over to Precision Auto and put it on the rollers to get some preswap figures. These guys specialize in high-horsepower import cars as well as torque monster diesels, but we could tell they were impressed when Clampy came wheezing and coughing into their shop. Yes, those are the tires off our trailer on the rear end; the 39-inch Krawlers wouldn't fit on the roller.

With the new engine in, we figured it was time to crank up Clampy and give it a run. We raced around the shop a few times and the new engine did great. Can you believe we broke the 39-inch Krawlers loose and did a rear-wheel burnout? (See the video on our Web site). Then we went to the dyno shop for some post-surgery numbers. The Precision Auto guys welcomed us back, and once Clampy was outfitted with the baby trailer tires and safely strapped in place, we started spinning the dyno drum.

The results may astound you, so take a seat. Little Clampy devastated the test with a whopping 100 hp! This is up from the lethargic 59 hp it had with the deathbed 22RE. The torque jumped from 82 to 132 lb-ft...that's a 50% increase. Of course, it's easy to beat a dead horse (or dead four-cylinder), but you may recall a few years back we took Clampy to a local garage and did before-and-after dyno runs with an average tune-up. With a healthy high-mileage 22RE we only produced 83 hp and 111 lb-ft and that was without the drivetrain drag of 1-ton axles. Stay tuned and we'll give you some off-road driving impressions of this engine in a future issue and online.