I finally got a Toy of my own!

[kananesgi]

Well, I finally got me a Toyota RV. I've always wanted one, but I could never afford it. Now I've got it. It's not great, but it's pretty descent. The seller advertised it as a Holiday Rambler, but I found out when I picked it up that it's actually a Royal Hawaiian by Royal Holiday. 80,000 miles on the 20R with a 4spd stick. Still on the original axle, but I'm working on that. Exterior is pretty good, with no major rust or damage. The grill is in good shape, but the grill surround needs replaced. It's really faded and cracked in one small spot, but not too bad. The coach body is in descent condition, with a few dings and a bunch of rather poorly done caulking gooped around the windows. I'll strip a lot of that away and redo it a little better. Interior is, again, descent. Upholstery looks very good, almost new. The bench cushions and front seats look to either be reupholstered or taken from something else. The wood inside is in fair shape, but needs refinished. I'm planning to rip out most of the interior and redo it anyway. Stove works, but the old gas fridge has been replaced with an ac only dorm fridge. Roof could use some work, but at least it doesn't appear to leak.

Now, this is my first import vehicle of any kind, and the engine is a little different from what I'm used to. There is a little dial device attached into a fuel line (I think) leading onto the bottom of the breather. The line has what look like 3 inline fuel filters, then this dial thing before going into the bottom of the breather (to the carb, I suspect). The dial is made of a cheap looking chrome finished plastic with the numbers 1 thru 5 on the surface. It's currently set to 1, and I'm a little hesitant to mess with it till I know what it is. Anyone know?

Also, there is a pump or something on the lower left side of the engine (on the engine's right side). It's driven by it's own belt and has 2 large black hoses that look like A/C lines, but they don't appear to go to a condensor. Would this be an AC compressor, or would it be a smog pump of some kind? If it's a compressor, I'll take it off to save some weight and friction, but I don't guess I could do the same with a smog pump.

My main problem with it is power. I know these are not speed demons of any sort, but this is beyond being underpowered. It's basically all she can do to reach 55mph on flat ground with the throttle firewalled. I was forced to drive it like this for about 50 miles due to traffic (stuck on an interstate and I don't feel safe slower than that with traffic flying by at ~80). I filled it up at the next town because the gas gauge was dropping rather fast. Checked the mileage and got 11.5mpg. The rest of the trip was off-interstate, so I was able to keep it at around 45 or so, and when I got home, I checked the mileage and got just a hair under 19 (something like 18.8). That was a heck of a lot better, but still seems low. I thought these were supposed to get 20mpg easily. It's got a lot better power at 45, and it drives wonderfully. Very smooth driving, with no ominous vibrations or noises to speak of, but it's so underpowered. I've always thought these can at least cruise at 55, even if they can't go a whole lot faster. Is this normal? Is there anything I can do to improve it? Would dropping a 5spd tranny in help?

[turtle]

About the only thing you can do to alleviate the "slow as $#!+" aspect of a 20r powered motor home is to do a V8 transplant. There are several companies that make 350 Chevy swap kits (mostly for the 4x4 crowd). Anything other than this is only a minimal improvement, although my V6 shorty is rather peppy. The cost of any engine swap is the time/labor so it is best to go the whole enchilada and get a modern V8 and auto trans. Believe it or not your gas mileage will go up with a V8 dragging you around as it does not need to work as hard as your little 4 banger.

I owned a 1981 2L 83 hp diesel powered Toyota motor home for 14 years. It had far less HP than your gas engine. You do get used to traveling slow, given enough time. Stay off of the interstates and if you do have to travel interstate for a few miles keep it under 55 and stick in the slow lane.

There are a few tricks you can do like lowering the rear end gearing to 4.56:1 but unless you have a 1 ton rear end it would be a waste of money to do anything to the light weight 1/2 ton rear axle other than taking it out and replacing it.

[bajadulce]

That's a nice looking camper. It doesn't look too crammed with a bunch of accessories to bog it down, so not much you can do to lighten the load.

The 20r is a pretty small motor and will get great gas mileage if its run at normal rpms (45mph!)as any engine will. I had a 20r 18' Sunrader that managed to get about 23mpg while traveling in Mexico around 45-50 mph with a bit of a tailwind! Usually I got around 19 doing 55. Definitely a bigger engine will get better gas mileage for higher speeds. Just get in the slow lane and go 50. If ppl have a problem with that, carry a shotgun and put some of those gun-slinging Yosemite Sam mudflaps on.

[kananesgi]

I had another idea last night abput getting a little more power, and it might be a little easier than shoe-horning a 302 or a 350 into this little rig. How well do you suppose a Ford 2.3 four banger would do? I can get a little 2300 without too much trouble, and I can get quite a lot of aftermarket parts for it. I could even go for a Thunderbird Turbocoupe and get a turbo 2300. Of course, that would require more fabbing than dropping a 350 in would, since there are parts out there to help with the 350 swap.

Not sure if it would really help much. The Ford 2300 wasn't much more powerful than this little 20r. The Turbocoupe was better, but I don't know how much, and that would require installation of EFI, and I'm not sure I want to tackle that, as well. The turbo would definately up the top-end power some, though. For the foreseable future, I'll just be driving at 40-45mph everywhere I go, I guess.

[turtle]

I had another idea last night abput getting a little more power, and it might be a little easier than shoe-horning a 302 or a 350 into this little rig. How well do you suppose a Ford 2.3 four banger would do? I can get a little 2300 without too much trouble, and I can get quite a lot of aftermarket parts for it. I could even go for a Thunderbird Turbocoupe and get a turbo 2300. Of course, that would require more fabbing than dropping a 350 in would, since there are parts out there to help with the 350 swap.

Not sure if it would really help much. The Ford 2300 wasn't much more powerful than this little 20r. The Turbocoupe was better, but I don't know how much, and that would require installation of EFI, and I'm not sure I want to tackle that, as well. The turbo would definately up the top-end power some, though. For the foreseable future, I'll just be driving at 40-45mph everywhere I go, I guess.

If you use a 350 Chevy you can get a complete kit with everything you will need, mounts, wiring harness, throttle, radiator...... the works. There have been people putting 350 Chevy's in Toyota trucks for over 30 years. It is all down to a simple step by step kit with everything you will need.

If you use anything else you will have to design and fabricate everything yourself

If you are a good automotive engineer and a good from the ground up fabricator go for installing anything under the hood. If you are like most of us joe six pack types, go with the simple stick it together yourself kit.

I have seen a couple Toyota RVs with 350 Chevy engines with GM automatics in them. They are a clean fit and they work. If you are worried about the weight of the cast iron 350 find a Buick aluminum block V8.

Lots of people make complete GM/Toyota swap kits.

http://www.northwest...neadapters.html

http://advanceadapte...on-package.html

http://v8conversions.com/

Your truck is an older model so finding a complete kit for it might take a little calling around

[Maineah]

Well, I finally got me a Toyota RV. I've always wanted one, but I could never afford it. Now I've got it. It's not great, but it's pretty descent. The seller advertised it as a Holiday Rambler, but I found out when I picked it up that it's actually a Royal Hawaiian by Royal Holiday. 80,000 miles on the 20R with a 4spd stick. Still on the original axle, but I'm working on that. Exterior is pretty good, with no major rust or damage. The grill is in good shape, but the grill surround needs replaced. It's really faded and cracked in one small spot, but not too bad. The coach body is in descent condition, with a few dings and a bunch of rather poorly done caulking gooped around the windows. I'll strip a lot of that away and redo it a little better. Interior is, again, descent. Upholstery looks very good, almost new. The bench cushions and front seats look to either be reupholstered or taken from something else. The wood inside is in fair shape, but needs refinished. I'm planning to rip out most of the interior and redo it anyway. Stove works, but the old gas fridge has been replaced with an ac only dorm fridge. Roof could use some work, but at least it doesn't appear to leak.

Now, this is my first import vehicle of any kind, and the engine is a little different from what I'm used to. There is a little dial device attached into a fuel line (I think) leading onto the bottom of the breather. The line has what look like 3 inline fuel filters, then this dial thing before going into the bottom of the breather (to the carb, I suspect). The dial is made of a cheap looking chrome finished plastic with the numbers 1 thru 5 on the surface. It's currently set to 1, and I'm a little hesitant to mess with it till I know what it is. Anyone know?

Also, there is a pump or something on the lower left side of the engine (on the engine's right side). It's driven by it's own belt and has 2 large black hoses that look like A/C lines, but they don't appear to go to a condensor. Would this be an AC compressor, or would it be a smog pump of some kind? If it's a compressor, I'll take it off to save some weight and friction, but I don't guess I could do the same with a smog pump.

My main problem with it is power. I know these are not speed demons of any sort, but this is beyond being underpowered. It's basically all she can do to reach 55mph on flat ground with the throttle firewalled. I was forced to drive it like this for about 50 miles due to traffic (stuck on an interstate and I don't feel safe slower than that with traffic flying by at ~80). I filled it up at the next town because the gas gauge was dropping rather fast. Checked the mileage and got 11.5mpg. The rest of the trip was off-interstate, so I was able to keep it at around 45 or so, and when I got home, I checked the mileage and got just a hair under 19 (something like 18.8). That was a heck of a lot better, but still seems low. I thought these were supposed to get 20mpg easily. It's got a lot better power at 45, and it drives wonderfully. Very smooth driving, with no ominous vibrations or noises to speak of, but it's so underpowered. I've always thought these can at least cruise at 55, even if they can't go a whole lot faster. Is this normal? Is there anything I can do to improve it? Would dropping a 5spd tranny in help?

The little gadget is most likely a fuel pressure regulator it is after market not Toyota you might think about removing it and see what happens frankly I think they were snake oil when they were first made. It is possible it is starving your engine for fuel. I think you do have a smog pump if it is not hooked up it probably is no good any way does it still have a belt on it? They did not last long even new. The 4cyl Toyota MH are slow that is all there is to it and the non fuel injected ones were even slower. I don't know about you but when I'm on vacation I'm in no hurry an way so it does not bother me.

[Maineah]

If you use a 350 Chevy you can get a complete kit with everything you will need, mounts, wiring harness, throttle, radiator...... the works. There have been people putting 350 Chevy's in Toyota trucks for over 30 years. It is all down to a simple step by step kit with everything you will need.

If you use anything else you will have to design and fabricate everything yourself

If you are a good automotive engineer and a good from the ground up fabricator go for installing anything under the hood. If you are like most of us joe six pack types, go with the simple stick it together yourself kit.

I have seen a couple Toyota RVs with 350 Chevy engines with GM automatics in them. They are a clean fit and they work. If you are worried about the weight of the cast iron 350 find a Buick aluminum block V8.

Lots of people make complete GM/Toyota swap kits.

http://www.northwest...neadapters.html

http://advanceadapte...on-package.html

http://v8conversions.com/

Your truck is an older model so finding a complete kit for it might take a little calling around

I would love to find a 3.5 Buick/Rover V8 I had a TR8 Triumph and years ago we put them in MGB's and MGC's They were 9 pounds lighter then the 4 cylinder "B" engines and 90 pounds lighter then the "C". The only issue is the strange bolt pattern nothing other then the Buick/Olds 3.5 transmission will fit and the automatics were only 2 speed and air cooled to boot. I'm sure there are adapters around some where to fit a modern auto trans we redrilled the MG adapter plates. Rover still uses a veriation of the Buick but they are hard to find. Rover P3's had a Borg Warner 3 speed automatic. Got a friend in England?

[kananesgi]

I'm thinking I'll try removing that dial device and see what happens. I agree that it may be starving the engine of fuel, but I'm not expecting much, if any improvment. Yes, the smog pump does still have a belt to it, and the hoses are hooked up, I think. I need to look again to be certain.

What about replacing the engine with a 22r engine? Theoretically, it wouldn't require any new fabrication for mounts and such, and it seems like it would give me at least some boost in power. I found a long block 22re delivering 130 hp for not too much. The V8 swap is out of the question, I think, as it's going to cost me a small fortune to do it. The swap kits are expensive, and a couple of the shops don't even think I could fit a 350 into this little truck without lifting it. That, and better fuel economy, are the reasons I was thinking of a 302 instead of a 350. It's a smaller block, and can get better fuel mileage than the 350. I found a few places making parts for a 302 swap, but nothing on prices. About the only price I managed to get was from V8Conversions.com, which quoted me about $11,000 to do the swap for a Chevy V6. That's just a wee bit over my budget, if you know what I mean. I would much rather just stick to driving at 40 mph all the time.

[turtle]

What about replacing the engine with a 22r engine? Theoretically, it wouldn't require any new fabrication for mounts and such, and it seems like it would give me at least some boost in power. I found a long block 22re delivering 130 hp for not too much. The V8 swap is out of the question, I think, as it's going to cost me a small fortune to do it. The swap kits are expensive, and a couple of the shops don't even think I could fit a 350 into this little truck without lifting it. That, and better fuel economy, are the reasons I was thinking of a 302 instead of a 350. It's a smaller block, and can get better fuel mileage than the 350. I found a few places making parts for a 302 swap, but nothing on prices. About the only price I managed to get was from V8Conversions.com, which quoted me about $11,000 to do the swap for a Chevy V6. That's just a wee bit over my budget, if you know what I mean. I would much rather just stick to driving at 40 mph all the time.

Your 20R engine has 96 hp

A 22R engine will have 97 hp

A 22RE will have 105 hp (it is computer controlled EFI)

A 3VZ-E (3.0 V6) will have 145 hp

Even going all the way to a 22RE you only gain 9 hp. Cost for a healthy 22RE and paying someone to install it for you...... $3-4k Don't think about a Toyota 3.0 or any later EFI engine unless you can get a "install kit" as the mods are extensive (engine compartment, mounts, EFI, it is a nightmare)

I lived with a 2L diesel motor home that had 82 hp for 14 years. You DO get used to it after a while.

Some things you can to do your 20 R engine that will help.

First things to do.....

#1 Tune it up (new plugs, points, plug wires)

#2 Keep fresh oil in it (change it at 2500 miles)

#3 Change the fuel filter (take off everything on the fuel line and only use a factory filter)

#4 Run only high octane fuel (premium)

#5 Maintain proper air pressure in your tires (look at the recommended max on the tire and do not over inflate but do NOT under inflate)

More expensive things you can do (minimal performance increases)

#1 Webber carb (36/36 model)

#2 Headers and free flow exhaust

#3 Electronic ignition

Most expensive things you can do

#1 Re-gear to 4.56:1

If you do all of this you can get closer to the hp/torque/pull that a stock V6 puts out from your 4 cyl 20R but you better make sure that the 20R you start with is healthy before you start "beefing it up" and asking it do do more than it was designed to do. Anytime you do performance enhancements you decrease the longevity.

[bajadulce]

I know I listed this in the pinned engine swap thread, but there's a whole forum dedicated to the 3.4 swap at YotaTech describing all the issues with mounts, gauges etc. Just another option you might look into if you're really serious. Sounds as tho the chevy route is quite common and readily available tho as well as easier in terms of the electronics.

Interesting statistics there in terms of the hp. I've had a 20r, 22r, 22re, and now a 3vze. Definitely a noticeable difference between the 22r and 22re that's for sure.

[Maineah]

One of the biggest considerations with any engine swap is nothing is stock. You can’t go to the parts store and buy an exhaust pipe for a Chevota for example it either has to be made or bought from the manufacture of the kit. They make that stuff in very limited quantities so it’s like buying parts for aircraft very expensive! When Toyota or any one else for that matter designs their vehicles every thing is taken into consideration (weight spring rates, breaking, handling, wiring, ease of service etc.) so if you are not handy with tools a different engine may not be a good ideal. Even Toyota to Toyota is not easy if it is not exactly the same you will run into problems. Non fuel injected Toyota to fuel injected miles of wiring and ECU’s different exhaust pipes, fuel pumps it’s not for the faint of heart. Lower gearing will help and maybe some bolt on stuff but it is still going to be slow. Stay away for the interstates take the back roads stop for ice-cream go 250 miles a day instead of 500 live life in the slow lane!