Wayne & Irene Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 I have a 91 Warrior with an excellent camper section. The V6 chassis has been troublesome and underpowered and noisy compared to the newer Toyota trucks. I recently had a ride in a friend's 2002 Tacoma truck and thought how great it would be to have my camper mounted on this really nice Tacoma chassis. Has anybody ever thought about ... or done ... such a project? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MontanaChinook Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 I'm sure it's been done. There's a guy right now working on putting a Chinook on his T-100. Pretty much anything is possible if you have either the skills or money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek up North Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 I don't recall anyone attempting a transplant of a 'stick-built' home to another chassis. I don't think I'd try it for fear of ending up with a pile of 'sticks and staples'. But nothing's impossible! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maineah Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 Better yet a 05 and up with the 4L V6 plenty of power. A 6 bolt prerunner with a 1 ton rear and springs under it. Finding one cheap maybe a problem they still command big bucks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nam Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 Motor and transmission swap seem to be the easiest and most cost effective way Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stamar Posted March 22, 2013 Share Posted March 22, 2013 overseas they sold the tacoma with a mirage type 16 foot motorhome body. over here youd be much smarter just taking the engine out of a tacoma and puttiing it in a truck body. even that makes no sense financially but engine swap type things never do. Theyre for a special breed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stamar Posted March 22, 2013 Share Posted March 22, 2013 I want a second gen tacoma, the current one, with a standard 6 foot cabover camper. Ive seen that several times. other than being a pain jumping into the camper its almost the perfect vehicle I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bunneys Posted March 27, 2013 Share Posted March 27, 2013 Hi Wayne, I remember your RV from the Toy-in, it is very nice! I would follow along in the footsteps of a few people and do the engine swap. The Tacoma V6 engine bolts into your engine bay, you just need to worry about the exhaust, electrical, and hood clearance. There are shops that will do all of this for you for around $4,000 or you can do it your self if you’re good with a wrench for much less… Here is some light reading for you: http://toyotamotorhome.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=413 (Post # 24) http://www.yotatech.com/f160/superchiems-toyota-rv-5vz-swap-243241/ http://www.yotatech.com/f160/toyota-motorhome-3-0-swap-237494/ 2 of the shops that will do this swap for you: http://www.toyonlyswaps.com/ http://www.toyotafiberglass.com/ Local BC guy, very, very good! Andrew. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maineah Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 I want a second gen tacoma, the current one, with a standard 6 foot cabover camper. Ive seen that several times. other than being a pain jumping into the camper its almost the perfect vehicle I think. Very hard finding one light enough the only ones at this point I have seen light enough are popup types and to me that's not much better then a tent I like the quiet of a hard side camper. I own a 2011 Tacoma and pretty much any thing over 1000# in the bed is max even with air bags i have hauled 1400# never again. By the way no Tacoma's other then North America, Hilux much tougher truck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayne & Irene Posted March 28, 2013 Author Share Posted March 28, 2013 Hi Andrew Thanks for the great input. Since we met you a couple of summers ago I've had to do a valve job and a transmission replacement. i'm now at the end of a lengthy and costly bunch of repairs, but the good news is that it's running better than ever now. I've been wondering how your 3.4 L transplant has been going. i assume it must be finished by now? Hope to see you guys at this year's ToyIn on Vancouver Island. i haven't announced it formally yet but I'm thinking that the weekend before the July 1 holiday weekend might be a good choice. There seems to be a level of support for having it at Living Forest again. It's hard to beat that park for location and facilities and most people speak very highly of it. Did you see Ron/Rose's message about the new Toyota campers in their neighbourhood and the hope that they might meet some others at the ToyIn with children for theirs to play with? Cheers, Wayne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bunneys Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 That's great that is is running better than ever now. My swap is a little delayed.... I keep getting promotions at work that keep me busy, and the kids are getting bigger and with that come lots of activities... It is really hard to justify the time to pull a 100% working engine out... :-) I have all the problems worked out now, the engine is sitting on a stand just waiting for me to install it. I am waiting on one last thing, the exhaust can be done a few ways, and I'm leaning towards the custom headers route... Precision 4X4 Center is working on making me a custom set so i can use it with the auto shiftier in our units. I will show it off once I have it in my hands! I don't think I will be able to make it to the Toy-in again this year, the roof project I am doing still need to be finished and don't think it can be finished in time. Cheers, Andrew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stamar Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 Very hard finding one light enough the only ones at this point I have seen light enough are popup types and to me that's not much better then a tent I like the quiet of a hard side camper. I own a 2011 Tacoma and pretty much any thing over 1000# in the bed is max even with air bags i have hauled 1400# never again. By the way no Tacoma's other then North America, Hilux much tougher truck. Ive seen several of them. When I took that trip to san jose to the giant 24 hour fitness i took pictures of my rv next to one outfitted exactly like I said. I have pictures of it if you want to see I think its just a picture of it from behind. It was an extra cab the cabover hung out over the tailgate. hell before I had these two dolphins I had an 89 nissan hardbody with a cabover camper. It was for mini trucks and was actually too small for the bed ( meaning it had a very small floor) I definitely have pictures handy of that thing a modern tacoma is humungous compared with a nissan hardbody and the three examples Ive seen use a standard cabover made for full sized trucks. In almost all ways inferior to our toyhomes as far as space and weight. But superior in the most important way in that its removable. You see I definitely dont miss the cabover its pretty lame compared to a full size motorhome with pass through. honestly unlivable..... what I miss is the truck. taking the thing off and having a truck because a 21 foot motorhome makes a poor truck. I honestly never miss the nissan. It did get better gas mileage though and was very reliable, and a stick. It was more weekender sized not enough space for a long trip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stamar Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 my cabover weighed 1600 lbs. which is...... heavy. you can get full ssized ones that are lighter than that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stamar Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 heres an example https://www.google.com/search?q=light+cabover+camper+tacoma&hl=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=kqdUUZDvA-OZiAK7rYC4Dg&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1600&bih=775#imgrc=_https://www.google.com/search?q=light+cabover+camper+tacoma&hl=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=kqdUUZDvA-OZiAK7rYC4Dg&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1600&bih=775#imgrc=_ several of the pop ups,several of the mini ones made for the old mini truck, and several of the full sized ones. This vehicle set up is pretty common. Never talked to an owner I think youd need a few things beefed up. For my nissan what it needed was a rear sway bar. no air bags or anything on a standard 2wd frame. six pac is a name brand Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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