I knew a guy who transplanted a later model 2LT diesel into his 4Runner. It took quite a bit of work and customization for it to work. In the end, he has a neat and very unique rig, but I can easily outrun him on the highway, even though I weigh a lot more and only have a 22RE. I still love his set up, don't get me wrong, but after seeing the trouble and nominal gains, I'm not as hot for a diesel transplant as I was before.

In my opinion, the older diesels are interesting and cool, but in the end, what you get is less h.p. a nominal increase in torque at lower rpms and nominal increase in gas mileage. And forget about doing much over 65 on the freeway.

The real advantages come from the later model electronic fuel injected diesels, but they are extremely expensive. Thousands of dollars just for a used motor, if you can find one. Then putting it in is a whole other ball game. The wiring headaches are the same or worse as trying to install a later model V-6 or 3RZ into an older Toyota.

In the end, transplanting a 3.4 V-6 is easier to do, probably cheaper and motors are more readily available, so that's the motor most guys are doing now.