Well, this weekend was its real test. I drove up to TSF (~3 hours away) to run trails all day and then back home. It ran great all day long. Curently the cooling system isn't quite right. Running down the freeway in the cooler morning temperature the engine temp gauge was constantly cycling up and a down. But in the afternoon in the warmer temps it just stayed in the same spot (just below horizontal postion on the gauge). If I was running higher rpms and low speed the temp would climb until the electric fan kicked on. And then it would drop back down to normal and stay there as long as the fan was on. so I just left the fan override switch in the on position when I was on the trails so I didn't have to watch the gauge constantly going up and down. if I was on the gravel roads, I could turn the fan off and it would be fine. so it looks like I need to get a different thermostat and/or a different thermo switch for the fan because its not quite right, but I DO have enough cooling power with this V6 Truck radiator. I just don't like the temps cycling up and down.
As for motor performance, it seems like you can't lug this engine down like a 22R Series. if your keep it about 1200 rpms or more your fine, but any lower than that it seemed to stall out pretty easy. I stalled it out ALOT on takeoffs because I'm just not use to slipping the clutch that much compared to the old motor. Good thing I didn't use a ceramic clucth!!!
For gravel road running, this motor is awesome! I was able to keep the rpms right around 3000-4000 on the roads and on any corner you could lay into the throttle and start power sliding. The throttle around this rpm is also really smooth which is great for drifting because you could stay in control and really control the slide with just how much thorttle you give it. It was night and day different then the 22RE I had. With that you had to work on getting the slide to start with a small jerk of the wheel. and you only had so much power available. And the power band up in the high rpms is REALLY long. You have consistant power all the way up to 6000 rpm. and then when you shift you still have more power. with the 22R series, if you shift out of your gear, your pretty much bogging down and screwed! You can run the roads at lower RPM just fine, its just not as fun for drifting.
I tried some steep hill climbs and really liked how it felt. With this motor if your around 2000 rpm running a steep climb and want to accelerate, you can! just lay into teh throttle a little more and away you go. With the old motor I could do this but no where nearly as fast .
Heres some pictrues from the day....
TSF OHV, 7-up
![[Linked Image]](http://tellico.off-road.com/wwwthreads_uploads/1446487-IM000535.JPG)
TSF OHV, Little Crusher
![[Linked Image]](http://tellico.off-road.com/wwwthreads_uploads/1446489-IM000542.JPG)
![[Linked Image]](http://tellico.off-road.com/wwwthreads_uploads/1446490-IM000545.JPG)
![[Linked Image]](http://tellico.off-road.com/wwwthreads_uploads/1446491-IM000552.JPG)
![[Linked Image]](http://tellico.off-road.com/wwwthreads_uploads/1446492-IM000555.JPG)
![[Linked Image]](http://tellico.off-road.com/wwwthreads_uploads/1446493-IM000579.JPG)
But then on the way home all hell broke looseCoburg rest stop on I-5
![[Linked Image]](http://tellico.off-road.com/wwwthreads_uploads/1446499-IM000622.JPG)
Well so much for this junkyard 7M, I lost the bottom end! Sounds like a rod bearing to me. Luckily I was only about 40 miles away from my house and I was able to make it to a rest stop! So I called up Wheelie_Pete for a tow to his house which was about 10-15 miles. Only to get pulled over my the Finest Coburg Highway Police. (These guys suppliment their city police budget with speed traps on I-5. The state actually had to put a limit on them because they where pulling in too many $$$) Anyways we where informed that it was illegal to tow with a tow strap! go figure...... in the end he said that he wasn't going to cite us, but he said someone else could, basically he said he was going to look the other way. Which was cool.... but it sucked to get harassed like that when all your trying to do is get your junk off the highway!! So after we got it to Petes, I was able to borrow Sky's Turbo Desiel and Trailer @ 11:00pm at night to get the 4runner back to my house. Its not WHAT you know, but its WHO you know!!! Thanks SKY!
So the bottom end is toast in the 7M and luckily I have about 10 days left on my warranty from the wrecking yard so I dealing with them to see whats the next step!