Is it worth upgrade from 4.7L to the 5.7L?

I have a 2006 Tundra I've owned since new. Always serviced and well maintained. All parts replaced (timing belt, CV joints, ect,) as indicated in Service Manuals. Runs exceptionally well. I am renovating the truck instead of replacing. I do tow a small camper trailer and a car hauler at times. It has the 4.7L i-Force VVT-i engine with 225,000 miles. It runs great and no indication is it slowing down.

I am considering upgrading to the larger motor to get more power especially towing in the mountains of the West. I have two questions that would like to hear opinions/thoughts.

1. it is worth the cost of upgrading to the larger 5.7L motor? Or would it be better value to just upgrade the air intake and exhaust to higher performance parts?

2. If I do replace with the larger 5.7L motor will the existing 5 speed ECT tranny bolt right up and be able to handle the lager motor or will I need to replace/upgrade that as well

Thanks for input you can provide.
georon

 

A heart transplant like you have described is not feasible.
Keep your '06 stock, and find a good used 5.7L second generation Tundra to tow with.

I have a 4.7L 2002 and a 5.7L 2007, both are excellent trucks that I love to drive.

 

Great idea^^^^^

 

I second the motion. All in favor of new 5.7L?

 

Aye

 

I have both engines in separate vehicles and the 4.7 is much smoother in its power delivery, the 5.7 hit you rougher but it hits you. Some days i prefer to drive my land cruiser some days i like to drive my 5.7 Tundra

 

I had a 2002 tundra with the 4.7 and loved that truck, had over 260k on it. It was in need of new front end parts. We traded it in instead of fixing only because it was the access cab and was not car seat friendly. At the time we were prepping to bring our little one home from the hospital and the truck started to give my wife problems. If the truck was a crew cab, we would have fixed it and kept it. I have a 14 tundra with the 5.7 as well and love the larger size engine and cab. If you want to keep the 06 tundra, you can add long tube headers and change out the filter for some more power.
Doing an engine swap may not be possible, larger heavier engine,you would need to modify motor mounts, but the problem would be the ECU, they changed with the 2nd gen tundras in 07. Like others stated if you want the larger engine find a nice used 2nd gen. It would be cheaper than an engine swap

 

Best answer:

 

A 5.7 swap would be sweet and a lot of work.
Or
You could install some 270cc 12 hole Denso fuel injectors from Dirty Deeds Industries, along with long tube headers and a full exhaust for ~40hp from what I've read. I have the injectors and they woke up the engine a little. The intake you could probably do without unless you live in a cold climate. Down south it just sucks in the hottest air ever from the engine bay. If you live somewhere cold I can see there being benefits. Also gears wouldn't hurt.
Or
You could search high and low for a trd supercharger and do a few mods to make it work with the vvti v8.
Or
Make your own turbo set up

 

Motor swap would cost more than selling the truck and buying a gen 2.

These questions are usually decided by 2 factors?
Do you want to spend more on a vehicle by getting a newer one?

And are you struggling with towing currently? And also how often are you towing? Struggling up a mountain two times a year might not be a big deal. Monthly might annoy me.

 

I have to agree with @Hbjeff
I wouldn't throw money at the first gen hoping to gain power to tow. You could spend a fortune and hardly make a difference. Need to know how often you tow and how bad is the trouble.

I joked about the answer with the video, that guy was a member on an older forum and managed the swap. It is possible, much cheaper options are just as possible, but if its bing done with towing in mind I wouldn't do a motor swap. I would look for a cheap heavy duty truck as a tow rig if the trouble and frequency is justifiable.

 

You could re-gear the '06, that would help with your towing...

 

His profile says 2008 under his name/ avatar but he says its an 06.
I'm confused.

 

5.7 swap is feasible. Cost would be high though. Easier to just do some power adders to the 4.7. Or even better idea is just upgrade to a 2nd gen with the 5.7. The first gens are great. But if your looking to tow a lot the 2nd gen has much studier bones under it.

 

For a Tundra, get a 2nd gen, much better. The Sequoia would be worth it as enough changed between the 1gen and the 2gen that makes a huge difference. The 5.7 is a derivative of the 4.7 design, same bore, longer stroke, same block design but most if not all 4.7s are cast iron where the 5.7s are aluminum, so the 5.7 is actually lighter and about the same actual size, intake and exhaust might be bigger but based off my 05 Sequoia, should have enough room to fit it. If you can't find a 5.7, you could try seeing if a stroker kit would work, using the 5.7 crankshaft, pistons and connecting rods to build your own. I can't say for sure that would fit or give you the same output as the 5.7 or reliability for that matter and what else would need to be changed. If I could, I would try to find a TRD supercharger kit while swapping in the 5.7 because I've seen it tested and not only do you get 150hp more, it can actually increase your fuel economy, a test I saw they got 18 mpg on the hwy vs a similar stock Tundra that got 17 mpg, marginal but still an improvement, so imagine what it could do towing with more power like that.

 

Negative. The ur and uz engines are very different. Well, different enough.

 

I drove a 2004 Tundra for 5 years and that truck was great to me. Engine ran strong and never gave me any issues, but I wanted to upgrade to a larger model with more room. Love my 2014 and definitely can feel the difference when towing even though the older truck handle it fine, I feel like I could tow anything with the newer truck. The 5.7 liter also lets me know I have the additional power. If the older truck is in good shape and you can afford to buy an upgraded one that I what I would suggest if you want something bigger for towing especially.

 

That is horrible advice to own multiple trucks.

Coming from someone who has 5 registered and running trucks

 

Looks like OP never came back after post 1.

 

I miss Rex and Darkness. RIP the homies.

 

I agree with N84434