So i have some funds. i bought a 7mge for 300 the next week i was offered 450.. lets just say i dont have a 7mge anymore. im sitting on 1k and i know american v8s are everywhere, where i live. i was thinking 350 chevy or 302 ford. as i love toyota motors the wiring pisses me off. swapping a v8 would be hard mechanically but a breeze in wiring. my 5m is good but already pulled i just cant make power from it (come buy it best offer takes it) -virginia- im looking to swap a american v8 carbuerated and manual transmission. could i bolt up a 302 5.0 to my w58? i know id need stiffer front end suspension, thicker tires, and id like to do a dif upgrade. (i understand there are strong toyota enthusiests here and hate american v8s being swapped into mk2s but im left with not much of a choice with the budget im on and the power i want. i will not destroy the structural integrity of the car also!) can anyone tell me a bit of what im getting into?
I put a LT-1 350 with T-56 6 speed transmission in my 85 P-type.
Some of the hurdles I faced were cutting the trans tunnel to fit the larger bellhousing. Not sure if there is anything to bolt up to the W58. I have an extra for sale BTW. Cutting it out was easy, removing all the dash and fabricating the part to weld in without lighting everything on fire was a different story.
Then, because the oil pan is on the back side of the engine, flip the power steering rack half 180 deg and run the piping through the cross member. there's 4 bolts that allow you to do this. (2 years of driving, no problems.)
You can space all this out when rewelding in the motor mounts. I did get my LT1 very far back and low enough to clear the hood. It's actually the alternator on mine that comes the closest to the hood on the top passenger side of it.
Because it's so far back, the shifter hole is far back that I had to cut the Ebrake handle shorter to clear the shifter. I'll make a better shift lever, but for now it clears.
I used edelbroch shorty headers which fit well. I cut at the collector to keep a 2.5 exhaust. The driver side had to have a custom fabrication done to jog it around the steering shaft, but it will fit. 2.5 tubing so if you use 2" there's more space.
These headers required me to get rid of the brake booster and go to a dual dia. 8" with the supra master. Custom drilling in the master and firewall and custom clevis. Had to reshape the brake pedal to clear the expanded trans tunnel.
Also, went with a 7/8" wilwood master for the clutch slave cylinder. T-56 slave keep in mind. 1" would've been nicer.
Since I did the T-56, I needed a new driveshaft. 1310 u joints should be enough.
Ended up putting in braided fuel lines with AN fittings with an aftermarket pressure regulator.
Looking for a 4 pinion diff. or I'm going to go to a trutrac.
The XXR 530 or XXR 527's come in 9.75 wide 4 lug, so I'll go to those soon.
I used an S-13 strut tower brace, and drilled it for the supra to strengthen the front. Definitely helps with body sway.
Custom made a rear brace as you may have seen in group buys; Mine is nothing more than some pipe and welded brackets with a spanning threaded rod.
The electrical actually isn't that bad as long as you know what to look for and print out the wiring diagrams to splice into it. The MA61 computer is no longer in my car because I'm using a tuned LT1 computer.
I did use all aftermarket gauges and am still trying to calibrate the speedo correctly.
I rebuilt the LT1 with my dad. $200 at Pick and Pull and tore it all the way down. Tons of torque and I need new tires since mine are old and harder. A lot of fun to drive around and looking forward to doing the suspension on it this winter and next spring. It's nose heavy like the F bodies with an iron block in it but drives well. The stock suspension will get pulled down in the front and stick the ass end up a little more. If you can find one, go with the LS1 or AL blocks and save the weight. Will do a brake upgrade soon just to help out with the added weight.
At the end of the day, you're going to be way over the $1k mark. I'm probably around $6k in parts and I did the welding and my dads a machinist, but that would include the engine and transmission build.
I ended up typing way too much and if you have questions let me know.
Lots of parts, mountains of them for cheeeeeeeeeeeeep.
Make loads of power on the cheeeeeeep.
Chev parts are like legos, and so many ways to build with tons of aftermarket parts and support.
Shevy Cons:
Bigger, and weighs about 100 lbs more.
Base price is typically high compared to ford stuff.
Ford Advantages:
Base price cheap
Smaller and lighter
Ford cons:
Parts are typically more expensive (not counting performance parts)
some things ford irritate me greatly. 302's aren't bad tho. If you go this rout get the HO firing order cam, and AFR heads when you can afford it. you will get loads of power in a light package.
If I were doing a semi performance oriented supra and was going to run an iron block motor that was not an LS base engine... I would use the ford because of the HO firing order that LS motors also use; also it weighs so much less in a smaller package requiring far less firewall / trans tunnel modification. Also plumbing headers / exhaust will be less a challenge.
IF I was thinking about any V-8 swap,I would go automatic tranny for sure.
No need(As much) to upgrade the drive train.
GM 400 with a 2 barrel carb would be fine.
351 Windsor would work.
Don't discount OTHER carburetor engines,either.
Aluminum Buick 300 would work OK. Any V-8 around 5 liters would be a massive power improvement.
I think that the V-8 swap dudes have had the most trouble with header clearance issues.
Our engine compartments are kinda long,but narrow for a normal-sized V-8.
I have never seen info about a Ford 300" in line SIX. It's a 5 liter motor,too. EFI available in later models..
Follow the V-8 swap threads and you will see what is going on there.
I would still go with a power glide or the Ford auto:C-4,not electronic controlled.
NEXT SUGGESTIONS?:thumbsup:
They are simple and very tough.
2 speeds. Street able. The torque converter does all of the work.
Small enough to avoid the tranny-tunnel BASHING thing.
Ford C4's are also light, small and tough. Possibly one of the all time best auto trans options for domestic V8 torque and going quick with out killing all your highway speed.
As for over drive auto's, there are modern trans out there that all kinda have their strong points. Heck the AOD is decent for stock powerplants. I hear you can build them to handle built LS power
I may be a bit prejudice here, but the ford 5.0 HO is a relatively easy swap. I did a full swap in about 5 months by myself, and have no regrets. I drive it whenever I want, and it makes me very happy. My biggest issues were the headers, and the oil pan. (I went with a Megasquirt management, so I can't comment on grafting the Ford ECU into the project.)
I pulled my 5.0 from an 88 Mustang. An auto trans would have been even easier due to some issues I had getting enough travel from the clutch hydraulics.
The pan was not that big of a deal, as I cut and fabbed a new front sump version ($45 from Summit Racing) and relocated the dipstick.
Here is the link to my build: http://www.celicasupra.com/forums/showthread.php?84985-Boss-302-Supra-Project&highlight=
Honestly, I would love to see someone else do this.
Granted, I spent close to $6000, but I did some engine mods, and bought the doner car for $1200. (heads, intake, and swapped an EDIS8 into the mix. Which I recommend doing anyway)
I have been running with the Toyota stock fuel pump as well. The engine did not require any suspension mods either.
I was basically a GM over Frod (I meant that) guy too. But there are definitely valid reasons for either. If you do end up going with an earlier iron GM small block, there was indeed one vehicle that you could get a front sump oil pan for and it's 62 - 67 Nova's. Back in the early 70's, I dropped a 327 into a 62 Nova. That oil pan and pickup wasn't available at the time and I ended ip totally destroying the original making it work. Besides looking like Frankenstein welded that monstrosity together, imagine just a little beyond that and you'll see the 1 1/2" piece of pipe I welded into that mess for the steering linkage to go through. Not my finest hour. That was the second burnout when the diff exploded. The car had originally come with a whopping 153 cubic inch 4 banger. After lifting the engine the first time to change a couple of plugs, I decided to cut holes in the inner fender. Also not elegant. It would pull the front wheels off the ground. The passenger side maybe 6". The drivers side, perhaps three times that! Scary and then some! It was the only hot rod I ever owned that required two hands on the steering wheel at all times and had to go before I killed myself.
Personally, I'd forgo the early iron stuff and go LS. Even better would be a stroked, long rod 347 Frod small block. Ever wonder why Sunbeam Tigers and Cobra's had Frod small blocks instead of Chevy's? It's because Chevy's are shorter and wider while Frod's are longer and narrower. It made enough difference that the shock towers didn't have to be modified to shoehorn the Frod in, but definitely would have to be for the Chevy. I can't help but think a Frod would be at least a little easier of the two for you. And I'd also swap in some matching electronics and stick with fuel injection, even though I'm one of the weird old guys that was so much of a carburetor expert that I was known in the pits as the guy with the fishing tackle box full of Holley parts....
The early GM aluminum V8 definitely would be another interesting but not cheap option. There's still stuff available for it for various swaps as there's still a plentiful supply of them from decades of Range Rovers.
There is a lot of swaps that present their own issues.
The front sump is a consideration.
The narrower engine would be a less problematic that a FAT-ASS V-8.
An in line SIX came out,why not another in line 6?
That's were the Lexus engines come into play.
The LS series engines are a good choice?
Yes.
The ..damshaft(1) is inside the block.No massive upper end valve train. No 4 camshafts above the heads. Coyote engine?Crazy.
Yeah,the LS has has rocker arms and push rods.
Even a cast iron block is great.
Aluminum block? Aluminum heads?Better.
There have been engine swaps with Toyota V-8's.
Mike was thinking of a V-12.
It would sound awesome.
Always think out side of the box.
The Granatelli boys put a Ferrari in a Jeep!
The front of the 'car" was lengthened 12" to do so.
It's in the Reno car museum.
Always.... think of ways to do the impossible.
The members in this very forum can do the things that will open your eyes.
Keep tuned.:salute:
That was Tina Turner's Jerrari and it must have been a hoot to drive. If I remember correctly, it was parked next to Carroll O'Connor's Maserati that his friend Bill Harrah let him park there after he'd gotten a couple of speeding tickets for over 150 MPH! Who'd have thunk Archie Bunker was a crazy hot rodder? Probably Bill Cosby that had the only other twin supercharged 427 Cobra Supersnake that Carroll Shelby ever made. I'll never forget his 200 MPH routine which was about that car. He said it was so fast that he could leave for work 10 minutes late and get there on time.
I did an LS1 swap into a Porsche 944 about 15-years ago. Used a kit from Renegade Hybrids that included all the necessary trans adapters, engine mounts and brackets. Got the engine practically for free. Used Megasquirt to run it; build my own harness from scratch. In the end, the total was about $6k as well.
Getting power in a Supra is damn easy. You have to examine the HP-gained to cost ratios. Best value with highest HP to cost & labour is a 7M-GTE. Good for 400whp at less than $1.5-2k. No outrageous amounts of custom fabrication & welding needed.
Just a update. I have the 302 motor and i will soon be getting a junk transmission to get motor mounts and driveshaft measurements done until i am able to get the transmission of my choice when i have the extra cash. i will be running a simple msd ignition and many aftermarket choices have yet to be made. drive shaft 400$, motor mounts 100$ msd 300$ tranny 600$ i am using the stock radiator and many other things. i have picked up 2x magnaflow mufflers which retail 700$ from americanmuscle.com (i traded a tv i got for free for them) i also have a bunch of free stuff due to a local budy (gauges, ect...) i have not figured out how i am going to route the clutch however...i will have the car running a 5.0 with less than 2,500 invested but you can bet i wont stop until im breaking the 10-15k range... fuel will be hot rod style with a fuel cell and gastank delete. much more to come so stay tuned!!!!
I'm not sure if the clutch slave cylinder issue (completely) was solved.There were a few tries at that.
The headers' clearance issues proved to be a challenge.
You may start a build thread when you get enough parts together.
No one likes automatic transmissions anymore? I just got tired of rowing through the gears in traffic and my left leg was like an iron pipe,after years of doing that clutch pumping thing.
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