Im in full agreement with everyone else! So awesome to see a part of minitruckin history alive! Thanks for sharing it with us and please bless us with updates in a build thread so the whole family and visitors may enjoy it as well. Way kewl man!

 

I dont know for sure who the original owner was, we bought it back in 92-93. it was being sold through some exotic retailer. either death or taxes cause the original owner to let it go. at the age of 17-18, i took it for a test drive and at that time i had a daily driver car that ran 13.8's. i knew immediately this thing was a must have. my brother not being mechanically inclined at all, bought it and he drove it for a couple years. somewhere around 1995 doing what he did best "street racing". the trans suffered its last beating. after i pulled the trans, the input shaft sheared off 7 teeth. being back then those transmissions were not cheap like they are today. due to the economics of it all he retired the truck. since he didn't have garage space for it it was parked under a tree. it kept the sun off the truck which is good though the surface rust under the paint will be a pain to deal with. at the time i had a pro street Valiant and my Duster so i had little interest or room. the Valiant is gone so now i have a nice place for this truck. once everything was right i went and pulled it out of his back yard. after bug bombing it and several hours of cleaning it is safe to work on. this is the story on this truck whats next will be determined. i know i will be working on this for a while thats for sure. what i want to do is get this thing on the track for some long awaited time slips. i want to see the predicted 12.20's. or better....

 

wow, i always did wonder what kinda "life" these types of vehicles go threw..

 

Wow. Thats really cool! Amazing what can happen over the years!

 

I wish I could run one of those motors in my truck but i dont want to have to cut the rad support or the firewall to get that long arse strait6 in there

 

you don't have to cut your rad or firewall for a 7 or 6 or 5mge

you have to massage the firewall a bit and run fans in front of the rad

 

Actually you dont even have to massage the firewall either! But it would help!

 

yep, the only engine mod you have to really mess with the firewall is a 350 swap. thats becuase the distributor hits the firewall..

 

You do have to build your own oil pan or use a 7mge pan to get a 5mge in there. I have only Done one 2wd and we built our own pan and pickup tube, which was easy compared to the wiring

No mods to pan needed in solid axle 4x4 .

 

ive read that the engine compartment is smaller on the 79-83 pickups thats way these motors dont fit but i maybe wrong.

 

Could you just notch the front section of the pan to clear.. it is close. I just bent my pitman and idler arm down to pull the center steering link down away from the pan. Worked fine... just had to re-set my Toe.

 

Here are the pictures I just took It will give you an idea of how tight it is.

from above


At the firewall passenger size


rad support


steering link to pan clearance 3/8" at best with custom pan


front of pan


rear of pan


and cross bar clearance

 

WOW!! thats tight...

 

I would love to get my hands on this truck !!

 

i tried to stick the trans in today, its not going to happen easily. i will have to either window the trans tunnel or lift the body off the frame a few inches to get clearance. i will have this done sunday. i like that oil pan. i have a stock pan and the drag link for the steering was modified from a ford econoline van.

 

looks like they never recessed the radiator into the core support for the extra room like most of the other supra swap.

 

the trans is in, this required some surgery. and a lot of bad words. just a bit of advice, i dont recomend ever channeling your body. it makes an easy job near impossible.

 

all im going to say is wow...

 

Did you have to mod or make a new tranny mount to get the motor that far back?

 

i got a little more done. lowered it some. just need to repair a few wires that some rodents have destroyed. next i'll have to get the rust out of the fuel tank.