Hey everybody, I've done some lurking around here and now I need some advice. My sister has an 89 2wd auto pick up she bought new and is now just sitting because of a broken timing belt/chain. It s a 22re and i know it's not going to be that hard to but she wants to resto mod the truck. She wants more power to be able to use it as a truck and have a weekend cruiser/ bruiser.

I'm trying to figure out the best bang for the buck swap. So after some looking arouxnd I was going to get an old v8 mountaineer and swap all of that over. Then I thought a 22re turbo would be good and that led me to thinking about a 1jz/2jz swap. Now my buddywork as turned me on to the 1uz swap. She is going to want to keep auto and any swap we do will stay stock. She's not going to be drag racing or anything like that just enough power to move it on down the road. With that said which of those swaps are the cheapest and which are the easiest. I have no access to a machine shop so custom machined parts are out of the question but I have buddies that can do the welding for me and I can figure out the wiring on anything. I do want to keep it fuel injected for her. Any advice?

 

A full 1uz auto would be ideal ..a whole wrecked donor car would be a great find
The cheapest in my opinion would be a gm 350 backed buy a turbo350 or 700r4 auto and a holly carb ..a fairly simple swap ..with some modification to the trans tunnel and firewall or a 1 inch body lift
But you stated fuel injection ...

There are several companies that make bolt in motor mount kits and swap parts for the popular late model ford and Chevy v8s and 4.3 gm v6

 

I'm going with the Ford 5.0 swap. Scrub is right about the donor car, especially if you want fuel injection and need the computer. An aftermarket wiring set up and used computer will run you $500-$1000 depending on who you get them from. With a donor car, everything is right there... Hopefully. Some things to think about with the Explorer/Mountaineer is that while they have the 5.0 motor, they are "de-tuned" by the computer and won't have the output that a 5.0-HO motor from something like a Mustang will. Also, the Exp. trans, although a very stout and good auto trans, I believe it has a "married" transfer case, as all of the V-8 Explorers came with auto trans and the AWD system. Its a part of the electronics and could (but I'm not sure) cause problems down the road with using an explorer computer without the transfer case and 2wd. Another thing with the Explorer 5.0 is that the heads are different from the "regular" 5.0's. They run a gt-40 head and intake, but its the gt-40p heads as opposed to the gt-40x heads found on the cobra motors. The exhaust manifold is different, so if you want to upgrade later on with headers, you'd have to (I think) buy the VERY expensive ones that are made for the explorer. Just some thoughts on the downsides of going with the Explorer as a donor vehicle. The positive side is that they are everywhere and old enough that they are very cheap to buy now.
If you want a good budget friendly 5.0 with a ready to go 2wd trans and computer, you may want to look into a Mercury Cougar from the 80's/early 90's or a Ford F-series truck with the 5.0.
Hope this helps.

 

Good to know. I was reading about 8.8 swap being easy too. That looks like the winner. Any recommendations on a swap kit?

 

Here is a good write-up on the 8.8 swap.

http://www.toyotaminis.com/forum/suspension-chassis-40/ford-8-8-install-5308/

This, I do recommend from the Explorer, although some here would disagree with me. with one swap you get an upgraded diff AND a really good set of disk breaks.

I think I'm going to go with this place for motor mounts and other parts needed. However, there are others out there, so you might want to shop around.

Toyota Engine Adapters - Ford, GM, Chevy V6, V-8 Conversion Kits

 

The link to Northwest Offroad has lots of adapter mounts. As said, an f150 truck or a full size van would be a cheap donor rig. Fairly common for domestics to be automatic too. The explorer rear end is pretty popular. Basically weld new perches on, and adapt the drive line and brake lines. Don't forget to match the master cylinder to a 4 wheel disc unit.


As for the overall plan, a 302 ford is a good choice. It's physically narrower than most so exhaust isn't as tight. It also has the distributor in the front so no firewall issues. It is also slightly lighter so less front end weight than say a steel block 350.

My personal route is for a dodge 318 with magnum heads. It can be adapted to the stock 5 speed with the bell housing and parts from a V6 Dakota.

 

Thanks for the info guys. I'm a ford guy by birth so I know a ton about 302's and pretty much all of the Ford line up ( between my dad and I we've owned most of them at 1 time or another). There are just a ton of cheap ls400's around here so that is why I was thinking about the 1UZ. I'm thinking the v8 explorer is for sure the best bet.

 

As long as you don't mind swapping to better heads or find some of the less common explorer heads, I say do it. Any V8 swap is always fun. I grew up as a dodge guy. Always had a soft spot for Toyotas. Now I've had more of them than dodges lol. You should post up some pics before the natives get restless

 

There is alot of good stuff on those LS400s though. Brakes can be adapted at least in parts, the IRS is worth some money back, seats would be a nice matching part to swap. From what I know they are expensive motors to build up beyond the mild basics; intake, exhaust, bigger MAF, ignition, porting work, ect. That's my basic checklist for any motor. Even if I don't mess with compression or cams or on EFI, the computers state of tuning. I've never found a motor that didn't respond well to better breathing and spark.