Hello all. This is a build on a truck I have had for about ten years. It is a 1982 short bed base model. It has not had an engine in it since I have owned it. It has no transmission or gas tank. I installed a set of 1985 MR2 seats that I had, which fit good. Here is my plan:
I purchased a 1989 Ford Taurus SHO from a guy that drove it till it broke a timing belt. The owner was convinced it was an interference motor and was ruined. I bought it for cheap and had it running in about 45 minutes after I got it home. I didn't know what to expect with this car. It was a hoot! What a fast car. I discovered the SHO motor is not a Ford motor, but built by Yamaha. Uses a bunch of Toyota parts on it. I drove the car for a few years before the subframe broke. I removed the engine and trashed the car. All the Ford stuff was falling apart anyway. The Taurus is a transaxle type design. I wanted to convert it to a rear wheel drive vehicle and that's why I bought the truck. I rebuilt the engine with new rings, bearings, and gaskets. I did not upgrade any of it just yet. I want to keep it mostly stock till I get it all running. Yamaha designed this engine to develop 440 horsepower. Ford detuned it by 50% by restricting the exhaust, intake, cam duration, and ecu programming. Converting to rear wheel drive will require a different intake set up, exhaust, and some ecu reprogramming. So I figure this will develop around 280 horsepower. I machined out the end of the crank shaft to install a pilot bearing for the 1995 Borg Warner T5 transmission I am going to run. I found a bellhousing from an early 90's Ford Aerostar with a manual transmission. That was a challenge. That bellhousing bolts to the SHO engine. Mostly. It took some redesign by grinding out some of it to fit the SHO engines rear main seal oil plate. Then I had to make an adapter plate to adapt that bellhousing to the T5. I soon discovered that the synchronizers in the transmission were coming apart so I rebuild the transmission. The synchronizers are not brass, but "carbon fiber". Instead of a brass ring with the ridged teeth, it has a sand papery grip on a steel ring. That just means expensive.
Here are some pictures of the truck. Its a bit rough for now.

 

Part 2: The Ford Taurus is a transaxle and that also means it has no real engine mounts and the throttle body is on the wrong end of the engine. Both a bit of a challenge to over come. The SHO engine has two big cast iron brackets on either side of the front of the engine. One side holds the power steering pump and the other side holds the alternator and air conditioning compressor. The truck has no air conditioning nor does it have power steering. I cut off the a/c compressor part and bottom half of the left side bracket. I am building a 22re for my 1985 4runner currently beside this SHO engine. I was looking at both engines side by side and found that the engine mount bracket on the right side of the 22re will bolt up to the SHO engine on the right side where the p/s pump bracket went. What luck! Not so lucky on the left side. As many of you know, the motor mount brackets on a 22re are different from side to side. I managed to find another right side 22re engine mount bracket and put it on the left side of the SHO engine. One of the holes lines up to the alternator bracket, so that's a start. A couple angle brackets welded to the 22re bracket and I was in business. An SHO engine with 22re motor mounts and brackets! I soon found when placing this massive 3 liter engine in the engine bay of this little Toyota truck was that the fit is tight and the stock truck mounts are too far back. I cut both mounts off of the frame of the truck and with a little grinding, cutting, and welding put them where they need to be to fit the SHO engine. I will need to move the steering box and pitman arm bracket forward a few inches so the tie rod will clear the oil pan. No big deal, I will do that soon. I have found several other challenges to tackle too.
As I mentioned before, the Taurus has the throttle body on the rear of the engine. That means it would be under the windshield. Since that's not going to work, I discovered the plenum is symmetrical. It can be turned around. I had to do a lot of modification to accomplish this. The plenum has casting for an EGR system but the 1989 SHO didn't have EGR so none of it was drilled out but the casting was all there. I cut all of that off. I also had to cut the top of the timing belt cover so the top of the plenum fits over to of the timing belt. I also had to do some extensive wire harness modification since all the sensors that were on the front of the engine are now on the back, and the sensors a from the back are on the front. Anyways, I got it to fit with the throttle body facing forward. I installed the SHO engine temporarily. I then installed the transmission to see how it would fit. Lucky again! The shifter for the T5 goes through the stock shifter hole!
Here are some pictures of the adapter plate and the transmission:

 

I know all this is long winded. So, pictures of the truck with the engine and transmission in:

 

Ok, last one for today. As I mentioned, I installed the engine and turned the plenum around. I test fit it and thought the throttle body stuck up too high. So I reinstalled the hood and found the ridge down the middle of the hood is perfect for hiding a SHO throttle body and intake tube! I didn't want to put a hood scoop or anything else on the ToySHOta that will give away what it has under the hood, so the fact the stock hood fits still is perfect!
Anyways, more pictures:


I did mention that the interior is rough, so don't judge me too harshly.

 

Going all out and putting a front wheel drive designated engine in a toyota truck has me impressed

 

Very interested in this very cool swap

 

This thing is gonna be a BEAST, sub'd

 

Thanks for the interest. This will be a slow project as I am working on 3 other project trucks that I own. I have several problem areas to contend with on this build. Like a radiator and such. I did get started today on moving the steering forward and will post pictures of that part of the project soon.

 

Wow. good job on the problem solving and figuring things out. That's what I like about building these trucks....good luck bro...

 

Impressive, yes (I love that SHO Yamaha motor), but I was thinking, why not go ALL out and put the engine/tranny/drivetrain in the bed and make it mid-engine? It's been done in the past with Oldsmobile Toronado parts but with the SHO powertrain, it would have to be a manual transmission, too (Olds engine/trans is autobox only)!!

 

I have a 1985 Toyota MR2 that I have built a 1mz v6 with a turbo mr2 5 speed transmission, Fidanza aluminum flywheel, shimless valves, headers, and such. Another project to finish, so my rear wheel drive and mid engine vehicle is the MR2. My goal here is to keep the truck looking mostly stock except for wheels and lowered stance. The exhaust will exit through the bed sides just before the rear wheel openings, so that will be a bit of a give away. I also would like to use the truck as a truck to haul stuff. I do think that rear engine idea is a good one. SHO's are still plentiful, you should build it!

 

I would love to if I had time, space, money...

But being in California, I'd have to start with a pre-1976 truck. I prefer the Datsun 620 pickup over the 1975 Hilux, styling-wise (yeah, I know: blasphemy!) maybe one of these days when my backlog of all my other project is emptied...

But I hear you about keeping it a truck, able to haul stuff. I have the same criteria which keeps me from doing things like four-link rears, etc. My dream plans aren't even as radical as yours and I won't do it on my Toyota.

 

I got a little bit done today. I mentioned I have to move the steering forward a few inches. I got the pitman arm end moved forward, re-drilled, sleeved, and welded up. This truck must have been a massive leaker when it was on the road. Everything is coated in oily dirt. The awesome part is nothing is rusty on any part under the truck. More to come ...

 

How are you going to compensate for the steering being moved so far ahead of the arms on the knuckles?

 

I won't have to compensate much. Only on toe adjustment which is easily done. I did get the box moved today and got rid of the rag joint. Not a fan of rag joints, so I welded a FJ60 series lower steering shaft onto the stock steering shaft. It has a universal joint instead of a rag joint. Here is what it came out like:

 

Yes toe is easily compensated for but that's not the issue at all. Your ackerman angle is going to be reversed and the truck is going to be a handful unless you're going straight. Personally I'd just notch the oil pan.

 

Sounds like whitetrash knows his stuff....props

 

Looks & sounds to be a good & crazy build !!
Keep it alive!!

 

Hello again. I appreciate the concern on my steering modifications. Like many other thing in a build of this sort there are some compromises. The steering set up is one of those compromises. I set up the alignment tonight and all steering angles, including the ackerman angle have not changed more than 2 degrees. I have found stock vehicles that fluctuate more than that under changes in ride height due to load or varying road conditions. I will say I have never driven this truck due to the fact that its not had an engine in it, so I do not have much to base steering feel off of. If I do find that there needs to be additional modification, which would be increasing the length of the steering arms off of the knuckles, then that modification will be accomplished without too much work after it is on road.

 

At least you have your head in the right spot.