I've been inspired to build a little street terror/drift toy for a while so here's what happened...
I bought a 1986 Toyota std cab short bed roller that had a clean body and frame, (roller), from by St Louis,Ms.(7hrs away) for the paltry sum of $250.00. Fuel cost $150.00 to go get it. My plan was a 400hp vortec 350/ built turbo 400, 8.8" explorer rear, as much nitrous that it can eat and drag status...
The other day my girl buys a 1984 Chevy pickup with a low mileage 400hp 350/350 combo for $500.00. Well... As she's a shorter girl she can't drive the big truck. My girl is now sad.
So... Me being the good boyfriend decide to swap the 350/350 from the Chevy to the Toyota for her to drive and me to play with.
Theres a awsome build thread on here of a red Yota, lowered by torsion bars and 3" rear blocks, with conquest wheels, 225/50-16 front and 265/45-16 rear tires that ended with a 1uz engine. I will be copying a lot of what he did. Stay tuned for project "BLUBYU2"

 

But... When you have a young beautiful girl who gives you beautiful babies you do what you must to keep her happy... How can I be unhappy? I get to build the truck I want how I want for her. A tease to me but well worth it. It will get too fast or scary for her at some point...

 

Cool!! Keep us updated with the build.
What trans will you be using?

 

I'll be using a stock turbo 350 with a shift kit with this engine(400hp). I'm planning to build a 7500rpm 355 SB Chevy that will handle a lot of nitrous after its running. Shooting for 650+ rwhp. At that time ill convert to a full manual transbrake turbo 400.

 

This is going to be interesting. Just FYI, the peeps on this forum are all pic whores, including myself, so.. Got any pics of the truck?!?!

 

Im real curious about this because i want to do. 350 swap on my 72 at some point

 

Donor and victim..

 

More pics...

 

More...

 

Truck doesn't look to be in to bad of a shape. It's defiantly going to haul a$$ once you have it all together. Keep up the work

 

Only real rust is in the lower rear bed sides where it wraps to meet the valence... Easy fix.
Picture of my battery box. Just gathering parts at tho point. Want to rip the driveline out of the Chevy and dump It in the Toyota in a weekend. Then measure to driveshaft and wait...
Last 2 pictures are my guages and shift lite. May not use the gushes if I can get the factory to work. Thinking about a sr5 cluster. Then I just get the shift lite and stash it in a vent to hide it.

 

Here you go, http://www.northwestoffroad.com/parts/motormounts.php. Went thru my favorites file for when I was wanting to do a 6.2L diesel in a truck years ago, of course that never happened, but hope this will help!

 

I was looking at them. Only problem is their for a 4x4. I've heard the frame mounts are the same from 2x to 4x but really unsure. I wish someone would chime in thats done the swap in a 2wd of my era so I know for sure what works. I've just been gathering parts that I know ill need. Have a 350,turbo 350 trans, explorer 8.8", radiator,fan, fuel cell, etc. from a complete 84 Chevy pickup thats getting slammed and a f.i. LS Chevy/ 4l60 trans for our cruiser. Want to gather every part I need other then the driveshaft,(custom order) before I rip the Chevy apart...

 

Have you tried calling them and asking?

 

Advanced adapters I called. Never answer. Sent email last Friday morning after calls. Responded and asked year. Nothing sense. More emails. Nothing. Calling transdapt today. I'm thinking its not going to be a big deal really to make some if needed. Just hang the engine, make some out of cardboard, have my buddy tax it together to hold weight and drop in for trans crossmember mods. Once its square and the pinion angle is right pull the mounts and weld solid and bolt back in.

 

So... Change of plans... A friend who was doing a "hot air" Buick Grand National engine swap into his Monte Carlo SS gave up on I and decided, "finally" to do a ls Chevy swap. He offered to give me his stock 1985 3.8 turbo, wiring harness, dash harness and ecu for helping him get the ls in his car. The issue he had was he bought a built 3.8,(forged pistons,rods, cam,etc) and he couldn't get it to run right. It needs a custom chip but we don't know the specs of the cam, compression,etc to have a chip burned. Therefore he said, " screw it." He bought a running 85 t type/g.n. and stripped it. I get all the stock stuff for helping him. So... Turbo 3.8l it is as the price is right. I've decided to keep my sleeper theme by running Chrysler rally wheels in 15x8 and 15x5 as they are very similar to the stock wheels. I'm hoping to piece together a lt1 t56 for the transmission and use a Explorer 8.8" rear. The rear Is a direct bolt in however It will be shortened to be the right width to run the Chrysler wheels as they only come in certain backspace. This shouldn't pose a problem as I can get axles in any length to $250 which ill need anyways if it ever hooks. For tires it looks as I a m/t 26/10.5-15 is as big as I can squeeze in the rear. Was hoping for a 28" tire to help with the shock of launching I hard but can't find anything thats wide and that night. Everything is too wide. Caltracs will be made for the truck to keep It simple. Need to find adj shocks for the front and rear, redo suspension,brakes and get moving on it.

 

Narrow the back half of the truck.

 

Dont want to do a tub job. Want to keep stockish...

 

So... I picked up a complete 99 Mountaineer with a good 130k 5.0 and 8.8" for my swap. $200. Drove it home. The Chevy is sold and replaced with a 98 S10 Blazer 4x4 for my girl to keep her happy. The 3.8l turbo trash is gone and it looks like ill be going with the 5.0. Seeing as how this is a budget build as I've got a 7 month old and another on the way ill recoup as much out of the parts I can. I'll be going with a single plane carb intake, 650 Holley d.p., Anderson n51 roller cam, and 1 3/4" homemade headers. I'll add a nitrous plate kit good for 150-175hp to keep it safe. Should make over 400 rear wheel hp and be fun for a cheap bunch of junk. " BUILT NOT BOUGHT" Looking into transmissions now and thinking c4 but might just get a adapter bellhousing to put a turbo 400 into it as their dirt cheap to build, I know them well and overall it will be cheaper. Besides that...when I go big with a turbo ls Chevy later its already in there. They eat power but worth it with my constraints.

 

Sweet, let us know how the axle swap goes, i wanna see se pics