So this was my truck 3 years ago.. and this was my truck 3 weeks ago and then the conversion began. I've had a world class T-5 transmission laying around for a few years and I picked up a running 355 locally for 800 bucks carb to pan. The shocks used are QA1 DS301 twin tube 11.125 inch coilover shocks with GM style bottom eyelets. The springs are summit 550 lb 7" springs. The shock towers are from Chassis Unlimited. The upper control arms are Mustang 2 control arms from Speedway Racing. The toyota truck has 4.5" between mounting holes on the frame while the mustang 2 front end had 5". These were the closest I could find to fit my needs.. Thiis setup is just about 650 dollars. Definitely not a beginner install. Do not attempt without prior welding skills. here's most of the setup. I know it looks huge. It won't stay like this. had to take .25 off of each hole toward the center fits good. moving on aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa ok so the upper control arm hits the new mount. no biggie. the sway bar is really close to the shock anyway so i moved the top hole inward toward the frame and chopped it down to suit the application. the bottom bolts are now bolted in through the top to transfer the weight accordingly with the new system. I may reinforce the lower control arms in the future if i notice any fatigue. and here's the finished product. all free and clear of any obstructive parts, can lay the frame if i want to and hopefully it helps with handling. now onto phase 2: the motor. I already welded the rear last week so that's out of the way. Hopefully it doesnt grenade instantly. What do you think, first burnout? I'll put 20 in it. advance adapters makes these specific mounts for this truck. only works with 4 cyl motors. oh man...straight out of the "spectre" aisle at pep boys. It's a 355 (.30 over) with a fresh bottom end, 1.9x monte heads, a 292 cam with .480 lift, pro form roller rockers, edelbrock torker 2, holey 650, 4 bolt 2 piece main. i got it to be a little more "my style". not crazy about that color olive but it was the only olive high temp i saw. the headers probably won't work. i'm going to try but they look too wide. i will probably get the log style swap manifolds by advance adapters. they are available for toyota swaps right off summit. the transmission mount checks out dimensionally...so it should sit in that big hole where the stock one went. i got a zoom kevlar clutch kit and summit flywheel, an aluminum short style water pump, aluminum alternator bracket, all arp fasteners ready to go in. The drive shaft I will have to bring to a local drive shaft shop which will cost around 300 dollars. I'm already way over my proposed budget and I have no idea why I'm doing this to myself but that's my story so far. Hope it helps other people.
Looking sweet man. Thanks for the info on you coil over setup. One day I will get coil overs. Keep up the good work!
Thanks I've still yet to feel them ride, but if I don't like it I can change my spring rate. The springs are 25 dollars each on summit and the shocks give you 12 valve settings. I'm moving in a few months and I have to empty my shop so the goal is to drive this thing out by September. I got another 800 dollar order coming from summit next week so the swap is about to get real slutty.
Definitely fallowing this build, very curious to see how it does. I got a complete doner car ls400 for my v8 swap but have been thinking about sbc for a while now (I'm building a 800+ capable all forged internal 383ci sbc for 30psi for my Plymouth which is only fueling the fire, but I think that would probably rip my poor truck in half lol)
Going pretty smooth so far. I have 4" for the radiator with the short water pump. The driver side header needs to get knocked in about a 1/4" to clear the steering shaft. I will also be able to use my heater core which is great news.
Welded v-bands on the swap headers and wrapped them today. It's not heliarc quality but I did my best with my Lincoln MIG. Also finally got all of the arp bolts I ordered so I bolted up the clutch and transmission. Almost died because I forgot to take out the clutch slave and probably used every cuss word known to man before I figured it out. My neighbor came by and asked if I was alright. I also moved the sway bar to the back holes on all of it's mounts to get much needed pan clearance and also mounted the ends flush to the control arms. I'll post pics of that soon.
more stuff going on... waiting a month for the drive shaft now. should have it next week. Did a wilwood clutch slave if you didn't notice... Factory one is too short for the t5. Drive shaft is gonna be 52.125" long. Had to cut a hole for the shifter about 8" back. The exhaust was a squeeze but it worked with enough room for heat shields. excuse the paint I'm in the middle of redoing all of that...