5lugfury's v8 swap and sas

Enjoy the mileage because after a motor swap its all about the smiles per gallon lol

 

Amen! That's why I have three spare motors so far...

 

A 5.3 in that small of a truck should still get 20mpg easy…. IF you keep your foot out of it

 

It's so tempting to keep yanking the 1uz out of junkyards. Cheap and never touched.

 

The 2tr doesn't even get 20mpg.... I think the best I ever got was like 18

 

Yeahhh I usually got around 15 mpg highway and 12 city once I had the turbo lol. Even now with the v8 I get the same but at least there's some more power there. Who knows what will happen once I drop a blower on the v8. It's the heavy tires and my heavier foot lol


Oh yeah I should note I'm on 4:30s and will probably go up to 4:88s soon.

 

Here's some pictures of the skidplate on. This time I used 1/4 20 weld in nuts instead of running the bolt through with a normal nut. Not sure if I would do 1/4 20 again as the fine thread is picky when lining things up.



Here's what's underneath before paint lol

 

Right before the windrock trip, I swapped the sc400 torque converter out with the tundra one I have. Made a world of difference in the low end and I didn't have to power brake as much in the muddy hills.

Second trip through windrock was better than the first. Coming back with nothing broken helps. 2wd with a locker can do alot but we did find some limitations, nothing a quick pull didn't solve. A lot more muddy water this time.







I did get some video so I still got to post those. Going to change the gopro location next time as most of the videos you can't see through the mud.

 

The plan is a

Axles
Dana 44 high pinion
Ford 9" (with stock lsd for now)
Gears will most likely be 4:88s

Drivetrain
Tundra 4wd trans
4runner j shift transfer case

Suspension
Leaf sprung front
Chevy 63s rear

The goal right now is to swap in the trans, transfercase and do the rear end.

I've already prepped the trans and twin sticked the transfercase





Got leafs from the junkyard and painted them as well



Going from 15s to 17s as it's easier to find 35s/37s in that size

 

Got the old 2wd trans out and the new 4wd bolted up with the transfer case. Made a new Mount that eventually will need modification for the front drive shaft but for now it's wayyyyy beefier than the stock one.


Decided to go twin stick. Don't have a picture but got the trans shifter in and a new linkage made up as well. Just need to cut the twin stick and weld them in a way they plays nicely with the center console.

Here's one of just the twin stick. As you can see they come up right next to the trans shifter


Decided to truss the rear axle with an Amazon $70 truss lol



The truss fit pretty well and plenty of room for the spring perches (which are only mocked up rn lol)



Decided to add a 1/2 drain and inspection port along with a 1/4" plat on the bottom for skidding on rocks. Here's the bottom


And finally paint and assembly. I decided to not touch the third member yet and see how the current gears and lsd clutches are. Did replace some of the hardware though.





Ace hardware gloss black is sooooo glossy





Annnnnnd finally got a used set of goodyear duratracs 325/70/17



33 vs "34.4"






Got some things to do in the front to help with clearance since I'm using an adapter up from until I do the dana 44.

Still gotta get the center console finalized with the shifters and then the fun begins in the rear with chevy 63s and the ford 9"

 

I truly appreciate the little "welder signature" on the rear axle

 

Its my 9" lol

 

Shifters for the twin stick are done now. Also was able to drive the truck around the block to confirm the junkyard transmission was good.





Bed is off now and strip down will start tomorrow.

 

Ripped out the old axle and cleaned the frame off





Playing with shackle angles ended up with a little lower of an angle than this one



Back on the ground



Rear brakelines added. Utilized one of the stock hardlines with an adapter





Also ripped out all alot of the previous lines



Back on the ground. Yeahhh I know the booty is pretty up there lol. The front will eventually match..



You vs the guy she tells you to not worry about



Ended up making the shock tower adjustable with a 1/4" plate and keeping it bolt on





Probably one of my favorite photos showing how tucked the 9" is even with the 1/4" skid on the bottom of it



Waiting on some brake parts as I'm upgrading my booster and master cylinder to a tundra one. Also have the driveshaft on order so mainly waiting on parts right now.

 

Well the truck rubbed hard in the front with 35s and the coilovers turned down about as far as they can go so instead of wasting time to make them fit



And then 3 whole days of grinding





We then started the fun of measuring measuring and measuring. The laser helped alot in this process



We decided on moving the axle roughly 2" forward although we'll see how it actually measures once it's on weight. By the end of the weekend we got it tacked up and on some weight.





Still got alot to go but from cutting Friday night to on weight Sunday evening I think we're moving along pretty good.

 

Well after more welding and grinding we were able to get paint on the frames. Still need to mount shocks and steering but for now it won't rust.



Got new bushings in the springs



Annnnnd after bolting up some stuff, we have a roller









Still got plenty of work mainly steering, shocks, brakelines, and oil pan. Most of of the parts are inbound so it's just mainly time.

 

Bro that is insane. What's the actual lift height now in the front?

SO I ALSO HAVE AN UPDATE. I've spoken with a few fabrication shops in my area who also work closely with Dirt King, JD, and others.... To have the TC Kit rebuilt for the 5 lug for a single kit was quoted at TWENTY FUCKING THOUSAND DOLLARS!!! $20,000!!!!! They did however find me a guy who said he wants to talk it through and might be able to make it work for a fraction... They trust him and backed his work, but JFC.... I'm still reeling from that one....

 

And now probably the most complicated part of this build....steering. Instead of buying a chevy flat top knuckle, we decided to build our own double sheer knuckle. After the some mathing and a lot of internet researching we came up with this


We then plated and added the opposing steering box



As per usual the borgenson joints were a pain to fit onto the steering wheel side of the shaft. The kit we had was ment for a 2nd gen tacoma and came with 11/16 joints on both ends. The steering wheel side was alot smaller diameter and after looking through our parts bin we realized the steering rack has a 11/16 shaft. We gutted the rack and made a stub out of it. We then trimmed and added it to the shaft making it 11/16 on both ends.



We also slapped in some bilstien 12" shocks and plumped the steering box. For the braklines we used jeep tj extended lines from rough country and only had to change out one fitting on each side.

The dredded headers are making a comeback again and since the steering shaft has moved a lot they fit with one runner being relocated.


Still need to modify the exhaust, add the new rear oil pan, and a few other random stuff but very soo will be start up for some testing. Here's a few more pictures

 

Finally got it moving on its own











Still got a few things to iron out but performing pretty good. Windrock testing this weekend