What are good engine swaps for 79-83 pickups?

Dont want a v8. Need something that gets semi decent gas mileage.. which judging by the 22r mileage it wont be hard to get something easier on gas. And don't want to add anymore weight to the suspension than I have to.

This isn't a 4wd its 2wd (1982) and I'm aiming for street/track fun, so power is the key thing I'm looking for.

It seems like its hard to find many people that have done swaps in these trucks.

I'd like a straight 6 if one would fit but I doubt it. An old dodge slant 6 would be a blast in one of these trucks. I imagine a 7m, 1jz,2jz are out of the question.

I'm open to suggestion on some good v6 swaps that would be worth the trouble. I used to have an 83 4wd yota with a gm 4.3. Although I gotta say I'm not a fan of gm products and would like to stay japanese or mopar. But if I remember right the 4.3 was an EASY fit.

I have everything needed for 20r/22r hybrid, although I've heard that i'd be better off swapping for something else.. whats your take on this?

What are some good 4 bangers that would be worth the hassle? So far I've looked at 3s-gte, 4a-ge, sr20, ka24 and SRT-4. I dont have much knowledge of fuel injection and computers so the less technical the swap the better for me.

I'm looking to get 275+hp out of whatever swap I go with.

I don't want something real hard to find parts for.

Thanks ahead of time

 

personally I would chose a 5mge motor out of a celica supra, the swap has been done before and if you have fab skills it shouldn't be a problem, it is such a beautiful engine, and sounds sweet too! But it's iron block aswell and the engine alone weights about 400 lbs. You could use the original w58 transmission it came with. Lately I've been looking at the GM vortec 4200 straight six, it is all aluminum, dohc, 4v per cylinders, variable valve timing on the exhaust and make almost 300hp.

 

You want something with decent gas mileage and 275+ HP. Pick one not both.

 

If finding parts is a concern do the 20/22r hybrid. You got parts.

Seems to me the choose is the right combination of engine power, transmission gearing, diff gearing, and traction. Depending on course type. Does no good to have infinite power but poor traction.

 

Let me refraise.. my other car is a 68 dodge coronet R/T running a 440 4 speed 450 hp 6 mpg in town 8-10 highway lol... so as long as I'm getting 15 - 20 mpg I'll be fairly happy lol.

 

Kind of wanting to go with a drift truck build on this one. So a bit less traction might be what I'm after.

 

What do you guys think of the nissan VQ35DE V6? 287hp if I can grab one out of a 350z. Mate it up with a 5 speed or 6 speed. Should be plenty of fun. Almost 300 hp at the crank and decent gas mileage. I just dont know what would be in store on the technical side of things. And how much of a pain the swap would be.

 

I'm sure you know the more rare and uncommon engines your looking at swapping will be the most difficult and probably not much info on them

 

One I forgot to mention (before Slacker does ) is the 3.4 swap, or even the 4.0l from the tacoma, there is a guy on celicasupra.com fitting one with an rx-8 transmission. As much power as the VQ, maybe a bit more torque, and trd offers a supercharger. Check out Slacker's build for detailed info for the swap. If you want a drift truck a 1uzfe is also a good candidate. But since we don't know your fab skills and budget it's really hard to give suggestions.

 

actually .. I'm doin a 7mGTE in my 2WD
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f209...pertoy-114961/

should dyno out a ~ 400HP . and then once I break in the motor , i'll upgrade the turbo to get ~ 600



.

 

Thanks for the replies gents...

@JasonYota- I'm well aware with the supply and demand mechanics when it comes to cars.. been messing with old school mopars and old school imports for a long while now. If you were referring to the VQ35.. its actually extremely common as I believe its an option for any nissan model car or truck(if not, most of them).

@Gillesdetrail- thanks for the suggestion I'll look into them. As far as my fab skills go I was a welder/fitter for a few years so I'm pretty handy when it comes to metal fab. My faults lay in the technical side of things. I'm not real familiar with the wiring and computers on fuel Injected vehicles so that would be my biggest challenge.

What I don't want to do is cut on the body at all. For instance I dont want to do any cutting on the firewall to make something fit and I'd like the stock hood to shut without any clearance issues. So cutting holes or getting an aftermarket hood or scoops is out of the question. In my experience when you go to cutting on the body of a car it really hurts the value.

 

I did a twin turbo 2jz swap. its a vvti motor so the mpgs are decent 20-25 around here.

A 2wd swap would be a piece of cake for a jz swap. a 1j or 2j with trans can be had for less than 2k. add in motor mount adapters, radiator, intercooler, and fuel pump there isnt much else besides wiring. I did my swap for under 5k. these engine can also hold 800hp on stock internals and can easily be made to produce around 400 reliably.

Granted its kind of an over the top swap and the motor is heavy. an all aluminium lexus v8 would probably be a better choice in a small 2wd. im not sure about the milage on those though

Its fun though it hauls ass and blows the doors off most of the cars around town. The first car I raced was a camaro and the look on the guys face when he caught me at the next light was priceless. like he was wondering how in the world did that 30yo pos beater beat my new muscle car????

 

Looks awesome. Did you have do any cutting on the firewall? And does the engine compartment on yours have the same amount of space as a 79-83? As I can't seem to find a 79-83 with a 2jz or any straight 6 swap for that matter.

 

Many have been done, I've seen 5m/6m, 7m, 1jz and 2jz n/a or turbo, even a mercredes 300d 6cyl diesel.

 

2rz/3rz with a turbo