87tonkatoy

I have an 87 runner w/ 22re & 5 speed tranny (and IFS).... I have a ton of time and money into the 22re but it is just a real problem and im tired of screwing with it..... found a complete running 283 w/ carb and th 350 tranny for $250.... (from friend who pulled it out of little street rod to put in a raped ape 383 so he really just wanted it out of garage)

My question is:

whats better get adaptor to use toyota tranny and case......

convert over to the auto tranny and get adaptor to run toyota t case only....

sell th 350 and yota tranny & case and buy like a t-18 tranny and v-8 transfer case?

ive done alot of research on what need to be done.... body lift, oil pan refab, weld new mounts, build brackets for alternator and all that.... Im sure their will be a ton of small things to deal with....

Its not going to hit any extreme trails, not trying to break stuff but want to be able to do some wheeling with a little power... Im old enough and broke enough things on other vehicals to know how easy that gas pedal can snap things

any input will be nice and when I set out to do this I will document all for the next poor basturd gonna try it

toy283

Having done nearly that exact swap 20+ years ago, I may be able to help. The Toyota t-case is OK in most cases, it may help to beef it up a little later but for now it'll be just fine. For trannies, I used a TH350 initially and managed to break two torque converters (one original and one reman), get a decent RV converter and it'll be good to go. I also ran a SM420 manual mated to dual t-cases. This was my preferred setup (not really a fan of autos). All told, I broke two rear diffs (Toyota), two TH350 torque converters, One t-case, and three birfields (solid front on mine). Except for the t-case and two of the birfields, all breakage was done on the street, not on trails. Lesson here: keep your foot off the hammer on the street as well as on the trail. Consider upgrading the rear axle at some point, the Yota one will handle mild use but it will fail eventually.

87tonkatoy

I am also not a fan of auto trannys, would much much rather use a manual. I need to do a little shopping to see whats out there. There is almost always something on craigslist (im in Seattle so alot of resources). Its just that he threw in the tranny basically for free and it is tempting to avoid other problems, the yota 5 speed has over 200000 on it so i dont want to use it to have to fix right away.....

the damn adaptor kits are not cheap, seems cheaper to find used stuff and avoid that all together. I can build any brackets and mounts nessasary otherwise, and there is a driveline shop right around corner from my work if drivelines need shortened/lengthened.

if I keep the yota t-case and use the th350 it will change the postion of the t case some right? after drivelines adapted what about the castor angle on axles (not camber)do they need to be shimmed to ease stress on u joints?

whatever i decide to do as far torque converter and axles and such breaking as long as I only break one or two major componts a year Im ok, then every year it will get stronger (without puttin me in the poor house)

on another note was the power worth the time energy bloody knuckles and cuss words? I like a project so im not to worried just want to know what others think of it...

toy283

The TH350/t-case adapter I had did not move the t-case at all, no crossmember/driveline mods needed. The SM420 was the same however I needed driveline mods because of the dual cases. I really liked the power but before I installed the engine, it got a complete ground-up build for max torque. When I finally did dyno it (after addition of supercharger), I was getting ~260hp @ 4000rpm and 430ft-lbs @2500 (with 150ft-lbs just off idle).