I hope you'll all tolerate me here, a non-Toyota owner, looking for help selecting a Toyota driveline to swap into my 1960 Rambler American station wagon. It's my daily driver. It's front engine, rear drive. I have the skills and tools to make whatever I need to make this work. Stock power levels are fine. And I've always loved the 22R and (upgrades), I'm glad to have a chance to work with one.

I'd appreciate suggestions or criticisms or gotchas on any of this.

Engine: The 22R should fit in the extremely small engine compartment. I want to stay carbureted and use my existing fuel tank system, I've done EFI retrofits and I hate messing with fuel tanks. This also lets me skip having to accommodate the ECU and associated wiring (this is a car old enough to not even have a fuseblock). I also have homebrew controller for a Carter YFA feedback carb in use now, gets me 90% of EFI anyway.

Transmission: Aisin A340E or A43D. For the A340E I'll have to get an aftermarket controller, unless the trans controller is separable from the rest of the harness. The A43D seems to be internally controlled with throttle cable. The A43D seems to have a smaller case which is good here though the A340E seems like a drop-dead-solid reliable beast.

Does this seem rational? Any suggestions on what vehicles might have the engine I want? 4runner, early tacomas, celica?, ... I have lists made from internet searches but I'm sure there's specific differences here and there I'm unaware of.

Any help appreciated.

tom



PS: For what it's worth, I run this Rambler website, https://www.ramblerlore.com/index.html. (No ads, HTML only, website generates no income, it's my personal work only).

 

Rad project. Keep us updated in the progress.

Tacomas started in 95.5 and dont have the 22re. before tacos they were just called "pickups" or hilux

Wikipedia has a great list of years that the 22re came in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_R_engine

• 22R
  • 1981-1982 Toyota Corona
  • 1981–1997 Toyota Hilux
  • 1981–1984 Toyota Celica
  • 1991 Toyota Cressida
  • 1981–1995 Toyota Pickup
  • 1984 Toyota 4Runner
  • 1984–1989 Toyota Land Cruiser II, Bundera
• 22R-E
  • 1985–1995 Toyota Hilux
  • 1983–1985 Toyota Celica
  • 1983–1987 Toyota Corona RT142
  • 1984–1995 Toyota Pickup
  • 1985–1995 Toyota 4Runner
  • 1989–1997 Volkswagen Taro

You could also look in toyota motorhomes or uhauls of these eras

 

Thanks for the list!

I finally found one, a 1994 22re with auto trans (and the parts places use the phrase "changeover" to mean you want engine, trans and all the brackets and crap they take off parting out cars). 170K miles, $3000. Sounded pricey, but looking at engine and transmission prices, and how scarce this stuff is in the LA area, it seems in line with reasonable. Given the amount of work I know it will entail, and the unknowns, I'm rebuilding the Rambler motor again, as the least-cost path.

My machine shop said yeah, everything's nuts right now, and people are renovating cars that a few years ago they would have replaced (good for business!).

I was surprised at how few 22r... drivelines are in parts yards. They made millions of these things, right? And maybe 100K of these Rambler motors (the 195.6 OHV), and it'll cost me under $2000 for a new engine, ground up. It's crazy that building an antique (1960) motor is far cheaper than buying a used "modern" (1980s...) motor and trans. But that's the way the world is today.

Part of the issue is TIME to complete. So my new plan is, find the right 22R/trans combo, 'at my leisure', and go through it and ready it for later install or in another one of my chassis. Someone's got what I want somewhere, it'll pop up. Then I'll come back and bug y'all for advice!

(Also, apropos to nothing, I have a very clean Previa supercharger on my shelf, I was intending to put it on an old flathead inline six, but it might be better on a 22R. I know the Previa engine is laid over and might put the manifold and charger in a bad place, but I ought to at least look at that...)

tom

 

If this isnt you, you should get ahold of him and pick his brain

 

Ha! That's Bo! I know him. He "cheated" (lol) by dropping the Rambler unibody on a truck chassis. But th engine obviously does fit in the hole, which is one of the reasons I was pursuing the 22R-.

Small world!

(I also have a Previa supercharger on my shelf... I intended it for a flathead six but I suppose it *might* fit on the 22R...)

 

I have the A43D trans and EVERYTHING that goes with it from a 2WD 1986 Xtracab pickup. I mean EVERYTHING that is associated with the trans from the steering column to the drive shaft yoke. It looks clean. The 22R was junk (locked up solid) and stripped. I just wanted the cab. PM sent.