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Not sure if you're happy about this swap or bored waiting for more progress. Truth is it's been a busy summer. Finally worked on the front cross member today and have more welding to do on that. Met the guys at Desolate Motorsports that specialize in TTB Bronco suspension and got some axle truss, uniball conversion and radius arm parts from them which should make a few things on the build much easier. Ummm so I guess I'll post a picture but it's not much progress just one fully boxed/welded section of the crossmember and the other section being welded.
Thanks! It's hard to stay consistent though, especially after too much coffee and not enough food haha! Been working on getting the welder dialed in and comfortable positions but that can be tricky with all the curves and everything involved with these crossmembers. But it should be beefy enough when it's done!
Got both of the crossmembers fully welded and mocked in place to check clearances.
Bump vs droop Crossmembers that will get joined with tubing in the open holes you can see. Ride height vs bump
The more i look at this the more i like it. Also OP you need to find me one of those T5 to Toyota case adapters or at least get me the part number off of it. Im really wanting to put a 2.3 turbo and a T5 in my 85.
I plan on running a Ford 9” with spring under Deaver springs with King bypasses. Front and rear will have selectable lockers.
Originally Posted by palmetto
The more i look at this the more i like it. Also OP you need to find me one of those T5 to Toyota case adapters or at least get me the part number off of it. Im really wanting to put a 2.3 turbo and a T5 in my 85.
So the adapter was made by advanced adapters in the 90’s, but they have long since discontinued that option.
Man I hope it turns out as awesome as it is in my head haha. It’ll have dual cases as well. I have to cut the rear wheel well out quite a bit, and I’ll be mounting modified bedsides that will match the front.
Few more from today, put in a complete axle to make sure that the ujoint that allows the axle to pivot in the center doesn’t bind throughout full cycle of the suspension then I tied the crossmembers together with tubing. Also swapped in Rigid LED headlights instead of the VisionX 4x6s I had adapted to fit. I think they look much better. Bump Droop Front side Backside
I decided that I wanted a lower ride height so I redesigned the front suspension crossmember. I also ordered a custom made set of deaver leaf spring for the rear end so now I’m waiting for those. I mocked up the new front crossmember the other day and am really liking the ride height a lot more although there is a little more fab work involved to make it all fit. Here are some more pictures for now.
Really dig what you're doing here. How do you plan on mounting those rear quarters, what brand are they?
They’ll be mounted on tabs off of the body and some directly into the body. They are Hanneman bedsides made for a truck that I’ve trimmed to fit the 4runner body.
Welcome to YotaTech, Nice build! I think that's cool too that you got your dads motor back! I wish mine was a fuel injected HO motor. I'm interested in the T5 trans and adapter, does the trans crossmember bolt up in the stock location or do you use a custom crossmember? What kind of radiator are you currently running? Does it have enough clearance with your core support? Just curious, I just got a new aluminum radiator, fan shroud , and 14" electric fan from CFR performance, but will probably end up removing and rebuilding the entire core support around the new radiator.I will be keeping the grill in the stock location, but will probably have to run hood pins unless I can find a way of retaining the factory hood latch mechanism.
Cool build, its nice to see another 302 build thread! Id like to learn more about the T5 trans an adapter as a possible option down the road if my setup doesn't work out. Im running NWOR bellhousing and a toyota G52 or G54 tranny, but am lookng to upgrade to a W56 hopefully by next summer. Anyway, look forward to seeing your progress!
I just purchased a 1994 4runner and Im going to do the ford 302 swap. Ive heard a lot of “promising” things on this build haha, but I am determined to make it happen and do it well! The old motor is a 4wd SR5 3.0 v6 and the manual tranny that is from is it supposedly still good, but I also have a new one for the 302, not sure which route is best with the tranny. I would like to avoid cutting firewall and core support as much as possible. Also keep the old gauges working. The new engine is carbureted and I would like to avoid as much electrical as I can, but id like to keep the AC if I can. I understand the price of all this and the struggle of all this and I love it... cant wait! I want to be driving this thing down the road in the near future! I need major help! ANYTHING HELPS! Please educate me! Also really trying to avoid NWOR. Not thrilled with them.
THANK YOU!
Last edited by Ethan Elmer; Dec 3, 2020 at 06:37 PM.
Oct 19, 2017 | 08:57 PM
