My 85 motor I believe is on its last leg with an automatic trans behind it. I have a 87 with a 5spd and want to swap it into the 85.
Is this a fairly straight forward swap?
Any advice i appreciated.

 

Carbed or EFI??

 

Both are efi

 

i'd want to use the wiring harness that's on the '85, because there is less to it.

doing that would probably mean swapping over everything on the '85 that plugs into the harness, including the tps? the '87 probably has the straight intake plenum/tb, definitely use that, it has the better warm-up circuitry.

the '85 automatic cpu should be usable with a manual trans??

since everything is apart, you should probably cut the '85 harness open and fix the crimps for the injector wiring, where they join together, they get corroded and can fail... do a search on that.

 

Thing is just how You define straight forward .

Aside from the engine Electronic issues

Don`t forget to jumper the neutral safety switch so many forget that

It is just the matter of the Automatic to manual swap

Since it seems you have the complete manual vehicle it makes things easier since you have all the parts to swap over for the 5 speed.

Clutch and Brake pedal brackets I would hope your going with new hydraulic parts

Run your hard line while the engine is out much easier

Rear driveshafts are different so the manual one needs swapped in

I don`t remember if the cross members are different but you have it already

 

Thanks for the info. it gonna be a lot of work. im off all this next week and need to get it done. the 85 is my DD and the girlfriend has plans for us to do stuff.
Almost just thought of doing the engine swap for now and the trans later.
Can the flex plate be swapped over to the 87 motor?

 

are these 2wd vehicles? with no transfer case, it might be quicker to simply pull the engine/trans as a unit and plug it in that way, instead of spending time splitting the engine/trans.

not sure that i'd want to pick the engine/trans combo up by the standard pulling points due to the weight tho, you'd have the whole thing dangling from the head studs? since the chain mounts are fastened to the head.

the plus to re-using the auto trans is that the rear end gearing might be different between the trucks... however, balance that against the more desirable wider rear axle that came with '86 and up: http://home.4x4wire.com/erik/diffs/

you'll probably want to swap the rear ends out also? although reading that link, it looks like you'll have the 4cyl diff in the '87, not the v6/turbo diff...

 

87 is all out..
I'll work on the 85 Tuesday
Fun stuff when you do it by yourself.

 

Flex plate will swap just use the bolts that held it on.

They are different then fly wheel bolts

 

So this is under the center console.
Transmission control unit?
Unplug it and forget about it?