ok, so im going to look at a truck either tonight or sunday sometime that my friends cousin just got for like 350 bucks, said he'll sell to me for 500, he put 36" boggers on it, with 16" wheels, its a 1980 truck with a 20r and a 4 speed,

how reliable is this engine/tranny? will it last for at least the winter till i get my chevy stuff or other engine stuff ready?

not sure of the mileage or abuse of the truck.
thanks
wade

 

20rs are suppose to be very reliable. My friend has one in an old Celica with over 300,000 miles on it.

 

yeah, on a side note the truck that i bought has 282k on the original engine, and has been wheeled sense 1986, pretty awsome if you ask me.

wade

 

the 20R is arguably more reliable than the 22R. it has a double row timing chain with steel guides and better thrust bearings. however, it can be bored out to use 22R pistons since the blocks are similar. my truck's engine has 313,000 miles on it, i think the only thing that's been replaced was the water pump.

in my eyes, the only reliable thing about an early transmission is that you can rely on it to break. i can't wait until the day i can put a w56 into my truck and get rid of the crummy 4 speed

 

so can i bolt a transmission from like a 2nd gen pickup/4runner to my engine or what? what kind of swaps am i looking at,

this engine just takes the revs like nothign to, i had the thing tached at like 6 grand tonight in the mud, (not the best i know)

im thinking of not putting in the chevy stuff i have at all, instead using the 20r and just putting in lower gearset, im only wanting to run 33-35's. will it have enough juice to push those tires with 5.29's or 4.88's? thanks
wade

 

if you look at the specs, the 20R isn't that far behind the 22R(at least the early ones). it has a better head design so it'll rev higher too don't worry, she'll take it

any tranny that'll bolt up to a 22R will bolt to a 20R, same bellhousing pattern and all

if it's really an '80 and you have the original gears, it'll have 4.375s. the crappy l43 tranny we have uses a 3.67 first gear compared to 3.93 or 3.95 like all the other ones, so technically(i figured this out a while back) swapping in a better tranny will make it feel like you have 4.71s(figuratively) in the axles, at least in 1st gear. i figure 4.88s or 5.29s would probably do the trick if you want to regear, depending on how big you wanna go. these trucks are pretty light, mine weighs about 2800lbs

 

yeah, i blew reverse out yesterday to, so im thinking about swapping trannys, or just going all out and putting in a 350. only problem that i see with my 350 setup i have is it is a divorced case, so im hoping its not to long, im not sure what im going to do yet, i wont be able to really look at her and get an idea till sunday night or monday morning.
later
wade