Newbie 350 swap 88 runner

[88 Runner SAS]

I'm new to this page, and to Utah. I just moved here from the tip of the mit Northern Michigan. I was wondering if anyone has done a 350 swap in their 80's toy or knows someone who has?
Should I buy the adapter for the stock five speed t-case, or go with a chevy one? In the future I plan on swapping in full size danas. The crank went in my four cylinder just after Jeep-Safari.
So I bought a 79'GMC Sierra with a 4" lift. And I just ordered 35" SSR's and 15x10 Hellcats and headers, and Flowmasters. I am almost done with the 350 for it which is a four bolt bored .030 over with flat top pistons and an R.V. cam. My girlfriend is a little upset because we got so I'd have a dailly driver until my 4-runner is done. I told her it will be a dailly driver, but I need to be able to run the trails too while I working on the 4-runner. Sorry about running on, but if anybody has any insight on the 350 swap I would appreciate it.

 

[Greg]

To help you out, I would have to ask what are your plans for the 'Runner? Is it going to be a Dedicated Rockcrawler, or more of a Daily Driver/'Crawler? Do you plan to add Double T-Cases?

I would say that if your doing a 350 swap, go with a GM Tranny, TH350-400 or even a 700r4 if you want that overdrive. Unless your a huge Manual fan; Autos are just easier to drive on the Rocks.

If you will eventually want Dual Cases (Which I would HIGHLY recommend), then keep your Toyota T-Case and get an adapter to the tranny. I understood that the Toy T-Cases would handle a SmallBlock w/o too much trouble, they're pretty beffy. That way you could have killer gearing with options (Single and Double low!!) with the Double T-Case AND it would be easier to drive in the nasty stuff with the auto. Any other questions??

I swapped in a 400hp 350 into my old CJ5 and a currently have a friend swapping a 302 into a 4Runner. Its not easy or cheap, but it sure is fun once its done!

 

[88 Runner SAS]

I plan on eventually making it into a dedicated rockcrawler as I learn more about it. As for the tranny, I planned on going with either a 350or 400, I like the auto better. Sticks are nice but sometimes there a pain. I haven't had much time to explore the trails out here. The day after I got here I had to take my u-haul trailer to moab, and I rode around on a couple trails this side of Moab for a few hours, and the same for the one day I was up there for the Safari. I was told that the more extreme trails were on the opposite end of Moab. I did an sas on the 4-runner, but it is still pretty much stock Height with 31"s. The plan is for 35"s possibly SSR's, I'll see what I think of them on my GMC. I plan to go with 3" of suspension lift and a 2" body lift to clear for the motor. Any ideas on wiring if I go with a carburated 350, like for the distributer and ignition?

 

[Greg]

Wiring in a Carbed 350 should be CAKE!

Does the motor currently have a HEI Ignition? (It should, if its a late 70's motor) If so, you only need 1 wire for the distributor. It attatches to the Dist Cap, on the left side of the Plug (If I remember right). Run a Switched, Hot wire to that one.

The Starter is almost as easy. Run your Positive from the Battery to the Main Lead on the starter and your Original Starter Switch Wire will need to attatch to the Solenoid power stud, which will trip the soleniod. This wire needs to be Hot only when the key is turned to start.

 

[88 Runner SAS]

Cool thats what I wanted to hear. I don't have the motor or tranny yet, but as soon as I get the motor in my truck I'm going to start scavenging around. I'm looking for a 70-79 hopefully a 4-bolt. I'm hopeing to have it back on the road by sometime around the end of July. If anybody hears of someone selling one(engine and or tranny) let me know.

 

[Greg]

Lets see.....what else.....

The Alternator! That will be fun You'll have to get the GM alternator with the original Plug going into it, and probably splice that plug into the Toyota Alternator wiring. That should be the easiest way to do it.

Radiator- Probably have to fork out the cash for a good Toyota Engine conversion Radiator, to cool that thing. I also doubt a standard mounted fan will fit, so a electric fan may be needed too.

Beyond that, its just motor mounts, exhaust and a whole lot of wrenchin!

 

[88 Runner SAS]

Yeah I pretty much figured I'd have to go with a conversion radiator. And I'm planning on a dual elec. fan setup if I can get one. I'll remeber the alternater pig tail when I get the motor. I'm also thinking about a B&M floor shifter for the auto, and I'll have to see what I can do about the T-case shifter when I'm putting it back together. I'm figuring that the swap with the adapter is going to move the original shifter back a bit.

 

[Greg]

It may move the shifter, I don't know for sure. Let us know how things work out with this project!

What trails did you run when you were in Moab?

 

[88 Runner SAS]

I'm not sure what they were, I'm below moab and the trails were just outside of town maybe ten minutes. There were roads to the left and right directly across from each other on the highway. I took the one to the left for a ways and it had a sign that said behind the rocks trail that I took. We went down and up some rocky spots almost to much for it with 31"s. One spot we went over this little mound of dirt in the trail(looked like a little mound of dirt) and it dropped about two feet(rock covered with dirt) the frame hit and then the back bottomed out out snapped off the rear bumper that was welded to the frame. For the Safari we took the ones to the right (pretty mild). We got up far enough that we could see Moab and the big wall cliff to our left.

 

[SnwMnkys]

People on POR were complaining about the TH350 for off road. Some people had built them up and they still had problems with them crapping out. They said it would be better to go with the TH400 for the strength, or the TH700 for the low ratio of the first gear.

 

[Too Far]

People on POR complain about everything!
a 350 is a fine tranny as long as it is upgraded some. You can throw a manual valve body on it as well. Its shorter than the 700r4 and easier to install. The 400 is a stout trans, but it has a way high first gear and it is big.
A mild 350 with 350 trans and a 23 spling toy case with 4 to one gears would be just about right I think. You could easilly run the stronger 4.10 gears as well.
Depending on how much you can spend AA and Downey have all the conversion parts you could ever hope for.
As far as a carbureted motors go I recomend against them. Try to find a throttle body 350. It will cost a bit more at first, but it will run at any angle. I have seen too many rigs cough and sputter on the carb to ever want to run one. THe TBI motors arent as modification freindly, but it doesnt sound like you are trying to build a drag car anyway.

 

[88 Runner SAS]

Yeah I heard about the carbs being bad for climbing before, guess I just forgot. I've talked to a few people about it since I read the reply, and I think the tbi is what I'll look for. There isn't much for junk yards around here like there was in my hometown, I guess I'll have to do a little traveling to find what I'm looking for.
Anybody got any good ideas on where to start?

 

[Caleb]

Originally posted by SnwMnkys
People on POR were complaining about the TH350 for off road. Some people had built them up and they still had problems with them crapping out. They said it would be better to go with the TH400 for the strength, or the TH700 for the low ratio of the first gear.

That was only in that one post...every other time the 700 is the shitty tranny and the 400 is the king but does soak up a lot of power...majority of the RCAA competitors running autos are running 350s...they can be had cheap and are fairly inexpensive to build up...I am going to be running a TH350 behind my 4.3L and just incase I am building a second one too...I got both trannys for free

 

[Greg]

I agree with Supergper, the TH350 should be fine. And if it were to die, they can be found for cheap.

To tell you a little story about Autos, I had a old Camaro with a built smallblock that ATE 3 TH350 is a few months. The Third tranny took out a $400 stall converter!!