Newbie 350 conversion questions (1 Viewer)

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NorCal Cruiser

I don't post much
Joined
Nov 3, 2005
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Tuolumne/ Rancho Cordova, CA
I'd appreciate any info I can get-

I'm planning to swap a tbi 350 out of an '89 Chevy suburban into my 1983 fj60. I'm going to use an AA ranger torque splitter OD and I'm toying with the idea of buying an Australlian lo-ratio tranny from Man a fre to replace my stock 4 speed. While I have everything torn apart I'm going to throw on Man a fre's 4" OME lift and shackle reversal kit.

I'm going to be using my rig for work driving around the desert in southern California, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah. Not much hardcore wheeling, but I'll be out in the middle of the desert alone. I need it to be safe and reliable- breaking down in the middle of nowhere sucks!

Does anyone know of any gremlins I'm going to run into doing this swap? I'm not going to have a lot of time to get it done- around a month, so if I could anticipate any problems it would be very helpful. Is anyone running a similar motor? Any problems with the serpentine belt system fitting? Will I need to use an electric fan? What wiring harness did you use? Do you use an O2 sensor? Any idea if I will need to get new drivelines after the 4" lift?

Cheers for your help!
 
What you are planning=>

The good: TBI 350s are cheap and generally reliable, and parts are available about anywhere. You'll enjoy the additional power.

The bad: Unless you are a dyed-in-the-wool gearhead then a month for all that work is seemingly unrealistic. You might be able to pull off either the drivetrain swap OR the suspension work but I wouldn't attempt both.

For your other questions, The serpentine belt system is light years better than the old style and generally provides more room up front - you be able to use a regular fan with a clutch.

You can either reuse the harness from the donar vehicle or get one from an aftermarket supplier like Summit, Howell, etc. I used a Painless, but wouldn't don't know I would again - I hear there are other, sturdier options.

Unless you are a computer wiz and rewrite code in your sleep, you need to make sure you swap the entire EFI/Ignition systems; the motor will never get into a proper mode without an O2 sensor.
 
I know that it will be a rush, but I'm hoping that I'll make it. If needed one of my friends is a mechanic and I can take it to him to get it finished.

I'm thinking that the lift should be do-able in a day- I've done 4" lifts on a few suburbans and it didn't take all that long... although the shackle reversal could add some time- I don't think it's too complicated. Am I way off on my guestimate?

For the motor swap I'm thinking I can have the old motor out in a weekend. After a quick look through the Advanced Adapters manual on the over drive I was hoping that getting the 350 into the rig wouldn't be that bad... bolt the OD to the tranny- bolt the motor to the OD- and weld in the new motor mounts. I'm thinking that the real time killer will be the wiring.

Last year a friend swaped a tbi 350 into a cj7. He said that if he were to do it over he would have used the stock wiring harness over the painless harness. I've heard that there are better options out there- can anyone recomend anything?
 
You're really not including 3 very important variables: unanticipated problems, "while you're in there" syndrome and debugging.

You can do a suspension swap in a long afternoon, assuming you don't spend a day and a half trying to remove a rusted, frozen U-bolt nut.

While you're in there, doing a motor swap without putting redoing the clutch is "false economy" as the English say. Rear main seal wouldn't hurt either.

If you do the drivetrain swap and suspension at the same you'll have to debug two separate systems in parallel - is that high speed vibration you now have the result of the suspention work or the placement of the motor? If you do the two projects in series then debugging each will be simpler.

And don't underestimate the effort to properly locate the motor. I don't know if the Orion option allows you to retain the stock tranny mounts, but even if it does, choosing the right postion for the engine mounts takes some time - you've got to get the right angle and lateral positioning to keep the drivelines in phase and meet some other considerations. I spent the better part of a day measuring and remeasuring for the position of my new motor mounts. The same need for precision applies to installing the new shackles. You're spending some pretty good money on this deal so if you want it to work the way you expect and be safe you shouldn't rush.

I'm not saying don't do it - I think the 350 swap is the cheapeast and simplest way to spark up an old 60. But you should have realistic expectations. The best thing I've run across is the Jags That Run book. It's a little bit dated now, but will give a good idea of what to expect.

Good luck.
 
I hadn't thought too much about the task of positioning the motor. According to what I've read so far using the AA overdrive as the adapter between the motor and the tranny keeps the tranny and the transfer case stay in their stock location. You just bolt the overdrive to the tranny then bolt the motor to the overdrive (I hope). I'm hoping that this will make it a little easier to position the motor.

I also hadn't given any thought to having to debug the setup. I'm definitely going to have to do some major shake down on the rig before I take it on any long trips.

Thanks for the info about Jags That Run. I'd never heard of that before and they had some great info on their site.
 
NorCal Cruiser said:
I hadn't thought too much about the task of positioning the motor. According to what I've read so far using the AA overdrive as the adapter between the motor and the tranny keeps the tranny and the transfer case stay in their stock location. You just bolt the overdrive to the tranny then bolt the motor to the overdrive (I hope). I'm hoping that this will make it a little easier to position the motor.

you are on the right track with the AA torque splitter. i have that setup, and you are able to retain the stock position of the tcase. it does save a lot of headache with trying to align the enging to get the motor mounts welded on. you should be fine doing it that way.
 
Even with stock rear mounts there's a good bit of jiggling up and down/side to side to fit the new AA mounts. You aim for 3 to 5 degrees upward engine angle and engine centerline as close to frame centerline as possible. To get this right might involve scap plates and/or modification to the AA mount bolt holes.
 
It looks like I might not have to travel for work this month, so I'll hopefully have a couple more weeks to work on my cruiser. I'm hoping to get my parts ordered in the next couple of days then start working next week at getting the old motor out.

Good Times!
 
NorCal Cruiser said:
I'm going to be using my rig for work driving around the desert in southern California, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah. Not much hardcore wheeling, but I'll be out in the middle of the desert alone. I need it to be safe and reliable- breaking down in the middle of nowhere sucks!
Cheers for your help!

Sounds like you need to stay stock Toyota to me... Nothing against SBC swaps and ranger overdrives but "in the middle of the desret alone" says you want a chevy but need a toyota
 
I know the stock motor is super reliable, but I have a lot more experience wrenching on chevy motors so when something does go wrong I'll have a better chance of being able to fix it.
 
Funny, I would say the 2F is just as easy to work on and all of your experience on chebby motors will generally apply to a 2f.


However, the 350 is a good motor. The one you selected is not that much more powerfull than a stoc k 2F..
 
I used the AA Ranger overdrive. It made engine alignment very easy. I bought the AA motor mounts but did not use them. I don't know if they have changed over the years, but back in 96 they didn't look strong enough to hold up a 22R let alone a 350. I eneded up using Chevy mounts out of an old pick up.
 
was it very hard to make the stock chevy motor mounts work?
 
look on ProffittsCruisers.dcom web site for conversion parts instead of Man-A-Fre. Jeremiah from Proffits has spent alot of time with me on the phone answer questions. His prices are very resonable. I first started pricing parts from Man-A-Fre until people from IH8mud started advising. I'm doing a similar conversion. 61 fj-25 sbc. soa, 700r4, hi-steer, 4 wheel disc & etc, etc.
 
MandMAutomotive said:
I first started pricing parts from Man-A-Fre until people from IH8mud started advising.


Any reason in particular for not ordering through Man-a-Fre? The main parts I'm using for the conversion will be from Advanced Adapters- I was going to order them through MAF because I'm planning to use the MAF/ OME 4" lift kit.
 
I found there prices to be pretty expensinve and there service not the best. I also used the transfer case adapter from AA. I ordered engine and transmission mounts from Proffitts. I'm just trying to return the favor that I was given by the people on IH8mud . I posted on this site ready to order all parts from MAF because I did not know of any other places. Research lifts before buying.
 
"I know the stock motor is super reliable, but I have a lot more experience wrenching on chevy motors so when something does go wrong I'll have a better chance of being able to fix it."

The 2F is about as basic as it gets and I'd say very reliable. How many miles are on your 2F?

I want to do an LS1/NV4500 or 4L80E swap into my FJ60.... but after adding up the cost $$$, downtime, and the fact that my engine only has 130K on it and runs like a champ (slow but reliable).... I'm holding off until a major repair comes along.

Use the factory V8 harness and definately keep the 02 sensors. Find a wiring diagram (search for messageboards online) and go thru all the pinouts and label each wire and hook them up accordingly. You will need a fuel return line if you haven't run one already.

Total up the costs.... add 20%+ for unforeseen items... and always plan on it taking longer. (see signature)
 
MandMAutomotive said:
I found there prices to be pretty expensinve and there service not the best. I also used the transfer case adapter from AA. I ordered engine and transmission mounts from Proffitts. I'm just trying to return the favor that I was given by the people on IH8mud . I posted on this site ready to order all parts from MAF because I did not know of any other places. Research lifts before buying.


I appreciate the info. I'll definitely look into it more before I order.
 
gnx7 said:
"The 2F is about as basic as it gets and I'd say very reliable. How many miles are on your 2F?

I want to do an LS1/NV4500 or 4L80E swap into my FJ60.... but after adding up the cost $$$, downtime, and the fact that my engine only has 130K on it and runs like a champ (slow but reliable).... I'm holding off until a major repair comes along."

My motor has 150k on it, so it is still in the prime of its life. I've been wanting to do the chevy swap for 2 years now, but the stock motor was running great. Last month my water pump went died and it sent the fan into my alternator pulley + the fan clutch was starting to go out as well. When I priced it I was thinking it would cost me around $300 for the water pump, fan, and clutch and if I were to keep the stock motor I would want to up grade to a weber carb and new ignition for more power (and more money to do). Even with the new carb and ignition the chevy should give me more power and better fuel economy.
 
Don't count on fuel economy..
 

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