i would start here , engine bay and under chassis included ,....
then i would take moment or two and re-evaluate all your " Must-Have's " list above ...
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What would you do?
- Thread starter seaward
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i would start here , engine bay and under chassis included ,....
then i would take moment or two and re-evaluate all your " Must-Have's " list above ...
If you’re mostly in the city then you won’t really reap the benefits of the 5 speed. First gear has a bit more umph to it and it’s very nice to have the truck run around 2500 at highway speeds, but putting around town you won’t really notice it. Unless your transmission is worn out already. Then you’ll be best to install a new unit. For the cost of a rebuild on the original transmission you can install a new 5speed.
How’s the transfer case. A solid transfer case is arguably more important.
I agree with pretty much all the other advice. Get the head gasket fixed. While you’re doing that inspect your crankshaft and rod bearings. Check your cam lobes. Clean up any carbon deposits. So long as the crank bearings look good you could really refresh that thing with a rebuild on the head which is totally in your budget. Get a new stainless exhaust from manafre and a remflex gasket and you’ll be set up.
How’s the transfer case. A solid transfer case is arguably more important.
I agree with pretty much all the other advice. Get the head gasket fixed. While you’re doing that inspect your crankshaft and rod bearings. Check your cam lobes. Clean up any carbon deposits. So long as the crank bearings look good you could really refresh that thing with a rebuild on the head which is totally in your budget. Get a new stainless exhaust from manafre and a remflex gasket and you’ll be set up.
Since your 60 doesn’t have headlight washers, I’m gonna guess it is an early 60. If it is, a 5 speed swap is not as easy You may need to get a later split case for it to work. I’m just guessing though. I don’t know s*** about cruisers.
youll spend way more money swapping in a 1fz for less power and less aftermarket support. Its also more work. At that point you might as well go 1uz.
There are zero performance tweaks that are worth it on the 2f. Its a low revving low power motor. Nothing you will do will ever change that. On a 5.3 you can change a plastic intake manifold, do a cam, and tune... and pick up 50+ hp all for like 2 grand in your driveway. On a 2f you can port the heads, update the valvesprings and bore it out with new pistons and gain 50 hp... for like 10 grand and it will sit at the machine shop for a few months. the 2f is not like a JZ motor where you can just throw tons of power at it and it be fine.
It really just depends on how you are planning on using it. If its a sunday driver around town never getting up above 55mph, stay 2f. If you want to drive it on the highway, make trips with it, drive up steep hills, have cruise control, go 70 mph at 2,300 rpm, actively monitor engine temps and performance, pass semi trucks, tow anything, or ever drive at elevation 5.3 or similar is the way. Ive had two 2fs one with throttle body injection, both with headers, etc and they were all dogs. One even had a H55F 5 speed. My stock rebuild 22re on 35s and 5.29s drove better on the highway than it. and it did it with 2 less cylinders. The 2f is a great torque motor for low speeds.
keep in mind, an h55f 2f truck will do 70-75mph. At 3k rpm. on an old low revving motor (that probably has 200k miles on it) that redlines at 4k rpm. That is just asking for trouble
Here is a dyno chart for a freshly built 2f i pulled from another thread on this forum
Here is a dyno chart for a completely stock gen3 5.3 to the wheels theres not really any comparison between the two and the data is all there. You are getting more torque and power at every stage of the revs and it keeps going after the 2f drops off
Seriously, find a mud member or someone local and ask if you can ride in their ls swapped truck. You wont care about "keeping it in the family" ever again.
See above
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How much more confused are you now than when you asked the question?
There was a question?
10K? 12HT / 5 speed - do it myself. Drive off into the everywhere! That is a beautiful
truck BTW!
truck BTW!
Hammer45
SILVER Star
So what was the decision? I hate open threads.
It’s not worth putting money into the stock engine beyond a basic rebuild. Though even a basic rebuild on a 2f gets expensive in a hurry. A V8 swap can easily cost less and will yield a more drivable vehicle in the end and you can still do a sniper to keep things simple.
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Looks like the OP was "Last seen" 4 days after starting this thread in 2023. Pity there's $10 grand still looking for a home.
