V8 mini truck engine swaps....

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Abodybomber

Breaking street machines , since 1983.....:)
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The mini trucks,presented a; air of twin frame rails,and a wide open engine bay. I had to deal with this,in California.. Share yours ,Make sure you have enough brakes....
 
Mine, ugly as sin, but she's got a mopar small block. Though it's not really a mini truck anymore. It's a fullsize dodge with slightly undersized sheet metal :D

I've got 11.75" Rotors on the front and 10" Drums on the rear. More than enough braking power to bring 40x17-15" Tires to a dead stop with ease. It'll even lock up all 4 of the 40's if you try.










And how I want to paint it eventually, whenever I finish gathering up parts for the truck.

[ame="http://s182.photobucket.com/user/ChrisKDD/media/paint2_zpsf1f78f78.png.html"]paint2_zpsf1f78f78.png Photo by ChrisKDD | Photobucket@@AMEPARAM@@http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x42/ChrisKDD/paint2_zpsf1f78f78.p@@AMEPARAM@@182.photobucket.com/albums/x42/ChrisKDD/paint2_zpsf1f78f78.p[/ame]
 
Guy I worked for in a old family machine shop had a Isuzu Pup. Put a small block chebbie in it. It was boring.
 
Friend of mine did a "lo buck" swap with a Mazda rotary. These trucks were unique because the frames were wider than were the Ford Courier / Mazda 4 whanger pickups. It was an abortion. He cut up the firewall to make it fit, and had to use a remote filter set up. The rotaries had VERY low gears, I've forgotten, 4.11, 4.56? He found a higher gear out of a later Ranger I think.

It WAS an impressive street rig. One day he had another engine strapped into the back, pulled up to this stop sign making a left turn into a 55 zone going right down to 45. Some youngsters were there makin fun. so he romped on it and slid it clear around the corner, rear tires just SMOKING with that 400 - some-odd pounds of engine in the rear

I was "gonna" I had a Mazda rotary body sitting for awhile, but I was broke, and finally sold it.

I also had a D-50 I had 'big plans' for, and didn't ever do that, either.
 
The mini trucks,presented a; air of twin frame rails,and a wide open engine bay. I had to deal with this,in California.. Share yours ,Make sure you have enough brakes....

A buddy of mine used to do a lot of Chevotas many years aho. So many for people in fact, that he had templates for all the mounts, and part numbers for all the swap pieces, exhaust manifolds etc.
 
had a 4x4 Ranger that I swapped a 302/c4 into. thing was an absolute blast to drive. outran my old 340 dart at island dragway a few times. would hit just about 125mph before running out of steam. miss that truck....pounded on that thing off road every chance i had. by the time i was done with it there was not a straight body panel on it. there were small dents on the roof by the windshield from the antennae ball. at one point i pushed the rocker panel up into the door hard enough where we needed a pry bar to get the door open,.....tires rubbing? nothing a pair of tin snips would not cure....
 
Guy I used to know had a ford courier with a 302....he thought it was fast....it wasn't...lol
 
Guy I used to know had a ford courier with a 302....he thought it was fast....it wasn't...lol

Mine ran high 12's....covered with muck....there was a customer that came into the engine shop I was employed at that time....he had a short bed, 2 wheel drive Ranger that had a dynoed 600rwhp 460 in it....thing was a blast to drive...Friend build off road trucks....he has built several v8 Rangers....one of them was a glorified race truck with a plate. Had an LT1/4l60e in it. Was an old beam truck, so it had a Dana 44TTB with close 18" of wheel travel and a link rear suspension under it, close to 30" of travel. Never got a ride in it, from what I understand the thing was down right scary off road. Seen dyno papers of 550rwhp...
 
Dude I went to school with had a Nissan Hardbody as his first car. Summer before senior year, he & his dad swapped the 4 banger for a TPI 350 from a Corvette. It moved!
 
I have a thing for mini trucks. I've nearly sold my duster to build one. But once you spend the money to build one, they're still worth nothing if you need to sell
 
I have a thing for mini trucks. I've nearly sold my duster to build one. But once you spend the money to build one, they're still worth nothing if you need to sell

Yep....have been looking at an 84 or so short bed Ranger sitting in some ones back yard everytime I go down 291 towards Spokane.....thing would make one hell of a neat truck with a twin turbo LS under the hood...but talk about a bottomless, worthless money pit...

My old Ranger had the v-8 parts taken out of it and the hull scrapped. I was able to sell all the conversion parts for what I paid for them 8 years earlier so I think I made out ok on it....had a blast driving it for several years and had a couple of grand in my pocket after scrapping it...
 
In about 1980 we had a local guy that put a small block into his Chevy Luv. It was a pretty hot truck, but I didn't know how fast it actually was until the "new guy" in town with his 66 Vette tried to shut him up and challenged him to a race. The Luv spanked the Vette, poor guy never got any respect after that!
 
I hear you about the bottomless money pit.

Back when I had a Turbo Diesel in my D50 (rare 4D55 2.3L engine option stroked to 2.5L using 4D56 parts), when I ordered parts, they came from all over the world. Cam & Rockers came from London, some of the gaskets came from Germany, bearings came from Canada, Injector pump (only one in the United States at the time) came from Alaska. Crankshaft came from Ireland, etc

Talk about pricey when stuff has to be shipped from other countries.

When the 2.5L died, I sold off the parts that survived the disaster (plus spare parts I had stockpiled) and was able to make back everything I had invested into the Diesel from day 1. Those parts sold like hotcakes, I had people that drove halfway across the country to pick up parts, and others that bought them and those parts ended up being shipped halfway across the world.

In the end, even with the diesel, it was still a Dodge D50... It's less desirable with the 273 Small Block, but parts sure are a lot cheaper and they're usually in stock at your favorite parts store :D

Except for sheet metal/body parts. Nobody makes body parts for the truck anymore, and it's tough finding good used body parts.

Back when I first got the truck, they were pretty common still, and they were the kind of vehicle that earned you insults and jokes. "You're driving a D50? What's wrong with you?" :D Now days they're so hard to find that they're actually cool (when people aren't calling it a Toyota, or asking me if I have a 350 under the hood)
 
i have a 90 toyota 2wd shortbox i have plans to swap in a 1UZ-FE and an R154 into, for now its a 22re R151. Used to have a lexus SC400 for a short while, and have most of the parts to retrofit an eaton M90 supercharger to a 1UZ. so when the dart is where i want it o be, the toyota will be getting a new supercharged heart.
 
I hear you about the bottomless money pit.

Back when I had a Turbo Diesel in my D50 (rare 4D55 2.3L engine option stroked to 2.5L using 4D56 parts), when I ordered parts, they came from all over the world. Cam & Rockers came from London, some of the gaskets came from Germany, bearings came from Canada, Injector pump (only one in the United States at the time) came from Alaska. Crankshaft came from Ireland, etc

Talk about pricey when stuff has to be shipped from other countries.

When the 2.5L died, I sold off the parts that survived the disaster (plus spare parts I had stockpiled) and was able to make back everything I had invested into the Diesel from day 1. Those parts sold like hotcakes, I had people that drove halfway across the country to pick up parts, and others that bought them and those parts ended up being shipped halfway across the world.

In the end, even with the diesel, it was still a Dodge D50... It's less desirable with the 273 Small Block, but parts sure are a lot cheaper and they're usually in stock at your favorite parts store :D

Except for sheet metal/body parts. Nobody makes body parts for the truck anymore, and it's tough finding good used body parts.

Back when I first got the truck, they were pretty common still, and they were the kind of vehicle that earned you insults and jokes. "You're driving a D50? What's wrong with you?" :D Now days they're so hard to find that they're actually cool (when people aren't calling it a Toyota, or asking me if I have a 350 under the hood)

Sounds like the little diesel was a nightmare. Buddy had a D50, think it was an 85 or 86...he bought it new and traded it in on a Ranger after having it for a few months.

My Dad had a 72 Datsun, think it was a 620 series if I remember correct. Became mine after he had the strokes. Was a rot box. Wanted to restore it in the worst way but there was zero parts available for it back then. Could not find a wiper motor anywhere...except in a wrecking yard...and they all had the same problem mine did. Really liked that little truck....my Dad used to tow his one ton work trucks with it, dope on a rope style....with a gutter machine, 2 500 pound aluminum coils in the back and a fully loaded ladder rack. Was a durable little truck...
 
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