Supra swap

[MoparSteve]

Mis-read you there. I see now what you were saying, thought you were saying the R154 is easier to find than the W58.

Part of it was an attempt to answer bigdemo1's comment about R154's being all over the yards.

The W58 I picked up for my swap cost me right around $50, and it wasn't the only one there. In the end it went back to the yard, though. This was at Pull and Save so prices are certainly lower. There is a W58 there now, but prices have gone up and it's $55 now.

I also just notice that you are on the West Coast. Supra tranny is a bit more rare here on the East. I always get a kick out of seeing West Coast ads for Datsun 510 or RX1. Because regardless of price they simply just don't exist here. :-D

 

[dano]

A stock 5.0 can tear a T5 up pretty easy, they can really only take about 300 ft/lbs and when hammered on, go to hell pretty quickly. That said, you can upgrade them pretty easily, there is a multitude of gear sets and goodies for them so there a pretty versatile box when upgraded with better than stock parts. Why not a GM T56 or Tremec 3550/TKO? All stronger boxes, yea, might cost more, but isn't your car worth it?:-D

 

[bigdemo1]

DionR,MoparSteve thanks for the replies and info,must be something about supra's up here in local area,but still don't know about trans price.I just thought this might be better and cheaper than T5.

 

[DionR]

...you can upgrade them pretty easily...

And with the the initial cost of the T5, I could have bought a TKO. 8)

Why not a GM T56 or Tremec 3550/TKO? All stronger boxes, yea, might cost more, but isn't your car worth it?:-D

Didn't look at T56's as the I figured the cost would be more than a TKO, and from what I found the 3550 isn't a whole lot stronger than the T5, and certainly not as strong as the R154. It doesn't help that there wasn't one even available. A TKO would have been my favorite option, but no way I could swing it.

I don't think I have $1000 into my setup yet, and that includes the transmission, the adapter plate and the Spec stage 3 clutch.

I wish I could just do the TKO, but my family has to come before my cars, so it's either as cheap as possible or not at all. :-D

 

[DionR]

Sorry, I keep thinking of reasons I decided to go with the R154.

I didn't like the gear ratio's of the T5, 5th was too tall with the short first gear, just didn't make a good combination. On the other hand, the R154 was almost identical to the TKO 1st through 4th with a better 5th gear to match the shorter first.

From what I could tell, no matter what I did I was going to have to cut the crossmember unless I went to the Keisler kit. Even the T5 would require a cut to get the tail up into the car for a correct driveshaft angle. If I have to cut the car anyway, what's the advantage to the smaller T5?

BTW, found my notes, here's a couple of pieces of intresting info.

TQ rating for the R154, T5, 3550, T56
450, 330, 425, 450

Weight for the R154, T5, 3550, T56
94, 76, 95, 135

Similar rating for between the R154 and the T56, but the R154 is 40 pounds lighter.

Something else, the T56 is rated at 450 ft/lbs with a 2.66 1st gear. Aftermarket T56's with a 3.36 first gear similar to the R154 have a 360 ft/lb torque rating. It makes sense to run a 2.66 first gear with a deep rear gear since you have a double overdrive, but it's one more cost to add to the equation. I can run a 3.23 or 3.55 with a 3.25 first gear, but the 2.66 would need a 4.10 gear or so which would cost more than a 3.23 gear.

In the end, the pluses and minuses landed me on the side of the R154. Would have been there sooner if I was building a V8 as I wouldn't have had to adapt anything. :toothy10:

 

[Greg55_99]

Some reference material:

http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=3168502&page=0&fpart=all&vc=1

http://www.jeeps-offroad.com/f41/engine-swap-bellhousings-4740/

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=714752&page=8

So, if you review what has already been accomplished, you can use a complete Dakota 3.9L V6 bellhousing,, flywheel, slave cylinder and pressure plate to mate up the Supra Turbo R154. Also, it appears you can swap the Dakota AX15 input shaft into the R154 and use a Mopar clutch disk.

The hard part is fabbing up the floorpan to get the tranny to fit.

Greg