Why not just swap a dohc 3000gt engine or better yet the vr4 engine! Great work by the way, kinda digging the dash.
Why not just swap a dohc 3000gt engine or better yet the vr4 engine! Great work by the way, kinda digging the dash.
The VR4 engine will be impossible to install in a RWD configuration. The amount of ancillary components hanging off the 'back' of the block will prevent it from fitting in. You would need to buy a complete front cut engine and rat it for the turbo manifolds and other parts. This is a tough but very rewarding build. Once it is completed it will definitely be worth it. I like the full dash swap too - very cool and differentOriginally Posted by Tsiturbomightymax
Thanks for getting that for me man, but yes Tsiturbomightymax, the DOHC is super impractical for our trucks. Doesn't mean that they aren't out there (never seen a complete one but I have seen two or three terminally in-progress builds), but they sure as hell aren't easy. The stock turbo manifolds are actually a detriment of the engine, because they toss the suckers at odd angles for a longitudinal mount and they sit right where the motor mounts belong, necessitating custom fabbed headers and re-clocking anyway.
Thanks for all of the compliments on the dash guys, everyone I show it to tells me they couldn't tell it wasn't stock, which is pretty much what I was going for. It's still nice to hear that folks who know what is supposed to be there like it too.
Sorry to say guys, but the dash is about the only thing that hasn't broken so far. Lost the tranny in september after I clicked second gear at about 5500 rpms, leading to a gnarly synchro-grind and the stick locked in the 2nd gear position with no power to the rear wheels. Ouch. Swapped out to my spare V5MT1-1 as soon as I could and it's still doing alright, but 3rd is starting to sound funny and I'm chocking it up to 20-30 years if use. The carrier bearing shredded itself due to a slight difference in the mounting from the 1990 long bed frame to mine (the bracket is too close to the end of the transfer case. Not so much that it doesn't bolt up, but enough to cause excess wear.), and I'm waiting until I can swap to a single-shaft driveline like it used to have. The cherry on the cake here is the motor seemingly spinning a bearing at 1560 miles.
Took it out to the sticks last weekend and let a friend do doughnuts in a mud pit after a shooting trip and he basically had it pinned at the rev limiter in 1st the whole time apparently. This was, at most, a 1 minute long doughnut, but evidently that was one minute too long. The motor rattles constantly when warmed up, growing in volume with rpm, and under load above 2000 rpms it develops a deeper knock that sounds an awful lot like a rod bearing going out.
The motor had its first oil change at 600 miles with noticeable sparkles in the oil, and here at about 1560 it has sparkles in the oil again and a rod knock. It has always ran cold, maybe a third way up on the gauge, and it was running just as good when it started knocking as it did before, that is, no loss of oil pressure, no increase in running temp, and no loss of power. This last change I ran 20w-50 non synthetic, a quart of Lucas oil stabilizer and a fresh filter. The "new" trans is running a bottle of pennzoil synchro-mesh and GL-4, with pure GL-4 in the transfer case. Those are the fluids that I've had recommended to me by folks who know this drivetrain, so I don't see that being the issue.
I'm starting to get pretty unconfident in this drivetrain. The (admittedly old and used) V5MT1-1 5 speeds I've ran have proven to be sloppy and weak, while the NA 6g72 is blowing itself up at 1500 miles at the first sign of hard use. Do I have gremlins or something?
So I know that there are a lot of powerful SOHC 6G72s out there, and they seem to do fine, but I've never heard of how well the 5 speeds handle power... Does anyone here know the torque rating on those trannys? Do people with high output 6g72s baby them everywhere? I just want to know from folks with experience with these drivetrains if I'm building a grenade that I'll have to always drive like it's already breaking down.
I'm not canceling the build, though I will obviously have to remedy the engine first, but I'd like the questions above answered before I dump more money into this already money pit of a truck.
As for the dash I'm loving it. It's everything that I'd hope it would be
Not so. As long as you have a donor RWD 6g7# motor to take the upper intake and the proper coolant crossover pipes it will fit just fine. The hardest part will be the exhaust manifolds as they will likely not fit. What is nice about this though is that you have a much larger engine bay in the trucks to facilitate a custom setup. I will be tackling this next spring.The VR4 engine will be impossible to install in a RWD configuration. The amount of ancillary components hanging off the 'back' of the block will prevent it from fitting in. You would need to buy a complete front cut engine and rat it for the turbo manifolds and other parts. This is a tough but very rewarding build. Once it is completed it will definitely be worth it. I like the full dash swap too - very cool and different
Sorry to hear about the motor and the trans going. Like you I have a similar build going on. I too have the V5MT1-1 trans. I believe they made the -2 starting the 91 model year. Look like most of the upgrades were small, but the 2nd gear syncro did get a different angle cut to likely fix its being prone to failure. Another route is auto. They made a couple Mopar A-500's (which is a 904) capable of handling over 500 hp. They might be hard to get your hand on though.Thanks for getting that for me man, but yes Tsiturbomightymax, the DOHC is super impractical for our trucks. Doesn't mean that they aren't out there (never seen a complete one but I have seen two or three terminally in-progress builds), but they sure as hell aren't easy. The stock turbo manifolds are actually a detriment of the engine, because they toss the suckers at odd angles for a longitudinal mount and they sit right where the motor mounts belong, necessitating custom fabbed headers and re-clocking anyway.
Thanks for all of the compliments on the dash guys, everyone I show it to tells me they couldn't tell it wasn't stock, which is pretty much what I was going for. It's still nice to hear that folks who know what is supposed to be there like it too
Sorry to say guys, but the dash is about the only thing that hasn't broken so far. Lost the tranny in september after I clicked second gear at about 5500 rpms, leading to a gnarly synchro-grind and the stick locked in the 2nd gear position with no power to the rear wheels. Ouch. Swapped out to my spare V5MT1-1 as soon as I could and it's still doing alright, but 3rd is starting to sound funny and I'm chocking it up to 20-30 years if use. The carrier bearing shredded itself due to a slight difference in the mounting from the 1990 long bed frame to mine (the bracket is too close to the end of the transfer case. Not so much that it doesn't bolt up, but enough to cause excess wear.), and I'm waiting until I can swap to a single-shaft driveline like it used to have. The cherry on the cake here is the motor seemingly spinning a bearing at 1560 miles.
Took it out to the sticks last weekend and let a friend do doughnuts in a mud pit after a shooting trip and he basically had it pinned at the rev limiter in 1st the whole time apparently. This was, at most, a 1 minute long doughnut, but evidently that was one minute too long. The motor rattles constantly when warmed up, growing in volume with rpm, and under load above 2000 rpms it develops a deeper knock that sounds an awful lot like a rod bearing going out.
The motor had its first oil change at 600 miles with noticeable sparkles in the oil, and here at about 1560 it has sparkles in the oil again and a rod knock. It has always ran cold, maybe a third way up on the gauge, and it was running just as good when it started knocking as it did before, that is, no loss of oil pressure, no increase in running temp, and no loss of power. This last change I ran 20w-50 non synthetic, a quart of Lucas oil stabilizer and a fresh filter. The "new" trans is running a bottle of pennzoil synchro-mesh and GL-4, with pure GL-4 in the transfer case. Those are the fluids that I've had recommended to me by folks who know this drivetrain, so I don't see that being the issue.
I'm starting to get pretty unconfident in this drivetrain. The (admittedly old and used) V5MT1-1 5 speeds I've ran have proven to be sloppy and weak, while the NA 6g72 is blowing itself up at 1500 miles at the first sign of hard use. Do I have gremlins or something?
So I know that there are a lot of powerful SOHC 6G72s out there, and they seem to do fine, but I've never heard of how well the 5 speeds handle power... Does anyone here know the torque rating on those trannys? Do people with high output 6g72s baby them everywhere? I just want to know from folks with experience with these drivetrains if I'm building a grenade that I'll have to always drive like it's already breaking down.
I'm not canceling the build, though I will obviously have to remedy the engine first, but I'd like the questions above answered before I dump more money into this already money pit of a truck.
As for the dash I'm loving it. It's everything that I'd hope it would be
The 6g72 motors are pretty strong when taken care of. I dont know much about the SOHC versions, but the TT ones can take a fair beating.
I would like your honest opinion though. What condition was your motor and drive-train in and how bad did you beat on it? I will be dropping in a 6g75 into my 1990 4x4 and want it to last.
If you have concerns about the V5MT1-1 I'd jump right over the -2 and look at the -3. They had trouble with 1 and 2 synchros and were weaker for it. If you already have your -1 I'd look at the fill (or maybe drain?) plug on the trans for a white paint mark. That mark signifies that it was put through the recall and fixed. As for the auto suggestion, that may work for some people but to me, switching to an auto is an unacceptable solution. If you read some of my tomes above you will see how much work I had to do to get rid of mine (which I do believe was the 904). Believe it or not the V6 part of this swap was initially a means to an end of getting a manual in it. The KM145 was said to be weak, so I found the V5MT1 and by extension the 6G72.
The bottom end of the SOHC is the same as the 2 bolt main DOHC motors, so in theory they should take just as much abuse. The extent of what it means to "take care of" a 6G72 is my question here. Obviously keeping fluids fresh and full is a must for any motor, but would I have to run it like an economy car on top of that? This build is meant to be fun, and if I can't actually have fun with it without it immediately exploding, what is the point?
As for my block, the crank and rods were inspected and found to be fine, the block had 185k on it and only needed a hone to get back in ideal shape. Everything was put together torqued to spec, well lubed, and with fresh bearings, gaskets, and good clean seals. I drive the truck in a more sporty fashion than most, but I don't abuse it. I may shift at 4k, but I wouldn't redline it, or bangshift, or ever allow it to run with bad or low fluids. Basically I drive it like I drove my non-rebuilt 280k '89 2.0 truck that never failed on me. Both of the trannys were dropped in with fresh fluid but untouched beyond that. The first one went in part because I used GL-5 in it by mistake, but this second trans has the fluid that it is supposed to take. The stock clutch was swapped for a centerforce dual-friction clutch during the tranny swap.
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