It is finally finished

gorgo · Post by **gorgo** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 1:10 pm

well i finally got all the little nickel and dime stuff fixed and i do believe im finall done. It has been a long 6 months of ups and downs with my swap, and i have to says without the help from here and else ware i couldnt gotten it done. then ofcourse when i started gas was les then 3 bucks a gallon.

but, even with the price of gas it is really hard not to drive it all the time. i havnt had this much fun since i had my 68 road runner in hs.

thanks for all the help and info,
Blaine

dagger · Post by **dagger** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 2:35 pm

Very nice, glad to hear it. Throw up some pictures of the truck all washed and waxed.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 4:34 pm

Congrats for sure! The swap is not for the faint of heart or those looking for some cheap power. What's YOU have done is well worth it. I drive my Mustang to work at least once a week, saying "Screw the mileage", have to enjoy going to work one way or another.
Dave

cgrey8 · Post by **cgrey8** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 7:24 pm

I can't imagine having to drive anything else to work. I enjoyed driving my truck when it was a V6, but with the V8, I absolutely love driving it even with a $4/gal price tag. Even once it was on the road, it seemed like every few months for a good year, something happened that I had to fix. But eventually I got it fairly well sorted out and its been holding together quite well.

And I agree, I couldn't have done my swap as quickly and with as few hiccups as I did without the combined experience of the others from this site. I studied and and asked questions for nearly a year before I bought the motor just to make sure it was within my abilities...and continued to hit people up with questions from that point on.

In fact just a few days ago a friend of mine bought an 83 CJ-7 with a stock SBC350 swap. The original owner put a lot of upgrades into it along with a 2" body lift, some fairly extensive suspension upgrades, and rearend upgrades like an OX locker in what appears to be an F150 8.8" rear. But its an absolute dog to drive. It doesn't have crap for takeoff power. But I suspect they weren't as interested in takeoff as they were in being a good mudder and of course the jacked up look. After we drove around in it a bit, I took him out in my truck so he could see the difference in power and floored it right out of my neighborhood. It barked most of 1st and chirped second and he couldn't help but smile. He'd ridden in the truck before, but I never was in a place where I could let him see what it could really do. I was really proud of it that day. I'm sure there'll be many proud moments with your swap now that its drivable as well.

gorgo · Post by **gorgo** » Wed Jun 25, 2008 7:50 am

mines not really quick off the line but from about 30 to infinity it moves. the truck ways around 4300 lbs. before i put the v8 in it. with the 8.8 and v8 it should be around 4400 lbs. all in all it came out really good there are a few things i would do dif thou. one would be the wiring. i started out try not to cut up my existing just in case this didnt work out. i spent about 3-400 more than i need tring to get stuff to work.
after it is all done i have right around 4500 into it. that is counting the exployer i bought for 1500 for the complete car. 98 explorer awd with 87,ooo on it. still have all the doors, trans and transfer, and a butt load of misc parts still to sell.
im glad my wife doesnt read this, shed kill me if she really knew what i ended up spending.

cgrey8 · Post by **cgrey8** » Wed Jun 25, 2008 8:18 am

That's my biggest complaint about my setup is off the line, it's not terribly impressive. If I punch it off idle, it doesn't really do anything. It's not until the RPMs get up to around 2000RPMs that it start breaking the tires loose. But it does have the torque to break them loose without "dropping" the clutch even with the locker. With wider tires or a bit more weight over the rear axle, it probably wouldn't bark them at all. That's what the future 331 project is planned to fix.

I'd love to think I could get the pull I got in 1st gear now, in 2nd gear with a 331.

jbaer619 · Post by **jbaer619** » Thu Jun 26, 2008 1:33 pm

Mines completly different... well I havent tested it too much cause its not completely done but the other day I was so temped that I just power started it in 2nd (since the clutch is not hooked up yet) and took it around the block a couple times.. but anyways the first time I punched it (in second rolling about 5mph) I smoked the crap outa my 33 Inch mudders!!! so I really cant wait to see what this thing can do when its all done.

cgrey8 · Post by **cgrey8** » Thu Jun 26, 2008 1:49 pm

That's the difference between a 3.27 and 4.56 rear. It's all give-n-take. I'm sure had I kept the 3.73s in my rear, it would be much more impressive off idle BUT fuel economy wouldn't be quite as good and it is nice to be able to run 1st to 50mph, 2nd to 65mph, and 3rd to 90mph.

jbaer619 · Post by **jbaer619** » Thu Jun 26, 2008 6:33 pm

yeah thats true, I'm kinda thinkin to go to the 3.73 gears depending on the milage I get and the freeway rpms or if i even decide to keep it as a daily driver or a straight offroad truck... but anyways i havent congratulated gorgo yet so.... good job man!! I hope to be getting their vey soon

gorgo · Post by **gorgo** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 7:48 am

i'm getting about 12 right now with 3.73's with 32x12.5 and at 75 on the freeway im turnning around 3200. now the 12 is not from easy driving either, its sort of hard to drive easy so sofar i havent been able to find out what i would get. and you know im not sure i will be able to. like someone said it is not easy to keep the grin off your face. i did find out that wet pavement is not my friend. if i remember the exployer didnt get much better than 13-15.

cgrey8 · Post by **cgrey8** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 8:24 am

I take it this is with 4wd setups?

My 2wd Extended cab with stock tires gets consistently 19-21 daily driving it with 87 octane. But that is being relatively easy on it. I do put the pedal down when I need it to get out into traffic, but it's just for short periods to get up to speed...and up to speed is like 45-50MPH, no interstate on-ramps for me to redline it up to speed anymore...

at least not on my daily commute. For the most part, I'm conscious of when I can throw it in neutral and coast down a hill, use a hill to accelerate to a higher speed so I can ease it up the next hill, or shift sooner to keep the RPMs down. But every now-n-then, I just want to remind myself of what it'll do.

I can't say that is an everyday thing or even a once a week thing anymore. But I do remember when I 1st got it together and on the road. Every trip out had multiple WOTs just for the grin-factor.

jbaer619 · Post by **jbaer619** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 1:10 pm

no its 2wd, I never really liked 4wd, the way I see it is if you're goin fast enough you can get over just about anything

and when you're trying to go that fast, all 4wd does is slow you down.. But yeah man I know excataly what you're talkin about..

gorgo · Post by **gorgo** » Sun Jul 13, 2008 10:09 am

well here is the final product. the idle speed thing is isnt coming up with answers anywhere so i will live with it for now. here is some picks http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii24 ... 01309b.pbw