Engine swap/ transmission / air shift ideas

Hey guys

i promise i be finished pestering this board in about 30 days when we go back to work. but for now i'm back...
with yet another looney but possibly clever idea.

i have a gen one, a V43 i believe. i'm a very capable mechanic with amazing resources at my disposal.


background.

the 3.0 is not an American engine. Its slow and underpowered and not terribly fuel efficient. i love it, but i'm tired of it. i've had too many walk-outs from break downs . The darn engine/ electronix is too complex/old for a long-way outback country rig.

this winter with too much time on my hands,

i have rebuilt my suspension, i have devised a means of converting to coil over shocks. i have dreamt up an engine swap . i have dreamt up a transmission swap

way too much time on my hands for sure.


want to share it with you felllas.

A pushrod engine is to me a much better design for a low rpm (and even high rpm) engine.. not complex, durable, and a torque curve which is much more in line with offroad driving.
ive chosen a 4.3 v6 chevy engine largely because it was free. its fuel injected, and its a old clunker. came out of a suzuki.
anyway i chose it to start my engine swap.

most everyone who swaps these engines speaks highly of them, power, economy and for me, weight / size savings over a v8.
simple little engine tucked into the montee bay.
going to use hydarulic mounts from a caddy.

The transmisssion:AHHH here is where i might need some input.
the GM transmission doesnt play well with my rock trac transfer case.
the shift controllers are damned expensive.
the 700 r4 needs adapters for the t case.
none fit well without a body lift - all very expensive

the mitsu automatic: power hungry little transmission with shared parts with other great little automatics the 340 and the aw 4. but again a power hog, and there is zero support for this great little trans . no way to fit it to the GM engine but i can use the rock track and factory mounts behind this transmission

MANUAL TRANSMISSION: the only serious option: ax15 with the rock trac is a natural fit.
the adapter to the 4.3 is clean clean clean.

but manual clutch pedals are hard to find for a gen one. luck rules here.

So when i install my ARB locker as i've jettisoned the idea of a lunchbox and sent my unit back.... i will have an air compressor.

a holding tank for the local truck wreckers, and..... i am of the opinion that i can operate the clutch with air. probably work very well. now the looney part.

i mean loonier than i have been to date

the ram and actuator will sit on the bellhousing. attached to the clutch fork as normal. the switch will either be a rocker foot pedal so i have control the amount of air i send down there. this pedal will take the place of the dead pedal.

or..... an hand operated valve with return spring ... on the gear shift.
im already using that location for my air switch for the lockers this switch will be on the other side of the gear shift handle.
i envision a handle like the old b&m t handles that had two rings for the lock outs . or a round handle from a very vintage 13 speed road ranger with air lines plumbed into the handle.

might be fun. might be a train wreck


opinions?
 
Last edited:

Swank Force One

Adventurer
So you're doing this motor swap for simplicity and reliability....

.... And you want to actuate your clutch like that instead of just mounting a pedal? :bowdown:
 
im playing with ideas. and yes air clutches are very reliable-as long as you have air obviously. starters too.

peterbilt i.e. paccar has used air systems for decades and pedal effort is greatly reduced.

if im using an air can, and compressor, make the system big enough to be useful. and air is useful for so many things. tires tools cleaning out the car etc.

the components are simple bits, and the mounting on the bell housing is, like wow, made for an air actuator. i could not dream up a better mount



and....pedals are hard to find for a gen 1 mitsu.
but an air switch mounted on the dead pedal.....napa.
 

Swank Force One

Adventurer
You do you, get wild, etc...

But from my standpoint, it would be significantly easier to figure out a pedal (not even necessarily from a Gen1 Monty) than it would to do an air setup for this. Personally speaking, of course. We do what we're comfy with.
 
pirate 4x4?
whats a pirate doing in a 4x4?

that image just don't make sense.

yes i know air clutches and so on are, um, out of the ordinary, but very very common in industry.

further such a contraption lends versatility to a platform, that conventional apparatus cant touch .

but its the working through of these concepts that keeps the mind sharp and whole.

i have a hunch im very close to a coil spring conversion with largely napa parts.

on the other hand i do hope we go back to work soon this free time is costly...


pneumatic clutching is really simple. air tanks, valves (foot pedal or eq.), lines, and an actuator on bell housing, done. really really simple.
 

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