damned I wish I had half the tools, knowledge, space and resources you guys have I'd have a damned nice Raider

It seems common around here for someone to mention swapping out a drivetrain like its nothing <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/mrt.gif" alt="" />

Yea, seein' as how that's kind of the point of this board and all... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />

It's so easy a caveman could do it! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I think Frank's got plenty of practice though..

Always give you something positive to aspire for. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

The rear axle swap is pretty easy. Heavy ,so be carefull.
I've done it 2 times by myself. Once on a dirt driveway.

Hit the pawn shops. Lots of jackstands and floor jacks to be had right now. Pawn shops are going broke , too, so you can easily talk them down.
Get a couple short piece of railroad ties at a garden shop , to use for extra stable stands.
I use tireless wheels on the axle to roll it in place, that way I don't have to have body jacked way up.
A little experience and confidence and you'll be helping out the next guy <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />.

Modern cavemen replaced their stone caves with garages and shops... Effectively Frank is a modern caveman.


Back in the late 80's early 90's I knew of about handful of people that did this swap.

A couple of those people happen to be on this board...

One was some guy up north of Boston, another was the mechanic for the factory racing team... Trying to remember who the third guy was, fast Freddy or something.

I did my first turbo swap around 94.

I've been trying to figure out when I did the first swap into the D50, probably 93ish. I bought the 85 D50 4wd in 89. I redid the swap into the 87 Montero in the late 90's, using the same engine and wiring and such, but I changed the pan to the montero pan (the dent in the side to clear the front diff is different) and installed the truck oil pump and pickup instead of the starion pump. I freshened the main and rod bearings with new ones, and swapped on the a/t flexplate and spacers and such from the truck. So I've done the m/t and a/t swaps in the pickup and the swb.

I think Charlie may have been the first one. I thought up mine on my own, having noted that the conquest donor had a 4g54 motor and guessing I could make it work. I had to have both shop manuals and lots of time tracing out wiring and tearing apart harnesses before I got it to work, but I was trying to transplant the cruise control over, too. I even have the old starquest fuse panel in the truck in addition to the truck panel.

Charlie the guy up north) and the mechanic from team Mitsubishi are the first people that I had heard of that were swapping Starion motors.

The team Mitsubishi guy swapped his motor into a Dodge colt.

When I was a broke student racing autocross with my fire arrow I dreamed of picking up the Starion turbo engine. Once I landed a full time job, one of the first things I did was start the swap.

I graduated in 93, so I probably did my swap in 94.

What a huge improvement over dual carbs and a big cam.

Kevin

I hear you there, Here is a picture of the 2.6 I swapped into one of my colts back in 83.

This dry sumped 2.6 made plenty of torque. Revved sweet too. The swap in my 72 Colt was originally done with a stock 2.6 so I could pull my race bikes on a trailer better. But I soon quit racing to concentrate on the aircraft restoration business I was running. I was driving an 83 Starion at this time and soon replaced that with a new 87 Starion that I took delivery on the day before Thanksgiving in 1986. The 83 Starion did not have as much horsepower as the NA engine in my Colt, but the 87 sure felt better. But by May with 60K miles on the new Starion I discovered a soft lash adjuster that damaged the tip of an exhaust valve. It was easier to order the parts from the local Chrysler dealer than to deal with the warrentee with the corrupt <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/butwiggle.gif" alt="" /> I bought the car from months before. Besides, knowing how much the head responds from porting I wanted to go in the engine myself. What a difference the porting made with the turbo, the porting and the first exhaust I built I was now getting 28-30 MPG with the car and it was pretty fast too.
So a few years later with my new to me Montero having problems the turbo swap was a given.