Not really a project. Well, maybe sort of.
Apparently I'm falling short on whatever the magic formula is to make a 4.3 work inside a Sami frame. Or maybe I'm too picky.
In order to fit it in there with the stock exhaust manifolds, I'm going to have to mount the engine higher than I want. I won't stand for the raised CG it will cause. I could rebuild the frame from the firewall-forward and make it wider and it would fit. I suppose I could try building custom headers instead.
Then there's the overall length. The 4.3 motor is almost exactly the same length as my Isuzu 1.8, but the 700R4 is longer than my old TH200 by about 3 inches. I could move the t-case and build new driveshafts and modify the floorboard for the shifter to come through, or move the engine forward. If engine goes 3" forward, I no longer have room for a radiator up front (if I keep my winch). I'd have to remote the radiator.
I could call Novak and see if they could make me a fixed-yoke adapter to come right off the tail of my other 700R4 (4x4 version) and it would buy me some front-to-back room (more than enough), but I'd still have width issues and the Novak one-off wouldn't be cheap.
And ya know what? The whole shootin' match is a pig in a poke; I have no guarantees that the engine and trans are functioning units.
So I guess the 4.3 and 700R4 are going to storage to wait for another project. Reckon I'll be putting the 1.8 and TH200 back in. Oh...all the propane stuff is gone, so I'm finally gonna get to do what I never wanted to do (and what started the propane then TBI conversion to begin with): rebuild my carburetor.
Ain't life funny?
Apparently I'm falling short on whatever the magic formula is to make a 4.3 work inside a Sami frame. Or maybe I'm too picky.
In order to fit it in there with the stock exhaust manifolds, I'm going to have to mount the engine higher than I want. I won't stand for the raised CG it will cause. I could rebuild the frame from the firewall-forward and make it wider and it would fit. I suppose I could try building custom headers instead.
Then there's the overall length. The 4.3 motor is almost exactly the same length as my Isuzu 1.8, but the 700R4 is longer than my old TH200 by about 3 inches. I could move the t-case and build new driveshafts and modify the floorboard for the shifter to come through, or move the engine forward. If engine goes 3" forward, I no longer have room for a radiator up front (if I keep my winch). I'd have to remote the radiator.
I could call Novak and see if they could make me a fixed-yoke adapter to come right off the tail of my other 700R4 (4x4 version) and it would buy me some front-to-back room (more than enough), but I'd still have width issues and the Novak one-off wouldn't be cheap.
And ya know what? The whole shootin' match is a pig in a poke; I have no guarantees that the engine and trans are functioning units.
So I guess the 4.3 and 700R4 are going to storage to wait for another project. Reckon I'll be putting the 1.8 and TH200 back in. Oh...all the propane stuff is gone, so I'm finally gonna get to do what I never wanted to do (and what started the propane then TBI conversion to begin with): rebuild my carburetor.
Ain't life funny?