4.3 chevy into 60 cj5

I was thinking about getting a chevy 4.3 motor for my 60 cj5. What is the general feeling on this conversion? Will the T90 take the 4.3 with mainly on road driving? How much room is there under the hood with this conversion, do I have to move drive tran forward or back, for clearance? Searched archives for related post, did not find any.

 

novak-adapt.com has a info library and they go into detail about the 4.3. I think its a good motor and will probably put one into my Willys PU eventually.

 

I think the 4.3 is THE swap to do. PLUS, it is then so much easier to upgrade to an SM420 or SM465 at the same time. You get a good fuel injected motor, parts are plentiful and cheap, and you then get a grany geared, and stout 4 speed.

 

This is the swap I'm saving parts for, including the 4.3 I'm getting ready to rebuild.

Not sure how you searched, but there is plenty of info on this site about this swap, including from the Technical Section.

 

I found the one post in the technical section, after posting. I am not good at searching with a computer.

 

I talked to local salvage yard, said he could set me up for $400. or a little more with throttle body motor, and external accessories. Motor would be a good lower mileage motor.

 

just get every piece and part you can that goes with it. I'd like to do a TBI motor too but the wiring harness, sensors, etc will cost you dearly if you don't get them all.

 

Search this site should give you tons of info on the swap. You sometimes just have to read through the suggested threads to find the specific information.

I'm going with the SM420 when I put in the 4.3, especially after just spending another weekend grinding gears on mine.

 

And the computer. Don't forget that. I spent less than that on mine with the 700R automatic I won't use but it's relatively high mileage so I'm rebuilding it.

 

Salvage yard said, computor, sensors, brackets, bellhousing, any and all parts needed for project. Owner is a nice guy, and has replaced motors in other cars for me. Now if he don't have part, and has to locate that would be a different story I'm sure.

How much more streetable (55-65) would this conversion be, with out overrive installed?

 

Was reading about the sm420, sounds like a good way to go, may try that also if I go that way. I do have an old grain truck sitting around, that I just might work out a swap, ford fc 600, with salvage yard.

 

I have a 4.3 in my CJ-7, it's an excellent motor and easy swap. Throttle body is a super simple injection system that's easy to hook up and very dependable. I used motor mounts from Novack.

 

put 4.3 with advance adapters motor mounts in the 3 b , sm465 trans with a novak adapter to connect trans to the dana 18 transfer case basically a pretty straight forward swap fairly easy


just be sure you take the wiring ,ecm ,and any thing else you may need from the donor, I also needed to get a pair of headers from advance adapters since the stock manifolds wouldn't work with my application another thing I did was use a toyota master cylinder and slave cylinder for the clutch

 

A 4.3 v6 fits very well in my 65 cj5. The driveshafts didn't change. The HEI is about one inch from firewall. Best thing I every did.

 

The 420 may have a marginally lower first gear and is probably 25 lbs lighter than the SM465 but I would still go the latter. Easier to find parts and a shorter adapter will allow close to a normal length rear driveshaft. I also believe it is stronger and you have more front driveshaft clearance.

The speed with a 4.3 will be pretty much entirely dependent on gearing. They will run perfectly well all day at 3000+ rpm. However, they really shine with an overdrive because the HP isn't limiting-at least not at the speed you would normally drive and it will definitely bump mileage up.

 

John, your right on by sugesting the SM465 . You can order a adaptor that is one inch thick, mine is from adv. adaptors and came with everything. This is shorter than the sm 420 WITH IT'S adaptor. My set up uses stock length drive shafts but I needed a short water pump. The power is crazy.

 

Here is my build thread with lots of photos of the tranny and adapter mentioned above, you may find something interesting/helpful in there. http://www.earlycj5.net/forums/showthread.php?74891-In-the-beginning