I was told today about a friend of a friend that said he had good luck using a supra trans behind a small block chevy. Can anybody tell me what is involved with this swap .What years and models are best and any differences in them. Are their any problems and last what are the ratios? Thank You very much for any information..
They use supra trans here behind sbc in cobra kit cars.. Far as I know you want the wedge shaped car ( known here as the MkIII ), like this: Not sure what parts you'll need but maybe a search on cobra kits and small blocks will throw up something ?
There's a guy in Australia who makes bell housings to use Toyota Trannies behind all sorts of other motors. Only drawback is they're configured for the RHD clutch pedal.
Why? I've got a friend on Pueblo, CO with a Lexus SC400. Has the Twin Turbo 2JZ MKIV Supra Motor and runs low 12's (uncorrected) on street tires...He's swapping a TH400 Trans and chunking the 'yota gearbox (too weak). From what he says alot of the Supra guys are doing the same thing... Just curious why you'd want that trans...?
When I read the ***le I ***umed he meant a supra 5spd, not an automatic. The supra 5spd I'm guessing is stronger than the WC T-5. It wouldn't take much to be stronger than a t-5. Then you'd have a decently strong 5spd and O/D without buying a tremec or something.
I posted this during Ryan's absence a year or so ago when I was frustrated with looking for a T5 every weekend and another HAMBer from AU sent me a pattern he made to adapt the trans to a Chevy bellhousing. He said it was also in Inliners mag. I don't have it on hard drive anymore but still have a hard copy somewhere.
Phil, If you could find the pattern, I would appreciate a copy. I'm going to use one behind a 300" Ford 6 in my 41 Chev pickup.
Sorry I left off that the post was about a stick.Some times I dont think or communicate very well. I was told it was a very strong transmission. This will be going in a street project.Thank you for the info so far.
You want the 5spd out of 87-92 Turbo Supra. The trany is a R154. They are a very strong transmission. I plan to run one behind a Ford 300 6 in my 52. It requires an adapter between the bellhousing and the trany(Or a custom bellhousing ) and a pilot bushing. If you can't make your own adapter Advanced Adapters sells them.
the non-turbo, but still good-ish version is the W55 and W58 model gearboxes (the picture above is the correct model to pull them from). i've got a conversion on my 308 holden which is pretty worked and makes around 300 ponies. it's held up well. in my opinion, the turbo boxes (and there have been a few, depending on which model you come from) are too spendy for many applcations. sure, they ARE bulletproof (ie, stronger than a tremec 3550 or TKO - BULLETPROOF!), but if you're only running a naturally aspirated motor, you're unlikely to be reaching the limit for the standard box, which is dirt cheap (round here at least). the stadard W55 or W58 box is about $400 australian from a wrecker (about US$300), and the 6-speed Getrag built turbo box that i've got for my twin turbo V8 project cost me AU$3000... and carps, out resident toyota expert, told me to jump at the chance, because it was CHEAP!!! i'd stick to the non-turbo unless serious gobs of power and torque are on the menu... unless you get the turbo version really cheap, of course. by the way, i'm referring purely to manuals here. here's a good link...
Email me and I'll p*** the drawings and the article for a celica 5 speed to Chev adapter. I'm @ work now so you will have to wait till I'm at home for my reply. Cheers
Heres a little about dropping one into an 'healey... http://www.jensenhealey.com/shop/transkit/trans_kit.html Anyone know the torque ratings? Any weak gears on it... do they eat synchros?
From my experience, and this experience happened first hand, the Toyota gerbox is nearly indesrutable! However, my experience was limited to a drive from Castlemaine to Canberra to attend the Aussy Street Rod Nats. This was quite a few years ago, but my memory is pretty good on this one. Rod Hadfield who owns and operates The Rod Shop ,as previously referenced in a response, makes tons, literally, of adapters to fit just about anything to anything. Anyway, my wife and I had hooked up with Rod through correspondence in anticipation of our first trip downunder. Rod and Carole had extended us unbelievable cutesy and had invited us to stay with them before heading off to the Nats. Rod was taking his hemi powered '34 (his version of the ZZ Top car) and I got to ride with him in the tow vehicle. It was a '69 (I belive) Chev stepside with a big block. Rod's '34 was in a box that had to be at least 24 feet long and was loaded with stuff. Anyway, the point of all this was that the trans in the truck was a four speed from a Toyota Hilux truck!!! Rod claimed that the trans was unbreakable. And, from what I saw, he was right. Rod does not baby any of his stuff so I was very impressed with the durability of this, at that time to me at least, piece of Jap ****. Of course, the problem for us over here is that the trans adapter that Rod makes is for a right hand drive vehicle. But, we're talking hot rod stuff here so using a little Yankee ingenuity, it shouldn't be to hard to figure something out. Bottom line, get in touch with Rod and ask him his opinion. Tell him Norton sent you!
Hmmm, seems everything needs to be said has been said, so no need for me to get slammed for mantioning the T word. AutoCols advice is good, no need to spend more money than you have horsepower to threaten the cog box with. Likewise, the Hilux doesn't shift so fast, but it is pretty much unbreakable, which is the marketing aproach for Hilux here in Oz (we still have it here).
I like to over build my ****. I've found the R154's for as little as $185 but most I find are right around $300-$350. While used W58's run $150-$350. I plan to add a blower or two to my 300 that's why I'm going with the R154. Another choice is the Dakota AX-15 not as strong but has the same bellhousing bolt pattern as the R154 and W58.
There is also now an upgunned version of the Supra Turbo R154 available from Marlin Crawlers that eliminates a flaw the box has with thrust washers and allows it to take BIG power. http://www.marlincrawler.com/transmission/rebuilt-complete/r154-2wd-race Greg
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