85 Pickup/Davez engine swap

[Norcal crawler]

Hey, i'm Brian and i'm 19 years old. I'm taking some automotive and welding classes at the local junior college. I havent really done a build up of my truck, so i'll skip over the first few things i did to it, but the main point of this build is for the engine swap. A few months ago the original 22re blew the head gasket at 253,000 miles so i ordered a Davez Offroad rebuilt 22re with the upgraded cam, water pump, clutch, and injectors. But before i get to that, some info on my truck.. its an 85 pickup, dual cases with 23 spline 4.7's in the rear, detroit rear/ARB front, longfields, 35" mtr's, and some other stuff.

Ok, here are a few pictures of when i did the ARB/longfields.



Finished, and yes i know that the tie rod/drag link are mixed on the knuckle. I moved the axle forward 1 1/2" by re-drilling the perches, and hooked them up backwards. After i found it didnt steer very well, i put it back, then realized i screwed up. So i plan on moving it back before the engine goes back in.



Here it is ready to pull out.





I need a bigger garage 



Here is the Davez engine.



Injectors..



While i was cleaning up the wiring harness, i found bare wire 



Fixed it up and got the wiring harness done.



Getting more done..



Got a  seal for the tranny and a new clutch boot too. Also got new vacuum hoses and a new exhaust manifold because the old one cracked from the coolant, and a few other miscelanious parts. Here is where i'm at right now. I need to do belts and thats about it. I like to clean everything before i put it all back together, and i knew that the bearing in the AC compressor was bad, but when i took it apart the whole thing was shot. So I got rid of the AC because i never use it, and i didnt want to spend more money repairing it. Now i need to redo the rats nest wiring in the engine bay and basicly clean everything up. Then it goes back in. Gonna relocate my intake higher up too. I was thinking about the upper passenger side corner of the engine compartment. I think OOPS did a nice intake setup too.. going through the fender or something, but i'm still trying to figure out where is best to relocate it too.





Thanks for looking!

[91 ex-cab]

Nice engine Hurry up and finish it so you can come give me a hand on my truck haha. I want to take it to the hammers but I think thats gonna be a long shot.

[kneedownnate]

Was that bare wire on a bend on the passenger side of the firewall?  Sounds like you dodged a bullet on the typical 2nd gen harness problem.  Also, are those hose clamps on the vacuum lines coming off the ps pump?  Never been a fan of hose clamps on small hose, they typically distort and leak, but I'm surprised you even need them in the first place?

What did you do with the old engine?  Might be a fun project to rebuild and keep around as a spare.

[Norcal crawler]

Was that bare wire on a bend on the passenger side of the firewall?  Sounds like you dodged a bullet on the typical 2nd gen harness problem.  Also, are those hose clamps on the vacuum lines coming off the ps pump?  Never been a fan of hose clamps on small hose, they typically distort and leak, but I'm surprised you even need them in the first place?

What did you do with the old engine?  Might be a fun project to rebuild and keep around as a spare.

Yep, passenger side by the firewall. Yea they are, and idk, they had clamps on them before i took them off. They were the kind you squeeze with a set of pliers to get off, and i just dont really like those so i switched them. If you think it will be a problem, i can stick the stock ones back on. I'm not too concerned with those ones because they are in an easy to reach spot, but the others i definetly wanted to change out. I'm gonna take the old engine back to davez for a $350 core charge. I would have just rebuilt it from the start, but i was hoping to have this done as soon as possible, because i've been driving my dad's Jeep ever since it happened.

And oh yea i almost forgot, the goal is to have this done by the time i go back to school, sometime in mid January.

[87hillbillyoter]

lookin good so far man. wish i had the dough for somethin like this haha. keep it up!

[Norcal crawler]

Ok, so i've got the engine in and most of it all connected except for the intake. I do Fordyce a lot and want to relocate the intake higher up. I was thinking about just doing a 180* u-bend up to the passenger side corner, but i'm still not sure where the best place for it is. Anybody got any ideas on where it should go? I'll get some current pictures of the engine tomorrow. I should be able to start it up by this weekend and take it for a test drive.

[91 ex-cab]

Anyway you could move it into the space under the windshield wipers? Or maybe just move it to the corner like you said and put an elbow at the end to tilt it upwards

[87hillbillyoter]

you could put it through the firewall and into the cab. or a snorkel

[Norcal crawler]

Anyway you could move it into the space under the windshield wipers? Or maybe just move it to the corner like you said and put an elbow at the end to tilt it upwards

I thought OOPS did something where he routed it through the fender and up into that space, but i can't find a picture of it anymore. And i definetly do not want a snorkel. Not really sure how i would be able to mount it inside the cab anywhere because ive got all the heater stuff inside the cab, would there would be any space to do it?

[87hillbillyoter]

i dunno. ive seen it done though somewhere

[yoshaleng]

Anxious to know what kind of power you're getting now....keep us posted.

[91 ex-cab]

Snorkels are super  . and there is know where to go in the cab with it, the only real spots are gonna be lower than it would be if it was under the hood.

[Norcal crawler]

Ok, got a picture of the progress as of tonight. I think all thats left to do is the intake, mount my air compressor, battery, driveshaft, and fill it up with fluids. The open space on the left is where i was thinking of going with the intake.

[THK Matt]

Nice swap!

[Sparkplug]

It doesnt matter if it is lower than stock if it is in the cab because water doesnt BLAST inside your cab when you are driving. Im planning on running mine into the cab also, looks like the same spot you are, mine seems to have plenty of room to cut a hole, and mount a breather?

[91 ex-cab]

It doesnt matter if it is lower than stock if it is in the cab because water doesnt BLAST inside your cab when you are driving. Im planning on running mine into the cab also, looks like the same spot you are, mine seems to have plenty of room to cut a hole, and mount a breather?

Thats a good point, but last I heard he was gonna run tube doors. So once water gets above the floor line it's gonna be running through the cab.
Doesn't look like there is much room to put a hole through the firewall.

[Norcal crawler]

Dude when did i say i was gonna be running tube doors? haha ive got an amp and speakers and stuff on the floor too. I dont even have any and if i did i definetly wouldnt run them on fordyce haha.

[91 ex-cab]

When we were talking about my half doors,you said you liked tube doors cause you can cross deeper water with them or something and I showed you how my half doors pull of in like 5 seconds. I even have pm's on pirate of you saying you liked tube doors better than half doors and you wanted to get a set. Oh and I found a picture of how oops did his set-up, haven't you heard of the search button it only took me 2 hours

[91 ex-cab]

Just go out and under your fender and then back in, like he has it. Oh and then you can come do mine for me once you finish yours haha.

[Norcal crawler]

Yea they are better for going through water. The water goes straight through the cab instead of pushing your rig downstream. The only problem is that i dont want to redo all my interior electronics before i can go through fordyce. I want them, but wouldn't run them through a river. And yea, better visibility too. Thats the reason i'd run tube doors, not to cross a river with    And yea thats the picture i remember, i didnt find it and searched for a while. Thanks

[Norcal crawler]

Ok i need some help. I got it started last weekend and the idle was rough. I remembered i took off the TPS when i was cleaning everything and didn't adjust it when i put it back on. I've adjusted the TPS and it idles steady now. The problem is that there seems to be a lot of moisture coming out of the exhaust. It's not white and it doesnt smell like coolant or oil or anything. It drips through the holes in my muffler too. The only thing i can think of is the gas. Its got a pretty much full tank of gas, i filled up the day the head gasket blew. But the fuel line was left open for a few months, could the gas have condensation in it causing there to be excess moisture out the exhaust? Any help would be great.