Thread: Mini Truck Engine Swap

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Geez, I guess there are a number of us who have violated this same little truck. In 1990, I swapped a 302/C4 from a Granada into my '83 Mitsubishi pickup. Bought the whole Granada running for $180. Had to move the motor to the passenger side by 2 1/2" from centrline to clear the steering box and move the radiator 2" forward so I could use all the Granada factory cooling components including the radiator. (I'm a stickler for that). Re-engineered the core support to accept the Granada radiator. Made a bracket to mount the Mitsubishi power steering pump on the 302. Cobbled up the motor mounts from scrap layin' around.

Of course I can't leave a motor alone, so opened it up, bored it 0.030", new flat-tops and an Isky solid lifter 270 cam. Love to hear solids tapping. For throttle response and mileage, used an Edelbrock Streetmaster dual plane intake with a 500 Edelbrock carb. The truck wasn't a world-beater, just throttle-responsive and a good runner. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Streetmaster, it was developed by Edelbrock in the 70's as a low-rpm mileage manifold to address the fuel crisis of the day. Has tee-tiny little runners.

The circuit breaker in the system was leaving the stock size tires on the rear with the one-legger diff. It would spin the right rear and not break anything. Otherwise, it was just a good runnin' little truck. I drove it for several years, then sold it to my son. He drove it for a couple of years before a drunk driver T-boned it and totalled it. My son was jostled around, but nothing broken.

The thing I remember most vividly about the motor is that all you had to do was barely touch the key and it was running. Second-best easy starting vehicle I have ever owned. Oh, forgot, wired in the Ford electronic ignition system too.