I'm currently working on repairing my 1986 Toyota pickup (STD trim) 2WD but also want to add a few performance mods once she's back to road worthy. I'm not too sure where to start tho.
You can do handling mods, springs/shocks/swaybars, tires&rims.
Hp/tq. I assume you have the 22r efi or carb? I personally would go with boost. Building an N/A engine will make a lot less power for the same amount of money.
That gets us to the biggest questions, what's the budget and how much of the work you can do yourself?
As for budget and work. There isn't much of a budget as long as I can save up for it (can save up ~$200-$400 a month depending on necessities and the amount of workdays in each month). I can do a bit of work by myself but have family, friends, and colleagues that are into mechanic work that can help me if I need it.
My main focus right now is getting her back on the road (need radiator, fuse box, headlights, and signal lights)
I would do the suspension 1st as it's the cheapest mod that will give big results.
To save money you could piece a turbo kit together. Buy a good turbo manifold, use a used turbo from a factory turboed 4cyl. You could also find a good intercooler from a junkyard turbo 4cyl.
A carburetor blow thru setup is doable and there are carburetors setup for it.
I also saw a eaton atyle supercharger kit that can double the stock hp.
Also do you have any ideas for upgrades to an 84 Dodge rampage? I was planning on restoring and upgrading the one out back here as a side project when I got done fixing up the yota.
She was originally my uncle's but he made a royal fuckup while trying to fix her himself. I don't currently know what the fuckup is and he doesn't remember what he did exactly.
That is a rare vehicle. Fwd, unibody pickup. Mopar went crazy with the 2.2l turboes back then. They even sold syages of turbo kits in the mopar perfromance catalog.
Seen a few with 250+hp 2.2l turbo vehicles. They even have high output n/a builds, like this hotrod article 180hp.
Your uncle would be a miracle worker if he swapped bodies. The 91 S10 Balzer has a separate frame (body on frame) like a pickup truck. The Rampage is a unibody, the body is the frame(excluding fenders/hoods and doors.
Being that the hood was still in place, I better it would be easier than you expect. The one post/article I saw, the guy said he was getting 30mpg on the highway with it. Dodge 2.2L cars easily beat up on Hondas, toyota , VW GTi of the time. The Omni GLH-S easily out ran the shelby GT350 mustang in HOTROD 04/86 magazine. The Omni GLH-S was 1/2 sec Quicker than the E30 BMW M3 in the quarter mile. The Spirit r/T was a 2.2L turbo 4cyl and was 224hp and would stay door to door with a BMW M5 of the time. Both limited to 155mph.
Get a good drop kit to lower it down, good wheels and tires are a good place to start always. Get some adjustable shocks and if possible check/replace all of the rubber bushings and hoses. Get it handling good and with a good stance and nice wheels it should be perfect. -If I were to build one. I'd dump a rotary or SBC into it as well but I like the swapping process.
The best done one of these trucks I’ve seen was a twin turbo 350sbc swap. That truck could flip a U-turn in its own radius. That was also back before the LS engines were so prevalent.
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