I am looking to put a whole Toyota drivetrain in my Samurai, (engine, tranny, transfer, shafts, and axles). Is there anything I need to know before i start collecting parts. I read somewhere that the motor mounts can be cut right off of the Toyota and welded to the Samurai frame. Also a 2" body lift will be needed to clearance the hood. Is that correct and any tips would be appreciated. I planning to have my final build be: Toyota drivetrain, doubler, YJ conversion in front, change my 3 link rear to triangulated 4 link, rear axle pushed all the way back, 36" possibly 38" tires. Also has anyone ever put a Toyota 2.7L? Thanks

a guy i ran with out in alberta had a 22re, tranny, and axles under his samurai. he kept the sami tcase. he ran 37's

IMO, its not needed, he had more trouble with all that work then the samurai's with just spring overs, 31's and 1.6's.
the weight increase isnt worth the power increase. he also had problems running down the trails with us as he was wider axles.

talking with him, hes almost wanting to junk the truck and go back to all sami runnng gear, for one, everyone else has spare suzuki stuff with them when we go on runs. if you break SOMEONE has that part. with him he has to carry every part that can break with him. the only reason he doesnt get rid of the truck is cause he has put to much money into it to just junk it.

Might should just get a Toyota (gag) then?

If I could take it all back  would have since I'm going to have to buy a donor car always, but I do like driving the Sammy. I mainly rock crawl and seldom do mud. I run with Jeeps and Toyos I'm always the only Sammy so fitting down the trails isn't going to be an issue. I would rather climb over than fit in-between always lol. The reason I want to do this isnt just for more power otherwise I would just put a 2.0L in it. I'm doing this for reliablity. I don't trust the Suzuki drivetrain and I want to put bigger tires and a locker up front and also a doubler. And I won't give that Canadian company a penny of my money for a kicker 3. I do realize I'm adding weight but I don't think it will be that much more.  The reason for the doubler too is that I like driving it on the road now and then otherwise I would gear the crap out of my diffs.

I too have seen many guys "upgrade" to mostly Toyota running gear or other (chevy/dana) and run comparably large tires on their Samurai and usually what happens is that they park it or sell it within about a year after modifying... Samurai really loose their special'ness' when they get overgrown in my opinion. If you're style and desires point you towards a larger and bigger vehicle, it may be best to get a larger and bigger vehicle to start with.

Just $.02

Hope that helps, Eric

What size tire are you running now? a 33 or 35" tire is a good size tire
on a small truck like a Samurai, and Mike Hagen said a Suzuki on 35s is
like a jeep on 40s, or something like that.

For the $$ (I think) you would be better off going 1.6L 16V and keeping
it pure Suzuki, but I'm more of a purest, I don't want other parts on my
truck unless I or someone else built that part for my truck.

Wild

I wheel with a guy who did the same thing you are talking about.  Hes running an LC engineering 22r, Toyota transmission, Toy T-case geared with 4.7's, Welded Toy axles with 5.29's.
He seems to like it a lot, has plenty of power for playing around in Mud, sand, and snow.  Then has decent gearing for playing in the rocks. 

I just think the Toyota power train is just to bulky for the little samurai. The T-case X-member hangs down a good amount....just perfect for hanging up on anything and everything.  It can be fixed but will cost some coin.

Amilla