decision on my build???

I would regear to the 4.27 gears with the 4.3l/700r4 combo. It would be the best of both worlds, decent crawl ratio (if you need it) with your needed 70mph.

IF you plan on running those speeds, I would invest in saginaw steering with a colaspible(sp?) steering column and 3pt belts. tooo many fools out there to risk your safety, because they don't value there life.

 

:iagree: x2!

You have an overdrive and a really clean looking stock cj6 . If you want a little more power, I'd go with a 225:v6: and a sm465 or T-18. I'm running this combo 225, t18, OD, 5:38's in my cj3b and love it. If you use stock v6 motor mounts etc. you can make it look like a factory setup. I would run your stock axles for now with a 11"drum conv. in the back and discs up front. my dana 25 hasn't broke yet.
My current project is a 57 cj6 with 5:38's, I swapped in dana30 with detroit truetrac, working on herms PS conversion, 225:v6:, SM465, Overdrive, duel pto's w/addapter, (front PTO winch, rear PTO?) 2.5" lift, and prob. 33X9.5X16 SS on stock rims.

 

If I had a CJ6 with that extra long wheel base and wanted something that would get up to speed on the freeway this is what I would run. I would get rid of the dana 18 and get a dana 20 (runs better for high way use), replace the offset 44 with a centered flanged dana 44, put in some lower gears in the dana 20 and then match gear ratio for running down the Hwy. Yet, you would have a low range dana 20 for off road use. And, I would use the SM 465 because it would bolt up to the 4.3 without an adapter, or if I was going the automatic route I would use the 700r4. In these inflated times this is just my $5.00 worth of advise!!!

 

The T-19 is essentially a T-18 with a synchro for 1st gear. The Novak site has some info, and Novak sells an adapter too: http://www.novak-adapt.com/knowledge/t18_t19.htm You'll need an adapter between the transmission and transfer case, and you'll need to adapt the Chevy bellhousing to the Ford transmission. The consensus here is to choose the Novak product over Advance, if it's available.

A T-19 can be had with 3 different 1st gear ratios - 6.32:1, 5.1:1 and 4.0:1 - so if you want a close-ratio heavy-duty 4-speed transmission, the T-19 would be a good way to go. The T-19 is still going to shift like a truck transmission... unless you want the close ratio transmission, I don't see much advantage of the T-19 over the T-18.

hth!

 

Sounds to me like you need an NV4500, 5 speed. This will fit nicely in your cj6 due to the extra length, it will also have an overdrive and a granny 1st gear. Don't know if they make a dana 18 conversion for it though.

 

Parts availability issues not that surprising to me. Seems Western vehicles probably don't get parted out as often. The sheet metal is still good. Here in the Midwest, and east of us, there are plenty of jeeps that have rusted to nothing, but hard parts mostly are still salvageable. I always said I was going to road trip to southwest to buy an old jeep, to avoid rust.... But then I stumbled across my '6 and I have my own rustbucket. Oh well.

 

Front axle on an s10 is independant, its not a straight axle and it would be a complete pain in the butt to do anything with it and would give you terrible offroad use if you did get it done. You could however take the entire engine and auto trans and adapt it to your dana18 and have a decent setup.