4L60E & Vortec in a Willys?

so this weekend i am picking up a 4.3 Vortec out of a 94 blazer and my orginal build plan was to use a th350 and put an overdrive into the dana 18 T-case. well what if i used the trans from the blazer, the 4L60E instead. According to Novaks website, the total length diffrence with adapter is only 3.3" which is too long. Couldnt i just push the spring mounts back a little? Wouldnt that make up for thr diffrence?

 

I suppose
but you still need the wheels centered in the wheel opening

 

You can gain a little by trimming the grill and moving the motor as far forward as possible. That should get you a couple inches.
Keith

 

if you were to trim off the metal shrouding around the grille opening, and remove the original large tube type crossmember and relocate a smaller rectangular crossmember forward of that, it would allow for more room forward for the engine and radiator/fan clearance.
These mods are very common for V6/V8 swaps and for auto trans useage.

 

IIRC the 4L60E and the 700rr4 has a similar pan bulge on the passenger side. This can cause front driveline clearance issues with an 18,20, or 300 transfer case. Between that and the length........ Not saying its not possible, but there are definitely some headaches to overcome. Nickmil

 

thanks for all your input guys! i guess i was just thinkng that the cost of moving the rear back to fit a trans with an overdrive would be cheaper than buying the overdrive for the T-case. plus the 4L60E 1st gear is a little lower giving me a crawl ratio near 80 yet the overdrive to drive 65 and still be around 2500 RPM. maybe ill just stick with the overdrive unit for my Dana 18....