Which motor should I use ? sbc into a fj40 land cruiser

Hi there.
I'm putting a sbc into my 1973 fj40 land cruiser. I'm not sure which route to go.
Just need a good running 350 motor that get's decent power and mpg. It's going into a 4wd that's running 37" tires, 4:56 gears, transmission will be a 700r and the aerodynamics of a brick. Looking for something i could buy or piece together from Craigslist and rebuild.
So far this where im at.

I have an 1985 sbc 350 already. Should i just put on a tbi and call it good ?
Seen a few tpi's 350's cheep.
I dont know anything about vortec motor's. Which one's should i look at?

Any suggestion's , what do you guy's think ?

Thanks james  

james92toy Welcome to CHP.

I know what I would do.

Send us the numbers off the R/Front engine pad. (Its in front of the R/Head). Someone can decypher it for you. This way you know what you have before you spend good money on it.

1. Atleast freshen the engine you have.(Rebuild the engine first). At a minimum Re-ring it, bearings, all new seals.Get the heads checked out. But no matter what you will have a $1,000 bill+ gone.

2.Jeg's has brand new GM Crate engines. 260/350 P/N 809-10067353 $1,500
 Or Ready to run Package 260/350 P/N 809-10067353k1 $2,200

3.Then you have a G.M. Warranty....Of course thats up to you.

4.At the min. Change the oil in the Trans. and Torque Convertor. Good Trans shops still flush Torque Convertors. The 700R4 is Okay for your Land Rover.
  The MPH will depend on what your Rear Gear Ratio.

5.Just my 2 Cents

Bob

PS: I had a 1986 Pontiac S/W I installed a 350/with a 700R4 Trans. I installed a 3:70 posi Rear Gear. It's main duty was towing.
  With the 2:86 rear gear the trans was always hunting for the correct gear to be in. I installed a 3:70 rear gear and it was perfect. I was getting 19-21 MPG towing. The Trans wasn't shifting all the time. So that meant less wear and tear on the 700R4. The early 700R4's were not strong transmissions.  

T.P.I. would be my choice for power and fuel economy in a truck.   theres lots of deals out there right now on craigslist, etc.    make sure to get the wiring harness and computer with it.  

use what you have. if you want computers and stuff like that it will cost more but you get a LITTLE better Gas milage and performance but not for My Dollar.  

76Skylark:
use what you have. if you want computers and stuff like that it will cost more but you get a LITTLE better Gas milage and performance but not for My Dollar.

+1

There is a thread at bangshift.com, "EZ-EFI, Atomic EFI, or ??", the concensus there is that tbi is marginally better than a well tuned carb only the tbi cost 4x more. I can tinker with a carb to get better performance and feel like I've accomplished something. For the cost of a decent efi system that can deliver factory-like reliability and tune, you'd have to spend nearly 3k for the system AND revamp the entire fuel system to provide & handle the pressure needed to make the efi run. Then you have to tune it. Some systems say they are self-learning but from the info at the stated forum, those are marketing gimmicks that leave some performance on the table.

Ultimately it's up to you. I'd be interested to hear you progress, especially if you use efi.  

Hi Gang,
You might look at the crate 330HP/350 motor which came with roller cam.
Torque and economy all the way...Good luck with the project...Skyeking.  
skyeking