How To Get More Power Out Of A '79 4x4?

[Tim Teichman]

Anyone know how to get more power out of this engine? I read 'supercharge' on another post, but without specifics. Are there kits to improve power?

 

[kennythewelder]

About 3 or 4 trucks ago, I had a 1983 Nissan. This truck had no power. It was all the truck could do to get to 80 MPH. I could not afford a new truck, and having had a few cars and trucks with a high performance cam installed. I figured, I would put one in my Nissan. I went to my local speed shop, through my chest out after walking in the door, and said " I want the biggest cam you got for a 1983 Nissan truck" They started laughing at me, so I said don't laugh, order one. Well 2 weeks later I got my cam. It was an easy install. Overhead cams are easy to swap out. Man did the little truck wake up. I had as much power in the truck as a 4.3L in a Chevy. The little truck would go passed 100 MPH with no problem after that, and I could leave the traffic at the red light. It was not a race truck, but it did have power after the swap. I know you should be able to get a high performance cam for your 22R or whatever engine you have. It just may take a little looking into to get the correct cam. Check out Summit racing, and Jegs. You should be able to get a cam for $150 to $250. some where in that price range.

 

[toyotafan]

Anyone know how to get more power out of this engine? I read 'supercharge' on another post, but without specifics. Are there kits to improve power?

How many miles on the engine? Have you tried the simple little things like a tune up, fuel filters, sea foam the intake, etc?

 

[Tim Teichman]

How many miles on the engine? Have you tried the simple little things like a tune up, fuel filters, sea foam the intake, etc?

Just about 45K miles on the truck overall(!) New carb, has had a tune up, but may need another. Thinking about performance cam and exhaust. Interested in experiences others have had.

 

[MuddyTacoma]

Just about 45K miles on the truck overall(!) New carb, has had a tune up, but may need another. Thinking about performance cam and exhaust. Interested in experiences others have had.

45k total original miles?

+1 on the concept of doing some type of fuel system treatment, you need to burn out all of that excess carbon, although at that few miles who knows if you have a whole lot. ??

That's really low miles for a 1979. That's an average of just over 1200 miles per year since it was new.

 

[Tim Teichman]

Yes, low miles!
I found these cams I think I like: COMP Cams: Toyota

Anyone have any experience with them, or generally experience with a performance cam?

 

[kennythewelder]

Comp makes a grate cam. Thats what I had in my 1973 Dodge Challenger

 

[kennythewelder]

Also the biger the number the cam, the more ratical it will be.

 

[Tim Teichman]

Comp makes a grate cam. Thats what I had in my 1973 Dodge Challenger

What sort of performance changes did you notice? I assume a little more power. Anything detrimental?

 

[kennythewelder]

When I did my nissan, it was a huge performance improvement. I did not install the cam in my Challenger, I bought it that way. The car was fast, for a street car of its day. I know the Challenger had a 282 cam. The nissan, I don't remember, but I did tell them to get me the biggest cam they make for that 4 cylinder. I would guess it was around 280, but IDK. I will say this. The bigger the cam the more performance it will give, but the down side is you will loose vacuum. When I did the nissan, I also had to advance the timing as far as I could. There was 3 settings for advance on the cam, and I set it in the middle. I should have set it on the advance setting, but I just made up the difference in the distributor timing. As for vacuum, it was not an issue in ether the dodge, or the nissan. I also had a 79 chevy truck with a much smaller cam. It was ok but that was all. It was in a 305, and I still could not out run a 350. That cam was around 260 I think. My best advice, is to do your research. Youtube is a good sorce for this. Also call up comp cams and talk to a rep. and tell him what you want out of the cam. They should have this option.

 

[kennythewelder]

here are a bunch of videos on youtube. Take a look at them and see what you can learn. This is a good way to figure out what you want to do.

installing a camshaft in a toyota 22r - YouTube

 

[kennythewelder]

This is how I did my nissan more or less. If it was my truck, I would run the 280. but that is just me. The bigger the number on the cam, the higher the RPM range. The lower the number cam, the lower the RPM range. Also I had the stock exhaust system on my nissan, but a high flow exhaust will help

 

[toyotafan]

When I did my nissan, it was a huge performance improvement. I did not install the cam in my Challenger, I bought it that way. The car was fast, for a street car of its day. I know the Challenger had a 282 cam. The nissan, I don't remember, but I did tell them to get me the biggest cam they make for that 4 cylinder. I would guess it was around 280, but IDK. I will say this. The bigger the cam the more performance it will give, but the down side is you will loose vacuum. When I did the nissan, I also had to advance the timing as far as I could. There was 3 seting for advance on the cam, and I set it in the middle. I should have set it on the advance setting, but I just made up the difference in the distributor timing. As for vacuum, it was not an issue in ether the dodge, or the nissan. I also had a 79 chevy truck with a much smaller cam. It was ok but that was all. It was in a 305, and I still could not out run a 350. That cam was around 260 I think. My best advice, is to do your research. Youtube is a good sorce for this. Also call up comp cams and talk to a rep. and tell him what you want out of the cam. They should have this option.

Honestly, this is one of those things that I have always done when paired with other engine and performance improvements. I've never done JUST a cam upgrade, but I've done a hotter cam in conjunction with boring out the cylinders at least .030, did that on a 5.0 HO mustang about 20+ years ago and that thing was a screamer running 12's on street tires.

Granted, the extra bore was done to correct the cylinder wall imperfections and the benefit comes from a tighter engine, and the competition cam, electronics upgrades and all that did most of the work.

 

[kennythewelder]

Honestly, this is one of those things that I have always done when paired with other engine and performance improvements. I've never done JUST a cam upgrade, but I've done a hotter cam in conjunction with boring out the cylinders at least .030, did that on a 5.0 HO mustang about 20+ years ago and that thing was a screamer running 12's on street tires.

Granted, the extra bore was done to correct the cylinder wall imperfections and the benefit comes from a tighter engine, and the competition cam, electronics upgrades and all that did most of the work.

The Nissan, I did no other performance improvements. The Challenger did have other mods, the Chevy did not. The real question is, whether or not the bottom end can hold the extra performance you will gain by the cam swap. On that engine, I would say yes as long as you are not burning any oil, and the engine is still in good shape. No knock or other issues. The more mods you do, the better the cam will perform, but again, the engine needs to be in good enough shape to hold the extra power. After I did my Nissan, I had the truck for several years, and I never had an issue. I think I had about 175,000 miles when I installed the cam. When I sold the truck, it had about 250,000 miles. I had that truck for 10 years. I bought it for $1500 and sold it for $2500. I had $1000 in the AC so I guess I came out about even when I sold it. If I was to guess at how much HP I gained in the Nissan, I would say about 50 HP. So I went from about 100 HP to 150 HP. more or less. When you start with something like a 350 HP mustang and you add another 50 to 75 HP the engine needs to be strong to hold that power. A week bottom end (pistons, rods, crank, ect) will not hold that power. At 150 HP the bottom does not need to be as strong, but still needs to be in good shape. Toyota's have a strong engine to start with. I am not disagreeing with Steve by no means. To build a high HP engine, the best thing to do is to rebuild the engine. In your case, though, as long as the engine is in good shape, you should be ok.

 

[Natedawg63]

EngBldr HO ported head with 268C Street/RV cam. LCE full length header with complete exhaust (high flow cat + Magnaflow muffler). If you still are not satisfied, pull the engine and add flat-top or small dome pistons to raise the compression even higher. Be prepared to run 91/93 octane fuel to see real-world improvements. Cheap gas ain't gonna cut it for high compression.