i,ve built a couple dozen of these trucks and have about 10 right now. top speed is 45mph....... and that is reved to the max (5.87 gears) also with a 292 its gonna cost you about 30-40% more than a brand new gm crate 350 engine plus all 292.s suck the gas. i have both. you better plan this out good or your wallet will suffer alot. you dont need anything other than a bone stock engine, all else is just asking for more gas..... if a 230 can do a great job the "stock" 292 will do superb and a 350 will do again that much better. the trans in these trucks are t-98's. also if you go 350 you can use the money you save to get rid of the stock np200 extreamly problem prone transfer case and up-grade it to a np202 or np205. lastly you need to add 1. power steering
2. a split master cylinder ( not a car m/c like the el cheapo kids do onthe other kiddie web site.
3.change it to 12 volts and move battery under the hood.
4. install a fsj bench seat.......
5. 4.56 gears ( a must for on road use)
6. lockout front hubs (also a must for on road use)
there is alot more you can do but these 6 mods will make this more user friendly.
this is from my 25yrs experience with these trucks. a 4bt cummins is nice also but its very expensive to do it......
bob
p/s
a modern dana 60 1 ton front axle along with aa "van" dana 70 or 14 bolt rear axle is very desireable. cost is the same but its alot more work to install them. just fyi
Last edited by bcowanwheels; 11/10/12 01:45 AM.