isuzu 4BD1T swap?! (3 Viewers)

[DU-TOY]

De Toy expedition Build!

Ok…

Did I say got the engine, Well I am still working the details out on the transmission and Adaptor. The engine seemed a stunning deal (Good Old Craig’s List) It’s an Isuzu four pot out of a cab over truck. An 1988 model. The Vin is JALB4B1H7J7002512.
I am trying to find a little more on the engine spec from Isuzu.
The Guy who owned the truck went bust I think. Any way- long –story-short the head has been completely rebuilt. The Bottom end still needs some work. But the whole unit came complete with re-manufactured head, new rings and Big end bearings, gaskets and such yet to be installed. And all ancillaries from the radiator back, turbo starter motor and the Like. For $400. It seemed like a good deal.

So I will be bringing it into my living room tomorrow, after explaining to the wife that it’s the new style Ikea Coffee table! And just needs putting together! And doing a quick re-build. If anyone is interested I will post picture of the engine tear down and rebuild. But I guess as its not Toyota It may not be well received.

I am thinking about ten days to get the re-build done (That four letter word work keeps getting in the way). I really don’t know which way I am going with the Transmission yet. I want five speed, and have a good friend in the UK who knows more about gearboxes than I know about beer! And that’s quite a lot. So am taking his advice. It may be a Jeremy Fearn conversion. Again that’s a UK company but I can’t seem to locate what I need here.

The Fabrication will be done at Custom 4x4 here In Atlanta. I am pulling a very good 2f out. But need to go diesel as we are building this FJ40 for a round the world trip. And there are river crossings aplenty along the road of bones in Russia. And not many gas stations!!!!
So the implant may be a bit unusual along the fuel feed side. As we are Fabricating a Tank that Basically fits the truck bed up to the inner tub wheel arches. Carrying a whole lot of diesel. And water on the other side. All the baffles ECT needed to stop us swooshing about.

The air intake and all breathers on the engine axles etc… are going to be fed through a custom made external cage. And will be central on the forward roof tent protection bar. So way high up. As are all the electrics and eberspacker diesel night heater.

But I guess you guys are interested in seeing how I get the motor in, and what transmission we will mate it to. Well so am I. Sh$% Saving a whole heap on a cheap motor may have been false economy!!!

Any How. Threads Like pictures. So here are a couple of the truck it is going in. The fist one is of the way I found the truck In September. Followed by one of were she is now.

A little disclaimer here. I am not a mechanic, Far from it! So if I am doing things the wrong way please please shout up. I am a traveler I suppose, and know I need to know every-inch of my truck so I can mend it along the way. I have traveled extensively in a Land Rover. And a 50-year-old Willy’s. And know them well, but have a whole lot to learn about FJ’S.

I already know they are a dam pretty truck thou.

Cheers.

 

[hks3sgte]

What's wrong with the old tire/wheel combo, besides wear?

 

[ChuckB]

Any How. Threads Like pictures.

Nuff said, keep 'em coming!!!!!!

I think I speak for more than myself, very interested in how the transmission works out!

 

[DU-TOY]

hks3sgte
"What's wrong with the old tire/wheel combo, besides wear?"

Nothing was wrong with original set-up. But after a Frame off re-build i Fancied some new wheels! Found those Tacoma's for $80. 16inch rims. I run The same height front and rear. But unusally run narrower front than rear. This has helped me with wet and very Muddy Challenge events in the past.
Perculiar I know, But I find I don't get rut stuck as much.
And Before anyone Holla's abot the suspension I Know. A NEW temporary set up is going on for Telico this month. For a bit of Wheelin fun.

This is a work in progress, and is not the way it will be when we set off on the Russian trip.

 

[hks3sgte]

Nice.

 

[DU-TOY]

Jargon

So didn’t quite convince the misses that the new Ikea coffee table would look good in the Living room. (Maybe When I have got it clean she will let me bring it in).

But have the engine out and 80% Stripped. Took the crank off today and have sent it to the machine shop.

Have spent enough hours trawling through the Internet, researching what Transmission I can and want to hook it up too. My problem is that it’s all Jargon to me. As in it’s all numbers. A 4b1t out of a Npr. Mated to a xy6345 with adapter and through to an xp9z7.

I have no idea what any of the numbers mean, and don’t really care. So have to keep goggle searching often in vain to see what vehicles the numbers relate too an what year.

I know there are a couple of guys going through the other Diesel and Isuzu forums looking at doing this swap orangefj45 and a couple of others. Keep reading your posts….. If any one can help me with a bit of jargons busting it would be a great help. For a simpleton like me I need to know:

What the vehicle or vehicles the gearbox was fitted in to.

What years it was fitted from till.

Will it mate to the F40 transfer box…

Anyhow after much time on the phone I am contemplating an Lt something gearbox. It is 5 speed and was fitted to most Landrover defenders from 86 through 98.. There is a conversion adaptor easily and cheaply available. And the box is Bullet proof.
The Downside is I will need a fair amount of fabrication on the transmission tunnel. (Not that bad.) But the real down side is it looks like I will need to go with a remote Transfer box. Whilst this is Possible It isn’t simple. And I need to build this truck simple and strong in view of the expedition it is being built for. I am told that I could possibly use an Ibex Gear box but that’s way-expensive.

So I am going to continue trawling the net. And phoning friends. I keep coming back to the idea of some major bell housing modification. I believe it may be able to be done Linking direct to The Toyota box and keeping everything simple. www.4x4customs.com in Atlanta will be able to fabricate it if it is doable.

So still haven’t made up my mind.

Any How’s the wife’s in bed so I think I will sneak a couple of pistons in and give them a clean up. Maybe she won’t notice if I bring it in piece by piece.

For the interested a couple of pics.

The cab over truck it came from, the dirty big Block. And the gearbox it fits perfectly. Just a shame it’s a two wheel drive Auto.

 

[theSherpa]

Hey, Dre...I'd never have guessed it, but 4BD2-T's are indirect...check out this picture from an eBay ad for a head for one. That would make it a higher-revving motor...

Steve

I have been following this for some time now, I would love to do a NPR engine swap (NPR is the model name of the cabover trucks they came in). I talked to a guy in California who has one, there is a picture in trails of him doing a vehicle tug of war with a unimog from a past Rubithon.. He was an older guy, 2-3" lift, siad he drove it all over, Colorado etc. He was somewhere near Sacramento. Anyway, with isuzudieselswappers.com that is a huge assett. Again I would love to see someone take this on.. I am going to try to dig up all of the old posts and info and photos I have of this and post in the thread about them on 4BTswaps.com to keep all of the information in one place.. I never knew the 2Ts were indirect injected, I had heard from several people that they preferred the 1Ts which you could probably intercool? Here is the link to the thread on 4BTswaps..
http://www.4btswaps.com/forum/showthread.php?p=104

 

[kkt]

bump

 

[Tapage]

Here we have some Izusu trucks with 4.3 Direct Injection Turbo II engines are simple awwesome ..

 

[hks3sgte]

Anyhow after much time on the phone I am contemplating an Lt something gearbox. It is 5 speed and was fitted to most Landrover defenders from 86 through 98.. There is a conversion adaptor easily and cheaply available. And the box is Bullet proof.

I hope you're not talking about the Land Rover LT77 gearbox. It's not as "bullet proof" as you may think. Not even the newer R380 would be that much more bullet proof.

If you are talking about the Land Rover LT230 Transfer Case, then yes, that is considered to be very bullet proof.

 

[dieselcruiserhead]

yeah I know Steve, reread the post Anywhoo, it is still pretty cool. I have a good friend who is leaning towards this for his FJ62. Will keep posted if he gets it! Andre

 

[Bennett]

http://www.isuzudieselswapper.com/ posted earlier

 

[hks3sgte]

My dad had an Isuzu NPR for about 15 years. He always had a spare 4bd1. That thing looks really big and heavy. Anyone know the actual weight and dimensions of that engine? How does it compare to say a 2F or even a 3B?

 

[astr]

My dad had an Isuzu NPR for about 15 years. He always had a spare 4bd1. That thing looks really big and heavy. Anyone know the actual weight and dimensions of that engine? How does it compare to say a 2F or even a 3B?

Here is a link to the dimension specifications for a 4BG1T which is dimensionaly similar to a 4BD1T. http://www.isuzu.co.jp/world/product/industrial/pdf/b_draw02.pdf

I haven't found a weight but plan on weighing mine when I get it pulled from the truck.

You state that your dad always had a spare 4BD1T. Is that because he had a lot of problems with the engine?

Andy

 

[hks3sgte]

Thanks for the link. He NEVER had any problems. Always changed all filters and kept everything new. Was used everyday with full payload. The reason he had a spare was cuz the engine blew an oil line on his way back from Needles, CA. He threw another 4B to get back home and rebuilt the blown one and kept it as a "back up". He sold the NPR and the spare engine for $3.000. Now my dad owns a Hino.

 

[88tlc]

4BD1T in a 88tlc

This swap keeps coming up time and time again! Please, someone do it and document it so that I have some one's example to follow.

I have a 4BD1T and a 4BD2T that I am considering swapping into my FJ62 after I finish my SOA (might be a while at my speed). The 4BD1T's came in Isuzu NPR trucks from '86 to '91. They were turboed but not intercooled and were rated at 121 hp @ 3000 rpm and 232 ft-lb @ 1800 rpm. They use an in-line mechanically-controlled injection pump and are direct-injected. The 4BD2T is basically the same block as the 4BD1T but the head configuration is changed to indirect injection. The 4BD2T's came in Isuzu NPR trucks (also re-badged as Chevy and GMC) from '92 to '97. They were rated @ 135 hp @ 2800 rpm and 255 ft-lbs @ 1900 rpm. The 4BD2Ts were intercooled in addition to turboed and I suspect the intercooler was primarily responsible for the increase in hp and torque.

The latter (4HE1TC) engines increased displacement from 3.9 to 4.8 liters, went to an overhead cam configuration and went to electronic controls on the injection. They also swapped the intake and exhaust sides of the engine so they are opposite to that of a LC. These engines were rated at 142 hp for manual transmission models and 175 hp for the automatics.

My understanding is that the bell housings are not interchangeable between the 4BD and the 4HE series engines.

I've been following the various threads discussing installing these engines in LCs but have not come across anyone who has actually done one, although some claim that it had been done. No one seems to dispute that this might be a great swap.

Most people seem to want to mate the Isuzu engine to a LC transmission or to another transmission for which there are adapters to LC TC (ie NV4500). I would like to consider using the stock Isuzu manual 5-speed and mating it to the LC TC, possibly using the Toybox as an adapter. Not at all sure if this is feasible.

The MSA5D 5-speed fully synchro manual transmission that comes with a 4BD1T has a 5.67 1st gear and 5th gear is 1:1 (no OD). Everyone that I know that has experience with these transmissions say they are bullet-proof.

The down side of using the Isuzu transmission is 1) mating the output to a LC TC, 2) setting up a means of shifting as these are not top-shifted but rather use a series of external rods and levers to connect the transmission to the shift lever.

I'd love to see someone undertake this swap project and post their experiences here.

I may take you up on that ! Looked at a 4BD1T the other day, out of the truck, with the 5spd tranny attached.

I would like to consider a swap of the engine only, and marry it up to the Automatic tranny in the TLC (4 speed overdrive). Same bolt pattern?

This would be a town car of course. not a lot of lift, good efficient tires.

 

[astr]

The rear view photo of the engine shows an exhaust brake. You can raise hell with the neighbors late at night!

 

[88tlc]

4BD1T hooked up to a toyota auto transmission, A440F

yeah a very cool exhaust brake. Utilize that for sure.

Still looking for more info on connecting an isuzu 4bd1T, to the toyota a440F automatic transmission? this transmission has an overdrive, and cruises at 2000rpm/60mph.

Can i get that hooked up? Seems like guys hook up the auto transmission to GM, V8 350s (same bolt pattern as a GM transmission).

Measure twice, cut once.

bill

 

[astr]

yeah a very cool exhaust brake. Utilize that for sure.

Still looking for more info on connecting an isuzu 4bd1T, to the toyota a440F automatic transmission? this transmission has an overdrive, and cruises at 2000rpm/60mph.

Can i get that hooked up? Seems like guys hook up the auto transmission to GM, V8 350s (same bolt pattern as a GM transmission).

Measure twice, cut once.

bill

I think you have a better chance of winning the jackpot lottery twice in a row than having the TLC auto match the 4BD1T. I don't have either the a440f or the 4BD1 out of their respective vehicles so I don't have a way to actually compare bolt patterns. At the best, one might be able to fab a simple plate adapter but I doubt it.

I'm going to be tied up with work-related projects for at least the next couple of months so I don't expect to get the 4BD1T pulled until this Spring at the earliest.

 

[theSherpa]

Am I the only one who's noticed that the NPR auto transmission is an Aisin A450? I've seen pictures of them on eBay. The A440 and A450 both have a detachable bellhousing. Am I the only one who's wondered if the front side of the A440 and A450 might happen to have the same bolt pattern? If so, you *might* be able to use an NPR auto bellhousing on the front of an A440. Of course, you'd still have to deal with flex plate and torque converter issues, but it's a possibility...you'd probably have to have an A450 and an A440 next to each other to figure it out.

Steve

P.S. Google never ceases to amaze me. This quote: "AW450-43LE is a replacement for the JR403E
truck transmission and is similar to Toyota A442F." comes from this .pdf, which seems to indicate a lot of parts shared between the A450 and A440/442: http://www.shinseiauto.com/japanese/transtar/ata440f04.pdf

Also, according to George (orangefj45) it may have only been used in NPR's from '98 up, so you might not have one in your back yard...