I’ve finally started on my transplant project and plan to document my progress here. Because I have too many other commitments, the progress will be slow at best so be patient.
My plan is to replace the 3FE in my stock FJ62 (Iron Annie) with a reliable and fuel efficient diesel. I eventually want to drive down to Costa Rica and leave the truck there as my local transportation. My engine selection was primarily dictated by the availability of engines and parts both in the US and in Central America. Because of ease of conversion, a Toyota engine was my first choice but since they were never sold directly in the US, I decided on Isuzu as they are widely available both in the US and Central America, have an extensive dealer network in both places and are considered to be a reliable engine.
My first thought was to use the Isuzu 4BD1T or 4BD2T that others have successfully installed in the 60 series. This past summer, I had a chance to ride in 88TLC’s truck and was very impressed with his conversion.
I decided against the 4BD1/2 swap as it would throw additional complexity into the equation by requiring custom adapters to mate the engine to the drivetrain and would require a transmission from still a third source, not Toyota or Isuzu. I could have used an NV4500 manual transmission with dieseltim’s adapter to mate it to the engine and an AA adapter to mate the NV4500 to the FJ62’s split T-case or could have used dieselswapper’s adapter to mate the engine to one of several GM automatics and an AA adapter to mate the GM auto to the split T-case. Way too much complexity to support in Central America!
In the 4BD1 thread, theSherpa pointed out the similarities between the A440F automatic transmission that is standard on the FJ62 and the Aisin AW450 transmission which comes mated to the Isuzu 4HE1 in the NPR trucks. This was intriguing so we did some quick measurements and comparisons and indeed it looked like it might be feasible to put together a A440F/AW450 hybrid automatic that would connect the 4HE1 to the split t-case. Further research has convinced me that this may not only be possible but may be a very desirable approach so this is the direction that I am heading:
ISUZU 4HE!-TC engine à AW450/A440F hybrid transmission à Toyota split t-case. Sound simple!
An introduction of the participants is in order: The recipient, Iron Annie, a stock 1990 Fj62 with 220K on the clock, and the donor, a wrecked 2003 Isuzu NPR chassis 80K on the clock, with a good running 4HE1 mated to an AW450 transmission. As a bonus, the AW450 has a PTO that might be suitable to power a winch.
My plan is to replace the 3FE in my stock FJ62 (Iron Annie) with a reliable and fuel efficient diesel. I eventually want to drive down to Costa Rica and leave the truck there as my local transportation. My engine selection was primarily dictated by the availability of engines and parts both in the US and in Central America. Because of ease of conversion, a Toyota engine was my first choice but since they were never sold directly in the US, I decided on Isuzu as they are widely available both in the US and Central America, have an extensive dealer network in both places and are considered to be a reliable engine.
My first thought was to use the Isuzu 4BD1T or 4BD2T that others have successfully installed in the 60 series. This past summer, I had a chance to ride in 88TLC’s truck and was very impressed with his conversion.
I decided against the 4BD1/2 swap as it would throw additional complexity into the equation by requiring custom adapters to mate the engine to the drivetrain and would require a transmission from still a third source, not Toyota or Isuzu. I could have used an NV4500 manual transmission with dieseltim’s adapter to mate it to the engine and an AA adapter to mate the NV4500 to the FJ62’s split T-case or could have used dieselswapper’s adapter to mate the engine to one of several GM automatics and an AA adapter to mate the GM auto to the split T-case. Way too much complexity to support in Central America!
In the 4BD1 thread, theSherpa pointed out the similarities between the A440F automatic transmission that is standard on the FJ62 and the Aisin AW450 transmission which comes mated to the Isuzu 4HE1 in the NPR trucks. This was intriguing so we did some quick measurements and comparisons and indeed it looked like it might be feasible to put together a A440F/AW450 hybrid automatic that would connect the 4HE1 to the split t-case. Further research has convinced me that this may not only be possible but may be a very desirable approach so this is the direction that I am heading:
ISUZU 4HE!-TC engine à AW450/A440F hybrid transmission à Toyota split t-case. Sound simple!
An introduction of the participants is in order: The recipient, Iron Annie, a stock 1990 Fj62 with 220K on the clock, and the donor, a wrecked 2003 Isuzu NPR chassis 80K on the clock, with a good running 4HE1 mated to an AW450 transmission. As a bonus, the AW450 has a PTO that might be suitable to power a winch.