How to build a diesel 40 on a budget w/ an Isuzu 4BD1T

[longbow]

Ok, here we go!

You clicked on the link, so you should already know that this isn't the thread for the Toyota purist!

That being said, I am a huge, HUGE fan of all things Toyota and if I could have afforded a low mileage 13BT or 1HD-T, I would have. Well, I'm a firefighter with a young family on a tight budget and $7500 for an engine just isn't going to happen for this guy. This 40 is my 3rd vehicle and not my daily driver, so it is really hard to convince the that I need thousands of dollars to build this thing and that it is a priority. Its a huge priority for me, but she could care less about that stupid old land cruiser! Alas, the delicate balance between the need for more cruisers and my need for sex.

I bought my first 40 in 2000 and loved it! It was a great truck and served to addict me completely into the cruiser drug. I built it up into a great hunting and camping truck and loved it for a few years and then ended up selling it when we had kids because it was just too hard to get the car seats and babies in and out, so I sold it and bought an 80 series. Here is the original 40 that got me addicted. It was a clean Arizona cruiser that cost me $5500 in 2000.

I have regretted selling that 40 everyday and have wanted one ever since.
Flash forward to 2010 and I was driving a 2005 Dodge diesel and liked it but it never really was the same as owning a Land Cruiser. I was tired of the truck payment and decided to sell the Dodge, but I had become enamored by the diesel bug. Getting 20mpgs with a truck that big was really nice. One of my only complaints about my cruisers was the gas mileage and so I decided that if I was going to sell my Dodge diesel, I was going to build a diesel Land Cruiser for myself. So I did. I bought a 60 series and built it up into a great cruiser and it was an amazing learning experience as I had never done an engine conversion nor built a diesel engine from the ground up. Here is a link to my 60 conversion thread.https://forum.ih8mud.com/60-series-wagons/480289-diesel-conversion-isuzu-4bd1t.html
And here is a pic. of my 60 a couple of weeks ago when it snowed here in the desert.

I love this truck and it gets 20 to 21 mpgs around town and 23 to 24 on the highway despite the fact that it weighs 5800 pounds!

 

[longbow]

Ok, enough of the backstory! Where's the new 40? Well, last summer I put out the word to all my friends that I was looking for a 40 again, but I didn't have much money to spend so cheap was a priority for price. One of my friends called a few days later and said that his brother's boss had one sitting out behind his business and that he had been talking about selling it for a few months and that I should call him. Well I did and ran down there as quick as I could. Here is how I found this sad 76 cruiser.

It didn't run and it had been sitting for over a year and someone had done a hack conversion to a 350 v8. The owner said he started it every month or so but that the last couple of months it wouldn't start. I asked how much he wanted for it and he said he wanted $2000 and that the price was firm. I did not even consider making a lower offer because rust free Arizona cruisers just don't come along that often and especially not for $2k! The problem was I didn't have $2k saved yet, but the guy was really great and waited a couple weeks for me to sell a bunch of stuff and come up with the money. I finally paid him and then bought a new fuel pump and installed it an drove this baby home the same day. I drove it the rest of the summer with the 350 in it while I rebuilt my Isuzu 4BD1T engine that I had, and in august tore the 40 down for the conversion to the Isuzu diesel. I found another cruiser head and sold the 350 and tranny and transfer for $550 so now I only had $1450 in the new cruiser!

 

[longbow]

Here are a couple photos of my engine while I was pulling out the old liners and installing the new ones and a video of it all together and the first startup.

Sorry for the video quality, my camera takes only mediocre video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUfVjUwtvpI

 

[longbow]

The body on this 40 was pretty beat, but I can't really complain as it is a rust free Arizona cruiser. It did have one rust spot on the rear sill above the drivers side taillight that I had to cut out and put new steel in, but compared to a lot of cruisers out there, that is nothing. I didn't do a frame off because I just didn't have a way or the help to pull the tub off the frame, so I stripped it down to a rolling tub.

I then borrowed a buddies sand blaster tank and blasted the firewall and the tub interior to get all the surface rust and caked oil and gunk off. I then went to work on bodywork. I must admit that I am a complete rookie when it comes to bodywork and it takes an enormous amount of time and sanding to get a quality job. Whatever the body shops charge is worth every penny! Meant to have this thing back on the road in a couple of months but that just didn't happen because I just kept thinking of things that I wanted to do before I put it back together. Things that I always wanted on my first 40 but was always scared to do myself.

Things like an auxiliary tank with factory looking fuel door. This ended up taking a bunch of time but thanks to other amazing mutters with way more talent than what I have, I decided it was possible.

So I aquired a fuel filler piece out of a parted out 40 and a factory door and went to work.

Welded VERY slow so as not to warp the quarter panel and cooling with a wet rag.

And Voila! One factory fuel door setup wellded in and ready for some filler work and untold hours of sanding!

 

[GaFJ40Jeff]

Looks like your off to a good start... My one and only must for my cruiser is a diesel. I've got an old naturally aspirated power stroke out of an 80s Ford service truck that I'm kinda thinking about. If a 350 can fit a Power Stroke can fit If all else fails I can go to the junk yard and pull a Mercedes diesel. From what I've read they came standard in the Brazilian cruisers, under a different name though.

Good luck and subscribed
Jeff

 

[longbow]

I should probably note that the tranny and transfer case is an A440F out of an FJ62. I used the same tranny and transfer on my 60 after the H55 got pulled out after some adapter problems I had. I decided to teach myself how to rebuild an auto tranny because I won't drive anything that I can't rebuild myself. So after building one for the 60, I built a second one for the 40 project and mounted it all up to the engine. I built my own adapters to mount the Isuzu bell housing to the Toyota tranny. Here is a link to my thread on how I did that.https://forum.ih8mud.com/diesel-tec...suzu-4bd1t-swap-part-ii-now-w-a440f-auto.html

Luckily the Isuzu 4BD1T is only 4 cylinders and is shorter than a 2F, otherwise this setup would never fit in a 40.

So after months of sanding, I got the tub painted and could build my engine mounts and tranny crossmember.

There were a bunch of things that slowed this process down, like converting to FJ60 power steering and converting to Hydroboost brake master.

I built my own rear driveshaft and it ended up being right at 18 inches with the engine pushed forward as far as it can go.

I should mention that you will need at least 3.5" of lift to do this conversion and 4 would probably be better for diff/oilpan/front driveshaft clearances.

Don

 

[longbow]

Hi Jeff,

Yeah, the Mercedes is a great diesel as well. I considered it but had built my 60 with one of these so I already knew the engine inside and out and this engine puts out way more ponys.

Don

 

[Fast Eddy]

Can see very well from the pics, but the t-case seems awfully low. (?)

Cool thread.

 

[longbow]

I guess I should state that a lot of research went into my decision to install Isuzu diesels into my cruisers. I had only a few requirements and they were, easy parts availability and simple to work on and direct injection for the best mileage possible for the longest range out of a tank of fuel.

The Isuzu 4BD1T is an industrial diesel engine and has no timing belts or chains, just large heavy duty helical gears to run the cam, injector pump and power steering pump. Very simple to work on and have an amazing track record for longevity worldwide. Lots of great info over on 4btswaps.com in the Isuzu specific section. Quite a few guys on mud have converted there 60s to this engine and a bunch of guys are putting them in their 80s as I write this. I think I am the first guy to put one of these in a 40 mated to an A440F auto. This swap would be even easier with an H55 5 speed and the adapters are now being made by 69Rambler here on Mud. He also makes adapter for other trannys to mate to the Isuzu and knows a lot about diesel conversions. At the time I did my conversion on my 60, there were no adapters available other than the one company that made one to go to chevy trannys and they are now out of business. There is another guy on 4btswaps that is building adapters to go to NV4500 dodge trannys as well.

Ok, enough about the history of the engine, lets see some more pictures!

Here it is after its first road test with wires hanging everywhere and zip ties holding everything together.

A few weeks later I finally got the fenders painted and the hood and fuel tank cover!

Here is how the engine looks in the bay.

And here is a link to a video of the engine running in the

40.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2f8QkeVhzI

 

[longbow]

Hi Fast Eddy,

Yes, compared to the factory location of the original transfer it is lower. The angle of the shot makes it look worse than it is, but this is with standard springs an no lift yet. I am currently working on a 4" lift and there will be a bomber skid plate made after everything is worked out and before any serious wheeling is done. At least 33" tires will be added as well.

Don

 

[dohcdelsol93]

I love the isuzu powered 40,

If someone would market the parts to adapt the 4bd1/2t's to the a440 tranny this is the exact swap i would put in my 40.

Im currently daily driving my 40 with the factory 3 speed and a SBC, not for everyone.

Would the manual tranny outter (engine side) bellhousing even fit in the frame rails of the 40?

From the pics the auto set up looks much narrower. My last swap used the isuzudieselswapper adapter.

 

[longbow]

I've only got a few hundred miles on it since getting it back on the road, but everything is working great so far. I don't have the speedo hooked up so I have no idea what the mileage is at yet, but the engine is still breaking in. Even so, it sure doesn't use much fuel compared to the 350 that I pulled out! I am hoping for high 20s and maybe even 30mpgs when it is all broken in, but will be happy as long as it does better than my FJ60's low 20s.

Here are a few poser shots in the front yard.

Enjoy!

Don

 

[longbow]

Dohcdelsol,

I remember your swap and you had a bunch of problems with the ranger overdrive and such. Sorry to see you sold it, but at least you still have a 40!

The auto and manual engine bell housings on the Isuzu are the same size and fit great between the rails. I had to rotate the starter up to clear the rails, but the housing fits great. One of my engines was a manual and the other came out of an auto truck.


Don

 

[Moe R]

Excellent write up! U definitely have some skills. I especally like the LX bling under the windshield. Nice work.

 

[longbow]

Hey, good eyes Moe!

I was wondering how long it was going to take for someone to point that out.

Like the fuel door, that is one of the other things that I always wanted to do to my 40, just because we never got the 42LX's here in the US!

I'll get to the wipers later in the story so that others can do it as well.

Don

 

[Chamba]

Beautiful! Love everything about it except the FJ TOYOTA emblem.... I'm a purest for the oddest things

Love to hear your thoughts as you put some more miles on her.

Hope you do a detailed write up on the wipers. They should come in handy in PHX. I love mine, now I'd never go back to just two wipers.

 

[longbow]

Ok, so the name of the thread is building one on a budget! Well the cost now for the cruiser is at $1450 after selling the engine and drivetrain. I bought a used A440 tranny for $150 and a rebuild kit from Rockauto for $200 and rebuilt the tranny with some upgrades (that will be another thread altogether) and I had purchased a used split case transfer out of an 87 off of craigslist for $75 and it was in great shape internally and the truck only had 124k on it so I just cleaned it up and resealed it. Reseal kit was $38 on Ebay. I had to have the torque converter rebuilt and that was $220 by a company up in Phoenix. I bought an Isuzu NPR off of craigslist here in town for $1100 and removed the engine and tranny and all accessories needed for the swap and then sold the carcass to a truck yard here in town for $550 so that meant that I was into the engine and tranny for $550.

By the way when you tilt the cab to remove the engine and there is only 4" clearance with the roof and you remove a 1000 pounds of engine and tranny from the equation, the cab then jams into the roof and makes it really hard to get the carcass out of the garage! 1/2 hour later and a lot less air in the tires and it rolled right out. Wife was really impressed.

So, when it comes to doing this engine on a budget, ebay is your friend. It took me a few months of searching to find all of the parts for the rebuild and all totaled it came to $580 for new pistons/liners and rings and a factory Isuzu seal kit and a complete set of new bearings for the mains, rods and cam. I then bought new injector tips for $68 for a set of 4 and then rebuilt my own injectors. I found a rebuilt hydroboost master on ebay for $70 and fit up a master cylinder from a 2000 dodge diesel for $15 from the junkyard. Found enough power steering lines off of toyotas and aastro minivans that I had to only have one hydro line made at the cost of $30 for the custom line and $25 for all the other used lines to get the hydroboost up an running. Aluminum radiator $220 and misc. hoses and wiring stuff was another $70 Raptorliner color matched 1 gallon kit to bed liner the interior was $119 and the Nason urethane enamel paint was $450 for everything to do the paint. New windshield at a local shop $100. Found some used tires and wheels on craigslist for $200 with the right backspacing for a cruiser. $50 for a used set of gray vinyl seats for the front and had the rear folding seat that came with the truck recovered with new marine vinyl for $100 by a buddy's retired dad.

So that brings the total to $4680.00 for a diesel FJ40 built entirely in my garage. Now I'm sure I missed a few things like fluids and misc small stuff, so we'll round that total up to an even $5000. Now that is just my cash out of pocket. If you pay me 25 cents an hour I think the total is right at about $62,842 for total cost.

Don

 

[longbow]

Chamba,

Thanks for the kind words.

The emblem is supposed to be for an FJ60, but when it arrived it wouldn't fit so it went on the shelf. Until this truck came along and eventually it will have the correct grill emblem, but with so many other things to buy for this project, spending $70 for a new plastic grill emblem just hasn't been the priority yet.

It will be soon, as I really don't like the look of this one at all.

But alas, it was built on a budget

Don

 

[Chamba]

Hey Don,
I was just being nit-picky because the damned thing is so awesome!

I really would like a pictorial on the wipers though; that's beautiful.

 

[Henry James the 47th]

Great job!