I assume you are Dan?, I was just reading a writeup you did on your conversion, nice job on your 2LT-E conversion, I wish I had the expertise you do, but wires scare me!, the only thing I didnt see with your conversion was what bellhousing you ended up using?, was it a JDM V6 bellhousing?, your thread says you used a R150F(I am assuming that is a 3vze trans?), those are good transmissions, but I am not fond of the gear driven cases, I would want dual
gear driven cases...
Is there a site that has any good info on what bolts together with what? US vs JDM?
That is me. Thanks for the compliments.
Frankly, if you're mostly planning on wheeling,the turbo is just along for the ride. The diesels aren't at all like the 22RTE engines (which have lower compression to work with the turbo, which means you need to spool the turbo to make power/torque, which means you need super low gears....). When wheeling, my turbo really doesn't do anything useful. It's just spinning in the wind, as it were.
A 3L would be absolutely ideal for this. The place where the turbo is awesome is on the highway. Wheeling and crawling the truck simply idles all the time, but when I want some prolonged acceleration (or real acceleration) then the turbo gets to kick in. I only really feel my turbo at 2200rpm or so. It's kind of like having an engine optimized for BOTH situations. When crawling it is a steady amount of torque, and even if I go from idle to stomping on the pedal, when crawling it'll take quite some time for it to build power and get going. This is a great thing, as it really makes it easy to keep the wheels from breaking lose. At the same time, when I want to make a lot of power, spooling the turbo up really makes a lot of power.
To quickly answer: yes, I used the R150f (which is the same as used behind the 3.0). The bellhousing will bolt between an L series (2LT-E, 3L, etc...) and an R series transmission (meaning I could also bolt an R151f to it). There is also a bellhousing that goes between an L series motor and the G and W series transmissions. If you had that, you COULD use the G58 or 52, or the W56 (silly to use the G if you ask me). Pretty simple really.
IF (and it's a big if) you could find a 1KZ-T, then I'd jump on that. They seem much more robust than any of the L series engines to me. The 3L is a workhorse (but naturally aspirated). The 2LT-E will crack the head (and is EFI). The 2LII-T might crack the head, as might the 2LT.
At your altitude by the way, most of what a turbo would do would be to normalize the engine, and it is already set to deliver fuel for that. That's the VAST amount of what my turbo does for me. When I've had it at sea level, I'm not as impressed with it. It gives you boost, but it's not the same as simply normalizing the engine when you are cruising.
For a crawling buggy.... my choices would be:
1) 1KZ-T/R151f
2) 3L, with turbo from 2LT-E/W-56 (just because you've got the W-56 already you say)
3) 3L/W56
4) All others (L, 2L, 2LT, 2LII-T...)
If I were driving through your neck of the woods anytime soon (I might be, I'm never sure of my schedule) I'd let you try a 2LT-E. The diesels are a whole different ballgame in terms of crawling and gearing. My stock 2LT-E/R150f combo on 31" tires will crawl slower than a friend's 80 on 35's and 4.88 gears. A lot of that has to do with the low idle and ability for the diesel to simply idle it's way along the trail--as opposed to having to add gas to keep the engine from stalling. You'd also see how little use a turbo gets for real crawling. For climbing hills and stuff-oh yeah, but for basic rock crawling, it's a cool sound and not much more. (but the cool sound should not be discounted).
As to the little bits you'd need to get as well: bellhousing, starter (the 2LII-T, 2LT-E and 3L 2.0Kw starter is available reman from Toyota at least, but pricey), flywheel (clutch is common to the 22R-E--at least mostly), alternator (the diesel alternators have a vacuum pump built in--or you could have an electric pump for the brakes), fuel filter/primer (you could buy a Racor instead), and the basic intake plumbing.
Dan