2L diesel swapped 1986 4Runner (3 Viewers)

[4Ruster]

I figured I may as well start a write up of my 4runner.
Okay so I bought it originally for $600 with a broken 22re, electrics were fried and it was easier to just slap a weber on it. Well I came across a 2wd Toyota pickup with a 2L diesel that took a corner too fast and totaled itself into a bridge. Pulled the motor, repainted it, swapped oilpans, and dropped it in the truck.

as of now I still have to drop the old fuel tank and put the diesel tank in, along with running new lines. I've decided to not swap in the diesel harness, mostly because it was a mess when I tried pulling it, so I'll simply just wire the ignition to the fuel cut on the IP, a toggle switch for the glow plugs, and..... thats about it. I will work more on it next weekend, its too dark up here in Canada after work and I don't feel like working in -20C weather at night, so progress is slow.

Next weekend I will hook up the fuel system, along with wiring some LEDs for the fuel filter warning, and fuel heater (yay I got the cold weather package). After that I will figure out the wiring. Anyways, wish me luck, because I know nothing about diesels

 

[4Ruster]

I attempted to start it today. I ran a line directly from the IP to a jerry can of fresh diesel. It was just puffing grey smoke the whole time until I gave up. When I attempted to hook the glow plugs up, it just melted the wire right away so I'm thinking the rail is shorting out, if I had it glow, 100% it would've fired up. Also, when trying to crank it, there was a lot of white smoke coming out of the PCV port on the valve cover, I'm hoping it's just condensation.

Next weekend I will *finally* drop the tank and run all the new lines in. Most of the wiring is reversed in the engine bay, the starter relay wire is on the passenger side, and the alternator wires are on the driver side, so I'll have to flip both. As for the battery, the parts truck I pulled from, had a duel battery setup, so I will be doing the same thing. Keep the original passenger side battery in, and run the alternator to that, but on the driver side I will just have that connected to the starter, as well as a positive wire bridging the 2 batteries together. I will also simply put in a battery shutoff switch to the starter battery, that way when I am camping, I can run the 'house' battery as much as I want, then when I need to fire the engine, start it up and flip the switch connecting it back to the other battery.

I may not have started the motor today, but I still count it as a successful day, as, well the engine at least turned over and attempted to fire up (smoked out my shed though). As for the exhaust, it was cut right at the bellhousing, and I'll probably just slap a small glasspack on there and let it dump before the passenger door.

 

[4Ruster]

Super simplified, but this is all the wiring I will be doing. I plan on adding a volt gauge for the engine battery just so I can check on it when its disconnected from the house battery, because why not.

 

[tonyl13]

Cool conversion. Defiantly need the glow plugs to start (on all my old/new rigs its a must below 18c). Looking froward to more info on your build

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

I assume this is the case being you were getting smoke, but just make sure your fuel cut solenoid in the injection pump is getting 12V with the key in the 'start' position (as well as 'on' position).

If you mat your foot down while cranking, and just keep at it for bit, it should start to catch. Assuming weather is around 0C or warmer.

 

[roscoFJ73]

I still have to drop the old fuel tank and put the diesel tank in

Is the tank different? The landcruiser tanks are all the same.

 

[4Ruster]

Thanks for the interest guys. Most people I've talked to told me I should've kept the 22r in and that the 2L is slowwwwwwww... and honestly, I don't mind. As long as I can putt around town at 60 km/h I'll be happy.

Cool conversion. Defiantly need the glow plugs to start (on all my old/new rigs its a must below 18c). Looking froward to more info on your build

Glow plugs are definitely top of my list, we had a huge freeze that came by a month ago and even my EFI truck struggled to start. The insulation on the glow plug rail is coming off and is shorting out somewhere, so I'll have to figure that out.

Is the tank different? The landcruiser tanks are all the same.

The gasoline tank has a lot of dirt in it so I figured it would be easier to just put the diesel tank in from the donor truck. Hopefully the gauge wiring is the same.

 

[roscoFJ73]

Thanks for the interest guys. Most people I've talked to told me I should've kept the 22r in and that the 2L is slowwwwwwww... and honestly, I don't mind. As long as I can putt around town at 60 km/h I'll be happy.

Glow plugs are definitely top of my list, we had a huge freeze that came by a month ago and even my EFI truck struggled to start. The insulation on the glow plug rail is coming off and is shorting out somewhere, so I'll have to figure that out.

The gasoline tank has a lot of dirt in it so I figured it would be easier to just put the diesel tank in from the donor truck. Hopefully the gauge wiring is the same.

Ok. probably a good idead. With dirt often comes rust. The landcruisers use the same wiring, so hopefully the hilux are the same.

 

[4Ruster]

Big update
It runs!

Keep in mind its open header, but how does it sound?

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

Congrats!! Sounds healthy from this end of teh interwebz! Burning pretty clean it seems?

 

[4Ruster]

Thanks glad it sounds good. Now I'm wondering on what you guys think I should do for the glowplugs. I plan on just running some thick 10 gauge wire from a relay (starter solenoid) right to the rail. I assume the glow plugs are grounded through the block. Will the glow plugs be fine with 12v? I heard they operate at 6v mostly. Also when I ran a wire from the battery to the rail to start it the first time in the video above, I heard a sort of hissing/buzzing noise from them. Normal?

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

Thanks glad it sounds good. Now I'm wondering on what you guys think I should do for the glowplugs. I plan on just running some thick 10 gauge wire from a relay (starter solenoid) right to the rail. I assume the glow plugs are grounded through the block. Will the glow plugs be fine with 12v? I heard they operate at 6v mostly. Also when I ran a wire from the battery to the rail to start it the first time in the video above, I heard a sort of hissing/buzzing noise from them. Normal?

Read about the glow system in the L/2L FSM manual. I'm not sure about the early 2L. The later 2LTE applies 12V (~11V at glow plugs from wire voltage drop) for 7 seconds, and a 6V after glow for 30 seconds or so (has a resistor in intake manifold that drops half the voltage).

Definitely don't glow for more than 15 seconds.

 

[4Ruster]

Read about the glow system in the L/2L FSM manual. I'm not sure about the early 2L. The later 2LTE applies 12V (~11V at glow plugs from wire voltage drop) for 7 seconds, and a 6V after glow for 30 seconds or so (has a resistor in intake manifold that drops half the voltage).

Definitely don't glow for more than 15 seconds.

Okay good to know. I was thinking of getting one of those timer modules and setting it to 10 seconds, so when you push the button, it'll glow for 10 seconds. That way if a friend drives my truck, they will be able to start it easily. "Just push the button, wait for the buzzer to shut up, then crank."

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

Okay good to know. I was thinking of getting one of those timer modules and setting it to 10 seconds, so when you push the button, it'll glow for 10 seconds. That way if a friend drives my truck, they will be able to start it easily. "Just push the button, wait for the buzzer to shut up, then crank."

Thats a great idea.

 

[4Ruster]

Dropped the fuel tank today and ripped out the old lines. Who knew 36 year old fuel lines would be so crusty haha. Went to Lordco and boght 2 of those premade metal brake lines. 5/16 feed and return line is in. Turned out decent.

Straight line is the feed, and the bent line goes to the return

Then just cut the soft hose to keep the fitting and clamped er' on.

As you can see the old line just fell apart coming out.

As for the tank vent, I'll probably just leave it open since there is no EVAP system on this.

 

[4Ruster]

As for the fuel tanks. The diesel tank was from a 2WD so unfortunately it's the small one. So I will be cleaning out and putting the gas one back in.

Buuuuuuuuuut.........
Since I have 2 fuel tanks, and 2 filler necks. Along with the brackets for the diesel tank (was lazy and sawzawed it out) what I can do is just put the smaller tank on the other side of the truck. Run a small electric pump from the small tank to the main tank to refill it. I've seen it done and seems like a no-brainer for camping and offroad trips. I'm planning on just doing a fender exit for the exhaust so that wont get in the way at all.

 

[4Ruster]

Dual fuel tanks

I am new to this board but have been over at Marlins board for a long time. I have a 80 toyota short bed carb. I need to increase my fuel capacity as this 10 gallon tank does not cut it for the long trips and trails. I have a 18 gallon fuel tank out of an old blazer, and I can get another...

www.pirate4x4.com

seems like its been done before too

 

[4Ruster]

Another quick update. This weekend I finally got around the fixing the leak in the fuel tank.

Not pretty but I didn't want to push my luck with the torch.
Now to tackle the filler neck. Of course on the gas filler neck there is a little baffle flap thingy that prevent you putting the diesel nozzle in there. Well obviously that's an issue. I tried swapping the diesel neck on but being from a pickup, it didn't have the bracket to bolt to the body, and it was too short. Well one trip to Lordco and a hacksaw fixed that issue quick.

And with that solved I can finally put the tank in!

While I had fuel filler necks on my mind, I finally 'fixed' the one on my other truck

Also decided to mock up the engine bay

Still need to make a tray for the second battery. Also my V6 radiator I have has a hole in the top where the tubes connect to the top tank. I reaaaally don't want to use a 2 core rad as I have a stock one in the pickup and it overheats when I'm driving uphill on the steep forest service roads.

When the sun went down everything went purple, this is exactly what my eyes saw. Winter is weird. Oh well, while inside I repainted the grille.

And that's it for this weekend. Stay tuned for next weekend.

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

Great work!

Only thing I'd have to add, is you shoulda brake cleaned the top of your tank clean, and spray bombed it with some anti-rust paint to seal it and help it last longer. But then again, paint would probably never dry in the weather you have there at this time of year! Haha.

 

[4Ruster]

Well I got payed, and spent most of it on a new 3 core V6 radiator. The old one was spewing water out the top and considering how well these diesels do with overheating, I'd rather just pony up the money for a new rad.

Much better looking!
While I was at work, I managed to snag two 750CCA izuzu batteries. They are way bigger then the stock battery, I will definitely have to lower the battery trays.

And a few finishing things like putting the grille back on.

She's so close to being drivable again. Just have to install a new clutch master cylinder, wire up the alternator, and install the power steering lines (not looking forward to that).
Also added a switch panel for the lights just to clean up the wiring a bit.