Cummins swap time! (1 Viewer)

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Joined
May 26, 2018
Threads
11
Messages
328
Location
Portland, Oregon
My 1991 hdj81 I imported is getting a transplant!


Rewind about a year, I had that bent timing belt idler on my california vacation. Replaced, ran great. I started noticing a slight bearing noise about 8 months later but it never got loud or bad. fast forward x amount of time, I was driving up north to visit friends in Seattle, and the timing belt tension bolt shot out the front of the engine, and the idler bearing separated itself from the base! All Toyota parts, all torqued to proper specs. That was pretty upsetting day lol. This time I had a feeling the poor 1hdt had got it rough, so she sat at my friends for a while, and I started gathering cummins parts.

I felt bad about salvaging a good running dodge truck, and I searched for a few months for preferably, a wrecked P-Pump dodge. as I'm sure lots of you know, that's not easy! I almost gave up because I just couldn't find a nv4500 p-pump that was wrecked. I almost bought a few nice trucks, test drove a few that were garbage heaps but ran decent. almost bought one but 1st gear was shot. Gave up for a few weeks. found one on facebook that someone gave up on.

I found a 3500 single cab nv4500 4wd that had been wrecked and then was underway of being turned into a wheeler but never finished by the guy I bought it from. The 12valve was rebuilt in 2019 by the guy he bought it from, and then wrecked. The original owner had the P-pump built at a shop in Eugene, and after a phone call and some emails I figured out that it was a performance built pump with uprated injectors. It's also got headstuds, KDP, a new clutch, the whole 9 yards. Hooray! I got the one I needed.

onto the carnage!

bent valves, slapped pistons, smashed shims, and somehow, stripped gear teeth! I'm honestly impressed. I was fortunate enough to have someone from Canada come down, buy the engine / trans, and help me pull it! She's toast. hopefully they can use stuff from it.


So currently, I'm waiting on parts from AUS to arrive so I can drop the cummins in, and bolt the nv4500 to the factory transfer case. I'm trying to retain as much of the factory functionality and parts as possible. Being that diesels were never sold here I looked overseas for info.

I'm currently working on wiring and how i'm going to manage my fuel system. I think I will use an airdog, and just hook it up to the factory fuel lines and see if that works. ideally i'll be able to remove a lot of excess wiring as well.

the A/C and alternator is another obstacle as the 1hdt has v-belts and the cummins is a 9 rib. I might attempt to use the dodge parts. guys in AUS dont due to lack of dodge availability, it seems.

More posts soon, don't want to flood the fist post with too much info. I'll try to document as much as I possibly can.

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Oh! Yeah it's a 80 series. Edited.

I loved the 1hdt but I was underwhelmed with it a little bit. This should be a good boost!

I have test driven a couple manual 1HDT rigs and found them adequately freight train-ish. I wonder if yours was just tired. Either way a tuned up 6BT with an NV4500 would be awesome. I sold my 4BT powered FJ62 because it kept eating H55s, but it was a riot!
 
Possibly! I think the 4.11's weren't helping my case. lol.

Here's some more photos, everyone likes some good pictures!

That poor dodge. it was doomed.

Next step is get wiring ready while I wait for parts to arrive. I'm trying to get the engine mounts sent before everything else is finished so I can fit the cummins and get it "running" while I wait for the rest!

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What parts are you needing from Australia for the swap? Plenty of info here on MUD to do the swap.
 
Yes, there is tons of stuff stateside here, but it's all catered to the gas engines and seem to require some chopping and such and or come with excess parts I don't need. I'm also unsure if transfer case differences would affect me since none of the cruisers here were part time 4wd like mine is.

Since mine is right hand drive I also have to factor that in too. I'll run into different problems and not have some problems that we normally see here.

I got in touch with a guy who fabs parts for this swap for 80s and 100s, and has a "kit" that more or less that will allow me to just drop it in without chopping any braces or doing body lifts, things like that. It has;

*Engine mounts
*Trans mount
*Adapter plate and shaft to go from nv4500 to hf2a
*Exhaust manifold turbo adapter to fit the hx35 without hitting my clutch master - I might try other manifolds though.
*Alt/ac pump brackets
*Also getting some non essentials like a larger aluminum radiator and fan shroud because why not.

He has a bunch of other stuff fabbed up but it's things I can get off the shelf here in the states.
 
Yes, there is tons of stuff stateside here, but it's all catered to the gas engines and seem to require some chopping and such and or come with excess parts I don't need. I'm also unsure if transfer case differences would affect me since none of the cruisers here were part time 4wd like mine is.

Since mine is right hand drive I also have to factor that in too. I'll run into different problems and not have some problems that we normally see here.

I got in touch with a guy who fabs parts for this swap for 80s and 100s, and has a "kit" that more or less that will allow me to just drop it in without chopping any braces or doing body lifts, things like that. It has;

*Engine mounts
*Trans mount
*Adapter plate and shaft to go from nv4500 to hf2a
*Exhaust manifold turbo adapter to fit the hx35 without hitting my clutch master - I might try other manifolds though.
*Alt/ac pump brackets
*Also getting some non essentials like a larger aluminum radiator and fan shroud because why not.

He has a bunch of other stuff fabbed up but it's things I can get off the shelf here in the states.
It’s not diesel adapters parts is it?
5.9 Cummins manifolds comes in all types of configurations. Low, high, front, middle, or rear. All kinds of high mount brackets out there as well. That is one of the issues with the 80 frame is you will need to relocate the A/C higher.
Stock 80 radiator will cool the 5.9 without issues.
I’ve got two 12V swapped Land Cruisers and there are many others on here. At this point all issues should be documented on here. Since yours is RHD that would be the only issue but that should only be a problem for the turbo location arouting the exhaust.
On another note I have driven in a tuned up HDJ80 and it would smoke my Cummins 80 so don’t think you are getting a better more powerful engine by doing the swap. I love the 5.9 Cummins. Mainly because it’s easy to work on and it’s just damn near impossible to destroy it. It’s a heavy beast so think about upgrading your suspension.
Good luck and please document it along the way.
 
The main reason for the swap is the availability and price of a 1hdt here in the states. I thought about importing a rough 80 for the engine but all in all I'm only 1800 into the swap for the engine after this and that, and it's hard to beat. The Cummins is only 300ish lbs heavier with the nv4500 if I'm not mistaken. I'm currently nearly doubling the power out of the box with what's been done on this engine, which is nice.

I'm also hoping doing 3.73 or the 3.5....7? Gears if I can find them. I'd at least like to match the stock setup in the dodge lol. I drive the truck a lot, 4.11's are too much.


No, I saw the diesel adapter kit and am not going to use it. Seemed like more hassle than it was worth.

Is the narrow chassis an issue even though my power steering pump is on the other side? I was wondering if the ac would clear without the steering setup over there. If not it doesn't matter, was just a though. Top mounting it is a small obstacle.

I planned on doing a new lift with stuff springs, too. The small lift it currently has is garbage.
 
The main reason for the swap is the availability and price of a 1hdt here in the states. I thought about importing a rough 80 for the engine but all in all I'm only 1800 into the swap for the engine after this and that, and it's hard to beat. The Cummins is only 300ish lbs heavier with the nv4500 if I'm not mistaken. I'm currently nearly doubling the power out of the box with what's been done on this engine, which is nice.

I'm also hoping doing 3.73 or the 3.5....7? Gears if I can find them. I'd at least like to match the stock setup in the dodge lol. I drive the truck a lot, 4.11's are too much.


No, I saw the diesel adapter kit and am not going to use it. Seemed like more hassle than it was worth.

Is the narrow chassis an issue even though my power steering pump is on the other side? I was wondering if the ac would clear without the steering setup over there. If not it doesn't matter, was just a though. Top mounting it is a small obstacle.

I planned on doing a new lift with stuff springs, too. The small lift it currently has is garbage.
You can change out the gears in the tcase for better highway driving. This is the ways I went so I wouldn’t mess with my low range gearing. The Cummins vacuum pump will get close to the steering box but it fits.
 
Well, yes. It's my truck and I like it. I fail to see how it being rhd has anything to do with it. If it was rhd and gas, I'd be putting a different gas engine in it. If it was lhd, I'd be doing the same. Why give up and get a different rig when I can just fix the one I like?



Anyways, onto the project. Due to the beautiful rainy Oregon weather, I stayed in my basement and cleaned the nv4500 and the transfer case a little bit. Today I might sit in the truck and mount my pyrometer and boost controller.
 
I’ve owned a couple of RHDs and that’s why I ask. I didn’t mind them but greatly prefer LHD and when it was time for my swap I chose just that. But, some love RHD and glad you do. I’ve done a couple of Cummins swaps as well and in the right rig, is a very satisfying transplant.
 
Ah, that makes sense. I originally was looking for a 300zx or a rx7 but saw it on YAJ, so I imported it lol. It'd been a while since I had a 4wd and as soon as I got it I was in love. It's probably my 15th or so rhd. I get bored and impulsive and import cars at random intervals, drive them a while, and sell them. They definitely have their ups and downs here, that's for sure.


I'm hoping it's what I'm after! If I could have sourced a 1hdt easily enough I would have done it, but since I intend on keeping it I figure a Cummins should last it's lifetime.


I didn't get much done to it today, more crummy weather so I just cleaned parts for it in my basement today.
 
I pulled the wiring harness off the cummins and removed all the useful parts for the swap, while saving the rest of the engine harness just in case. luckily I got the truck "running" so I was able to take everything I deemed important. I did however, leave part of the alternators system with the truck. I thought it was an aftermarket deal since the PO did a miserable wiring job and left it hanging. Oh well, just one more piece I need to buy. Next step is to pressure wash it and do some cleaning / painting. its a wee bit rusty. Runs good, though. After I clean it i'll install my fleece bypass kit, i'll double check and make sure the KDP was done, and remove the front oil filler and put a oil filler on the front valve cover.

I also started removing the 24v stuff from the cruiser. that's a convoluted system! While removing that, I had a thought. I *should* be able to retrofit the cruisers glow-plug system into the cummins glow-screen, should I not? I originally was not going to use the glow-screen as Oregon isn't miserably cold, but if I can make the factory system run it, I might as well. I'll remove it from the engine and wire it up and do some testing.

These pictures are just misc ones I took for reference.

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The glow screen needs two heavy duty relays and heavy gauge wire. I don’t know if the factory wiring would be up to the task.
 
I was thinking about that a little bit, I noticed the glow screen used some heavy duty stuff, so I saved it. I haven't pulled the wiring from the cruisers harness on it yet, I stopped right at it.

I can make a whole new system and retain the Toyota switching part to use the light on the dash, I think. it'll be a fun project. might as well put my school / work to use! That will probably be a "after it's in and running" kind of project, though.
 
Slowly I've been gathering parts while I wait for the motor mounts to get here. tracking says they finally cleared customs lol. getting new sensors to retain all of the cruisers factory gauges, a new water pump, thermostat, little things like that. expect some photos this weekend if it doesn't rain! luckily i'm still working during the quarantine so I'm limited on time to play.
 

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