Build Diesel Conversion to Isuzu 4BD1T

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Hi Doug,

Yes, I used the factory return line just as you did.

I had to use an inline electric pump because without it the lift pump just draws air back from the tank. Found that one out the hard way!

Don
 
longbow said:
Hi Mitch,

You are dead on with all your line layouts and the fact that the excess electric pump pressure is just diverted back to the tank through the return line. The only thing that I could add is that I made the inlet and outlet fittings all 1/4" and the return line fitting I made 1/8" to create a positive pressure to the lift pump and a lesser pressure returning to the tank.

The electric pump is wired on its own circuit that comes off the ignition key and the prime button is direct wired to the battery so I can prime anytime whether the ignition is on or off.

Let me know if you need any other info,

Don
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How did you get the pipe attached to the filter bracket to get the bottom of the filter? Did you just find one with the correct OD for its ID and force it to fit?
 
Yeah, I had a scrap piece of stainless tubing and I turned it down a little on a lathe so it was a tight fit and then pressed it into the center piece of the filter mount.

Don
 
Hey Don, sent you a PM for some help on engine measurements.
 
longbow said:
Yeah, I had a scrap piece of stainless tubing and I turned it down a little on a lathe so it was a tight fit and then pressed it into the center piece of the filter mount.

Don
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I keep coming back to this thread. Darned good work!

I'm working on an unrelated diesel system where cavitation contributed to the early demise of my injection pump. I can't afford the fancy pre-made stuff so I'm gonna try and construct something along the lines of what you've done. I have a couple of questions...

How close to the bottom of the filter element did you cut the SS tubing? Did you run any clear line to confirm that you're removing air?

Your filter block set-up is nice and tight but don't you worry about damaging your inline pump? Most set-ups I've seen use a 10-12 micron prefilter such as a water separator to protect the lift pump from the larger trash before sending the fuel on to the main filter/air separator and then to the injection pump. I assume there's a block-mounted lift pump on the Isuzu engine as well - correct?

What's the GPH of your inline pump in this application? Walbro?
 
Hi Numby,

I am using a Purolator Facet Gold fuel pump in between the tank and the filter system and it is the 87SV model. It is an old proven design and it is rated for biofuels and veggie oil as well so that is why I chose it. It has a built in replaceable filter in the pump to keep out any particulates from the tank. I check it every now and then and it has never had more than a few small particles on it when I clean it. The pump is rated at 4 to 5.5 psi and puts out 32GPH.

The stainless tube that I installed is close to the bottom and if I recall, I cut it to about 3/16" off the bottom of the filter.

The electric pump is really just there to keep positive pressure on the filter housing so that the lift pump on the Isuzu injection pump has a constant fuel supply to draw from and that the aerated fuel at the top of the filter gets returned to the tank.

Hope this helps,

Don
 
Awesome! I went and checked out the dual inlet/outlet filter bases at the local parts store. I see now that the second inlet port serves as the air/overflow outlet and the second outlet port gets blocked off. Very clever! Thanks for the info.
 
I know this is a very old tread, and I just recently bought a 4BD1 powered vehicle........4x4 of corse.
I have a question but have not yet introduced myself to the forum......because there no tech area for the vehicle I have, so if you could just be kind and point me to the correct section please.
Thanx
 
Try the diesel section here on Mud.

I have a 4BD3 in my 60, post your question and/or follow the link below my name to my swap.
 
longbow said:
Ok, so how much did this cost to do you ask? Well, I have to say first, that like most guys on this forum, I am one cheap son of a gun and if I can build it instead of buying it, I will. I set out to do this conversion for $2500 and that just didn't happen. Having to buy the rebuild kit and alternator, water pump, ac compressor, Injectors, Injector pump, turbo, all these added up to quite a bit and ran the bill to about $3200 total. Not the price I wanted but still a reasonable price for a complete diesel conversion in my book.

One thing I think I should mention is the simplicity of this engine. I have been around gas engines my whole life and grew up working on dirtbikes and gocarts and such but I had never had any experience with a diesel engine before and this one was pretty amazing to work on. This engine has a completely gear driven valvetrain, crank, cam and injector timining. There are no belts or chains, only heavy duty gears that all line up simply with simple letter timing marks on each gear. This was such a simple and straightforward engine to work on and I did all the work in my garage with no need for a machine shop. If I can rebuild this engine in my garage, anybody can. I had a factory manual and the help of all the experts like Dougal on the 4BTSwaps forum to answer my questions and it was really not that tough, just time consuming as I had to do all on my days off from work.

As more people do this conversion, I think you will see it become a lot more popular for cruisers due to the cost compared to a Toyota diesel for those of us on a "working man with a family" budget. Nothing against a Toyota diesel, I would probably have bought one if I had that kind of money, but I just didn't. That being said, I don't think I would be any happier than I am with this engine anyway.

One other thing to mention is the quietness of this engine compared to some others I have seen used. This engine is suprisingly quiet for an industrial diesel engine. I have a friend that has a Cummins 4bt in his jeep and this motor is much quieter than it is. I think the Cummins is a great engine, but holy cow are they loud!

Another thing that I have been working on for the last month or so is my fuel filtration. I have a couple of buddies with Dodge diesels and they are using the Airdog systems on their trucks and they love them. The Airdog system is a air/fuel separator system that is supposed to increase your mileage per gallon by making your fuel more efficient and making your injectors last longer by removing contaminants and air from your fuel.

Anyone who has looked into this system has probably noticed that the Airdog has a pretty hefty pricetag of $500. Well, I don't have that kind of money to put into fuel filter systems, but I am pretty good at building stuff other people have developed and so I set out to build my own Fuel /Air Seperator like the Airdog. I did some research on the internet and diesel forums for Dodge and Ford diesels and low and behold somebody has already done it themselves. One of the guys even had the patent drawing of it. It basically is a two filter system that uses a 12 micron water seperator on one filter and a 2 micron fuel filter on the other. The way the system works is that it uses an extension tube down the middle of the 2 micron filter housing to pick up the fuel at the bottom of the filter instead of at the top as usual. It then has another port at the top of tht filter housing to allow the fuel with air in it to be bypassed back to the fuel tank via a return hose. That's it! I built mine for about $85 including all lines and filters and housings and fittings. I plumbed an inline electric fuel pump between my tank and the filter housings to help push fuel through the filters since I run a blend of veggie oil and diesel fuel. I also use this pump to help prime the filters when I change them as well.
Fuelfilters.jpg


This is a super filtration system and hopefully helps preserve my investment over the years to come.
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Everything looks awesome! Do you by chance have part numbers for the pump, filters, and filter housings? I know this is an old post but I really like how the filter mount is.
 
Longbow,

Your FJ60 4BD1T conversion was truly inspiring. Your rig is awesome! The info you put into your thread was so helpful thorough, it convinced me that it is possible to do…so I did it! I just finished the project (after 4 year) and am now getting into working out the bugs: one of the bugs I’m working out is over heating issues.

You covered everything in your thread from soup to nuts; however, I didn’t see anything about you having over heating issues. Looking at your pics you ran the stock 60 radiator. Did you have any issues with overheating? Did you replace the water pump? I started by flushing the system (boy did some nasty old crap come out of there, but got it running clear)- still ran hot. Then I pulled the thermostat - ran cooler, but still gets into the red. I have an electric fan -I think 650-750 cfm (not sure though, definitely not more). i was thinking my course of action would be to up the cfm on the electric fan, then upgrade the radiator, then replace the water pump…but I’m just not sure. Obviously I don’t’ want to buy all of these parts, but i have to imagine that this thing should not have any overheating issues. Any thought or idea’s you might have since you’ve already been through this would be hugely appreciated!

Thanks for the build and info!


Josh
 
mookie said:
wow, that's amazing fuel mileage for a damn 60 series....getting 11-12 with mine lol

what kind of vehicles are those engines commonly found in?

helluva nice job btw, hat's off to you!
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I know this is old, but early 80's - early 90's Isuzu NPR, as well as hundreds of other types of machines from excavators to Generators.
 
longbow said:
Ok, a few people have asked me to post up a parts list of what it took to do this conversion. Some of the parts are priced lower than you might be able to find because I am a scrounger and a cheap SOB, so I found many of the parts on Ebay or on Craigslist and it saved me a bunch of money overall. A bunch of the parts came from the bone yard and I pulled them myself to save money as well. The H55F was quite as steal that I found locally, as was the rebuild kit for it that I found on ebay. The point is, when you don't have that much money, it is amazing what you can do with a little searching on the internet and some creativity at the junkyard!


Parts list for Isuzu Diesel conversion.


Used Isuzu 4BD1T $650 after my 50% refund
Isuzu Diesel Swapper adapter kit $600
New clutch and plate, throw out bearing, pilot bearing $140
Rebuild kit for Isuzu 4BD1T from ebay $720
Used H55F tranny $650
H55T rebuild kit $125
Used low mileage FJ62 transfer case $100
Used HJ61 air cleaner $80
Intake piping and silicone hoses $75
FJ62 Throttle cable & pedal from the bone yard $25
Fj62 power steering lines used from the bone yard $18
Misc. relays and wiring for starter and glow plugs and fan $25
Used electric radiator fan from the bone yard $15
Fuel Air/Water separator system $85
Custom A/C hoses and Sanden 508 compressor $128

Total Cost $3436.00





Hope this helps.

Don
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I know this is an old post. All the same, I can't stop reading about this build you did, while thinking of all the cool projects I want to do.

I also have a passion to save a dollar by reengineering the wheel to save a dollar building my ideas at unbelievably low cost, by modifying wrecking yard inventory.

I'm a 36 year old man. I've lived my entire life with a in search for any limitations since birth. I'm often told this has allowed me knowledge and Understanding many years beyond my age. Or at least that'sthe way I hear it. True or not? I don't know. Just giving a quick background.

After reading about your build. I felt like your made of same cloth as me. I seemed like you have an equal passion to learn and share knowledge that I do. I have never had the freedom of time, (or big enough balls). To attempt something of this "true" virgin builds risk level . However now I have achieved a whole new level of desire to try it.

I want to thank you. While reading this thread, I couldn't help but picture myself in your shoes. I could imagine all the anxiety, fears, motivation of jumping in to such a project. Followed by all the personal reasons that motivate a man to decide that dispite the lack of sleep, money and pain, "the juice is still worth the squeeze." You seemed to, (like me,) have a talent at repurposing by modifying used parts to save money. For me it's mostly about the comfort of proving to myself there's a way it can be done I'm willing to risk being wrong to be be the one who does it.

For the first time in several years. I have a desire to attempt some of the ideas that I had lost the confidence in myself to attempt. I find it difficult and depressing to constantly be around peers, who shut down any idea they aren't comfortable to try themselves.

I've been trying to engulf all my free time with hobbies that my wife and friends can understand the concepts of. All in an attempt feel comfort then I'm not wasting our time or resources on a pipe dream. The constant rollercoaster of peers opinions of me between successes and failures stopped most my ambitions in their tracks.

After reading your thread that all changed. I found a 110,000 mile 4bd1t, out on a 91 NPR that had been seized for well over a year and paid the $150 for it. $1200 + or - a $100 later and I now have a turn key 4bd1t and all parts I've thought of needing, to drop it in 1944 Plymouth coupe.

I haven't been this excited or motivated to wake up every day since high school. Thanks you for being willing to spend your time to put this build together and document it.

Any advice you think might help, please feel free to give. Great job
 
I'm doing a swap on my 85 Bronco 2 with the 4BD1T and my stock transmission is the manual 4x4 fm145 does anybody know if that transmission is good enough for that motor? Any suggestions/ help would be great thanks.
 
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