Builds Isuzu 4BD1T Lexus LX450 (Land Cruiser) Build (1 Viewer)

[Wheelingnoob]

Wanted the 'yota, but it was 10k more. Pretty happy with the Caravan so far though.

Yeah it's quite a price difference for sure, in the end they are both made in North America now. Unfortunately getting your moneys worth out of the extra 10k is debatable in the past you knew with that extra 10k was getting you quality and reliability....... Now?

My hope is there is no minivan ever...... Or at least for the foreseeable future. [emoji53]

 

[sailor]

I love me some minivan! Dont fight it, it is destiny...

 

[Wheelingnoob]

So baby is now almost 3 months old and I'm getting use to being in a constant state of sleep deprivation.

In April I sold the truck to a local, I took a deposit with a completion date in June. We'll that fell apart in June. I honestly sold it too cheap as well.

So back to it.

In March on my first off road trip with it, it was doing great worked so good off road. The low range low gears and diesel are fantastic! On the trip home I pulled over at a gas station to re fill the air in the tires (need to sort out a OBA again) and found coolant bubbling out of the overflow...... Again... Sigh. At that point I tossed in the towel, I was sick of continually working on a engine that has become a liability. I had a baby on the way that was taking up all my time (room set up, furniture assembly ect). I thew it up as is for sale and had it sold with in a few days.

Like I said that fell through. So it's time to take a third look at it.

The plan is to tear the head off again, send the head out to get decked so there is zero machine market on it. Even after the hand lapping there was still some machine marks in the surface and metal head gaskets are extreamly sensitive to surface imperfections. I also found out that my version of the engine manual is out dated and did not have a correct head torque fuigure.

So two possible issues that may have caused this issue again.

I'm also going to pull the turbo off and have it rebuilt it's got more oil going through it than I want.

I hope to start working on it in the next few weeks.

 

[Roostre]

You should spec the the surface finish before you send out the head. RA (roughness average) should be better than factory spec. Guessing less than 60 RA.

Any head studs available for your application? Might be worth looking into.

Congrats on the new baby and I wish you luck with this motor.

 

[sailor]

We went through this adventure with my HDT. Turns out the block was not fully flat though it seemed to be at first....

 

[Wheelingnoob]

We went through this adventure with my HDT. Turns out the block was not fully flat though it seemed to be at first....

Yeah I'm going to go over that with a fine tooth comb so to speak. I did check it with a machinists straight edge and it was not warped at all as far as I could tell. Issue is with the liners it's hard to get a real accurate check becouse they protrude a bit.

The gasket last time failed against the head there was zero leaking of the gasket on the block side. Not to say that is conclusive in any way.

 

[AJAEbj42]

Sorry to hear that! (sale fell through, more engine repairs!)

Spare time is tough to get with young ones at home. Let me know if you have anything big coming up and I'll be glad to give you a hand at a 'tech' day.

 

[sailor]

Jeremy- we did the straight edge thing too and it seemed ok. The boys at ATEB burned through 3 head gaskets and several sets of head bolts before throwing in the towel and pulling the motor. Guess what? Machine shop says it was out just enough. Of course we had planed the head and were trying to mate this to the slightly un- true block... Seems that we shouldn't have planed the head.

If you can believe it - John and Philip at ATEB insisted on picking up the tab for the motor re/re, teardown and re- assembly because they felt responsible for not catching the warped block.... As you might imagine I was very grateful to them for this. In fact I would go as far to say that it was an enormous kindness from two completely honourable and amazing gentleman-mechanics. And of course they can tear down and re build an H diesel in their sleep and have every part on hand! Harmonic balancer? This shelf. Front and rear main seal? Over here! Bearing shells, water pump? no prob!

Good luck!

 

[Dougal]

I'm a big fan of investigating and identifying the problem. Even if it takes a whole day or more it is always worth it. The blown gasket should for a start give you a narrow down area to look.

I haven't heard of anyone warping a block on these. I'm sure it's possible but I've had mine hot enough to turn water splashes into steam and mine stayed true. It would be nice to find a problem with the head, because then you don't need to pull the liners back out!

 

[Dazed]

This might be a horrible idea, but what about a new 4BD1T engine? It might be easier and cheaper to get a completely different engine in there. Have this as spare and see later on whats wrong with it.

Congrats on the baby and good luck with the problem child!

 

[Dougal]

This might be a horrible idea, but what about a new 4BD1T engine? It might be easier and cheaper to get a completely different engine in there. Have this as spare and see later on whats wrong with it.

Congrats on the baby and good luck with the problem child!

Approx $8k for a brand new long-block. I've been tempted myself, but $8k is a lot of "spare" money.

Anything second hand risks the same as Jeremy's got. It's a lottery.

 

[Wheelingnoob]

Thanks for all the input and encouragement. I hope to get to it soon, but as anyone knows with a baby these things take time. I hope to work on it a few hours a weekend and just take my time. I have no up coming trips I want it for so pressure.

I plan to take a good few days with it apart to really dig into it and make sure everything is perfect.

I would not buy another 4bd new or otherwise. I have over 6k into this one as it sits. If this one does kit work and I somehow do not roll it off a cliff I'll go 6bt.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

You'll get her figured out man.

I've been in the same spot, frustrated about a project. Take some (more) time off from it and come back refreshed.

 

[UCruiser]

Can you somehow fit the head on without the HG to see if it's sitting high on something? Does the head sit on the sleeve protrusions or is there clearance between the two in that area?

My tech suggestions are probably lame but I wanted to at least take the opportunity to congratulate you on the new born... I'd like to say that it gets easier, but 4+ yrs into it ...

 

[Wheelingnoob]

Hahahah thanks Ulysses, I tell you when we had the Cc Christmas dinner a couple years ago your stories almost turned me off kids. Lol

So far it's going as expected all the late nights, lack of sleep ect is off set with first. First smile (amazing moment), finding his hands, grabbing things. Recognition smile, nothing better than getting home from work and having an ear to ear smile greet you.

Anyways I can set the head on with out the gasket but have no way to really check how flat it sits.

The cylinder liners so protrude above the block deck. The cylinder liners are basically where the head gaskets seals.

I got lots of measuring and checking to do once I get it apart...... Again.

 

[Wheelingnoob]

So since I really do not have a lot to do on the truck and have a bunch of free time (cough cough).


I got this.....







Picked up an NV4500 from a late model Chevy 1 ton. It's a 98 model so it's the one that has the livable 1st gear. I did not want the crazy low 1st since it's a very restrictive option. The one got can be changed from a chevy to a Dodge cummins nv4500 with an input swap.

I'm not sure at this stage how I'm going to attach it to the 4bd. I just got the transmission for now. I may make the back of my engine looks like a Cummins then I have lots of clutch options. Plus if this 4bd does not work out I just toss a 6bt in it

Not sure what I'm going to do with the t case as well. I would really like to retain my stock AWD t case with new low range gears. But I also have a freshly rebuilt split case and Asin hubs if needed.

 

[Dougal]

I saw that while I was pillaging your photobucket account the other day looking for turbo photos.

Is there no awd transfer to fit?

 

[Wheelingnoob]

I saw that while I was pillaging your photobucket account the other day looking for turbo photos.

Is there no awd transfer to fit?

I can get an adapter for my existing t case. It's just unproven.....

 

[sailor]

This is a bit more positive!

 

[Wheelingnoob]

So the reason for the 5apd swap.

First of all I really liked the auto, it worked better than expected the modified VB and electric lock up completely transformed the transmission.

I chose to change to 5spd mainly becouse I like that direct control over what and how it shifts. I want that direct connection to the wheels. The auto was great when the engine was turned up a bit but when I started really pushing it 28psi foot to the floor and converter locked it was having issues. Now the issues I narrowed down to the converter just not able to hold the power. It was chattering, I over came it with more line pressure but the real fix was a billet converter from Oz ($2100 to my door).

So that made my decision for me.

I still have to go over all the details and plan it all out. I'm not sure if I'm going to need a 1" body lift or not (want to avoid that if I can). Clutch pedal needs to be sorted out too, along with a dozen or so other things.

No going to be doing it till the HG is fixed for good.

When done I'll be selling the A440 adapter and custom valve body (VB will work on early hydrolic a442's as well )