Builds Lexus LX450 Cummins 6bt/NV4500 swap (2 Viewers)

[Wheelingnoob]

OK so those of you do not know me from my past build thread in the diesel section I'm a diesel fan. I started my swap saga with a Isuzu 4bd1t mated to a A440. I rebuilt the 4BD1T from the ground up, everything was replaced or refurbished. Long story short a slight overlook on my part and having never sleeved an engine before led to countless thousands in repairs and a engine that never ran reliably.

If you want to read the saga here is the link.

Isuzu 4BD1T Lexus LX450 (Land Cruiser) Build

Needless to say that whole ordeal almost pushed me over the edge financially and mentally.

So that leads us to this thread and diesel swap 2.0.

When I started my Isuzu swap no one had really done a 6bt swap or documented it well enough for me to feel comfortable. I was worried about weight, adapters for transmission and t case etc.

Since then it's likely the most popular swap for the 80 series in North America the last couple years.

I would like to thank everyone that has done or doing this swap before me and documenting it. It truly takes the unknown out of things.

So let's get started.

So far I have a diesel adapters HF2A to NV4500 adapter. Two Nv4500's one from a 95 Cummins and one from a 2001 6.0L chevy 1 ton. The one from the Chev is like new the Cummins one has been run hard, input shaft has play and the fluid is ugly. I plan to try and rebuild one myself and install the new output shaft for the t case adapter.

I have acquired a 97 6bt that was in a 5spd truck so it's got the 215hp rating. I had originally wanted a 1gen VE pump engine but finding one with less than 1/2 million kms was next to impossible. The 97 motor had 200kms 10 years ago when it was written off in an accident. It's since been stored in a barn so it's filthy, but all the critical opening where sealed and the cylinders where fogged.

Thats all I have collected so far. Funds are again depleted so need to build that back up to get a new clutch, clutch pedal assembly, accessory mount a/c compressor and alternator. After that I plan to start he swap slowly. It will take time but hope to have it done by the mid to late spring.........2016.

I do not plan to tear the engine down or do unneeded maintenance. Learner my lesson. I do plan to replace valve cover seals, front and rear main, killer dowel pin and oil pan gasket. I may also replace the valve springs to allow safe use of an exhaust break.

I'm undecided on mods, I really want to get the most economy out of it. I also want to try and keep the stock axles in one pice. I may do a 3k gov spring change mainly to allow a bit more rpm. But other than that I do not think I will do much.

I have got quite a few big Cummins performance shops in town, BD, PDT and Pacbrake. So lots of places to get knowledge from.

Only pic so far.

 

[Wheelingnoob]

Saved for later

 

[Wheelingnoob]

Saved for laterer

 

[Mr Cimarron]

Can't wait for you to get started.

 

[Wheelingnoob]

Can't wait for you to get started.

Me as well, I was out soaking it down in cleaner this morning having a hard time keeping myself from tearing into it lol.

 

[Mr Cimarron]

Are you going to use the Diesel Adapters accessory bracket/thermostat housing? I'm still can't get ahold of them to get a spare.

 

[Wheelingnoob]

Are you going to use the Diesel Adapters accessory bracket/thermostat housing? I'm still can't get ahold of them to get a spare.

That is my plan at this point. I had thought about trying to use the F800 accessory mount but there is a bunch of stuff I did not like about it. One thing that was nice was the ability to use a SI22 alternator lots of cheap HI amp options for them.

 

[LandCruisinMy93]

As Jeremy Knows I too have been working on an Isuzu swap and decided to change directions after sinking a small fortune into a rebuild. The only thing that worries me about a 6BT conversion is Diesel Adapters/Jonesy's/Duiser or whatever the heck the merger is called these days. All I know is that there have been several threads mentioning it taking several months to get their parts. I know of at least 2 members I have personally called Dustin for regarding not having their stuff after several months wait and unreturned phone calls and emails. On top of the few Duiser builds I've read about being complete lemons and needing a epic mulligan to make them truly road worthy. I would almost rather use the complete 6BT drive train and replace the rear axle with a 10.25 Tudra axle modified to be a 4-link than spend time and money on waiting for adaptors. I don't know, but I'm not willing to undertake this swap until the customer service and parts issues are resolved.

 

[Mr Cimarron]

As Jeremy Knows I too have been working on an Isuzu swap and decided to change directions after sinking a small fortune into a rebuild. The only thing that worries me about a 6BT conversion is Diesel Adapters/Jonesy's/Duiser or whatever the heck the merger is called these days. All I know is that there have been several threads mentioning it taking several months to get their parts. I know of at least 2 members I have personally called Dustin for regarding not having their stuff after several months wait and unreturned phone calls and emails. On top of the few Duiser builds I've read about being complete lemons and needing a epic mulligan to make them truly road worthy. I would almost rather use the complete 6BT drive train and replace the rear axle with a 10.25 Tudra axle modified to be a 4-link than spend time and money on waiting for adaptors. I don't know, but I'm not willing to undertake this swap until the customer service and parts issues are resolved.

Your close enough to drive to get your parts from them. No return phone call needed. The one thing that DA fixes is the accessory bracket. Without it the alternator or whatever is down there stock hits the frame.

 

[Wheelingnoob]

As Jeremy Knows I too have been working on an Isuzu swap and decided to change directions after sinking a small fortune into a rebuild. The only thing that worries me about a 6BT conversion is Diesel Adapters/Jonesy's/Duiser or whatever the heck the merger is called these days. All I know is that there have been several threads mentioning it taking several months to get their parts. I know of at least 2 members I have personally called Dustin for regarding not having their stuff after several months wait and unreturned phone calls and emails. On top of the few Duiser builds I've read about being complete lemons and needing a epic mulligan to make them truly road worthy. I would almost rather use the complete 6BT drive train and replace the rear axle with a 10.25 Tudra axle modified to be a 4-link than spend time and money on waiting for adaptors. I don't know, but I'm not willing to undertake this swap until the customer service and parts issues are resolved.

Well you are in a very fortunate position in that you live very close to his shop. I picked up my nv4500/HF2A adapter in person becouse of the reported issues. It was a 12hour round trip but worth it. His products are nice and we'll built, he is not doubt passionate about what he does. I feel the issue is he simply is overwhelmed by the volume being a one man show. There really is only a few critical things you need from him to do the swap, the other stuff just makes it an easier process.

Things that I would consider critical from him are the accessory mount, nv4500 adapter if you want to retain AWD and maybe the engine brakets be pending on your fabrication abilities.

I myself and making my own engine brakets and using 1st Gen Cummins motor mounts (isolators).

Things like hoses, fittings and wiring harness are all relatively easy to source. I will list all the part numbers I get and use on mine for others that want to follow my approach.

Unlike my last swap I will not dig deep into the engine and I plan to leave it as stock as possible.

 

[Wheelingnoob]

Here are a few more pictures.

Well used NV4500..... Got it cheap.



Engine...... Filthy with 10 years of barn dust and grime.





NV4500/HF2A adapter

 

[Wheelingnoob]

I plan to copy Mr Cimmron on a few points. First I plan to keep the intake elbow over the p pump. I also plan to use a large front mounted intercooler and possibly even the Donaldson air box.

The reason for the intercooler placement is its ideal. I can easily run piping to it and they are relatively cheap.

The airbox I like because it will allow me to keep my snorkel functional. Yes it will be a restriction but I can easily open up a second inlet for on road and mild off road. If there is a water crossing risk I'll plug off the open one to draw from the snorkel.

I plan to use my existing 3" exhaust from the muffle back and just remake the down pipe. I'm going to try and stay inside the frame with the exhaust.

That's about all for now.

 

[Mr Cimarron]

Since your engine is nice and accessible can you get a photo of the nipple/hose connection on the vacuum pump that goes to the brake booster? I want to see what the stock one looks like.

 

[Wheelingnoob]

Since your engine is nice and accessible can you get a photo of the nipple/hose connection on the vacuum pump that goes to the brake booster? I want to see what the stock one looks like.

No problem, I'll get a pic tomorrow when I'm near it again.

 

[cjmoon]

The dodge alt is 160 amp. The dodge bracket never brakes and it clears the frame. It does on mine. Why not use it?

The p-pump you have does not defueling nearly as early as the VE style pump gov set up. Stock is 3200k and pulls almost to it. I had the same version in my dodge with nv4500. The upgrade would be 4k spring kit

Sent from my SM-G900V

 

[Wheelingnoob]

The dodge alt is 160 amp. The dodge bracket never brakes and it clears the frame. It does on mine. Why not use it?

The p-pump you have does not defueling nearly as early as the VE style pump gov set up. Stock is 3200k and pulls almost to it. I had the same version in my dodge with nv4500. The upgrade would be 4k spring kit

Sent from my SM-G900V

Good to know, all the reading I did said it was 130amp.

The Dodge braket will not allow the AC. Compressor to be used. It's too close to the frame engine braket. Mine was damaged in the accident anyways and do not have it.

Intresting to know about the gov springs. Everything I have done in my research says nothing about that. My only thought is that maybe the 3k gsk will move the defuel higher? I don't want to have a overly touchy throttle and that is one thing they say about the 4k kit.

 

[Mr Cimarron]

I wish I would have done my 4K springs, AFC spring, and fuel plate separately so I knew which one did what with throttle response.

 

[Wheelingnoob]

I wish I would have done my 4K springs, AFC spring, and fuel plate separately so I knew which one did what with throttle response.

What was easier to do in the truck? My hope was to do it all while it's easy to access. Issue with that is same as yours no idea what did what and I don't want to mess anything up. Honestly a fuel plate, 4k gsk and tuning will produce more power than I feel the stock axles can handle on my motor anyways.

 

[Mr Cimarron]

What was easier to do in the truck? My hope was to do it all while it's easy to access. Issue with that is same as yours no idea what did what and I don't want to mess anything up. Honestly a fuel plate, 4k gsk and tuning will produce more power than I feel the stock axles can handle on my motor anyways.

Yeah the fuel plate got me up to the hp that the manual p pump has with a bit more torque. All of them are very doable after conversion but easier while engine is out. Especially valve springs. That was a lot of leaning over the engine bay standing on a milk crate. AFC housing has to be removed from the pump to install new spring so doesn't matter on that one.
One day I will get it dyno tested to see what kind of power I'm dealing with.

 

[Wheelingnoob]

Yeah I can see the valve springs being a pain in the ass in the truck.

For now I will do valve springs since they will not make a difference in power and are a pain to do in the truck. Then once I get it going I'll do a stock dyno. I have access to a dyno so no issues doing multiple different runs trying out different modifications.

My issue at the moment is clutch and what to run. I'm thinking a southbend 400hp 700ft/lb kit. I want something totally drivable on and off road.

The most mods I want on this engine are a GSK, AFC springs and possibly a fuel plate. So on this motor that would be in the 300hp range?

Yeah the fuel plate got me up to the hp that the manual p pump has with a bit more torque. All of them are very doable after conversion but easier while engine is out. Especially valve springs. That was a lot of leaning over the engine bay standing on a milk crate. AFC housing has to be removed from the pump to install new spring so doesn't matter on that one.
One day I will get it dyno tested to see what kind of power I'm dealing with.