I'm back...
Well the good news first, A DIESEL IS FRKN OUTSTANDING!!!!!
We could go up grades at over 9-10,000 feet and not be a road hazard. Cruising up 395 at 70 with only a downshift to 4th to go up Conway Summit was a joy to be seen and felt.
No serious issues with the swap or the engine. She does get a little cranky and smokey at 8,000' and upper 30 degree range to start. But nothing a little longer on the glow plug button didn't take care of for the most part.
The trans rattle did not get any worse or better, so I don't know if it's anything. Shifts and drives fine?
I had more black smoke than I wanted anytime over 7,000 feet (our whole trip!). I tried adjusting the boost compensator, and it helped and hurt. It ran better, but smoked more. I found my last minute boost port tube with a 90 degree bend mod did not work! I'm still not getting any pressure at the hose. I think I need a bigger tube, which I will try soon.
She also had a few rough running/vibrations a certain rpm's, even a little/minor surging it felt at the times. But cleared up with more/higher rpm's. I don't know my rpm's as I don't have a tach yet. I think this is all realted to the boost compensator issue.
In a related finding/condition, boost is slow to build, but oh does it build! But coming out of a slow, steep, uphill sharp curve, it was real slow to build boost. Severe turbo lag and black smoke. I think this related to no boost pressure reaching the the boost compensator because of the fitting size or location. Even though the fitting is almost the same distance from the intake manifold.
I also may have the IP out of adjustment a little and will check that and the injectors just to make sure. Remember, I had to remove the IP to change the oil cooler cover before I installed the engine.
I also think this boost issue contributed to my relatively low fuel economy. I filled both tanks, 41-42 gallons total, and went about 500 miles and had about 1/2 of the stock tank left. I only filled the the stock tank all the way as the Bridgeport diesel station was having pump problems. So I will fill her up this week and get an accurate mileage check. No matter what, WAY BETTER THAN THE GASSER AT 7-10,000 FEET FOR TEN DAYS!
Since I tow our 60 behind our motorhome, I have not driven her again at lower altitudes. But she did fire right up with no smoke and with minimum glow plugs dwell time at sea level (home).
I played with the boost pressure adjustment quite a bit and made some difference. I did not play or check the altitude compensator, as I only wanted to deal with one issue at a time.
I'm going to have to relocate the oil filter. There is no clearance with only a 3" lift! Even with only 1" of travel to the bump stop, I still manage to have the front u-joint dent the oil filter! Not Good!
This was minimum 4 wheeling and being extra careful. Mainly dirt roads and 2 tracks in the forrest. I carried an extra oil filter and 3 gallons of oil just in case and watched the oil pressure very carefully.
I think what Dougal has done with plates on his 4BD engine is making sense to me know. I spent some time looking at the oil systems external parts(with a nice adult beverage in hand and in the Sierra's!) and think I can do this fairly easily with some custom aluminum plates, SS hose and good fittings.
I think I can mount the stock filter head away from the engine and plate the it's engine side, plate and drill the block plate. Install fittings and connect with hoses. On the upper stock steel fitting and line cut the steel pipe and braze fittings and connect with SS hose and fittings and we should be ready to go with a new remote mount.
This brings up another issue - Oil pressure and water temp sending units. The new Isuzu senders I bought do not work right with the Toyota gauges. I need to install toyota senders to fix this.
Overall no major problems. Never got hot. Did not burn oil, but a small oil leak leak near the IP/power steering pump. A tiny one, maybe a few teaspoon fulls. Not enough to want to get in the dirt and crawl underneath!
In fact the only issue I fixed on the trip was a bad relay for the glow plugs. Good'ol NAPA in Brideport! But, as I mentioned earlier, I played the boost quite a few times. Oh, I forgot, Had to take a hammer and a nail and vent my gas...FUEL cap, as I forgot to prior to the trip.
I would recommend this swap to anyone considering a diesel 60. It was not that hard, the engines are good, plentiful, and easy to get parts for. They have way more power than the 2F, and I bet even more with a little adjustment and fiddling. This is not even going the route of increasing the fuel or boost, just good stock tuning should result in even more power and better fuel mileage in the very near future.
We had a great trip and she performed very well for the very limited testing time I had before the trip. I really just got most of the big little things finished up the day before we left. I drove her for the first time the weekend prior and had put about 200 miles on thew swap before our vacation. As I said before, "Trial By Fire"!
Fishing was great, weather was great, scenery was...outstanding. late summer/early fall is beautiful. Family and I had a great time.
But a little bad news, my wife found out she is getting laid off in 60 days the day we got home. Really bad news, as she makes a decent wage and had the benefits for us. I guess a sign of the times, but she had a lot of time in and my work (construction) sucks right now and probably will for the next few years! Sorry for the bummer update end.
Chins are up, we are looking ahead, and our good old 60 works pretty damm good!
Hell Ya!
Doug
