Toyota Landcruiser HJ47 Ute with Isuzu 4BD1 conversion Build

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crushers said:
you won't see the 130 at the wheels very often and as long as you don't dump the clutch when taking off the H55 should stand up quite well. i would suggest and equalizer tube between the tranny and the t/case, that intermediate seal has eaten up a number of t/cases - trannys over the years.
subscribed.
definately interested in the camper build portion. any basic ideas at this point?
Click to expand...

Yeah I tend to drive my old cruisers quite sympathetically. I don't imagine I'll have too many problems with the box.
That equaliser tube is already fitted to the box. One less thing to do!

I have already tacked the main frame of the camper together, I'll post some photo's soon.

It will be a slide on style camper, with a bed 1200mm wide running the length of the tray. Under the bed will be 2 drawers, 1200 deep, 450 high, and about 800 wide. the remaining 500 of tray length will be for a 50L fridge and some under bed storage.

The remaining 600mm of tray width will be seperated by a vertical wall, and will be used to store 2 mountain bikes, an outboard motor, a bunch of tools and spares and any other crap I can fit in there. There will be roof bars over the roof to hold my 12' tinny, and 2 solar panels under that. The biggest challenge will be sealing the drawers and bed area from dust and water, as we intend to ford a few different rivers that will be deep enough to inundate the camper, and the dust is just extreme up in the far north during the late dry season.
 
Haydo you can buy a silver star and post as many photo's as you want for $20 US. Not bad as there's a mountain of info on this site so a $20 donation is well worth it.
 
i agree, the silver star is a great way of saying thanks ...
of course you can also post the pics to a server and a link here.
 
20140211_102106.webp

20140211_102122.webp

Ok it looks like I can post photos again. These are photos of the frame for my slide on camper.
20140211_102106.webp
20140211_102122.webp
 
Just a note to the purist restorers out there, the bodywork that had to be removed to get the side pipe to fit was badly rusted and had been smashed up anyway. I initially cut out the material to replace it, but when I realised the stack fit in there perfectly I left it out!
Saved me a couple of afternoons of welding up bodyparts.
 
They both look like really good parts suitable for your ute I might buy one of those top spin pre cleaners myself I have never seen one before only the old style
 
Well Ive been away working for a little while, but am back and making progress again. I'm half way through making a turbo manifold for the 4BD1 to fit the turbo. I'm just using some old 1.5" steam pipe weld on fittings. they seem to be just the thing to make a good strong tube manifold out of. Ive also been fitting up throttle linkages to the fuel pump.

Ive been doing a lot of reading about alternative fuels. I am thinking I like the idea of burning old engine oil. I have come across quite a number of forum threads of people running straight filtered engine oil in their diesels, with no problems. It seems like as long as you remove all the impurities and water, heat the oil before it gets to the injector pump, and warm the engine up on diesel before switching over to the old oil, there should be no problem. Assuming i can get free used oil anywhere i travel, It will cut the cost of the trip down by about 70%. Thats a big saving! that would be a few engine rebuilds in savings over a 40,000km trip. Hmmm.....

Anyone have experience with this?
 
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This is just my suggestion run plain old diesel
Bugger the oil it's not really going green if your burning oil that already has carbon in it
 
Been Flat out working. But have made some good progress. I finished the clearcoat on the body, and I'm building up the axles at the moment. I discovered yesterday that my donor vehicle front axle tube is bent. Its so bent I cant get the long driveshaft out of the axle tube! I'll have to use the other spare tube, from an earlier drum front end or just put the car up on blocks and rebuild the one thats currently fitted.

As for running waste oil, Thats just a pipedream at the moment really, Ive just got to get the machine running before thinking about that, The purpose would be to save money rather than to earn a place in hippy heaven.
It would be risky, but I do believe if I filter the oil correctly and flush the system with diesel after running the oil it will reduce the risks down to a manageable consequence.
 
Friend of mine tried that route of burning his and other's waste oil in his diesel , between injector issues , smoking like mad and wasting a lot of money on expensive fine particle filters and a burnt out heater/exchanger he gave up and went back to stock . I think the real trick to it is getting good , reasonably clean oil to start with . Basically , diesel fuel .
Sarge
 
interesting. was your friend switching between diesel when engine temp was cold and oil when hot? I think that will make a difference to injector life. I would love to hear from someone who has tried doing exactly what I want to do.

in other news I got the axles all cleaned up, diffs are stripped and cleaned. The rear axle tube is painted, and I'm trying to work out whether to attempt to put disks on the rear or not. I have a bunch of options on that front, the most likely one would be to use the stock hubs and get a disk machined to fit, and make up a bracket to hold the 80 series rear calipers that I happen to have lying around.

I went in to my local brake parts shop having called ahead to identify a suitable master Cylinder to fit the hydroboost unit, as the stock one doesn't fit. . we tried some GM ones off older vehicles, and we found one that fitted the stud pattern but the pin in the centre that pushes the piston on the master wasn't long enough. I'll keep looking on that front. The shop wasn't very helpful overall. I've found every time I go to a shop I feel disappointed with the service, and wish I didn't bother driving into town for it. I find buying online a much nicer experience, and cheaper.
 
His setup used a valve system similar to the veggie units - switchover didn't happen until engine hit full running temp and oil tank was heated to a pre-set value . May have just been his injector type but I would have thought an older IDI system would have handled it fine .
Sarge
 
Hey, great to see another Isuzu swap going into a 40 series! I've done two and I'm collecting parts to do a third now. I love these engines. Extremely well built and designed engines that will last many hundred thousand kilometers. Are you planning to install oil squirters for the piston skirts since you are installing a turbo? Or are you just going to keep your EGTs low so you don't burn the pistons up on that 4bd1?

Anyway, great project and I'm subscribed.
 
Ahh Longbow, I've read about your conversion. Very nice work! I will open the bottom of the isuzu to check if mine is machined to accept the oil squirters. If it is I'll probably install them, as long as I can find an oil pump for a turbo model as they flow more oil than the non turbo one.

Thanks Weber Sarge for the info, that's what I had in mind for my cruiser. still undecided about the whole thing but I have a few months to think about it yet!
 
Well, after much delay, I'm back! I have been very busy down in the shed! Progress to date is:
  • Rebuilt and fitted axles with 3.7 gears, ARB diff lockers, new brakes and extended breathers
  • replaced/rebuilt all steering joints
  • replaced/rebuilt all suspension/sway bar components
  • discovered my h55 gearbox is no good, will require rebuild!
  • discovered the 12 years since the Isuzu has run has taken its toll on the poor motor, I cranked it over the other day and found it had almost no compression and air was sucking and blowing out the exhaust ports. I guess the exhaust valves aren't closing properly! maybe valve springs and/or rusty seats? I'll find out when I lift the head later in the week.
  • replaced the steel checkerplate on the tray, and will be refitting the tray this afternoon (hopefully!)
  • collected all the parts I need for the exhaust and snorkel
  • rewired the tail lights
  • fitted sound deadening to the body
  • fitted an ARB roo bar which I bought new for about Half price
  • converted the windows from 2 piece to 1 piece, (no quarter window, better seal)
  • found someone to do some fabrication for me on the bellhousing I'm making to fit engine to gearbox. (need a square-round transition made up out of 3mm plate steel. can't do it at home!)
The motor is a bit of a bugger, I was hoping (perhaps foolishly) that it would just crank over and fire up! I'm sort of expecting to have to get the whole head rebuilt. Not sure if I'll do it myself or not yet.

The box has a bent input shaft and collapsed bearings on the cluster shaft. I think i will order an upgraded turbo spec H55F from a guy in NSW that seems to have lots of experience with 5 speed conversions on these old Toyotas. Apparently you can get a H55 with an oil feed over the front bearings like the later H151's out of the 80 series turbo. I didn't know that!
He pretty much gets all the best parts out of all the 8 different models of H55 and puts them together with a few aftermarket upgrades including longer splined output gears etc and sells the whole assembly outright. about 3k delivered to me seems quite reasonable.
 
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