Engine Conversions

[Jimbo]

Hi All,

Just had a look thru the galleries, some awesome looking vans in there, I'll have a better look when I have more time.

To the subject at hand though, as I said in my newbie post, I don't have much of an idea re mechanical stuff and was wondering how difficult it would be to put in a 3.0l Turbo diesel engine (toyota or mazda or something) mainly for fuel economy on the big drive. Has anyone tried this?

[ben]

i prefer gas, its too easy to keep the strong holden 6 in and economical as..

but danny says he had a 460 ford v8 in his van for a little while. said it went quite well. he put 10bucks of fuel in went round the block and ran out of fuel before he got back to the servo. not great economy lol..

[ShaneJ]

This van has a 351 taken out to over 400 and uses 33l per 100ks towing a very large car trailer with car on top.

[BlackBedford]

G'day

I suggest you do a search on the old website as there has been a fair amount of discussion.

The big problem with a diesel is the width and height of the motor.
Deisels have a long stroke and this means the motor is tall. By the time you clear the front crossmember, the motor is sitting up under the dash.
There is so much stuff hanging off a diesel that the engine cover will be right beside you. A turbo will only add to your problems.
The early Nissan 6 cylinder deisel motor does fit OK but 4 Cylinder motors over about 2.4 litres will need a really big engine cover.

I have seen a couple of conversions and I wasn't impressed by them. They were underpowered and had large engine covers. There appeared to be a lot of modifications to get it fully setup. Things such as dash, brake booster etc.

Regards
Chris

[ben]

old site is not working anymore.

has it been backed up shane?

ben

[ShaneJ]

I didn't back it up. It wasn't mine

[Bas NZ]

Yea, its gone, but still there, as I got the post on the Transit power steering unit from there I think. Just went though the Drivetrain Category