isuzu 2.8 turbo into '87 2.5 n/a 110 transplant

[callum]

following on from this thread http://www.landrovernet.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13405 , i suppose its about time i started my own.

on sunday i picked up that beauty pictured and it will combine with that other one to become something a bit better hopefully.

sorry i dont have any more pics of the isuzu, it was an ebay purchase for a bit over £100 and is largely ready for the scrappies as rust has got hold in a big way. thankfully its engine is good and it made the trip from huntly (north west of aberdeen) to a friend's house in the scottish borders without a hitch, 70mph most of the way, including up hills. I wish my landie would do that, hopefully it soon will.

There's also a picture of the engine it will replace, a 2.5 n/a military recon unit. It was in the car when i got it and following servicing and maybe a bit of STP, it has been getting better and better, got it up to 135kph on tuesday night. However that was down hill with the wind behind me. the return journey was pretty slow and up that hill with the wind against me i couldn't get to much over 40 in fourth and it wa s bit slower in fifth. So its quite a nice example of that particular engine, just not quite powerful enough for a 110 and as such is getting replaced by the isuzu engine.

MY 110 has a 1.667:1 transfer box ratio, so i will be changing this in the interests of my hearing so i can keep the revs down at speed and hopefully the fuel consumption also. Shall be looking back at lightning 90's thread on that front. I'm hopefully going to get a disco box with 1.22:1 ratio from spotter.

final bit of the project will be tuning the isuzu engine so it has a little more power and torque. i've been advised to leave this for a while so i can notice the difference. i suppose its also a good idea as it means i can wait and see what the biggest intercooler i can fit into the engine bay is...muhahhaha. I had a brief drive of the isuzu on sunday and it seemed to go pretty well, certainly better than the land rover, had it up to 50 on twisty country roads. Brakes and steering were pretty scary, however the 110's are better, so it hopefully should make a nice combo. The 110 is about 2 or 300kg heavier than a SWB trooper, so this might hamper performance, we shall see.

Anyway, not much is happening to until after the new year. today i ordered a kit from www.engineconversions.co.uk. i spoke to andy who is a pretty cool guy and was really helpful. the kit should arrive early next week.

for those thinking about this conversion, whilst the isuzu was cheap, it aint a cheap conversion kit.

£295 +vat for the kit
£65 for the exhaust adaptor.

you dont have to get the latter, but seeing as i am not doing the conversion, i thought i should get it rather than bodging or getting the guy who is doing it to bodge the job. should speed things up also.

What will need bodging is the power steering to mate the landie box to the isuzu pump. I have been advised i will also need to use the isuzu fuel filter for its manual priming. more info on that to follow when the kit and instructions arrive.

to tide you over, here's some info on the engine
thanks to bmhor (he's also done the conversion for a friend of his)
http://www.bmhor.org/ its the manual 4jb1 or something to that effect on the left hand side.

[Highway_Star]

Looking at the background in those photies, you live very close to my old gaff. near Scotmid/Queens Retreat boozer?

[callum]

Looking at the background in those photies, you live very close to my old gaff. near Scotmid/Queens Retreat boozer?


that is indeed true, i believe you used to own a gold rangie complete with recovery lights on the top.

[Highway_Star]

Guilty as charged! That Range Rover now resides in Barhead, and those lights spend most of their time in my shed, only getting plonked on the current Range Rover when necessary, as it won't go in the garage with the lighting bar on.

I quite liked living in the ferry, would have stayed if I property prices hadn't started to get silly.

[callum]

right, transfer box acquired today.

gone with a 1:1.41 box on account of being able to get one locally. Was going to ge a 1:1.192 box from www.landroverheaven.com but i think the lower ratio will be better if i stick some bigger tyres on. we shall see.

should have all the stuff by early next week. keeping an eye out on ebay for an intercooler now.

[Highway_Star]

Good luck! It seems to be a worthwhile conversion from what I've seen of the one Bob did (when the owner doesn't have it on it's side or in bits!)

[callum]

Good luck! It seems to be a worthwhile conversion from what I've seen of the one Bob did (when the owner doesn't have it on it's side or in bits!)

ahh you know of the yellow 110. i've seen it twice but it was always round having its engine removed so i never saw it in situ, only on the garage floor.

a little update today.

i think the conversion kit is here, but i missed the courier by 20 mins following being lost in livingston.

anyway i eventually found what i was looking for and now have some filters to service the isuzu lump with

oil about £8
and fuel (its a fairly sizeable thing with a sensor apparantly) £13

gasket set for the transfer box £10

so i think i have all i immediately need now for fitting.

[Highway_Star]

I know the yellow peril well! It's not had a lot of luck with engines, but when it goes, it goes.

[callum]

its been a while and i'm still chugging away with the n/a. uni has been getting in the way and the guy who's helping me or rather i'm helping has been busy.

anyhoo, got a nice parcel today, one intercooler from a saab 9-3 sport, a lucky £30 on ebay inclucing postage. Best thing is its a brand new item so no issues of broken fins and blockages etc. nice and clean to handle too. i had been waiting to get a cooler off the volvo 760 in the scrappies, but was happy about this one as it was alleged to be 30x40cm so would be a much easier fit that the volvo one.

As is probably obvious, those dimensions were a little conservative...looks like the wings might require some internal surgery even to clear the tanks at the side...ho hum. so if anyone's considering putting another intercooler in, the one from a saab 9-3 is a bit big.

allegedly my engine can come out this weekend coming, so maybe things will get started soon.

[ROB 110 HICAP]

Interesting stuff Callum, keep us posted with how she goes.

[steve@offroadin]

Oh just found this, plans for the same myself.
Out of interest why the 2.8 over the 3.1? are ther any fitting issues with the 3.1?

cheers

[callum]

grr, just typed a really long response to this and shut the window by mistake

i'll try again apologies if its abit brief this time

main reason is cost. 2.8's are much cheaper as there are loads of 2.8's dieing from rust at the moment, so its easy just to pick up a whole vehicle for just afew hundred pounds. this also means spares are cheap as lots of people are breaking them, or if you have lots of space you can buy up a few spare engines. 3.1's are more expensive as that generation of trooper does not seem to by dieing at all. lots of rusted to hell 2.8's on the market, but i think you'll struggle to find a rusted 3.1. that limits your market to crash damaged ones and also means you'll be paying breaker prices.

second reason is that 2.8's are direct injection, whereas 3.1's are indirect injection. this was done in order to make them quieter, but at the expense of performance. 3.1's ahve a bit more power and torque than a stock 2.8, but this is due to their larger displacment and the fact that they are intercooled as standard. this means ther is still a fair bit of untapped potential from the 2.8 to exceed the figures of the 3.1 without straining the engine further. you can get a2.8 with an intercooler, citation models came with this i think, but i dont know what sort of power they had.

final reason is that the 2.8 seems a durable engine. weedy said that folk he nkows with 3.1 troopers ahve repalced several engines then eventually settled on a 2.8 with no probs. it is also interesting that there is a company in britain offering a service to replace your trooper's 3.0 diesel (the new 160bhp ones) with a 2.8 on accoutn of its durability.

so there you have it. main reason is cost and availabilty (mine only cost me £100, about a tenth of a land rover tdi). but there's also other reasons to consider a 2.8.

[ROB 110 HICAP]

it is also interesting that there is a company in britain offering a service to replace your trooper's 3.0 diesel (the new 160bhp ones) with a 2.8 on accoutn of its durability.
.

Burghins and son www.mbs4x4.co.uk 01597 851236 They will replace your old 3.0 with the new model 2.8td (4JBI TD) from £4,950+vat, I must rush out and do it now..... I wonder how much they flog the old 3.0 lumps for?

[callum]

Burghins and son www.mbs4x4.co.uk 01597 851236 They will replace your old 3.0 with the new model 2.8td (4JBI TD) from £4,950+vat, I must rush out and do it now..... I wonder how much they flog the old 3.0 lumps for?

yes, i wonder how many customers they have lining up for a downgrade...sorry upgrade.

allegedly the 3.0's explode due to some gasket failure, but i dont really know much about it. i dont think i would say no to one of those 3.0's to be honest. much like the current nissan 3.0, similaly powerful and also with a reputation for exploding or some sort of strange failure.

[callum]

finally got started this weekend.

both engines are out now, isuzu one was a real pain , had to cut bits of chassis mount off and also the transmission tunnel to remove it,. land rover one was a bit easier, especially as the whole front of the car could be removed to get the engine out.

transfer box has not been swapped, although not without issue, caused endless trouble owing to its rather great weight and no one being especially keen for it to drop on their head.

other than that, conversion bits were added to the engine block, clutch swapped and other odds and sods. its pretty much ready to be dropped into place and then have lots of time spent on it for wiring and plumbing etc etc.

anyhoo, here's some piccies of various things

[ROB 110 HICAP]

Longest juorney start with first step.......

[weedy]

so is it in yet

[callum]

so is it in yet


nah its still sitting on the floor.

unfortunately work is taking place 60 miles away inthe garage fo a freind of my dad's, so its weekend only stuff. thankfully the guy who's garage it is will be doing bits and bobs during the week. that's probably a good thing as he knows what he's doing, unlike my father and i who have spend a some time observing and feeling a bit useless at times. all useful learning though.

need to decide what to do regarding glow plugs though. the guy doing it reckons it should be cool to use the land rover method of warming them, i.e hold the key on a bit and then turn. trooper has a slighlty different method. normally it operates like a normal car diesel, turn the key, leave it on till the lights go out and then turn. it also has a cold start switch to warm up the plugs for when ts really cold. i've heard that holding on the plugs on the trooper too long in the landie way does damage to the engine. i'm not sure on that one.

i think i shall get on the old email to bob (bmhor) to see what he did with the switch and glow plugs when he inserted a trooper engine into a 110.

not looking too bad though, kit looks quite good, although one of the mounts had to face the gas axe to provide a bit of clearance to pipes. i probably wont see it for a few weeks and it shal lcarry on without me as i have lots of final work to do for uni in the next weeks, degree stuff, so its quite important. after that though, i shall be free for the summer.

[weedy]

if use the key switch as normal and wire the isuzu relay in you can not over heat them

this is what did with my wife landy
when i fit the 2.3 isuzu motor in it

[callum]

that sounds like agood idea.

did you bother with the very cold start switch as well or just leave it at the ignition?

[weedy]

did not use the very cold start just the glow plugs is enought for it

[callum]

following a few issues, the engine is now apparantly in place. the holes in the ring had to be bored out a little, but now it is fitting.

unfortunately this thread is about as useful as a chocolate teapot without pictures and i wont be able to get any for alittle while, sorry :(

shall try and get some new piccies as soon as possible.

[steve@offroadin]

any update? just found myself some 2.8's so need pictures ;)

[callum]

yeah its up and running and been several hundred (rather pleasant) miles.

it has a leak from the rear crank seal though, so is away until the weekend when the gearbox will be removed to fit the new seal. going by the rather clean bellhousing on the isuzu, the leak has always been there. maybe should have looked closer before it went in. new seal is abeast and cost £30 from isuzu. hopefully i'll sort out better parts supply should something like that which can be bought secondhand, be required in future. maybe i'll just have to live with such costs for those parts, not sure how much the landie equivalent would cost.

i've been abit lax in adding finished pics/details i'm afraid. they shall go up with proper write up when i get it back, hopefully for good.

engine is pretty small in the engine bay and with the electric fans you can easily stand in the engine bay. its far back position means the front sits a bit higher and i think it handles a bit better as a result of the weight (which i think is lesser) being shifted behind the front axle.

so it runs and runs nicely but there's lots of ancilliaries sch as gauges glow plugs and stuff that needs sorted as time permits.

[alex]

Callum
Landie equivolent is about 7 quid but thats probably why it dont work. My 11 yr old Patrol sits on clean concrete drive for days and not a single drop falls. F****n awesome truck!
Alex

[callum]

you got a digi cam?

be interested o see some pics of your patrol, engine, chassis, interior, anything else of interest. i have auk brochure from '94 for the gr, but i recall yours is an import.

callum

[weedy]

yeah its up and running and been several hundred (rather pleasant) miles.

it has a leak from the rear crank seal though, so is away until the weekend when the gearbox will be removed to fit the new seal. going by the rather clean bellhousing on the isuzu, the leak has always been there. maybe should have looked closer before it went in. new seal is abeast and cost £30 from isuzu. hopefully i'll sort out better parts supply should something like that which can be bought secondhand, be required in future. maybe i'll just have to live with such costs for those parts, not sure how much the landie equivalent would cost.

i've been abit lax in adding finished pics/details i'm afraid. they shall go up with proper write up when i get it back, hopefully for good.

engine is pretty small in the engine bay and with the electric fans you can easily stand in the engine bay. its far back position means the front sits a bit higher and i think it handles a bit better as a result of the weight (which i think is lesser) being shifted behind the front axle.

so it runs and runs nicely but there's lots of ancilliaries sch as gauges glow plugs and stuff that needs sorted as time permits.


sorry to say that the part can be a little dear for the jap engine but you will find that you do not need to change them as often as the landy one but the landy parts are very cheap and if you have one that dose not leak you must have agood one as a lot of them do leak and some leak a lot of oil a lot of the time

your rear seal leaking on the isuzu motor this i have never done one please post a pic of it mate and let us know if you find some dirt under the lip or some thing

[alex]

Callum
I am Neolithic so no Pics but in the next few months I am to be whizzed into 21st century so all my body hair will hopefully fall out and and I can stand fully upright. My Ptrol was brought in from Cyprus at new so it is basically an OZ spec model. 4.2 na but with auto which is unavailable on uk GR(petrol auto only). In auto overdrive it sits at 2200rpm at 70mph. Had to overhaul front hubs when I got it as driveshaft seals were leaking oil from diff and this was dripping from knuckles. While it was opened I did every bearing and seal on each side. Saved a packet going to a bearing supplier and getting genuine Koyo bearings at nearly one fifth of Nissan Stealer prices.
Guys on Outer Limits were brill giving me part no`s. Got to watch when buying one Callum as rust can get hold on them at wheelarches sills and chassis arches. I`ve already welded metal in to sills and one thin chassis section but I think there are better cared for(and also worse) examples out there than mine and for half the money of a 110 or a TLC I would buy another.

[callum]

70mph at 2200 rpm, the laid back stuff of dreams.

liking the sound of that. i dont really need another car, let alone another lwb 4x4 at the moment, but i think i might break when i finish pt2 of my degree in a few years. not sure of patrol vs landcruiser though, depends what i can find, neither are too prevalent. landcruisers have lockign front diffs though, which is nice and permanant 4 wheel drive, but the patrol is a bit rarer and a bit different. something tells me the nissan may be a bit better than the landcruiser and that there are a lot of aussies full of hot air about their landcruisers, but i dont know, not been in either, nevermind driven them off road.

rust is a big fear with regards to such vehicles, but i dont think its as big a problem with them as it was with their forebearers, like that rusty old isuzu i bought. although in saying that the 110 has had its fiar share of rust in places.

Thanks for the info though, i'll maybe hit you for more in a few years time. in the mean time i shall keep dreaming and be happy with my jap/landie hybrid.

You had a shot in a gu patrol yet? wouldn't mind one of the aussie versions of those with the 4.2 turbo intercooled engine.

shall find your post on outerlimits, been hanging about in the isuzu bit of late.

[alex]

That`ll be a good truck when you`re finished with it Callum. Those suzu engines are unburstable. I think the Cruiser 80 is a great truck and it costs more than Ptrol cos it has more on it and it has better build quality and detail. My mate has 93 80ser vx and it has no rust anywhere cos it is better protected on arches etc. with rubber mouldings and better finish but you would expect that from a truck which costs twice as much at new and at ten years old. Gu is very good, better built same chassis as gq but gusseted at previous weak points for more strength.Top body is wider for more elbow room although there were issues with td6 engine.Friend has one and it is a more peppy engine and I think a great buy as they don`t hold big money. I get the feeling it will stand up to the rust better as it has a more modern build detail. I just like the look of the GQ.....totally different! Td42 engine is a bit unrefined though cos it`s basically a truck engine but some guys in Oz have 800,000klms on them! Credit where credits due! If you`re passing by Paisley with truck pop in.
Alex
I