Thread: Heart Transplant Question

Originally Posted by TwoUp

Gibs I have,
Now have to deal with some other posts here. This I will do with relish.

Not anyone has posted with a successful 6.5 upgrade. Why I do not know? It remains that others have posted on their failures and because they have or that "someone they know" has failed they bag the motor. Where is someonoe that has succeded in doing this modification to advise on the outcome. Similarly then persons go to another motor that you have not asked for. Why? Sheep run this way..........

Gibs,
The upgrade you mentioned is attainable. If you plan and do so then this is a good outcome. Towing as you mentioned is a breeze with this motor. Plan well and achieve the desired outcome.

I have mentioned previously that my motor runs cool. This is true and given where I am located and that I usually go further North (don't know why) as a general rule than I would suggest that this is a reasonable platform to work with. My fuel usage is real for you to use as a guide. The motor is fitted to a 98 Defender with the standard gearbox and Ascroft, fine, transfer case gears to reduce the revs.

As this thread is about a 6.5 heart transplant, I hope you accept this as a guide from someone that Has succeded in fitting a simple motor to a vehicle. Really it is not that hard.

Regards,
PeterW

Well here's my none success story. I purchased a 96 6.5 chev turbo engine (96,000k old), it had a damged bore due to injecter failure. So had a resleeve done, and had the motor rebuilt, new mechanical injecter pump(tweaked), reco injecters, new starter etc..Being a 96 model block, this is the engine to have, less prone to failures. it ran the serpintine belt water pump, dual thermostats etc..
Anyway i pulled my holden 336 stroker out (which was only 5000ks old) had the tubo 700 rebuilt to suit the Chev, with 6.5 chev governer, low stall converter etc.., dropped the chev in (its just a chev so bolted straight in almost, although it is bigblock size), cut and welded exhaust manifolds to make them fit, had an MQ patrol 4 core radiator modified to fit.
Got it running, had a few teething problems straight away (water pump gasket leaked) idled well, sounded awsome, off idle torque was fantastic, drove no different to the holden stroker, fuel economy was alot better aswell.
All was going ok, putting around town and all. Set off on a holiday and thing started getting hot, could only putt in it, any time you put the foot in it would get hot, and oil pressure would drop off. After weeks of frigging around, motor out off to engine shop, they pulled it down and couldn't find any problems with it, even stuck a new set of big end bearings in it just in case, and a new oil pump. New thermostats ($200) etc.. kept doing it, i spent months and months on it (and$$$$$) At this stage i was over it, performance was ok, economy ok, but nothing to right home about.
Finally fixed it with an 80mm thick 2 core aluminium radiater sho horned in there, at this stage i hated the thing and had learnt ALOT about these engines, particularly from the websites in the US.
The reason i went for this engine was IMO the 300tdi/Td5 was to small, 4bdi was to gutless (read all the carp from 4wd mags) and all the hype (advertising) on these chevs suckered me in.
From what i now know i think the success rate would be around 50%, some are real happy, some are not overly impressed but it works and for the money would never do it again, the others just cut there losses and started over (me).
IF you were to get a good engine and could cool it successfully then it would be good, not great but good.

Now for me, after driving one, an intercooled, boosted, isuzu 4bd1t, leaves it for dead, better to drive, better economy, and the feeling of reliability, how many isuzu conversions have failed?? none that i know of on this site.
I should have listened to John (Bush65) and done the isuzu instead, he's a very wise man
My 2c.


(p.s, this has been discussed on outerlimits a fair bit aswell)

My only experience with these engines was in a 130 and 60 series cruiser and both cost $$$ and both overheated.Last year I helped the 60 series owner fit the largest fan we could get and make up an alloy shroud to suit and it still climbs into the red towing his boat at any speed over 80.Apart from removing the wings and bonnet overheating seems to be a constant complaint with these engines regardless of what they are fitted in. Pat