Isuzu Engine Swops for Dummies

**mike_ie** · 25th January 2013, 02:27 PM

...because if I can do it, anyone can

I know that the Isuzu conversion threads may have been done to death for some, but a few people have asked me to post my own progress, so I figure why not. If nothing else it'll give a few people somethign to laugh at along the way.

The reasons for changing to the Isuzu engine differs form person to person, but for me it was pretty simple:

My 300tdi was getting about 12km to the rebuild, which wasn't quite living up to what Land Rover promised when they started churning them out of Solihull.
I'd recently gotten the chance to drive a few Isuzu County's - namely rijidij's and SteveG's and I found that the Isuzu engine was filling all the gaps that I found with the 300tdi - it had torque and then some to spare, and the powerband was just so completely different from teh 300tdi, no more struggling up hills, no more flat spots in 5th gear, so on and so forth.
If I was going to have to source a replacement engine anyways, it may as well be the engine that I want.
Vern bribed me with the promise of a shed, and beer.
I was stuck in Alice Springs, and, lets face it, *everything* seems like a good idea when you're stuck in Alice Springs.

The donor vehicle is an '83 Range Rover which has the 4BD1 engine, turboed, which I'd picked up from Matt (rovercare), who had in turn picked it up for a guy in Victoria. Apparently the engine and drivetrain was previously sitting in a Defender, and the engine had a complete rebuild about 90,000km ago, so hopefully it'll more or less drop into my defender without too many hassles.

The Range Rover is pretty much as you would imagine an 83 Range Rover to look like 30 years later, but the running gear I'm pretty happy with, engine sounds sweet, turns over first go, goes like the clappers even though I'm continuously being told that it has a lot more oomph in it.

The turbo itself is definitely an aftermarket addition

Custom made manifold, not sure what the turbo is off yet so a little concerned that it might be a tight fit under the Defender bonnet. Will know more later.

**rijidij** · 25th January 2013, 08:06 PM

G'day Mike,
Good to see you've got your project under way.

........and the engine had a complete rebuild about 90,000km ago

For an Isuzu, that's virtually brand new, not even run in yet, although Matt probably wound the fuel screw out about 12 turns and set the turbo at 30psi

.......lucky these engines are as close to indestructible as you can get, so it wouldn't make any difference anyway

I'll be following your progress.

Cheers, Murray

**justinc** · 25th January 2013, 08:22 PM

You'd be kidding right Murray??? The fuel screw is in the ashtray, and the wastegate line plugged up...

JC

**rovercare** · 25th January 2013, 08:36 PM

I never even picked it up, so it's untampered

**mike_ie** · 26th January 2013, 08:27 AM

Originally Posted by rijidij

G'day Mike,
Good to see you've got your project under way.

This *is* your fault, you realise that? Your fault for letting me behind the wheel of that bloody County of yours....

Thanks for the feedback though - there'll probably as many questions as answers as I'm working through it so hopefully the AULRO community will be able to help me out yet again. It'll be slow going till the DEfender gets here of course - trying to get all of the small niggly jobs out of the way first...

**mike_ie** · 29th January 2013, 09:53 AM

N.B. Apologies in advance for quoting all the facts and figures about the Isuzu engine that most people here probably know in their sleep. I'm posting this thread simultaneously in an Irish LR forum, where the engine is not so common, and it saves on the questions later....

Haven't posted in a few days - combination of working long days and nights, and a fridge full of beer. So time to catch up.

Right, time to get the engine out. Front grille and rad off the rangie, engine mounts and tranny mounts loosened up.....

Slowly but surely easing her out. To keep things simple I'm taking out the entire drivetrain back to the transfer case in one go.

First proper look at the engine. Looks good so far - clean, and no gaping holes anywhere we wouldn't want them. At 338kg for the engine alone plus another 50kg for the TC and about the same again for the gearbox, it's a bit of a pig of a thing to get out gracefully.

FREEDOOOMMMMM!!!!!!

Now let's take a closer look at that turbo setup.... Let me say that it does work, and works well, but if there's any work to be done on the engine, I'd prefer to do it now while it's (a) out of the engine, and (b) while I'm waiting for the Defender to get here.

Loving the custom mounting brackets....

Looks like someone has had a go at making an exhaust brake at one time

**rick130** · 29th January 2013, 12:00 PM

Pull that manifold off, give it a clean up internally with a die grinder if it hasn't been done already and just get it HPC coated inside and out.

I like it

**rover-56** · 29th January 2013, 03:28 PM

Guy who made that manifold is an artist - it should be cleaned up and hung up as a mobile.

Spent a fair bit of my working life bending tube - I can appreciate the work that went into it

Terry

**isuzurover** · 29th January 2013, 03:48 PM

Originally Posted by rick130

Pull that manifold off, give it a clean up internally with a die grinder if it hasn't been done already and just get it HPC coated inside and out.

I like it

x2 - I would be happy to run that manifold. As long as the pipe is thick enough it looks like it will continue to do the job.

**Vern** · 29th January 2013, 04:12 PM

Ben, i'm sure if you want it that badly, mike will sell it to you. His engine now sports an isuzu turbo manifold and vnt turbo

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