About time I updated the thread.
Over a month since I last posted the progress, not a lot achieved visually, and many frustrating "backwards steps".
Engine sump:
I'd bought a wingless truck sump from a wrecker to give me room to run the turbo dump pipe down the side of the sump , but once it was fitted I found that the crank wouldn't turn as it hit on the shallow part of the sump. I'm guessing it was actually a 4BE1 sump. Unfortunately the wrecker didn't have another one to give me, so I ended up cutting the wing off my original sump and welding it back together. It actually finished up quite well.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...10/12/1270.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...10/12/1271.jpg
Power steering pump:
The one I originally bought from a truck wrecker had the pressure outlet on the side, which interferes with the power steering box. After trying various different connections, and even moving the engine to the left slightly to get some more clearance I gave up and got another pump with the pressure outlet on the front. The second pump wasn't good internally, so I ended up swapping over the internals from the original one.
Bit more info here: http://www.aulro.com/afvb/isuzu-land...p-rebuild.html
Lesson learned....don't buy the pump with side outlet.
Once I had the pump and pressure hose sorted out the engine mounts were finally tacked in place and then welded (still have a couple of welds to finish off later once the engine is back out).
Radiator:
I tossed up whether to get one re-cored, or buy a $350 V8 one from eBay and get the inlet and outlet pipes relocated.
Ended up getting the ebay one, but when the radiator bloke went to move pipes, he found they were silver soldered in, so ended up having to pull the tanks off to do the job. Combined cost for purchase and modification was more than it would have been to get mine re-cored :(
FWIW, his assessment of the ebay radiator was that it was middle of the road quality wise - possibly originating from the middle east going by the style and fabrication.
Air filter brackets have been fabricated from some angle iron, and after seeing where factory ones have cracked around the single mounting hole, I modified them to pick up on an additional hole further up the block (as well as the original bolt on the flywheel housing). Hopefully this will prevent the flexing and fatigue around the original mount bolt.
The mounting bands for the filter are Fleetguard ones from a truck supplies place near work - around $15 each.
Fitted a spin-on fuel filter, and have made the spacers for the spin-on oil filter housing. Not quite finished but almost:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...10/12/1272.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...012/03/931.jpg
Trial fitted the VNT turbo with the top-mount T25 manifold, but not enough clearance to the bonnet :(:(.
Normal T25 turbo has good amount of clearance, but the VNT has a bigger housing and also required an adapter plate as its got an unusual 3-bolt flange (its off a BMW X5). Wasn't going to fit without cutting a hole in the bonnet..
Decided to bite the bullet and order the same Isuzu angled manifold as a few others here have used. Noice - but how do I get the preserving wax off so I can paint it??
Just waiting on a counter-bore to arrive now so I can finish the adapter plates, trial mount the turbo and sort out the oil lines for it.
Flywheel has been machined, and a new friction plate and pressure plate ordered.
Tomorrows first job is to extend the front bump stops.
With the springs removed and full weight sitting on the standard bump stops, there was 180mm between the spring faces. Allowing for another 20mm compression in a dynamic situation, that gives 160mm - which coincidentally is also the length of the standard springs when fully compressed.
The Dobinson springs I'm fitting are just over 200mm fully compressed, so I'll just do the standard 40mm bump stop extension that the factory Isuzu's had. Nice to know that the dimension makes sense though.
Steve
