Thread: Found a donor truck

Thanks Hall for the Hilux mount info, and AM for the gap info and bell housing advice.

Regarding Dougal's comments:

- you suggest fabricating Isuzu mounts, so I guess from that comment that simply cutting and repositioning original v8 engine mounts is not going to work very well.

- yes, the engine and gearbox bolt together no probs and re-reading I did say MSA5 so I think Sheldon's gear change mechanism should work? The gear change I probably could fabricate myself from scrap plate and steel rod on hand, using Sheldon's photos.

- making the 'spud shaft' adapter and the 'torsion tube' myself presents two problems. Regarding the torsion tube there is my lack of knowledge of the specifications required, such as whether I can use round or box section steel, size and wall thickness; and mated to what thickness flat plate for flanges.

- regarding the 'spud shaft'. I can stick, mig and oxy weld and have lathe and mill. But will I be de-tempering or creating stress zones. Should all the parts be welded in a heat box. Should the parts also be press fit as well as welded. I have no insight as to how Sheldon has approached the various issues.

I had trouble enough in Darwin finding a 4bd1t engine plus gearbox - only one wrecker had anything. So I am reluctant to screw the gearbox up by something I've made that is sub standard. In Darwin, finding the right materials and expertise can be very difficult at times (someone in Darwin please write in and say that's not the case and point me to the resources).

Having said all that, if some of you want to goad me into doing it myself by providing what sounds like the right advice or having successfully done the same yourself then I will give it a go!

AM indicates torque tube about 175mm, which is quite short, I guess. Would any of the steel pipe I have on hand suit:

- round pipe 165 x 7.5 or 114 x 5 or 89 x 4.5
- square pipe 150 x 150 x 5

Has anyone killed a Sheldon fabricated shaft? How hard have people pushed their vehicles? Anyone monitoring spline wear? I appreciate Dougal's set up is different, cut from solid, and he has expressed better peace of mind for that Has anyone used a modified drive shaft with universal joints? Dog clutch? Anyone remotely mounted their transfer case?

I believe the male end of the 'spud shaft' is universal SAE 10. Not being familiar with where you would use what spline for what purpose can anyone enlighten me? Is it for slip? I wondered, and saw someone else pose the same thought, why you would not use say 28 or 32 splines into an input gear re-cut to match (provided there was enough meat)?

Has any thought been given to having an AULRO resource thread on places around Oz (and o/s) that do automotive related things such as gear cutting, lazer cutting, tempering, specialised welding, cryo treatment etc. Living in Darwin it is one thing to troll the yellow pages or net to find someone interstate that may be capable versus being able to drive across town in Syd/Melb/Bris/Perth etc and find its what you want or find its an amateur set up and you should not waste your money.

I got you confused with someone else for the gearbox. Yes Grubbs kit is built for the MSA series.

The adapter shafts you can either do what I've done (female to male shaft), what Grubb did (one piece shaft bolting to the output shaft) or what Ancient Mariner did with a floating shaft and splined flange onto the output flange.

The torsion tube mainly needs to be big enough to clear all the spinning bits. From there it's a few plates with holes to pick-up whatever you need it to. Weld it all together and machine the faces flat and bore concentric afterwards.

I am a toolmaker so the adapter stub shaft for my gear box is on piece. Do no of one that has a rigid collar with the rubber dampener (as per thing go for me I found this out after I made mine.) . It is supposed to reduced wear on the spline. Is a very easy way of doing the shaft as you only need a , from memory, about a forty millimetre shaft of the right length.
Coupling will be more than strong enough. The centre rubber or synthetic damper used in this situation should last for near ever, especially if the alignment of the adapter is precise.

Some thing along the lines of these couplings.
Cheers Hall

A coupling to take out vibration and misalignment can only be a good thing. Just keep in mind it has to take ~2000Nm in a worst case situation.

I've been thinking more about more about my vibration issue and I think it's from the transfercase. Suspect input gear bearings and worn out thrusts on the intermediate shaft.
Ashcroft have the ideal solution, but my budget seldom covers ideal solutions.

I looked at that motor today and found 4BD ? on it-- could not make out the last number/letter. So it appears to be the 4BD1.

As it was raining I did not get underneath to work out which 5 speed box.

So planning on making an offer.

It is 24 volt. alternator would not be a problem. Guess we could start on two batteries 24 volt, and run everything else on one battery 12 volt.

But the thought came to me, what about vacuum for brakes [power assist]. Our series 3 since sold had a Vacuum pump for power assist brakes, mounted on back of alternator. Certainly just got rid of Peugeot 505 wrecks with vacuum pump for the brakes. If I had thought we could have kept the pump.

It will have a vac pump at the back of the alternator. I have two sealed battery's under the passenger seat for the 24 volt and a large12 volt battery for every thing else fitted behind the cab. My ute has only a thermo fan which is 24 volt as is the spot lights. Good thing with having a separate 12 volt battery is you can drain the 12 volt and still start. Not easy to find another 24 volt vehicle out in the bush to jump start from. You may need to, as my ute has, fit a second 12 volt alternator. This is a good idea as you can fit a high amp unit. My 12 volt alternator fits above the 24 volt alternator and is a 90 amp ford alternator. They have a built in regulator which makes fitting and wiring up a lot easier.
Cheers Hall

Thanks, I had not thought about not being able to jump start with the 24 volt. Must keep that in mind and check the prices on 12 volt Starters.

It is for going into a 1991 Range Rover Classic, so batteries under seat could be out. RRC has two positions for batteries in the engine compartment,so it is easy enough to wire in a second Battery--well for an auto-electrician to do this.

We had a previous classic running two batteries, simple terminal switches to change from one battery to the other, so we always had one fully charged. Like that Idea.

This truck is a NON-Turbo motor, but turbos can be added later. Must price a ring gear,as we will need one.

Starting voltage in the wops matters how? Just tow-start it. You can do that with horses.
If it's a dead battery and you can't tow start it, then just jump that battery.

My rangie starts on 24v and switches to 12v for everything else. It's a series/parallel switch that's very common in recreational vehicles.

Getting jump started has never, ever concerned me. Once I had two mates vehicles on jumper-leads, one on each battery.