As soon as I saw this rig in a parking lot yesterday, I knew it was a bit far away from home. Toyota never imported these HJ Series Land Cruisers to the US, so I started walking towards it, pulling my camera out. But then I saw the sticker on its side, behind the front door. Whoa!
“Chevrolet 6.5 V8 Diesel”. Now that’s not exactly something I would have expected to see on a Toyota Land Cruiser. Or any Toyota, for that matter.
Well, John, the owner of this rig from Australia was there, popped the hood to verify that the sticker wasn’t a joke, and told me that this conversion is rather popular down under. And that folks pay some very serious bucks to buy and ship these engines from the US. Yes, it is a parallel universe down there. And he’s brought a piece of it here to Eugene, where he now lives and runs an automotive shop in Springfield.
For the record, this is the “Detroit Diesel” V8 that first arrived in 1982, in a 6.2 L version, and available on C/K series trucks as well as the military HMMWV, where it has served for many years. It’s not a direct injection engine, unlike more modern units, and also was naturally aspirated
The 6.5 L version was introduced in 1992, and was available in both turbo and naturally-aspirated versions. Obviously, this one is a non-turbo model, but still cranks out a pretty healthy 180 hp @ 3400 rpm, and 360 lb.ft. of torque. Of course, the turbo upped that considerably, with 315 hp and 530 lb.ft. of torque. (Update: these numbers were from wikipedia, and apparently are incorrect. See comment below with corrected numbers). Either way, it’s a substantial increase over the Toyota H2 diesel that originally powered this truck, a 4.0 L six with 107 hp and 177 lb.ft. of torque.
The original Toyota manual transmission is considered plenty stout for the V8’s torque. And John’s dog just had to get into the picture for his 15 minutes of fame.
This “tray” (bed) is not original, but it’s a tidy and functional things. Nice rig, and certainly a distinctive one for here. Welcome to the US, John; your Chevy V8 diesel should feel right at home.
He did a really nice job on that truck. It looks like it came from Toyota under the hood. And PS and AC. Probably pretty much required in Australia. He can probably go through 5 feet of water with that snorkel, I like it a lot. Great find!
Neat conversion, but just about everybody I know who has experience with the original 6.2/6.5 (including my friends who were in the military and worked on them) doesn’t have a lot of good things to say about them. Block cracks, head cracks, blown head gaskets and the sudden broken crankshafts (due to the preceeding and unnoticeable gradual failure of the harmonic balancer) were enough to scare me away from a used one when I was looking for a truck a few years ago.
They do have the bugs worked out now, and if you buy one of the new 6.5l engines (google it, they are still available if one has the $$) you should get excellent reliability.
Paul, did you ask the owner how many hoops he had to get through to get this rig imported here?
We’ve had two 6.2L diesels, one in my 1984 GMC van that went about 320,000km and one in my dad’s 1988 Suburban got to 400,000km. Both trucks were parked for reasons other than the drivetrain, basically the rest of the vehicle falling apart around it.
The harmonic balancer in my dad’s failed, but he replaced it and no harm was done. My biggest beef with the 6.2L is that they seem to need an injection pump overhaul every 100,000km (60,000mi).
I have heard about the heads cracking between the valves and other horror stories specifically about the 6.5L that made me shy away from buying one when I came to replacing my van.
yeah, the Stanadyne DB2 (which was also used on the Navistar/Ford .69/7.3 IDI) wasn’t great for longevity. basically good for 80k in my experience.
Looks like a nice install job.
But I was thinking the same thing… weren’t the 6.5s supposed to be kinda fragile (cracking heads, crank failures, etc)?
I’d always heard they were to be avoided. Makes me wonder why, if they are indeed such a dog, people would go to any lengths to import them elsewhere.
My brother had a 89 Chev 2500 with a 6.2 that crapped the bed shortly after he bought it. He bought a brand new crate 6.2 from gm. That one lasted 30k km before the block grenaded (the only thing that held it together was the reinforcing webs that where there for added strength. Our guess was an combo of 4:11 gears a three speed transmission and a heavy plow and salter are what did that engine in.
Yeah cool conversion the snorkel is stock Toyota.
Sweet looking Land Cruiser. I’ve never seen a Land Cruiser pickup truck. For some reason, they were never sold here in the USA.
Chev pickups arent sold in Aussie, funny thing though Kiwis can buy both new Chevs and Toyotas either new or used import and here the toyota V8 diesel would be a more sensible swap in and in Aussie based on my observations a V8 petrol Chev engine is a common swap with accompanying LPG conversion into Landcruiser.
I assume those hp/torque specs are from Wiki? They are not correct.
The 6.5L was not a very powerful engine, even in it’s day.
There were lots of variations, but it generally maxed out around 190 hp in Chev trucks.
Here are the specs for the 1995 variations:
6.5L (NA) 155 hp @3600 RPM, 275 ft-lbs @1600 RPM
6.5L (Turbo) 180 hp @3400 RPM, 360 ft-lbs @1600 RPM
6.5L (Turbo) 190 hp @3400 RPM, 385 ft-lbs @1600 RPM
I worked at GM during the 6.5L heyday. These engines were problematic, lots of no-starts, injector pump problems, and cracked blocks. We changed more 6.5L’s than any other engines. The older 6.5L with the mechanical pumps seemed to be much more reliable than the electronic ones later one.
But this is a cool swap and a neat truck overall. Good job on the fabrication work.
My dad had a 3/4 ton truck from the 1990s with the 6.5. Never really gave him any trouble but, he was the 3rd owner and the truck never was really used hard during its life.
After the 6.5 V8 I remember so much speculation on what GM would do for its next truck diesel. Many thought they would partner with someone like Caterpillar (like Dodge partnered with Cumins) or even John Deere. Can you imagine that? A John Deere diesel powered GM truck.
I didn’t know that the early 6.5’s still had mechanical injection pumps, I thought they all got electronic ones. I remember there were two recalls related to the 6.5L injection pump applicable to the 96 or 97 Chevy pickup I looked at used.
I think the vans were all non-turbo and came with the mechanical (DB2) pump. The pickups got the turbo/electronic DS4 pump.
Thanks for the corrected numbers. I should know better than to trust them. And those numbers did sound high.
That’s not much torque, even for a naturally aspirated 6.5 litre diesel engine. 360 ft-lbs. and 385 ft-lbs wouldn’t have been bad torque ratings for a naturally aspirated engine, but hardly worth writing about for a turbo diesel. For diesel engines, torque is king, and this is fine for car or compact truck engine, but for a full-sized truck, van, or SUV, hell no! That’s nowhere near enough torque for the vehicle used, and what it’s used for.
I talked with a drilling contractor I was pouring concrete for about his 2500 Chev ute with powerchipped 6.5 he seemed fairly unimpressed with it saying it didnt have the sheer grunt he had expected for towing, it surprised me after hearing the praise for towing with pickups told of on here.
Yeah the 6.5 was never the grunt engine here. If you were pulling around bulldozers and the like you went with a cummins or the old 7.3 ford power stroke (or a bigblock gasser)
none of the pre-chamber era engines (GM 6.2/6.5, IH-Ford 6.9/7.3) were all that much to write home about. You can’t really boost them much after the fact thanks to their already incredibly high compression ratio.
I believe the mechanical pumps were only used on the early models, 1992-93 IIRC? I remember a friend having a 93 with a 6.5 TD that was mechanical, and it was trouble free for the most part.
CC Effect! I saw this rig downtown Thursday night after my gig at the Barnlight. I initially saw the front end and recognized it as a land cruiser, but it was quite loud. As it passed I saw the Chevy Diesel logo and scratched my head at the thought of that. I know sb350 conversions are common in 4Runners, but this was a new one to me. (As was the Mercedes 5 cylinder diesel 4Runner I wrote about last week.) Nice to hear the rest of the story.
General question:
Is Oregon the “down South” of the West Coast such as the “Southern States” (typically AL,GA,TN,KY, SC, MS,and maybe FL sometimes) are to the East Coast of the US?
Such as lacking emissions control testing, easy titling and registration of weird offshore and Canadian market only cars, proximity to Japan similar to the East Coast proximity to UK,France,Germany for access to JDM grey market vehicles etc?
Some of the vehicles featured on Curbside Classic would send California emissions testers and CA Dept of DMV paperwork-osaurs into heart failure…
As a nearly native Oregonian from the south, I would never compare the two in any notable way. (I’m not offended in the slightest, to be clear.) For one, Oregon is huge and very sparsely populated. The Portland metro area contains about 2.3 million of Oregon’s 3.9 million people, and does have exhaust controls, at least in part. Medford also has strict controls due to stagnant air in the valley.
As per Japanese iron, with the exception of areas very close to the salt air of the Pacific Ocean, Oregon is virtually rust free for most vehicles, even ones known to rot away in a few years in the midwest. Road salt is nearly never used, and much of the state is a desert, so cars tend to hold up here.
I don’t know much about these engines but I do know I’ve seen contractors run them seemingly forever. Still see them from time to time on ebay as recent govt releases. Have quit contracting and quit perusing ebay since I bought the 4runner. So with absolutely no current knowledge I can only say that I sure do like this. Excellent find Paul.
I’m not sure I’ve seen many (if at all) converted like that here.
I’ll ask my mate who swapped a 3800 into his Hilux long time ago to see if he knows.
Well, my friend, next desk to me says the conversion from the petrol donk to either Holden or Ford V8s are popular.
Can you get some more information on the extended cab setup. That is not factory as far as I can tell. There is a stock FJ75 pickup in the Beaverton are that I occasionally see
Lots of cab conversions available, you can see this one is cracking along the seam below the side window. Four door tray backs are reasonably common too.
KJ
I was suprised to see no mention of the extended cab, definitely not factory. They still sold a pickup bed then but most where bare chassis and fit your own tray. Over a decade later they put a couple of extra inches on the cab to better fit tall people as well as a longer wheelbase. These early models you can unbolt all the panels above the waistline. Conversions are not super common but there are a decent number about, a friends brother had a 6×6 to use for crop spraying.
Even with a turbo they dont make a lot of power which is why some go for the diesel V8. New ones have a detuned turbodiesel V8. They also have 2 fuel tanks, 50 gallons total.
My uncle has a slightly older model owned from new, it has had a harsh life but you wouldn’t know it. It had about 250k miles when he bought a Nissan Patrol to replace it about 12 years ago, it is still used on their farm.
There is a reason these are the preferred rig in the mines and outback, they are tough.
Link for conversion gallery:
http://www.widebaymotorbodies.com.au/index.php?option=com_morfeoshow&Itemid=21
What kind of Saabs you sell?
Not many now-a-days, but I’m a-hoping …
I asked because I am thinking of selling/swapping mine.
These guys did some interesting recycling. The Nissan Patrol extended cab in this picture http://www.widebaymotorbodies.com.au/images/morfeoshow/extra_cabs_a-3014/big/DSCF2339.jpg?rand=185850811 appears to have the rear jump seats from a late 80s Mazda B series.
The naturally aspirated 6.5 with a mechanical pump was a pretty decent engine as long as you kept up with maintenance and didn’t ask it to do something it wasn’t designed to do. Same with the older 6.2. A rebuilt pump was about $450 CDN exchange in the ’90s and lasted about 120,000 km. If you installed it 2 degrees advanced you got a little more power out of what was a pretty doggy engine. There were aftermarket turbo kits available for those who wanted more power and liked to live dangerously. They ran pretty strong for the time.
The factory turbo engines with the electronic pump were something else again. Problems were frequent and expensive to fix. I had 3 of them in 4×4 crewcabs that I had to buy in a hurry for a project that came up. 2 of the 3 blew up just out of warranty (200,000 km if I recall) and the third was still going at over 300,000 when I sent it to auction. One of the exploders cratered so violently that it oiled down a couple hundred meters of a lane on a major commuter bridge at rush hour. Got us mentioned on the news. Big fun.
That looks like a very nicely done conversion, and it probably works very well in that application.
I’m not sure if this qualifies as CC effect, but caught this on the weekend.
Nice swap, but I would not trust that engine to take me to 7-Eleven, let alone the outback down under….
I’ve passed by that thing twice now on Main St. in Springfield. Guess that serves me right for not stopping to take a look…….
I’ve mentioned my brothers 89 2500 above and now I’ll mention mine.. It was an 86 burban that I bought to tow a trailer. I bought it at 385km with a new 700 r4 and complete new dual exhaust from the dealer. The trans got some new fluid and a filter and I put some load rated tires on it and drove that old 6.2 to 575k + km in the next two and a half years. It pulled a 18′ equipment trailer loaded with scrap everyday of its time with me and never left me on the side of the road. Its original owner said he never had the 6.2 apart (strange because at right around 200k these usually require head gaskets) and gave me a file of matenence receipts dating from when he bought it new.
The 6.2/6.5 were the least reliable diesels of their time as mentioned the blocks and heads are prone to cracking. However the aftermarket stepped up and offer improved blocks and heads. They are such a problem that Navistar actually started casting their own blocks and offering a number of variations through their ReNEWed program. http://www.navistarpartsandservice.com/downloads/pdf/renewed/6.5L%20Diesel%20Military.pdf The only ReNEWed engine ITEC offers that they weren’t the original manufacturer of.
THIS. This truck (extra-cab on the wheelbase of a reg cab/shortbed chassis) is what I think makes for the perfect SUT. Yeah, if it had a ‘normal’ bed that flowed into the body with limited overhang, youd have about a 4.5 foot bed. But 90% of the time, that’s all you need. The little ‘bed extender’ tailgate cage that flips out with an lowered tailgate extends the bed perfectly. This is the best of all worlds: All the bed you ‘usually’ need, generous interior space and a length that is manageable offroad or in tight urban settings. I know its a conversion, but I followed that link that saabseller provided. WHY isn’t someone stateside snapping up every jeep Cherokee and Grand Cherokee they can find and doing these conversions?!?! Add the Durango in there, and that would fix the ‘no Mopar SUT’ problem.
Add me to the crowd that thought…and still thinks…the GM 6.5 diesel is reputed to be a total POS. Ive driven a N/A diesel GMC, circa 1983-ish. It was S-L-O-W. Granted my ex’s granddad only used it for runs to the dump, so as a 3/4 truck it was well under utilized….but still. I know its not nearly as self destructive as the Olds diesel that was a converted gas engine, but these aren’t known for holding up.
Seems that a Cummins 4BT would be perfect for this rig. Hell, even a VW 1.8 TDI has been used in smaller 4x4s with a lot of success.
RHD in in a LHD country. Mirror image of my problem driving my LHD Skylark here
in RHD Australia.
It’s unforgivable that the Toyota Land Cruiser was never offered here in the USA with a diesel engine. Is diesel for everyone? No, not really, but I believe that if such an engine were available to the buying public, then they’d be allowed to decide for themselves whether it’s something they want or need.