Reborn 80 series possibly with a Brunswick Diesel conversion

Just a question but have you given any thought to a new TD troopie? Might not have all the comforts but has the goods for when things get tough?? The 80 series is probably the best all-round package Toyota put together however. Cheers

There is a gu getting around kalgoorlie with a bruswick diesal. And when I saw her in the carpark I questioned her as to why and how much. It was a 2.8 that blew up and it cost 16k with a different g/box (2.8 have lighter gerboxes) pluss a few other mods

Top rig when its done, thats what i would do in preference to new rig, have been in a 60 with 6.2 and it was awesome and cheaper to run, especially if you fit 3.7 diffs, or marks overdrive.
Should cost about $13000 ar brunswicks and they are the cheapest, best of luck im still saving lol

Cheers

Peter,

Wouldn't be worrying about a high mileage 80. Suggest you get the lowest click vehicle the wallet will allow. Also if the bodywork is good, go for it. Apart from the conversion, mechanical side of things would be much cheaper than body problems.

Just need twin 3" exhausts to finish it off. Enjoy...

hooroo...

A friend had the 6.5 put in his very clean straight, powered by 3F 80 series, it now uses less fuel, much more relaxing to drive and goes like stink. Looks like afactory setup and driveline hasn't been touched except for new clutch when motor was put in.

You know,
The more I read about the Chev V8 turbo, the more convincing it is to go that way. Long term investment i recon would be excellent. Shouldnt have sold my old GQ, damn it ! Might find out more about it actually, See who imports them, what condition they arrive in and cost to rebuild. Wonder if my account is still on file for trade prices......might check that out too.

I've got an older Brunswick converted HJ75 with a 6.5 V8 Chev diesel in it and it's fine.

Made a few changes which made significant improvements.

I have a snorkel setup with a Donaldson pre-cleaner for the serious stuff, but standard aircleaners are far too restrictive. I run a K&N rice boy filter for normal duty and it makes a big increase in power / drivaeability. A big improvement.

Also put a hot dog on it - nothing else. Made quite a difference from the standard muffler fitted. Noisy, but that's OK when it's a V8. The exhaust is a fairly cheap affair with crush bends, so the 3" pipe is really 2.5". Not good enough in my book.

Change the accelerator return spring. Brunswick put a heavy duty double spring that made it a real pain to drive which can quickly be replaced with a single lightweight one. Yeah I know it might break, but the sky might fall on me too. This has been the single biggest improvement to the 'feel' of the whole vehicle. Sounds silly I know, but trust me, it's true.

I change the oil and filter every 5,000km's with Caltex Delo Silver. This is the recommended mli spec oil for the 6.5's that all the US enthusiasts say is the go. Surprisingly difficult to get, however the Ampol servo in Spearwood sells it in 20l drums.

Get big amps through to start them. I use a two mutha extra heavy duty batteries to spin the beast over. One will do it sorta OK, but two is far better.

90km/h in the standard ratio HJ75 is a very relaxed cruising speed for this donk, so it may be worth gearing the 80 series up if required. Don't know what the standard diff ratios for that model are. Put a Detroit "No-Spin" Locker in my rear diff.

Search the internet for US information on these motors, plenty available if you look hard enough. Lots of specialist companies around.

They are not fast, but the've got a ton of grunt right from idle. If I have to take off in the early morning and don't want to wake the neighbours, I can reverse up the steep driveway of my house, and drive off without touching the throttle and go through the gears. It's a nice feeling to know you will never run out of grunt climbing a sand hill again and it'll sound like there's a 903 Cummins truck engine under the bonnet while you're at it.

Put it this way, I find my nice, modern, luxurious GU wagon sits gathering dust alot of the time as the old V8 Cruiser is so much more fun to punt around in. "Man does not live on bread alone"

Good luck Peter and let us know how you go mate.

Hi Peter. A mate has one of the chev V8 turbo's in an early 80 series. It used to be the 3F motor. As far as I know, all he's done is lift it up 2" and put on a 3" exhaust. The auto box handles it fine.

He did find a silly little plate at the top af the valley with a hole in it about an inch square. This was on top of the intake manifold. He took it out, cut the hole to be as big as possible and put it back. Had improved performance straight away. I don't know what it was for, and he doesn't care, it just goes faster now !

If I had the opportunity to do this to an 80 series or GU, I wouldn't hesitate.

Cheers,

Muzz

My Humvee has a 6.2 in it with a turbo 400 HD auto behind it.
As has been said these engines need lot's of air. The standard air intake on the Humvee came in through the snorkel hat in front of the windscreen chucked a right angle around a baffle plate and then into a huge donaldson type aircleaner, from there into the engine . All plumbing is minimum 4 1/2 inches ID.
A fellow owner fitted a deep fording kit part of which removed the first baffle (which prevented water ingress directly into the aircleaner) and replaced it with a 90 deg rubber elbow (again 4.5" ID). It felt like he'd gained an extra cylinder so we've all fitted the elbow and it made a huge difference to the performance and responsiveness of the engine. This is on a NA engine so a turbo could probably do with even more air.
On the Humvee the exhaust is 3" all the way with a straight through muffler and it normally exits in front of the LH rear wheel so is pretty free flowing. The Humvee's are also fitted with stainless steel headers which dump straight into 3" system.
All the Chev V8 diesels run a mechanical rotary Stanadyne injection pump, turbo's are electronically controlled (pretty crudely compared to modern common rail systems).
A Turbo on a Humvee 6.5 gives only a small increase in actual HP but more than doubles the torque.
I get around 16 -17 mpg out of the Humvee, not a whole lot worse than a loaded 1hz troopy. It is a brick as far as aero dynamics go though.

Hello - while not suggesting this is the best option, I think Ron Krikke Auto's in Bunbury sell "new" BD vehicles in a variety of Toyota models. I think they sometimes use old Petrol models as these are cheaper to buy and then wack the BD in. You may wish to give them a ring to get an idea of what they've got and how much.
Cheers
Greg

Hi Pete,

I was steered away from them. Simply because the main reason is that Chev parts are much harder to get a hold of then genuine tojo or aftermarket parts in remote centres. I think there's a reason a dozen engineers sit around a blueprint and design the motor for the car and car for th motor.

If you are mainly doing weekend out of city runs it may be worthwile as you're not far from the parts.

For what its worth. I've yet to justify the need for one after my offroad experience. And for towing, I believe it's called a 1HZ turbo diesel - far more reliable.

regards

A SECOND GEAR.

The guys at Armadale 4x4 have been doing V6 and V8 coversions in hilux and cruisers for a while now. Not diesel V8's but anyway, Michael told me years ago that he recommended a six speed light truck gearbox for the V8's, but not many had the money for it. Untill they blew up the gearbox and went back and asked for the bigger one. It can be done, and I'm sure if you asked brunswicks, they'd know about this option.