chevy6.5 V8

I had a 6.5 chevy in an f150.....when i sold it i had covered approx 400,000 K's not an ounce of trouble....had the injectors and pump done up not long before parting with it......was a very sad parting...this vehicle took me on the worst roads in aus...stock route, gulf country, cape york, simpson desert...you name it
So to your ??'s
Reliability......*****
Economy.......between 8 @ 7 K's/litre
Power......you don't need a turbo

I had mine fitted at Brunswick Diesel in W.A. and it was a new motor when fitted and was also a turbo motor(there is a diff between turbo @ non turbo) however i never had a turbo fitted

For me this was an absolutely brilliant motor

Regards
Rash

Heee heee. RAOFLMAO.

I'll state my bias as a GM fan rather than Ford before I start...

You didn't finish the job you started but putting a Chev motor into a Ford truck was a good start.

If a job's worth doing however it should be done properly. Why didn't you finish it and put a Chev body around the motor....

Seriously though. We run the Chev 6.5ltr Turbo Diesel in ambulances in Vic. Dunno if I'd put one in my own vehicle. We seem to have a fair bit of trouble keeping alternators, injector pumps and FSD's up to them.

We've just got the first of our F350's and it seems pretty good so far. Another 100,000 km will be interesting to see how they're going.

Dave

Peter, following on from your reply,5th June regarding me changing my mind on a 12HT I would like you to Know that I do read these comments and in fact have now purchased a 12HT. Other than intake, exhaust and throttle mods what else is there to consider?

G'day,
Sorry for the delayed reply, I haven't had much computer time lately.
I already had a 3" exhaust from the previous turbo install so I just had to get a flange to fit on to the turbo housing, weld this to some 3" exhaust pipe, then use a length of stainless flexible exhaust pipe to join to the existing pipe (naturally I had to cut the original downpipe off the existing exhaust).
As far as the intake goes, I had to rotate the lid of the air cleaner around a bit, cut the metal pipe that comes out the top and braze it back on at an angle, and use a 3" 45degree rubber bend to join to the crossover pipe.
The throttle cable fits straight in.
I also made up a bracket to mount the old 2H EDIC motor, and used a rod to move the fuel lever on the fuel pump to shut the engine off. This saves messing around with the vacuum operated air flap shutdown of the original HJ61.
I didn't bother connecting the glow plug wire up to the heating element in the intake because it starts OK without it.

There is a photo here that shows a bit of the intake. I will try to put some more detailed photos up if I get time.

Peter

Thanks for those comments. What about fuel economy? Did you notice any cabin noise with the chev6.5/

G'day Brian,

One other thing I had to modify was the heater hoses and slightly bend the bracket holding the heater tap, as you can see at the firewall on the photo. Everything else fits in without modification.

One thing I would suggest is that you get the fuel and boost set up properly on a dyno.
Standard boost is about 7psi, I wound mine up to 10psi but had to make an adjustable rod for the wastegate. I got the fuel wound up to match. I have boost starting from about 1000rpm.
Despite this my fuel consumption still improved compared to the 2H turbo - Direct Injection is much more efficient, that is why truck diesels use it.
Power also improved, especially between 1000-2000rpm.

The engine I bought was from an auto so I had to swap the flywheel over from the 2H - a straight swap (looking back I should have kept the flex-plate and dropped an auto in her :) )
Clutch, bellhousing etc all lines up no probs, that is what makes the conversion so easy.

Basically the 12HT is just a 2H with a direct injection head. There are some minor differences though:

The fuel pump is different, it provides about 1000psi greater injection pressure (I think), and it has internal bracing because of this.

I believe the crankshaft has greater diameter radiusing where the bearing journals join the webs, for greater strength.

The pistons have oil jets under them for cooling.

The oil pump in the 12HT is a higher volume trochoidal type where the oil pump in the 2H is a gear type.

The block has oil/water connections for the turbo.

That is all I can think of right now, let me know how you go with it!

Peter

G'day Brian,

I have put a couple more photos here

Regarding the radiator, I live in the Pilbara and regularly tow a heavy trailer in 40+ temperatures and I have had no problems with the original 75 series radiator even though mine is missing one set of fins from each outermost tube. Mine runs on about 90-95 degrees consistently (mechanical VDO gauge). It runs cooler than the old 2H turbo I had.

I do have bonnet vents though (highly recommended!)

The key is to set the fuel properly. Don't worry too much about boost pressures, it is overfuelling that will kill a diesel (burn pistons etc).

Peter

Edit:

The link above should be:

http://www.4wdlinks.com.au/gallery/12ht75

Peter