Chevy 6.5 litre motors - anyone had one fitted?
Submitted: Wednesday, Aug 31, 2005 at 10:13
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motherhen
Got a quote to put a Brunswick Diesels rebuilt Chevy in the Patrol - around $20,000 less $4,000 for existing motor. Elder son says these Chevies are cr@p and overheat; he put one in a Cruiser few years ago, and has already had it rebuilt costing another $14,000. Says can't get sufficient cooling and it overheats under load. Anyone had experience with one in a Cruiser or Patrol? Met some people the other day from Qld pulling their Bushtracker with a Cruiser with Chevy fitted and they seemed happy with it. We see quite a few Patrols around with the V8 Brunswick Diesels sticker on, but haven't been able to speak to them. Any first hand knowledge appreciated. Thanks guys, Motherhen
Reply By: revhead307 - Wednesday, Aug 31, 2005 at 10:23
Wednesday, Aug 31, 2005 at 10:23
Gday,
I have driven one (very nice), and done a fair amount of research over time (only thing stopping me converting my GQ is cost lol)
Aparently in Patrols you need to upgrade ur radiator. the belhousing adaptor they use leaves little room for airflow under the bonnet in the GQ. So u need a heavy duty cooling system.
All in all, ive heard a lot of good things, the occasional mishap occurs in any vehicle situation, but if i had the money id definitely be sticking one in...power..economy and that V8 Diesel rumble.
yeehaa
Rev
AnswerID:
127596
Follow Up By: motherhen - Wednesday, Aug 31, 2005 at 10:32
Wednesday, Aug 31, 2005 at 10:32
Son is biased from what seems to have been a bad experience. Tells us you get the nice noise, but no more power.
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Follow Up By: revhead307 - Wednesday, Aug 31, 2005 at 10:49
Wednesday, Aug 31, 2005 at 10:49
Yeah i can see that depending on what engine your replacing.
The specs on a 6.2L is 120kw @ 3600rpm, 6.5 is 130kw @ 3400rpm
Neither of these are huge power figures given the displacement, but the torque and towing ability is what most ppl want them for. Plenty of petrol 4x4's and some turbo diesels will beat or rival these figures.
From a GQ diesel...with TD42 where the factory power was 86kw you definitely notice a big increase in power.
but from turbo Diesel or more modern engine, it may not as pronounced.
I still think you cant move past em. for the performance vs fuel economy.
Rev
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382139
Reply By: V8troopie - Wednesday, Aug 31, 2005 at 14:45
Wednesday, Aug 31, 2005 at 14:45
I have the 6.2 litre Chevy in my troopie, done by Brunswick about 4 years (60,000km) ago. No problems at all with the motor. Back then the conversion cost 10 grand with trade in of a running 2H motor.
I need the torque to tow a 3 ton boat and the V8 motor handles that
well, does not run hot at all. Only once by trying to maintain 90kmh, towing the boat into a very strong head wind, did the temp gauge climb up to the 3/4 mark.
It has the original radiator core with bigger header tanks for the larger diameter water hoses. They fitted a fixed fan blade and also an oil cooler. They fitted a complete new exhaust system and a 90amp alternator as
well as the heavy duty clutch I requested.
No problem towing in fifth gear but I am careful with that extra power available. Never use first gear now on my daily driving ( the troopie literally 'jumps'), only use it for towing or to get up the steep driveway first thing in the morning.
Fuel consumption around town is 14 l/100km.
Scottie, the foreman at Brunswick, is very nice to deal with, Greg, the owner? does not want to speak to you once you handed over the money.
I do not know if the 6.5 l motor has any problems, the 6.2 does not have any for me - yet.
Klaus
AnswerID:
127636
Follow Up By: motherhen - Wednesday, Aug 31, 2005 at 21:35
Wednesday, Aug 31, 2005 at 21:35
Hi V8 - you have the 6.2 like the one my son is unhappy about - cost us about 10g at the time with no trade in.
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Follow Up By: Ferret - Friday, Sep 02, 2005 at 19:53
Friday, Sep 02, 2005 at 19:53
You don't live on silversmith do you?
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Follow Up By: motherhen - Sunday, Sep 04, 2005 at 18:55
Sunday, Sep 04, 2005 at 18:55
Ferret
Who? Where? What?
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Reply By: big red car - Wednesday, Aug 31, 2005 at 18:02
Wednesday, Aug 31, 2005 at 18:02
2.5 years ago we fitted a 6.5 to our 62 seires cruiser, it was the best thing we ever did. total motor rebuild and balance was $11500, the adapter kit and fitting brought the total to $19500. its a great tow viehicle, we average 22mpg when not towing the best we have ever done is 25 mpg. we do not have any over heating problems, if you give it full noise for an extended period you can make the temp gauge climb a little, but it remains within a safe working range.
it sounds great, will pull the bend out of a river and best of all no computer.
the total job took 2 weeks and was done by linquip in gympie.
hope that helps
regards johno
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Follow Up By: motherhen - Thursday, Sep 01, 2005 at 23:00
Thursday, Sep 01, 2005 at 23:00
Do Linquip have a website or email address Johno?
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Follow Up By: motherhen - Thursday, Sep 01, 2005 at 23:01
Thursday, Sep 01, 2005 at 23:01
Cancel that request Johno - i think i've found their website.
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Reply By: V8Diesel - Wednesday, Aug 31, 2005 at 19:13
Wednesday, Aug 31, 2005 at 19:13
I've got a 75 series Cruiser with a Brunswick 6.5 in it. It's worked just fine for years. Not as fast as you might think but still surprises me at times. Off-road it is simply phenomonal when combined with a Detroit Locker.
One difference you can't quantify on paper is the ear to ear grin you get every time you open it up from 800rpm under load with a straight through pipe. Never get that with a Jap 4 or 6 no matter how many computer chips you install.
Big bucks no matter which way you look at it though.
Rumblerumblerumblerumblerumblerumble........:-)))))
AnswerID:
127659
Reply By: gordy1964 - Wednesday, Aug 31, 2005 at 20:54
Wednesday, Aug 31, 2005 at 20:54
Hi,
well a friend of mine has one in his chevvy, towing horses, and yes they go well, yes they get warm, fairly warm, especially with the computer control for the fuel injection nesstled in between the valley cover. At over $3000 to replace the module, not cheap. Parts can be a nightmare here in oz, sometimes $$$ wise, this is why the Qld Ambulance up here have given them the flick, otherwise, I believe a good motor.
Gordy
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: V8Diesel - Wednesday, Aug 31, 2005 at 21:00
Wednesday, Aug 31, 2005 at 21:00
Brunswick do the mechanical injected model. They can fit the big port turbo heads to a naturally injected donk so they breathe well too.
This avoids those problems.
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Reply By: mechpete - Wednesday, Aug 31, 2005 at 22:09
Wednesday, Aug 31, 2005 at 22:09
Hi motherhen ,
just read ya article on fitting a 6.5 L65 engine .
my advice to you would be don,t go near them !!!
speaking from lots of experience eg. Ambulance fleet .we spend a bloody fortune
keeping them on the road a few examples ,they leak oil from every place you can think of , they have a problem of porous blocks eg. water in oil , they have cyl head problems , injector pump problems ,harmonic balancer failuers ,use oil ,
premature failure of water pumps ,power steering pump pulleys crack and fall off
vacuum pumps are popular to fail ,get very noisy!! glow plugs are comon to fail
elecrronics on pump are notoriously unreliable and bloody expensive .
The pump has been upgraded in the US 3 times since 92 the black box (FSD) has been upgraded twice and the problems are still the same .
If ya gonna put an engine in a vehicle that has emission control system the engine ya put in must comply with the same regs that the vehicle was built to comply with
otherwise the vehicle is unroadworhty.
some onfo to chew on .in short ( heap of bleep ) and not cost effective to rebuild
cheers mechpete Shepparton.
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: motherhen - Thursday, Sep 01, 2005 at 20:40
Thursday, Sep 01, 2005 at 20:40
Thanks for the
feedback Mechpete - good to hear these negatives, particularly after our sons's experience.
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Reply By: traveller2 - Thursday, Sep 01, 2005 at 08:23
Thursday, Sep 01, 2005 at 08:23
As has been said, the grunt combined with the sound makes it all worth while. My Humvee has a 6.2l, gives similar fuel economy to a loaded 1HZ powered troopy. Parts are pretty cheap compared to Tojo bits, most can be bought direct from the US, quite often on Ebay. Yes there are problems with mid to late 90's 6.5 blocks, well known and casting numbers and other info is freely available. The FSD on electronically controlled pumps is problematic as is anything electronic that is mounted on a hot vibrating diesel, remote mounting kits are available to mount the FSD on the vehicle body. The mechanically injected engines are in the same vein as a Nissan 4.2, 2H and 1Hz, basic and reliable.
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Follow Up By: V8Diesel - Thursday, Sep 01, 2005 at 11:10
Thursday, Sep 01, 2005 at 11:10
Well said.
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