Chev 6.5 ltr or 100 series Cruiser

Yep ya definately right there truckster ! My cruiser is pretty standard, only really got a dual battery system, new Coopers tires,new suspension with 2" lift and snorkel so havnt spent too much on goodies. Gonna still need to redo the suspension as wasnt really set up for towing.Will still cost me about $10,000 either way to setup the vehicle how I need it, maybe save a couple of thousand keeping the 80 series at best. Hard call - this is half the reason I havnt lashed out and spent the dollars so far as dont want to spend it on the 80 series then sell it and have to do it again !!!

Cheers

Robnicko - The petrol 4.5ltr engine is out of my 1995 RV Cruiser, not sure of model number. Its just done 200,000 k's and had the major service and check. Motor is perfect have never had a problem with it as has been well maintained for the 3 years I have owned it. Only complaint is fuel usage, will prob use around 24ltr/100klm towing the CT vs around 15 ltr/100 klm with the chev. Over about 5 years with the cost of a rebuild and fuel savings, prob end up costing me the same to upgrade to a diesel !~

Birdy,
I still think your are better off with the 4.5 if nothing is wrong with it. 200000k means there is plenty of life left in it if you treat it right. Mine has 260k on it with 200k on LPG. I always start on petrol then switch to gas once warm and always turn off on petrol. Always checked / adjusted valves every 60k and no probs yet.touch wood.
I'm sure you will make whatever decision suits.

Rob

Birdy,
Have you looked into converting to LPG especially with state and government rebates will not cost so much. My dad's 93 GXL 4.5 is on gas and pulls a 18 ft jayco no problems at all only problem would be if you go to far from main roads and towns with gas availability . This is easily fixed by carrying a few jerries of fuel. Will also save on stamp duties and refitting suspension and extras as previously mentioned.
Good luck with what you decide.
Col

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

I agree that resale will prob not be as good on the Chev which I hadnt considered. Guess if I dropped the Chev in it and put on all the accessories I would hope to keep it for at least 10+ years. The turbo diesel however after 10 years would definately hold its value better. Interesting the v8 was not the preffered choice of staff, espescially as most blokes would prefer the v8 grunt ! What did you mean by "academic in real off road conditions in that terrain" ?

Would like to keep what I have but feel it will be a little underpowered towing off road with a 1.5 tonne camper trailer, heavy on juice with not as much range in the fuel tanks compared to a diesel.

Hard call.......

Cheers

The V8 chev is not quiet and you dont need the power picking your way through obstacles in 4wd

You probably could put a turbo diesel landcruiser engine into the 80 series for around $10K and keep all your extras.
A 1HD T tows 1-2 tons very nicely.

Or you could just buy a turbo diesel 80 and swap some of your accessories over.

Yes and $20k would buy a lot of petrol

John,

I didn't regard the soundproofing as "large lengths". Sure, it was a long winded job, but it was neither expensive or difficult to do.

I reckon just about all 4WDs could benefit greatly from proper soundproofing and not just rely on the thin stuff the makers' fit.

And don't call "my beloved" the "bloody thing". It has feelings too dontcha know!

;)

The term "superior drive" is relative. It all depends what your plans are - see my post below.

Bilbo

John L G

Thanks for your detailed reply once again. My previous posting of dropping the chev in the 80 series had nearly everyone advising me it was a pretty good option and I agree. This posting has swayed me to the turbo diesel 100 series being a possible better option. All the points you have made make pretty good sense.

Now I have the hard decision of which way to go. My gut feeling is telling me to go the 100 series turbo diesel (if I can stretch the funds), my heart is telling me to keep old trusty (the 80 series) and my youngish bones and lead foot are telling me to go the V8 Chev........

Gonna be a few sleepless nights ahead for me.......>!!!@#$%^&*(

John,
After many dozens of hours researching, thinking, I had decided to get Brunswick to convert my vehicle. I was certain I would go this way, then Toyota brings out a V8 diesel of their own so all bets are off and I'm fairly certain that this is now my preferred option.

Anyway, through out all my research, resale never came up as a downside to the conversion. In fact 9 out of 10 converted vehicles I found, were selling for market value of the vehicle + the cost of the conversion, or more! I looked into this as others had said similar to you. Great I thought, if they are so cheap 2nd hand I'll buy one done. I still search the online car sales and I'm yet to find any bargains.

So if you know where any cheap ones are, please tell me!!! :-)

Matt

Matt,

I went through the same brain turmoil that Birdy is putting himself through at the moment with the 75series shown in my rig pic.

Price for a Brunswick then was about $18k and I made numerous enquiries as to alterntives and some from those who had done the conversion. As I said previously, the guys in Newman were not all that impressed and were suffering some overheating problems. A common thread from the owners I spoke to was that they simply loved the grunt "BUT", and there always seemed to be a "BUT", it was bloody noisy and had turned the truck from something close to civilised into a bit of a bush pig regardless of whether or not you were in the bush or in the city. I was also silly enough to stop and help a stranded ute in the bush one day which on lifting the bonnet displayed a Brunswick that had run out of fuel - absolute pig of a thing to bleed and took ages to finally get going again.

Bilbo has it right in as much that his conversion was a project that started with a basically good truck with a stuffed motor and he was chasing exactly what he ended up with, a no compromise truck well suited to bashing about the bush on his gold seeking expeditions.

I sourced two vehicles for sale during my investigations, one a 100 series standard and another 75 series ute and both fitted with Brunswick V8's. The price on both vehicles were basically the same as if they had standard 1HZ's installed. I thought seriously on buying the ute and swapping the motors over and then reselling it but I had a real problem coming to grips with having to live with that noise and lack of any vestige of refinement in operation or under the bonnet.

So I solved the problem by putting a turbo into mine. Transformed the vehicle and still maintains that quiet operation typical of the 1HZ engine but now with heaps of torque and KW. Cost $3.5K

So I suppose if the Grunt is a must have, for the ego factor or dragging horse floats, you will have to either wait for a good one to come up or invest the $20K.

At the end of the day, after the novelty of the V8 wears off, you may well wonder if you could have spent the $20K more wisely...

John,

I hear what you are saying. Though I'd love to find one of these converted trucks for anywhere near standard price.

No ego thing here, though I do love the sound. My vehicle is loaded to GVM and has 3 tonne+ hanging off the back regularly. I've driven afew and thought noise wasn't really an issue, and my troopy has the 4.5 petrol motor which makes the 1HZ sound like an earthquake.

Anyway, my theory is that's it's pointless to convert a vehicle into something that you can buy factory built. Sure the new Tojo V8 is a computer controlled modern motor compared to the Chev, but I have no problem with this as some do. This theory would go out the window if I found a tidy 78 series with a 6.5 for under $40k!

All just talk now as I'm nearly certain the new Troopy is for me, just have to see how it goes when we finally get some definant power figures etc.

Matt

Matt, when I was looking around at "what to buy next" whilst the insurance company was out searching for my stolen 100 series Cruiser, I had a look at a new Troopy. This was the Troopy RV with the IHDT-FE motor but derated 'cos it has no intercooler. Still pretty potent though.

Several things and other peoples comments put me off it.

Firstly - cost, up around $62,000. Then I had to put the cost of all the goodies onto that.

Second - Depreciation. The fastest way to throw money away is buy a new car. They depreciate faster than a milk chocolate camp oven!

Third - of all things - was people's reports of NOISE levels. From what they said, I'd have had to soundproof the Troopy anyway.

Fourth was gearbox strength. Toyotas' do carry some baggage in the department.

All in all, as you say, a new Troopy would suit me as well,,,,,,,,,,,but not at THAT price and losing 10% to 20% per annum in depreciation.

So I settled for much cheaper option that did everything that I wanted - the Chevissan - and I'll only lose it's cost price of $38,000.00 over 10 years rather than $62,000.00 over 10 years. I usually buy a good truck and then spend 10 to 12 years driving it to death,,,,,,,,,,,,

Bilbo

Bilbo,
I love talking about this topic with someone who has been through the same thought processes. Helps me consider different angles and things I may not have thought of, so thanks for the reply.

I'm looking at upgrading to the NEW troopy (4.5litre V8 diesel). Should have an extra 40 or so kw's and more importantly, talk of torque in the 600nm range. Makes the current 4.2 look a little old, though can't say anything for sure until I get behind the wheel of the new troopy. Having said that I've driven acouple of the factory turbo 4.2 Troopys and thought they went okay. I definately wouldn't have called it noisy?? Noisier than my 4.5 petrol for sure, and quieter than the 6.5 converted crusiers I've driven, 2 of, one Brunswick troopy, one Linquip 100 series.

The cost...yes there's that. I too would be looking at keeping the vehicle for about 10 years. I'm telling myself that the initial killer depreciation would be softened quite abit by keeping it for the 10 year period. There's no doubt that to convert current vehicle to the Chev would be cheaper, but so it should. A new troopy is just that, totally new. If I convert the only bits that are new (rebuilt actually) would be motor, diffs and box/transfer. The thousands of other smaller parts are all getting on and have been bounced over getting onto 250 000k's. Not to mention a couple of huge items-body and chassis. Considering we ask a bit of our cruiser I think to expect trouble free motoring for another 250 thou k's is a big ask.

Gearbox, the 4.5 petrols and factory turbo cruisers have "bullet proof" boxes. This description is from a nissan driving 4WD specialist mechanic. The bad reputation has been earned by the 1hz's box/transfer. Makes it hard though when hunting a doner vehicle for me as there are very few 78 series 4.5's out there and why would you buy the factory td and convert.

I still can't forget how sweet the 6.5 is to drive, so effortless, could put in a 2 speed gearbox (fast and faster) its so tractable. If a 78 series came up converted(with the right gearbox) at a reasonable price I'd be VERY tempted.

On that note, if anyone spots a 78 series troopy with a 6.5, the strong gearbox at a reasonable price let me know!!! All the converted vehicles I see for sale are around the same $ as a standard version + coversion, great for Bilbo and me if I do it myself and need to sell later. I do wonder though if things might change in a couple of years once the new V8 cruisers are all over the place.

Hope you're still awake :-)

Matt

Matt,

Ya know its funny that you say this,",,,,,,,,, I think to expect trouble free motoring for another 250 thou k's is a big ask.,,,"

When I went to have a look at this "blown" Patrol - it was said to have a blown big end, but it didn't, it was dropped valve seat - I was quite surprised at how high the mileage was at 250,000 kms. But I was also surprised at how good it was inside with the plastics, and upholstery etc, chassis wise, brakes, wiring etc for that mileage.

It did have full dealer serivce history and was quite well looked after for a 7 years old truck with high miles. It was by no means "mint" but it was and still is "OK".

Put it like this - I'd rather scratch the daylights out of the paint on this Nissan than my former "Mint" 'Cruiser!! THAT used to break my heart ;)

Bilbo