Lawn Ornament "which engine"

[Singo17]

Well @ 163,000km the ZD30 shat its pants and the vehicle now sits on my nature strip as a lawn ornament at the present.


OPTIONS:
Rebuild the boat anchor myself (cheapest and most risky option as I will be learning a little as I go, but I am not afraid of the consequences because the outlay is minimal in my opinion)



Rebuild through Nissan, haven't had a complete costing but initial estimate from the dealer around $7500, I haven't pinned them on how they are going to achieve this as I currently have a distaste for the engine at present.



Engine swap from a salvaged vehicle, Pre-CRD. I will have all the bits I need, I can part the vehicle myself and while a pain in the ass in my situation could substantially reduce my all up costs. The bad is I will no idea about how long it will take to grenade the thing, while I have read about all the mods that have been made to supposedly make the ZD30 reliable, it should never of been up to the end user to do this even if it does work and I have still read of cases where the motor nades itself regardless of the mods.



Engine swap from the same family of vehicles, the TD42 is really my only option in this regard. Finding a suitable motor hasn't been easy as with the cessation of the engine for use, ready stock is harder to come by, and what you do see is mid to high mileage units that need additional investment to get them up and running at decent power levels.



V8 swap, Diesel or Petrol. Kit from a known retailer around 18K for a 6.5D, that is without exhaust and possibly uprated cooling. Attractive and I have been in one and was impressed with the substantial increase in tractability off-road. I have also read many contradictory posts, and opinions on their worth and potential pitfalls. This was my initial intent, but I am not so sure hence the request for sage advice (BRUCE NO I DON'T WANT TO SHOEHORN A DURAMAX INTO MY TRUCK, is there not a Nissan site in the world you haven't got a log in on? )



Petrol, immediate concern is that my GU no longer becomes a touring option (10000Km plus trips etc) and is then relegated to my toy for short trips, I can accept that however on the other hand I haven't seen people with a Gen 3 or equivalent post much information about fuel economy, probably because it was never a consideration in the first place. Its one of mine but only in terms of my intended use, not a show stopper and I am very tempted, should be more cost effective than the 6.5Chev on initial installation, but for me more open to mistakes collating all the parts required if I was to install it myself.




Different make.

Toyota donk, I love their range of large capacity diesels and have always thought them superior to anything Nissan has put in a 4WD, yet it would turn something potentially simple (Just get the engine fixed) into a major money sink chasing the right fit once committed, an area I believe best pioneered by tradesman with the time and patience to make it work. It would be either the late model EFI TD 4200 or the V8 out of the 90 series I would target, again opting for a salvage vehicle as the doner.




So gents thoughts, I have spent the last 3 weeks scanning the various websites making some initial calls, what I am looking for is as at today experiences or suggestions, of which I am open to all (ok yes Duramx bogged if its feasable to road worthy the frickin thing).

[VooDoo]

go the LS1

cheap to run, HEAPS of power, easy to do.

Failing that i could be interested in the car as is

[SCANAS]

my 2 cents but


TD42 lots of people have done them and the costs of the conversion won't blow out, you can buy [u]new[/u] long motors for about $5500 I thought? a lot of the conversion price you will get back in resale

LS1 or LS2 lot of people with blown ZD's have gone this way as the motor price is lower but I wonder if the conversion costs to swap to V8 Chev, adaptors etc would ad up to be more than a TD42T swap? I'd only go LS1 if it was several thoasand cheaper than TD42 as the resale will be several thoasand cheaper than same car with TD42T

I wouldn't rebuild it or put another ZD in unless you do it yourself on the cheap you'll never see that money ever again.

For info on 1HDT there is a thread on here that Bogged cut and paste from exploroz with the IHDT toyota conversion cost him about 15k from memory.

For info on the IVDFTE swap Austimages did the swap on his 100 series N/A costs are on his build thread

For info on the Duramax there are one or two guys on here with them as well

Probably stuff you already know but if it were me I'd be going the TD42T with a disco potato

[ludacris]

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/4-2-TURBO-DIESEL ... 2c550d9d03

Cris

[Singo17]

With the TD42 option, I would look at it three ways, Part my truck and just find one a TD6 as a replacement, look for donor salvage and part, look to get all the pieces independent to fit. Cost and risk would be the decider.

10K is shy of the 12500K for a complete new 6.5 chev, but once I get all the other add ons, accessories its missing, hair dryer, intercooler, etc it may come pretty close to the adapter kit and accessories for the chev as well.

[Singo17]

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/4-2-TURBO-DIESEL ... 2c550d9d03

Cris

Just rang the guy, confirms my thoughts, however he has a supply of L98's coming in the next few weeks/months very helpful on general issues with regards to options.

[SCANAS]

The 6.5 is the new ZD30

[Singo17]

The 6.5 is the new ZD30

I am not sure what you are trying to convey? That the 6.5 Chev is just as bad hence adding to the conjecture I mentioned or its just the engine that should be put in?

[JWB]

IMHO - my vote would be TD42 unit.
depends on what your budget & long term intentions are for the car.

With a V8 anything you will have a small select group of potential buyers

A TD42 will give you a much bigger group of buyers.
and you can tour to your hearts content

I've heard of a local quote of $22+ k for a drive drive out LS1 install (not a new motor either)

Someone had a LS1 powered wagon for sale on here asking 24K
Decisions, decisions.!

cheers

[Clanky]

For a tourer I would keep it all Nissan for parts availability.

There is a Genuine Nissan long ZD30 on Ebay at the moment for $7K
This is probably your cheapest way out - bolt in , job done.

Petrol is a reasonable option for touring, if you run both gas and petrol. The saved extra servicing costs of a diesel can go towards the extra cost of fuel on the trips where no gas is available. And around town you are saving coins again.

Patrolapart in Vic does TD42 conversion for $15K - drive in - drive out. Other 4wd places should be similar in price, depending on what engine and what other stuff you want done. Best you ring around.

V8 chev boat anchor?...sound like a truck, and drive like one, and only two places you can get parts from...

If doing a conversion, you also need to consider your gearing. This may add extra cost to your swap.

[BadMav]

You shouldn't have the need to engineer it with the TD42t either. Factory optioned engine.

[vanbox]

There is no problem keeping a duramax roadworthy, registered and insured. The motor and gearbox price is comparable to the 6.5 too. The major cost comes from the install itself.

I would be interested to see the new v8 from toyota in there, but can't imagine it would be cheap.

The td42 would be ideal. In both cost, simplicity and parts availability. Just need to find one!

[vanbox]

There is no problem keeping a duramax roadworthy, registered and insured. The motor and gearbox price is comparable to the 6.5 too. The major cost comes from the install itself.

I would be interested to see the new v8 from toyota in there, but can't imagine it would be cheap.

The td42 would be ideal. In both cost, simplicity and parts availability. Just need to find one!

[Singo17]

There is no problem keeping a duramax roadworthy, registered and insured. The motor and gearbox price is comparable to the 6.5 too. The major cost comes from the install itself.

I would be interested to see the new v8 from toyota in there, but can't imagine it would be cheap.

The td42 would be ideal. In both cost, simplicity and parts availability. Just need to find one!

Talking of the TD42 in its natural guise its still down on power and torque against the ZD30, although further down in the rev range its clearly superior to its little brother.



Both however require some investment to get the most out of them or to achieve a compromise that puts both motors on a even keel with the Toyota product and frankly most mods done to the ZD30 are not only for better performance, but reliability issues that are well documented all over the Patrol forums.



In either case this makes both of them less attractive, when you do the sums on say a 150rwkw TD42 your getting well past the costs of a Gen3 and getting less performance for the buck. Having a decent read of some of the performance mods done to the TD42, guys are spending between 4k - 15k to get them to work how they want to, obviously my requirement would probably be at the lower end of the scale, however in addition to the engine purchase, possible rebuild etc. The figures start to blow out.



I haven't read of a single documented daily driver GU with a Duramax, I have of course read all about Heaths GU however I may as well be reading about how to build a drag car, I know its registered but it certainly a fit for purpose build up, and wouldn't fit the criteria I am after.


Its a pity the 4.5L Duramax was put on the back burner, 310Hp with 600Nm at 1600rpm, would've been the perfect solution, with talk of 25Mpg. Yet looking at some pictures the motor looked quite high. Sitting in Darwin I will be making major purchasing decisions sight unseen, there in lies my major risk. If any of the Work Shops/Owners/Employee's read this thread and want to offer a solution PM please, I am prepared to ship the vehicle south to have the work done. Duramax would be nice, however with the time I have available and the lack of resources here its something I wouldn't drag up here to try and make work. So that will only happen if there is a shop who can do it, and retain the trucks overall usability.



Having just returned from living in the States I have several avenues there to get the items I need without getting ripped blind, I can pool parts there and get it all shipped home at the same time for example, I could buy a older unit and have the rebuild managed there before shipping the final product out here. So there are possibilities down that line of thought.

[Singo17]

Well currently when the Truth of all the various options come out, they aren't that much different, unless you spin the spanners yourself and hook some good deals on the bits.

Given the opening quotes I have had at the present on all the various options, the Duramax is looking good, just waiting on a few things in the industry to happen, when and if I start I will post something up in the Members area, as by the sounds of it, there a few road goers aside from Heaths, just little information on the matter atm, and I think I know why, tippin there will be a few people doing this re power down the track.

The most cost effective is simply rebuild and move on, all engine swaps seem to get right up there, next I would say is the Gen3 then the 4.2, Toyoata swap and 6.5 are all much of a muchness from a shop that is.

[ludacris]

Have you looked into buying a GQ 4.2 Diesel with low km,s no more than 200 000 - 250 000km and taking everything you need to do the swap then sell of what is left. Then get an aftermarket turbo. That is what I did and it was the cheapest way to do it although I did all the work except the wiring which Killalux did for me.

Cris

[Singo17]

Have you looked into buying a GQ 4.2 Diesel with low km,s no more than 200 000 - 250 000km and taking everything you need to do the swap then sell of what is left. Then get an aftermarket turbo. That is what I did and it was the cheapest way to do it although I did all the work except the wiring which Killalux did for me.

Cris

No I haven't, actually I don't know why probably ignorance on my part, what is the main difference between the early 4.2s and the 2 different iterations in the GU, what are the pro's and cons? I have considered a salvaged GU, there are quite a few utes getting writen off it seems.

[ludacris]

The main difference between them all is that the factory turbo models have a boost compensator on the injector pump but that does not mean much as everybody turbo,s there non turbo diesels and have no problems at all. A co worker bought a GU ute 4.2TD at the auctions $7500. Was flooded and written of so he changed the chasis and it is driving around town. You could do this and pull the motor out then sell of the rest if you find a good one. If your not looking at running big boost 15 psi up any 4.2 model will do the job. Just dont get a auto 4.2.

Cris

[fnqcairns]

I would choose a GU petrol but only on gas, it's a better engine off road and onroad than anything else that came out in those cars and it tows well too.

[Singo17]

I would choose a GU petrol but only on gas, it's a better engine off road and onroad than anything else that came out in those cars and it tows well too.

In terms of transplanting a 4.8 I would imagine its as large a task as say a Gen3 (in terms of getting the harness patched, or fitted if it came from a donor and working), and I would also need the Auto to go with it. Gas would also limit my range, and yes I am not overly concerned if its no longer a touring rig, but its a limitation not entertained on the other viable options to date. I had contemplated parting this truck and just finding a 4.8 as a replacement, thanks for your opinion.

[AFeral]

I would choose a GU petrol but only on gas, it's a better engine off road and onroad than anything else that came out in those cars and it tows well too.

In terms of transplanting a 4.8 I would imagine its as large a task as say a Gen3 (in terms of getting the harness patched, or fitted if it came from a donor and working), and I would also need the Auto to go with it. Gas would also limit my range, and yes I am not overly concerned if its no longer a touring rig, but its a limitation not entertained on the other viable options to date. I had contemplated parting this truck and just finding a 4.8 as a replacement, thanks for your opinion.

4.8 is not an overly hard install. Wiring would be your largest hurdle, killalux wired mine for me, he maybe able to help you out if you went that way.