v6 conversion with photos

Post by **Roctoy** » Fri Mar 05, 2004 6:59 am

now ive done it...
Both my cars are off the road and i'm officially walking.

the 3Y has been removed and thrown in the bin, i'm putting a v6 auto with dual transfers in the ROCTOY, so i'll post photos along the way.
I know this conversion is common and a few of u guys out there have done it, so if u can offer any advice or tips please do.

Cheers Chris

Post by **4sum4** » Fri Mar 05, 2004 3:23 pm

Thats a good start,what exactly have you done with 3y I need some parts.

Post by **savage** » Sat Mar 06, 2004 6:21 pm

just wanted to tell u that this is gunna be really useful to me myself... i have been looking into this swap over for the 4y and a v6 looks promising... do u know if this will be the same for a 4y as for the 3y, and could u post the costs that you incur...

this might sound like a huge ask from a 4x4 board newbie, but it would be greatly appreciated...

also, wat model is the v6 from...

Post by **Roctoy** » Mon Mar 08, 2004 6:56 am

i'm using a vn series 2 3.8l
Cheers Chris

BTW Anyone out there who's done this, what engine mounts did u use, cause i've got a heap of different stories so far...

Post by **hophoar** » Mon Mar 08, 2004 10:35 am

I used the standard Toyota mount from my RV6 for mine, Zol uses standard commodores in his. I guess its just a matter of which chassis mounts your using, Marks use the standard hilux ones.

John

Post by **Roctoy** » Mon Mar 08, 2004 2:25 pm

engine is now sitting in postition in bay, propped up on timbers. Luck yo have a forklift at work so we liowered the whole assesmbly into the truck in one go (motor , box and 2 transfers 6 feet long). I'm going to fab up my own brackets to weld to the chasis rails from 6mm plate and use the commodore rubber mounts that are still bolted to the block. The engine is sitting up as high as it can, lucky for the 2 inch body lift. Just making sure the to steering rod of the hi-steer does not hit the sump, this may be a problem if using an ecotec v6 as i think thay have a bigger sump.

fun fun fun
Chris

Post by **RUFF** » Mon Mar 08, 2004 7:40 pm

roc70y wrote:i'm using a vn series 2 3.8l
Cheers Chris

BTW Anyone out there who's done this, what engine mounts did u use, cause i've got a heap of different stories so far...

If that is the same engine you have in your engine bay then its not a series 2 VN motor its a Series 1 and thats just a plain nasty engine that you will prob be replacing in no time

Post by **Roctoy** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 7:36 am

thanks for the inspiration RUFF, lucky ive got 3 of these engines and a forklift.
That should get me to easter at least.

Chris

Post by **hophoar** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 10:22 am

make sure theres enough room to fit a engine driven fan and allow enough movement from the mounts and the fan to flex especially with the dualcases. I'm thinking of using the rear engine mount aswell so I'll have 3 rear mounts instead of 2.

John.

Post by **Roctoy** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 11:57 am

there is heaps of room anyway, but i'm using big thermo fans.
Cheers Chris

Post by **Hybrid** » Thu Mar 11, 2004 11:18 pm

Ya bugger. You got an extracab. Ive been looking for one regularly for bit over a year now and there are never any decent ones. just the cab i mean. im sure there have been plenty of full trucks about. Im finally pulling teh tarp back on my V6 project. Should be finally getting back into it in the next bit. Be good to see how ya go.

Edit: answered my own question by actually READING the posts

John

Post by **vrunner** » Fri Mar 12, 2004 7:58 am

Hey Ruff

How can you tell the difference between Series1 and Series2 VN engines?
I'm just about to go buy one and don't want to end up with $hit.

Post by **ausyota** » Fri Mar 12, 2004 8:17 am

The series 1 has the thermostat housing at the back of the motor with a steel pipe running up one side to connect to the rad hose.
Series 2 has thermostat housing at front.
Also series one has square coil packs with leads going to both sides of em and series 2 has round sort of shaped ones with all the leads going to one side of the packs.
Hope that helps.
Easiest thing to do is go to a used car yard and pop some bonnets on VNs(series 1) and VPs/VRs(series 2) and compare.
Paul.

Post by **vrunner** » Fri Mar 12, 2004 12:49 pm

Thanks for the info ausyota.

Can you tell me at what point the electronic auto trans was introduced?

Post by **ausyota** » Fri Mar 12, 2004 2:52 pm

Not 100% sure but I think electronic tranny came out in the VRs.

Post by **Kev80** » Sat Mar 13, 2004 4:26 pm

vrunner wrote:Hey Ruff
How can you tell the difference between Series1 and Series2 VN engines?
I'm just about to go buy one and don't want to end up with $hit.

Dont forget the series 2 engines are different between the manual & auto configerations.
They have different cranks, ie the flywheel bolts are different to the flex plate bolts so they cant be interchanged.
Also the computers to run the injection system are also different.

So you need to decide if you want man or auto before purchasing the engine.

Personaly if i did the conversion again i would go auto.

Post by **Ruggers** » Sat Mar 13, 2004 4:51 pm

i thought it was the series ones that had the manual and auto cranks and series two's onwards are all the same. series one motor is a good motr but the rattle you get from them is the timming chain tension. which can be replaced with the series 2 tensioners,

Post by **Kev80** » Sat Mar 13, 2004 5:47 pm

From Marks Adaptors web site.
http://www.marks4wd.com/hilux-holden-v6.html

"The series one VN engines have two crankshaft bolt patterns and starter motor types, the manual transmission type and the automatic transmission type. For this reason flywheels are not interchangeable.

However series two and later engines have the same crankshaft so they can be converted from automatic to manual by fitting a flywheel."

Ok, its been a while. :oops:

Series 1 not interchangable flywheels, series 2 needs different mem-cals.

Post by **longlux** » Sat Mar 13, 2004 11:10 pm

Great stuff im just starting one myself with a VP motor mite have to post my pics im using marks 4wd adaptors but im getting a clutch type fan from chevtorque in maddington WA

Post by **Hybrid** » Sun Mar 14, 2004 3:16 am

Kev80 wrote:Ok, its been a while.
Series 1 not interchangable flywheels, series 2 needs different mem-cals.

Now you've got me worried. Before I put my project on the back burner I had a series 2 engine rebuilt by a local engine builder, Marty White. When I bought the engine the guy told me that the ECU's from the auto and the manual were the same. I also had the engine rebuilt and balanced with a flywheel with expectation of mounting it to my 5 speed. Even the chip that came with the new cam said that it worked in both man and auto.

So now that I want to change to an auto behind it you think that this wont work? (in regard to the "different mem-cal" you mentioned)

Sry for the thread hijack :oops:

John

Post by **longlux** » Sun Mar 14, 2004 8:55 am

roc70y wrote:there is heaps of room anyway, but i'm using big thermo fans.
Cheers Chris

You may have trouble with the thermo's wont draw enough air flow
try chevtorque in maddington WA they do a motor driven clutch type fan
:idea:

Post by **Roctoy** » Sun Mar 14, 2004 10:32 am

works good enough in the commodore, why change to a prehistoric engine driven fan?

Chris

Anyway, to bring us back to the topic at hand.

Hi steer is now on and the IFS box is in. I actually cut the front apron and mounted the thing as far forward and up as high as i could, cause the diff has been moved forward and i had to stop the 2 arms hitting together when the front end flexes.

Photos soon. I'm just waiting for a mate to turn up so we can trial drop the engine onto the mounts i fabricated before i fully weld them to the chasis.

Cheers chris

Post by **longlux** » Sun Mar 14, 2004 12:31 pm

[quote="roc70y"]works good enough in the commodore, why change to a prehistoric engine driven fan?

Been told by people who do the conversions (businesses) & a couple of owners that have done it themselves that its because the motor has to work harder in the lux & even more so off road but if yours works well let me know id rather have the thermo's it will give me a few extra horses

Post by **cbr** » Sun Mar 14, 2004 4:26 pm

Bungee wrote:
roc70y wrote:works good enough in the commodore, why change to a prehistoric engine driven fan?

Been told by people who do the conversions (businesses) & a couple of owners that have done it themselves that its because the motor has to work harder in the lux & even more so off road but if yours works well let me know id rather have the thermo's it will give me a few extra horses

If you have the right thermo that pulls enough CFM and a well setup cooling system you should be right. You will need to get a good quality unit. I have looked at alot of thermos and the CFM ratings to use in my v8 conversion. The zirgo fans (http://www.zirgo.com/) seem to put out the most CFM for the size. If space is not a problem (like in a v6 swap) SPAL (http://www.spal-usa.com/html/spalhome.htm) fans would be my choice. The Fans offered by Davies Craig really don't pull near enough air (IMHO). However this is all based on the specs of the fans. Look at a Ziro 16" fan it will pull 3300CFM, while the Davis Craig only pulls 2100 CFM.

A thermo will pull more air at low crawling speed when off road then a engine fan, because you are using very low revs. And above 60 km/hr a thermo or engine fan should not be doing anything because the air flow at that speed will out do the CFM of these fans.

Both types of fans will do the job you just need the correct size and a well setup cooling system.

Chris.

Post by **Kev80** » Sun Mar 14, 2004 5:02 pm

Hybrid wrote:So now that I want to change to an auto behind it you think that this wont work? (in regard to the "different mem-cal" you mentioned

From Marks Adaptors site :

MEM-CALS
Mem-cals are on a change over basis and are all RRP $330 inc GST

MEM6VRA - Commodore V6-VR Auto mem-cal.
MEM6VSA - Commodore V6-VS Auto mem-cal.
MEM6VSM - Commodore V6-VS Manual mem-cal.
MEM6VTA - Commodore V6-VT Auto mem-cal.
MEM6VTM - Commodore V6-VT Manual mem-cal.

I never looked into it too far as i found a manual engine to start with but looks like you can exchange them.

Not sure if thats all you need to do.

Post by **Kev80** » Sun Mar 14, 2004 5:09 pm

longlux wrote:You may have trouble with the thermo's wont draw enough air flow
try chevtorque in maddington WA they do a motor driven clutch type fan

I used a 16" Craig Davis thermo fan with a V8 radiator & had no troubles
even when idleing for long periods, Always kept the engine cool.

Only problem was deep water crossings.

Post by **Roctoy** » Sun Mar 14, 2004 6:38 pm

Hey Kev

It will have to be a deep water crossing to reach the level of the fan in my truck!!!
Chris

Post by **Kev80** » Sun Mar 14, 2004 6:44 pm

I hear ya!

Mine old Hilux has a 3" spring lift, 2" body lift with 33" mud tyres & we still manage to get water over the bonnet. :twisted:

You will pop the thermo fuse every time unless you isolate it before the crossing.
Not worried about the electrics, just the water stops the fan blades from spinning therefore draws too much current.

Post by **60serius** » Sun Mar 14, 2004 7:59 pm

For the best results use the commodore themo very ezy to fit and
you allready know it pulls enough air to cool the V6
Worked foltlessly in my cruiser even in sand with air con on
Craig davies couldn't hack it.

Post by **Kev80** » Sun Mar 14, 2004 8:20 pm

The original Commodore fan wont fit in the Hilux engine bay, the slim C/Davis one was about 15mm from the harmonic balancer. :shock:

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