fibreglass 40 series project

[green88]

Hi, chasing any information on transplanting a holden 5L V8 or LS1 into a 40 series cruiser. The 40 already has a 253 mounted to a 5 speen cruiser box via a dellow bell housing. will the 5L holes line up with the 253/308 bell housing or are there different bell housing patterns or arrangements? obviously a completely different kit will need to be sourced from an adaptors supplier for the LS1, has it been done? if so which transmissions used and why? any hurdles?

Cheers

[Hilux_Ryan]

I have the sam problem with my Hilux, problem is a 253 and some 308s run the trimatic bellhousing bolt pattern, whereas the 5.0L and some 308s run the chevy type turbo pattern.

I discussed this with the local engine builder and you can have the block redrilled to suit, but talk to Dellow, it may be possible to get the turbo pattern drilled into the bellhousing, or they may already have both sets there, I dont know. (mine also has a dellow BH but I havent got around to checking for extra holes)

I understand if you have the turbo pattern bellhousing adapter pretty much any Chevy and most GM V8s will bolt up, but may need a different flywheel and starter (pretty sure flywheel and starter from engine should work, but some are LH starter and some are RH mounted and I guess it depends if the bellhousing has provision for the opposite side starter)

You can also get turbo to trimatic adapter plates I think, but then you'd need to space out the flywheel as well to keep everything whewre it is, and move engine mounts by the same amount.

[loosecanon]

the main point of this is in the title Fibreglass...

i went with marks adaptors, it was a fair price, and i had it done in a weekend, if you use mark's adapt, no need to modify the fire wall (which being fibreglass will be very hard to get an engineer to approve) and is in my opinion a much better set up, tried a dollow bellhousing,(which i got for free) but didn't like it.

And i notice you are using a fibreglass tub, well you pretty much can't use the dellow with out bigger mods, like moving the gear box and longer tail shafts ect ect.

go with Marks in my opinion using a Holden Clutch, oh and if you do go this way keep an eye out for the Oil pump adapter i got caught out with this,

my two cents,

[loosecanon]

hey i forgot to ask,

who made your tub? oz east?

[green88]

cheers for the input, my tub is an oz-east one. It needs a bit of love but its not beyond repair. I got 2 Dellow bell housings with the car, I need to remove the gearbox and find out if one is turbo pattern and one is Trimatic. I spoke to mark's but they said they don't to bj gearbox kits anymore, only fj. Apparently my gearbox is out of a bj. its the 5 speed. hopefully i wont have to move the engine / box to suit the 5 litre? i thought the 253/308/5L blocks were very similar. i understand oz east bodies can be complianced quite easily?

[loosecanon]

sweet you have an oz east tub, yea they are the best tub as they get stress test and compliance off the shelf so all you need is the paper work, did you get this when you bought it? cause im having problems getting the paper work off them, as for the 5speed box i thought the bolt pattern was the same as the 4speed?? but then again ive never seen a 5speed box, have you done a dummy fit with the dellow? maybe the gearbox is a bit longer? and might get away with it, i can't believe marks adaptors don't do an ls1 conversion to the 5speed box, i would look at maybe a 60series box, and see if they do a conversion for it, but to answer your question about suppliers i would stick with marks, it sits the engine further forward, less hassles with radiator ect ect,

can i ask on your tub do you have a stamp on the drivers side door frame saying oz east?

[Shadow]

sweet you have an oz east tub, yea they are the best tub as they get stress test and compliance off the shelf so all you need is the paper work, did you get this when you bought it? cause im having problems getting the paper work off them, as for the 5speed box i thought the bolt pattern was the same as the 4speed?? but then again ive never seen a 5speed box, have you done a dummy fit with the dellow? maybe the gearbox is a bit longer? and might get away with it, i can't believe marks adaptors don't do an ls1 conversion to the 5speed box, i would look at maybe a 60series box, and see if they do a conversion for it, but to answer your question about suppliers i would stick with marks, it sits the engine further forward, less hassles with radiator ect ect,

can i ask on your tub do you have a stamp on the drivers side door frame saying oz east?

BJ 5 speed has a different input shaft than a HJ or FJ 5 speed (from behind a 2H)

Marks does a 5 speed kit for a FJ cruiser.

[Roadkilldovii]

Hi,

your best bet is sell off the bj 5 speed - they're worth a fair bit these days. The fj and hj gearbox has the same input shaft as hq era holdens, so no need for special clutches - just make sure you get a heavier duty clutch. I've got a 308 in my fj40 with dellow bellhousing and 60's series 5 speed. Had to move the gearbox forward to avoid modding the firewall BUT because the 5 speed is longer than the 4 speed by about the same length we had to move the gearbox forward it works out that we use the same length tailshafts! Just a different flange for where they connect to the transfer case. I will admit that yes, moving the gearbox is a pain, but definitely doable. Glad i did it all!

bEn