A Statement of my experiences – should I have done that Chev V8 conversion?
In early 2001 my 1990 Toyota personnel carrier started to go down hill fast in the engine department. I knew if I was going to keep it, it would have to have more power than the old standard 4 litre 2H diesel. Towing our camper and needing to pass a truck or simply driving at 90 kilometres per hour flat out were problems we were faced with and they had to go.
After doing much research into the pro’s and con’s of super charger, turbo, or V8 diesel I decided for cost and longetivity the V8 diesel would be the best proposition!
On 20th September 2001 I picked up my ‘Troupe’ with it’s new 6.2 litre Chev V8 diesel with fully reconditioned gearbox, radiator and so on.
Unfortunately, my trouble started almost immediately.
I drove down to Albany with the family to put some miles on the motor to run it in and on the way down fuel was disappearing at an alarming rate. We stopped and walked around the car, I discovered the return fuel line had not been fitted properly and the fuel was pouring out. After rectifying this we had a reasonably good trip with fuel economy of 13 litres per 100 kilometres.
By the time I had the motor run in it was blowing more smoke than the motor it replaced, so at the first service all of the injectors were replaced but this did not fix the problem.
The vehicle was returned 2 weeks later and the injector pump was replaced – this did fix the smoking problem however it caused other problems!
Fuel consumption dropped, the engine developed a rattle (timing too far advanced on pump) and I was unable to travel below 60 kilometres per hour as the vehicle would surge. The surging problem was never solved and I was advised to use a fuel additive as apparently WA fuel is poor quality. Strange when you consider my old 4 litre 2H motor never required any additive in over 300,000 kilometres and it didn’t have the injectors or fuel pump touched.
After the motor was run in we then went out four wheel driving. Another problem developed, as I was going down hill the gear box jumped out of low range, this had never happened before. The gear box was supposed to be reconditioned so I returned the vehicle once again! They told me that they did not rebuild the gear box and that I would need to deal with the people they had contracted to do the work. I wanted to get this right so I went to the see their contractor, they had said they only replaced parts that they could see problem with, ‘ if you can’t see anything wrong with why replace it?’. To fix it I had to pay for parts and they covered the labour. I had little choice but to go ahead with this as I was 200 kilometres from home and I need it fixed – another $600.00 out of pocket!
As you could imagine I was not very happy with these previous events however over the next 12 months the vehicle it was without major incident.
Our long planned trip over east at Christmas 2002 to Sydney, Frazer Island and down the Birdsville track finally came.
This was the first long trip into very hot conditions with the new motor, you guessed right, yeah we had another problem. It failed again this time 200 kilometres east of Norseman in WA, the radiator temperature went through the roof. Being just prior to Christmas no one wanted to look at it so we continued travelling east all the way to Sydney at 80 – 90 kilometres per hour without the air conditioner running, and what a long hot trip that was.
There appeared to be nothing wrong with the cooling system so I contacted the people who fitted the engine, they advised me that the radiator would need baffles and both thermostats should be changed to cooler ones – if they knew all this why didn’t they change it from the start? So, an extra 4 days in Sydney trying to find someone to do the job and another $700.00 out of pocket.
In 2003 the power started to decline, exhaust smoke increased and the surging at low speed became impossible to live with.
On 6th August 2003 I booked the vehicle in again to have the injectors and pump looked at. When this was being done it was noticed the air intake manifold had a lot of dust inside it. A compression test was done and compression was at a minimum. I drove away with less power than I arrived with however the surging was fixed – another $1880.00 out of pocket. I was told I would be looked after if I brought it back for a rebuild!
The air intake hose had split which had allowing dust into the motor - this hose was supplied and fitted by the company who supplied and fitted the motor (I wonder how many other customers have had the same problem due to poor quality hoses). As I left I was given a better quality hose to fit – this came straight off their shelf.
After a couple of scares ( no power when turning in-front of incoming traffic) and much discussion I decided to have it rebuilt again. When it was pulled apart I was told they could not hone it and it would have to be bored out to a 6.5 litre, I agreed to go ahead.
When I picked it vehicle up I was told that they had exchanged blocks which enabled them to finish the vehicle in time. I asked if my permit was still valid and they said that all I had to do was to fill out a change of engine form – WRONG, one week later I had to travel the 200 kilometres again for them to take it over the pits, another $200.00 out of pocket.
By the time the first service was due I was not happy with the fuel consumption and it was using some oil. The pump was adjusted and Penrite 20/60w oil was used – in their words oil of this type is more suited to old engines.
Over the next 3000 kilometres oil consumption did not improve and the engine was not running well, so back I go again. I was told they would pull out the motor and rebuild it, upon returning I was told the motor had not been done but they had replaced the injector pump again and they believed there would be no further problem. I was also a bit gob-smacked when they told me they had used my vehicle to attend a funeral in Perth, this was without seeking my permission. Prior to leaving they also gave their word that any further problems would be rectified.
Just prior to Christmas 2003 the motor was using between .75 and 1 litre of oil every 1000 kilometres, I rang and advised them, they said they would ring me back early in the new year. I waited until 9th January 2004 and called again, they put back doing anything until 26th January 2004, in the mean time I had the motor run up on a Dyno machine and found it to be lacking in power.
I returned the vehicle to them again, this time they had it for 3 weeks and I was told they had fixed the valve seats and done a compression test which they said was fine, however, it is my belief that this did not happen.
When they had carried out a compression test previously the first thing they did was to remove the battery and air-cleaner so they could have easy access to the injectors. It was clear to me when inspecting the engine bay the battery had not been disconnected as it still had an unbroken build up of acid on the battery terminals. Also the CD player still had the previous settings for Perth radio stations – what mechanic does any major mechanical work without disconnecting the battery? If I had any doubt the problem was fixed after driving 700 kilometres since picking the vehicle up I had to replace almost 1 litre of oil – it would seem that having the oil topped up prior to leaving had camouflaged this fact.
After continuous complaining and threatening to go to consumer affairs the engine was once again "rebuilt", this time it only lasted 8000 kms
This time I had pressure in the radiator which indicated a head gasket but turned out to be the block, thankfully this time I had no argument from them and two weeks later they transported it to their workshop made the repairs and returned it to Karratha were I was working at the time.
After having traveled only 3000 kms it started to run poorly again and blowing blue smoke (burning oil)
I am very disappointed to say the least that after spending over $22,000.00 on the engine and gearbox, not to mention what was spent on suspension, air lockers, seats long rang fuel, etc I have give up and sold the vehicle (gave it away at $8000)
So in short those of you who are considering converting your vehicle away from factory standard THINK TWICE! If you have plenty of money to throw around and you don’t mind your vehicle being in the workshop continuously, then go ahead.
IT WOULD SEEM YOU CAN’T GO PAST FACTORY FIT.