Isuzu 6 cylinder into Chevy 1 ton

[Big T]

So my nieghbor was doing some tree work and I asked if I could run some American Elm along our fence line through his chipper. No problem. He had a chipper that attaches to his Kubota 693 diesel tractor with skip loaded bucket and that chipper really sucked the stuff down. I helped them chain saw up their pepper tree trimmings and ran that through the chipper.

Got to talking as we need to redo the chain link fence along the property line. I have all the poles plus a 50' roll of 6' fence that will cover the worst of the backyard portion.

The talk shifted to trucks and cars. He has a Ford Model A in the back barn. But the most interesting thing he showed me was a 36 year old Chevy 1 ton, single wheel with a 190 hp 6 cylinder Isuzu diesel conversion that he did. He said "you can't kill this engine." It's naturally aspirated and there's tons of room in the engine compartment. Changing injectors would be a breeze.

 

[Will L.]

I remeber wrenching on one or two of those engines. Easy to do the maintence, and he is right they chug along for ever.

Sitting in the there it reminds me of the 230/250cid gasser in the 70's pickups.

 

[GM Guy]

we have the turboed version in a 79 C30.

Previous owner converted it from 454/ Turbo 400 2wd to body lifted Isuzu I6 turbo, Isuzu 5 speed, random 3 speed auxillary (filed slots in driveline flange and clamped it with bolts and flatwashers) Everything the guy did sucked. It works, but he cobbled it bad.

The reason its parked is the auxillary is failing. My plan is delete it, and swap to 3.42 gears and run just the 5 speed. looks kinda dorky with the body lifted dually bed, so I want to put a flatbed on.

 

[Husker6.5]

Isn’t that the same one used in International's Scouts and Travelalls? I think Datsun/Nissan used it, too.

 

[GM Guy]

that was a Nissan V-6, popular in marine applications. We had a friend go to a Nissan Marine dealer in California for some parts for our Scout Diesel.

 

[Husker6.5]

I'm pretty sure they used the straight 6, just like in the pictures above, both N/A and turbo. In '80 they used the Nissan SD33T in the Scout, which I thought was actually an Isuzu-made engine.

 

[GM Guy]

Id have to check, its been years since I have looked at ours and I was just a kid when dad got it.

 

[handcannon]

Husker6.5 is correct about the Nissan diesel used in the Scout. It started with the SD33 (non-turbo), then switched to the SD33T (turbo). I have a Nissan SD22 and transmission out of a 1981 or 1982 Nissan pickup to someday put into a 1973 Datsun pickup. The SD22 is a four cylinder version of the SD33. As far as I know the internal parts are interchangeable between the two. The SD22 was also used in Nissan forklifts.

It would be interesting to know for sure if the SD22 and SD33 were made by Isuzu. Parts for them are tough to find, and if they were made by Isuzu that might open up another avenue for parts.

Not sure about the SD33, but the SD22 used a weird intake system with a butterfly, like a carb has, to control the Diesel Kiki/Bosch inline IP. The butterfly is hooked to the throttle pedal and there are two vacuum tubes between the butterfly and the IP. The vacuum from the butterfly operates a diaphragm, which is hooked up to the rack in the IP. So there is no mechanical connection between the throttle pedal and the IP.

Don

 

[Will L.]

Husker6.5 is correct about the Nissan diesel used in the Scout. It started with the SD33 (non-turbo), then switched to the SD33T (turbo). I have a Nissan SD22 and transmission out of a 1981 or 1982 Nissan pickup to someday put into a 1973 Datsun pickup. The SD22 is a four cylinder version of the SD33. As far as I know the internal parts are interchangeable between the two. The SD22 was also used in Nissan forklifts.

It would be interesting to know for sure if the SD22 and SD33 were made by Isuzu. Parts for them are tough to find, and if they were made by Isuzu that might open up another avenue for parts.

Not sure about the SD33, but the SD22 used a weird intake system with a butterfly, like a carb has, to control the Diesel Kiki/Bosch inline IP. The butterfly is hooked to the throttle pedal and there are two vacuum tubes between the butterfly and the IP. The vacuum from the butterfly operates a diaphragm, which is hooked up to the rack in the IP. So there is no mechanical connection between the throttle pedal and the IP.

Don

Wow! Blast from the past- I remember working on a forklift with that. I just started working at a place and it was my first job for them. It was low on power and the owner already bought a turbo to add for the very unresponsive thing. I started with a compression test and leakdown. He asked why bother- I said baseline incase we dont get desired results. He said just throw the turbo on, so I did. It was better but still lacking a lot.

He then said ok, figure it out. The rings were very worn with blowby, so the throttle contol wouldnt operate at much more than half. I told him rings, he bocked & said maybe sell it. I got him to try the rings, and POW! it had 3 times the power and acceleration. Decent little engine after that. That guy still calls me about diesel problems on other stuff about every 3rd year...

 

[handcannon]

Will, the biggest difference I have been able to find is that the forklift SD22 motor had a fourth ring below the wrist pin, and only three main bearings. Sometime in 1980/1981 the motor used in the pickups went to just three rings. Also, somewhere in that time frame (maybe a little later) the cranks went to five mains. I'm pretty sure that the motor I have is a three ring motor. Going by a motor serial number chart I found I MIGHT have a five main motor, although I haven't pulled the pan yet to find out.

I've had the motor for at least two years now, and still haven't put it into the Datsun yet. Hopefully later this summer. I have supported the motor on the floor and had it running though.

Don