Hello, Richard, and Welcome to our Sandbox!
dozer wrote:My farmer friend has an 80's King Cab with a blown engine that he'd love to convert to diesel.
I (my friend, Peter, that is) am doing the same thing: rusty 1982 720 KC's engine/trans into '86 720 gasser. Haven't started yet. Trans bolt pattern is different but gearset (guts of trans) are interchangeable. Fuel tank is non-galvanized inside for diesel, so have to swap that -- zinc + diesel = bad.
He doesn't have much cash, and I owe him some favors, so I'm looking for an SD or LD series diesel engine for him in good running condition.
It's quite hard to fit a LD Six (the Maxima engine) under the bonnet of a 720, though it's been done at least once. Requires firewall mods.
The LD Four was never imported to the US (AFAIK) but can be had by importers such as
exportintl for about $1500 plus shipping. It is supposed to have the same bolt pattern as LD28, but not the SD nor the Z2x engines, so you'd have to use an older 510 or a 280Z trans -- not too hard.
Actually, the Z2x bolt
pattern is the same as the L-series, but rotated approx 10°, so if you want to cant the engine over . . . not real useful.
Preferably a factory turbo-version
Finally, neither the LD nor the SD were offered with a turbo in the US, though the later LD20T and LD20II/T were -- in other countries. So unless you buy a non-US-spec engine, you will have to roll-your-own for the turbo. See
Galen's turbo SD22 for more info.
More info on the LD20T is
here.
I'm doing the CL searches for LD/SD cars, and will likely find something there; but thought I'd post here too; in case someone's got an extra motor that's not too dear.
Diesel Maximas, esp. 1982 Maximas, are relatively easy to obtain in the sub-$1000 range, and even a few for half that.
This fellow in Seattle has/had three of them for sale just a couple of weeks ago. Member Syra (Ronald) in Spokane has an '82 Sedan that he was selling here a while back, and it's probably still for sale. There's an '82 Wagon in Yakima that they want about $300 for (yes, the price has gone
up on that one, Myrna actually talked to them again last week!) but who knows if it runs.
Finally, if you really want an LD28 Six, I could probably be talked out of my "spare" complete one in storage, but I have never heard it run and I wouldn't sell it cheap -- offers above $600 would get my attention -- and it is complete from clutch to harmonic balancer.
When the LD engines get cheap enough, Crank Pirates trash them for stroker 280Z engine mods, so you do have competition when looking for exceptional deals on diesel Maximas.
But the SD engines are, for some reason, a bit harder to lay hands on in good condition. I've bought three in the past two years (1982 720 KC for $400 with bad trans but 86k orig. miles; 1982 KC non-running and extremely rusty and mismatched bed and doors for $100 -- had it running in three hours; 1982 KC w/sunroof, extremely rusty and thrown rod for "free"), and one complete, running
'82 720 sold day-before-yesterday for $650 (well below market value) and it came with a "spare" engine. They're around, but mostly still with trucks with various problems. Rust is a major one up here.
The SD engines are also seen in forklift duty, and supposedly in ag/genset use, but I've never actually seen one there.
If you're looking on CL, you know that any running small diesel PU is going for more than is warranted, based on age & mileage. There are few deals on CL for them, and the ones that exist (like the $650 one I mentioned above) go extremely fast. I don't see any deals on wrecked ones, and the non-runners are a crap shoot -- I got lucky with the one I bought, but then again, I really bought it for parts and found the kids who were trying their hand at "free fuel" had merely completely misunderstood how the SD IP control system works and had mostly just screwed up all the plumbing and wiring -- getting it sorted to run was easy, but the rust made it a dump-run truck only until the '86 gasser came along last month for a body donor.
I have a lot of potential trade material....some of which is listed on my webpage in my sig. Engines, trannies, all kinds of stuff.
Good listing. I don't see anything on your list that I have got to have, though if you have a
large gen head (ie 15Kw plus, really looking for 20Kw plus in 1ph), we should talk more. And, because I own a non-driver '84 F250 SC 4wd w/6.9 diesel, C6, and 3.54s, there might at some point come an intersection of interests there -- but I'm not really in
need of anything except time on that one -- unless you have a complete 5-spd changeover, which would be kind of unlikely. And I'm not going to drop a grand on this truck just to get a clutch pedal
I'd also be a buyer for a Mercedes 3.0L turbo diesel engine; for a 4x4 mini-truck conversion project I'm working on.
On that one, I would assume you're looking for the earlier, 5-cyl. 3.0 turbodiesel, not the later Six. I don't have either, but the price difference is significant (the Five is much cheaper, of course, plus it'll fit under the hood).
We live off-grid . . .
You have my admiration.
