83 King Cab 4x4 Diesel Build

[Delos]

Finally I have some time to share this swap, although a few others have done this I'm sure there is some way that this will be helpful for brainstorming or reference.

The Truck
6/1983 Nissan/Datsun KC 4x4
-been in family for about 12 years
-Traveled when newer to South America
-About 300,000 miles, give or take 10,000
-Stock height/suspension except blocks in back
-Bullet hole in hood/fender for good measure



The first order of business was to get the diesel engine; my mom had bought an 81 Datsun KC 2wd SD22 in Spokane, planning on converting it to veggie. It sat for about two months and I bought the engine from her. I had some clues that the tranny was junk after a 500 mile trip down to Oregon.
Pulling the diesel out was no problem



Care was taken to do some routine maintenance on the block and other parts i felt like taking off.







Decided to put new clutch on it while its out, also resurfaced the flywheel



Time to pull out the Z!



Now that was all done, the transmission swap was done, my brother Dennis was very helpful in this stage, as he has worked on the Z trannies before. An novice Nissaner could probably do this considering all of the pictures, repair manuals, and diagrams available.

Failing tranny, I think so. Also lots of goodies in the oil that was drained out



The two trannies



Swapping of a bearing was necessary to accommodate for a different
outer diameter of one of the bearings. This is the hybridized/frankentranny.







A rough fit without an oil pan on, and the transmission bolted to the cross brace was deemed necessary to take measurements for the engine mounts, which were completed before the oil pan was mutilated to fit the front differential. The drivers side was made by cutting up a piece of 4 inch angle iron. A bit bulky but i like it.





The passengers side mount was chopped, turned upside down, and extended/changed angles.




The oil pan was difficult, but manageable, The welding I did was 3rd rate so I JB Welded all of the seams.



A heat gun is helpful to make the oil pan warm so the JB Weld is not so goopy and thick.




Thats all for the oil pan, I hope it all goes in smoothly!

Below is the power steering banjo bolt, I shortened it about 1/2 inch to clear the battery tray, and I will be working on the bracketry for the pump soon.


Does anyone know why my SD22 doesn't have 2 pulleys in the front like the others i have seen? I really don't want to pull off that giant nut, and re-torque it to ?249ftlbs? to have an extra pulley. Does anyone have ideas about running everything (including PS and A/C(later)) off of one belt?

[TruckA]

Nice work and what a clean engine. I finished the same swap a few months back and I'm trying to add a turbo now. It looks like you're well on your way to having a slow diesel as well

David

[phoneinstaller]

Hello Delos
did the engine mount get in the way of the starter at all
the mounts that bolt to the frame were the the stock 4X4 mounts?or what?

I am doing this to my 4X4 now I will do a posting as i get thing going

[phoneinstaller]

Hello Delos
did the engine mount get in the way of the starter at all
the mounts that bolt to the frame were the the stock 4X4 mounts?or what?
Do you know what rears you have in your truck?
i have 411 in the stock 85 4X4 but i have a set of 388 front and rear dont know what i should use i will have 31"tires when done any ideas?

I am doing this to my 85 king cab 4X4 now I will do a posting as i get thing going

[Delos]

yes the engine mount did get in the way and was swiss cheesed. I don't know anything about what gearing I have, I believe it is factory from 6/83. the beast is now tearing up the mid valley and even extended its traffic slowing abilities to NE portland earlier today on a veg filter mission. You should have posted earlier so I could come see your toys! Ill pm you next time im up there. I have a hard enough time getting going with the tires I have im not going to but any bigger ones until its turbo. I will post pictures soon, not much fun to do on the cell, no good internet down here in the boonies.

[asavage]

You added more pics, great! Even better, you know how to get your camera to focus!

The drivers side was made by cutting up a piece of 4 inch angle iron. A bit bulky but i like it.



[later]
. . . yes the engine mount did get in the way and was swiss cheesed.

I'm putting an SD in an '86 gasser 720 and I'm thinking I'll put a 3/8" plate on the frame pad and move the SD mount forward, rather than what you did. Any thoughts on my plan?

The oil pan was difficult, but manageable, The welding I did was 3rd rate so I JB Welded all of the seams.

Your welding is better than mine!

Why did you remove the pan stiffener?


OEM:

Does anyone know why my SD22 doesn't have 2 pulleys in the front like the others i have seen?

Only 720s with PS and/or A/C got the dual-sheave crank sheave. I still don't know a good way of pulling either the sheet metal (single) or cast iron (dual) sheaves, there does not seem to be a good method. Never mind the big ass nut.

[phoneinstaller]

AL are you doing this also
I am putting a SD22 into a 85 4X4 king cab.
I have the engine and trans in the truck now setting on an 1/2"plate just need to mount the plate to the frame then be able to mount the engine mount to the engine
I want to be able to put the Z24 engine in if i have to do so.

Checking with DMV about what need to be done to change title to diesel. or if i have to do that.
I am trying to add some pictures.

[phoneinstaller]

driver side fron under

driver side top


right side


hope this work ok
this is the 85 truck iam working on

[asavage]

I am putting an '82 SD22 from the "Bellingham Truck" into a 1986 non-KC 2WD gasser, the "Arlington Truck". I will not be modifying the oil pan, of course.

With the plates, you are doing what I am planning on doing for adapting the SD motor mounts directly to the gasser's frame.

[Delos]

So the truck is running, and I calculated the fuel mileage at 20 mpg, good thing its going to be running on veg soon. The front suspension came out nicely, with a kit from AC in Florida, I got 4 bilstein shocks, new upper A arms(w/ polyurethane bushings), heavy duty torsion bars with 30% higher spring rate, and a rear add a leaf kit. I think my factory torsion bars were junk after 300K miles.


The torsion bars change the ride significantly, its not quite as tight as a new beemer, but its tight and corners nicely. Onward with the electrical, I have also seen this messy process done by swapping out the entire wiring harness,dash, and instrument panel. All the wiring turned out well.


I didnt have very consistent results with the glow plug timer, so I made it manual with a push button switch, the injection pump controller motor works great.

Sounds like you guys have a handle on the motor mounts, I opted to use the Z mounts and it works fine, there are many ways to do the job. Maybe these pictures will help.


I took out the oil pan strut because I figured it would interfere with the pickup tube, i also removed the screen on the oil pickup


So now I'm starting to think about the turbo, I found a garret GT-25($250) and a Garret T-25($75) and am leaning towards the cheaper T-25, I would like to find a Hitachi HT10 like Bacho's but those are quite rare. Any suggestions?

[phoneinstaller]

Hello Delos
Did you take all the wiring out for the Z24 engine when you did the wiring for the SD22 engine?
Would it be easy to put the Z24 engine back in if you wanted to do so?
Did you change the REG. to have diesel on it or not? Do you have to go throw DEQ with the truck?

[bacho]

I like this one.

I had a t-25 that I got shipped on accident for a while. It was from a 300z the compressor was about the same as the hitachi, but the hot section was pretty big really, it was at least 1.5 times larger than the hitachi and probly 2x the size of the IHI that was on the truck. Im not an expert, but as I understand, with it being larger it will spin less fast than a smaller one. It makes sense considering your talking a 6cyl spinning at 6k compared to our 2.2 spinning at 2250 you know? Not saying it wouldnt work, but it is signifcantly different.

[Delos]

I took the existing wiring harness and added some wires from the SD, like the alternator wires. Many of the wires( like the temp sender, oil pressure switch...others) will be the same color and go to the same places on the SD and the Z. You can also just remove the whole wiring harness and just switch them, you can also switch the dash/instrument panel with this wiring harness swap. It could be wired up to make a re-installation effort easier, but you would need to consider swapping back the fuel tank. Im curious why you would want to be able to put a Z back in? REG? I'm not sure what that is and I don't have DEQ where I live.

[Delos]

I think I'll stay away from the GT25 and T25. I found some Hitachi HT-12 stuff on Ebay for the RX-7's. I still haven't found any HT-10's available and it sure would be nice to find one. Any thoughts on other turbo's that are proven? Your help is much appreciated.

[phoneinstaller]

The REG is the same as title of truck.
I do not know why I would put the Z24 engine back in just wanting to know what way you went.
I am going to take my tank out and put some kind of sealer in it I do not have a diesel truck to take things from. I found a new diesel SD 22 engine and started from that. I will need to find some of the parts to put the wiring together like the glow plug timer and the parts to make the IP work.

At this point I have the engine mounts worked out and working on the oil pan.
Do you know what gearing you have in your truck and what size tires?
There is a plate under the hood on the right that should have a code fore gearing
I have 4.11 on the truck now and have 3.90 setup I could put in.(front and rear)
I will have to put my Z24 engine back in tell I get some money to do more work on the diesel side of thing.