Vp 3800 V6 into hilux - how to

[Robbos_Toyotas]

Hey everyone, thought id give some help to anyone out there attempting this conversion. It involves a VP commodore (1992) 3.8L V6 and the TH700 auto transmission into early model hiluxes. It also includes the installation of a VR radiator and a VS electric fan. Mine is a 1984 YN57 manual.

Reasons for doing this conversion:

Motors are cheap
Motors have a lot of torque, good for pulling loads.
Motors are reliable and last a long time.
Motor fits in without cutting out radiator support, and have plenty of room.
Motor and gearbox all fit in nicely.
Motors are easy to get parts for and to fix.

Now i dont have a digicam working atm, so ill do my best to explain as i go. Conversion is not finished yet but ill post things up as i get closer.

What you will need to do this conversion:

Motor with all accs - including AC compressor.
gearbox
Ecu, loom
Vp berlina or calais cluster (these have a tacho)
the floor shifter and loom that attaches to it
tailshaft
engine pipes with cat.
Be confident/ know someone to make engine and rear gearbox mounts (ill post a pic of my home made ones when completed)


Step 1 - The motor will need to have the sump modified - as it hits would hit the relay arm for the steering (one that connects your two tie rods). if you leave it in the position where it would not hit anything, the box is half in the engine bay and the weight of the motor is too far forward. The neatest way is to buy a spare sump and to cut and shut the two to make one. this way you can make it look factory, its made of the same material and is a lot easier to do.

Step 2 - The engine mounts from dellow are no more than shit with rubber attached. a bit of box steel with a dodgy modified commodore mount. These 1 dont allow for the use of aircon, as the p/s engine mount houses the aircon mount. And also, if all thats holding your motor onto the chassis is two pissy welds on a bit of 2.5mm box steel - how rough is that?!

step 3 - the instrument cluster needs a bit of work to be made fit, but pics will tell a story when i get some - you need to make two little brackets and also need to modify the inner hilux cluster surround.

Step 4 - the VR radiator (new are around $200, and the vs thermo for about $50) fits, all you need to do is make a one piece bottom bracket with two tabs welded on for the radiator mount nipples (these nipples need to be shortened with hacksaw) and two bent top mounts to make it solid. Will get pics soon. This is obviously ample to cool the motor. I personally when installing the aircon will put a 10" fan on a manual switch on the front of the condensor, as i dont think the hilux (mine has a bullbar) will have as much airflow as the Vp did.

Post more as i get closer to having it done.

blake

Post more as i go.

[vh3800]

do you need any wiring diagrams?

[Robbos_Toyotas]

i have some, but if you have more please email to blakerobson@hotmail.com
thanks mate :)

[vh3800]

Email sent!

[gianttomato]

No LS1, no care.

[Grega]

blake. good one
something to keep in mind - the speedo setup. you'll need to get an passthru adapter for the speedo cable to plug into and still provide signal back to the ecu (VSS)
if you don't when you come up to a standstill coasting you'll stall and it won't run as well. please bear this in mind as many people get caught out here. my mate did running his VN V6 in is nissan 720.

also think about the power steering pump. folks make up bearing equipped shafts to piss the power steering pump off if you don't use it.

i have a myriad of different bits and pieces and manuals and anything else you could ever want for a V6 so if you need anything let me know, can help mate.

it'll be a good conversion. with the 5 speed in the 720 idling up and down hills and thru bogs was funny. at idle. LOL

[Robbos_Toyotas]

blake. good one
something to keep in mind - the speedo setup. you'll need to get an passthru adapter for the speedo cable to plug into and still provide signal back to the ecu (VSS)
if you don't when you come up to a standstill coasting you'll stall and it won't run as well. please bear this in mind as many people get caught out here. my mate did running his VN V6 in is nissan 720.

also think about the power steering pump. folks make up bearing equipped shafts to piss the power steering pump off if you don't use it.

i have a myriad of different bits and pieces and manuals and anything else you could ever want for a V6 so if you need anything let me know, can help mate.

it'll be a good conversion. with the 5 speed in the 720 idling up and down hills and thru bogs was funny. at idle. LOL

im using the commodore cluster and turbo 700, so i shouldnt have those problems touch wood!

[Grega]

blake you'll be fine mate
bear in mind if your diff gearing is not 3.08 the TCC will lockup at strange speeds and the speedo will read wrong. there are convertor/corrector units you can get to fix this though.

[Robbos_Toyotas]

yeha ill have to wait and see with litle problems like that id say

[Robbos_Toyotas]

am having some issues wiring the dash in - theres wires on the holden dash cluster which are:

"2 pulses" - theres 3 of those
"10 pulses" - theres 1
"press rem" - theres 2
"gnd pulses" - theres one

also on another plug there are two "pk lamp pos" terminals, but on the same plug theres a "pk brake"


Anyone can help me out there?

thanks
Blake

[Grega]

blake
sounds like you have a calais cluster/loom
press rem will be for the security immobilizer
pk lamp etc will be one for the light in the cluster, the other will be the chime (if you rip the handbrake up when moving the cluster beeps at you)
gnd pulses and 2/10 pulses sound like speed input

wheres 10 pulses what connector? i can see the gnd and 2 pulses in my calais cluster here on connector 1........

how many connectors do you have on the back of the instrument cluster? 3 or 4?

i'll have a quick read. hang 5

[Grega]

blake
389 (green wire) goes to cruise control module
151 (black/white tracer) goes to ground
39 (pink/black) goes to fuse 9
25 (black) goes to alternator
437 (brown/yellow tracer) goes back to pin A10 on the ECU

thats a rundown on instrument connector 3.
pretty sure the pulses will be to the cruise module from the input from VSS.

let me know if this helps drop me a PM if you need more info.

[Robbos_Toyotas]

hey mate, yeah the plug 3 seems to be sorted out. mine was out of a berlina.

May i let people know,. thayt the power steering boxes out of later model luxes (rn85 namely) are not a direct replacement, they need to have modifications made to fit. this is whats holding me up currently, but half my engine mounts are made - a bit of a bonus i guess :)

thanks for your help greg!

[Robbos_Toyotas]

hey mate, yeah the plug 3 seems to be sorted out. mine was out of a berlina.

May i let people know,. thayt the power steering boxes out of later model luxes (rn85 namely) are not a direct replacement, they need to have modifications made to fit. this is whats holding me up currently, but half my engine mounts are made - a bit of a bonus i guess :)

thanks for your help greg!

mine has 3 plugs btw

[Robbos_Toyotas]

hey mate, yeah the plug 3 seems to be sorted out. mine was out of a berlina.

May i let people know,. thayt the power steering boxes out of later model luxes (rn85 namely) are not a direct replacement, they need to have modifications made to fit. this is whats holding me up currently, but half my engine mounts are made - a bit of a bonus i guess :)

thanks for your help greg!

mine has 3 plugs btw

[Robbos_Toyotas]

does anyone know if the balljoints on the relay arm are replaceable on the lux???

[Grega]

no worries blake.

[Robbos_Toyotas]

finally got some time to work on the thing this weekend - now have some extravagant looking engine mounts, mounted fuel filter and in the process of lightly bumping the brake lines - mustve been so rusted one of them snapped in two! oh well better whilst its sitting in the yard than if im driving i guess....

transmission mount is half made - looks like a piece of piss thank god!

biggest job now is wiring, which i officially suck at!

get some pics soon i promise

blake

[Grega]

picsorban :)
if you need a hand with the wiring let me know. i drive one of the bloody things so can buzz shit out for you ect if need be

[Robbos_Toyotas]

thanks dude, will let u know

[BabyZ]

I've done one of these conversions ... works very well on the whole :) Mine is a VS engine and TH700, also into a (2WD) YN57. I had a head start though - the ute was factory auto so the console and shifter were in place already. (Although the TH700 shifter is on the left side of the box, while the Toyota shifter was on the right which brought its own issues).

As it was my first conversion, I cheated and bought some of the bits from Pat Gardiner (http://www.v6conversions.com.au/) in Moree to speed up the process. Although in my ute, things didn't fit quite the way he said they would - like the bonnet won't shut with the engine cover on (I actually had to massage the bonnet bracing to even get the 10mm clearance I wanted over the naked plenum).

I welded some pretty simple mounting brackets to the chassis and used the standard commodore rubber mounts. The mount under the A/C compressor had to be shifted forward to clear the relay arm, but that was achieved using an offset bracket made from some 5mm plate with bolts welded into one end.

I'm running the standard hilux radiator with a Davies Craig thermofan. It was meant to be temporary, but it only ever got a bit warm once after a haul up the Moonbi ranges (NSW) towing a car trailer full of workshop hoist and steel shelving (plus the ute tray full of more shelving!!) If it ever gives up, I might try one of these Excel x2 radiators mentioned in these forums, but I don't think it's strictly necessary.

I did the job before I had a digicam, but I should have some prints somewhere that I could scan and post if anyone wants / needs to see any details of how bits went together. Like the offset bracket is easier to show than to describe :rolleyes:

[thechuckster]

this thread is no good without pics >!!1






will edit post when it gets adorned with V6ness

[Robbos_Toyotas]

for some reason i cant see the last 2 replies...

[Robbos_Toyotas]

i dont have a program to downsize my pics :( can some computer nerd come round and set up a webpage for me. i have cable and beer :P

[thechuckster]

blake - email me the pics and i'll put them on imageshack for you.

[Robbos_Toyotas]

I've done one of these conversions ... works very well on the whole :) Mine is a VS engine and TH700, also into a (2WD) YN57. I had a head start though - the ute was factory auto so the console and shifter were in place already. (Although the TH700 shifter is on the left side of the box, while the Toyota shifter was on the right which brought its own issues).

As it was my first conversion, I cheated and bought some of the bits from Pat Gardiner (http://www.v6conversions.com.au/) in Moree to speed up the process. Although in my ute, things didn't fit quite the way he said they would - like the bonnet won't shut with the engine cover on (I actually had to massage the bonnet bracing to even get the 10mm clearance I wanted over the naked plenum).

I welded some pretty simple mounting brackets to the chassis and used the standard commodore rubber mounts. The mount under the A/C compressor had to be shifted forward to clear the relay arm, but that was achieved using an offset bracket made from some 5mm plate with bolts welded into one end.

I'm running the standard hilux radiator with a Davies Craig thermofan. It was meant to be temporary, but it only ever got a bit warm once after a haul up the Moonbi ranges (NSW) towing a car trailer full of workshop hoist and steel shelving (plus the ute tray full of more shelving!!) If it ever gives up, I might try one of these Excel x2 radiators mentioned in these forums, but I don't think it's strictly necessary.

I did the job before I had a digicam, but I should have some prints somewhere that I could scan and post if anyone wants / needs to see any details of how bits went together. Like the offset bracket is easier to show than to describe :rolleyes:


Hi mate, thanks for your help

I have fitted a VR radiator with a VS narrow bodied fan, they bolt right up together without mods! some trimming of shroud is needed to make fan fit, but with a couple of brackets made and a couple of hours work, it fits easy. If u need a guide let us know....

[Robbos_Toyotas]

blake - email me the pics and i'll put them on imageshack for you.

which email address mate? hotmail wont accept 900kb emails....

[Grega]

either that or email em to me and i'll put em up champ

[Robbos_Toyotas]

Ok greg im having a couple of issues with the last of the wiring. (this is on the wiring diagrams you showed me)
The engine fan relay seemingly has two triggers on a 4 pin relay...is this correct? One being from aircon switch to fuse to the 86 pin on the relay, and the other being straight from the ecu to pin 85.
I just want to know how the wire to 86 works - as the hilux switch wires seemingly go everywhere on the diagram i have, so i dont want to risk putting the wire wrong and cooking the motor.
or is the trigger from the ecu a safeguard?
Also, at what point on your guage does the fan cut in thermally? I know VS commodores without the aircon on, went right up to 3/4 of the gauge before kicking the fan in. are vp berlina dash's (with tacho) the same, or does it come on lower?

have a few other minor dramas but i might be able to sort those out myself hopefully.
cheers dude
Blake

[Grega]

blake. sorry for the late response
the fan gets two requests - one is based on signal read from CTS which tells the ECU to turn it on
the other is from an AC request - when AC is on also is fan by default.

relay R37 is for the fan
n36 (blue/white) goes to the ECU to switch on fan (pull to ground)
thus the relay on pin 87 (orange and blue wire) sends +12v down to M7 which is the fan
other side of fan is black wire (which is ground)

SO in relay terms
30 has fused +12v
87 is +12v supply to fan
86 is switched ignition (via air con fan control believe it or not)
85 is signal (pull to ground) from ECU

hope this helps mate

[Robbos_Toyotas]

Well, today was interesting!
We couldnt get the engine warning light to come up on the dash, so we have to look further during the week as to what wire is fooked/ missing....

I did discover however that my ECU has a powerchip and we did manage to fire it up by shorting the injectors....very loud and very cammy lol! Not bad considering the thing only cost me $250 for the complete package!

Bita luck next saturday she'll be running smooth as. Will get a vid of when we can get it idling properly...

[Grega]

blake. pin b2 on teh ECU
brown and white wire man
IIRC the ECU drops out a postivie pulse so you want - on the other side of the globe.

[Grega]

somewhere else where it is too
just thought of it
in teh check connector plug next to the ECU
its a 5 pin plug
looks like this kinda

- - -
-N -

ignore the N its to get the pins to line up.
one wire is pink (fuel pump), the other is black and white (earth), one other is brown/white

normally when you bridge these guys you put the car ecu in diag mode.
u can also bridge a globe across the brown/white wire and the earth to get the CEL.

[Robbos_Toyotas]

thanks dude - yeah the wiring guru is looking at his book this week for exact pin out readings...wish i had've called u on saturday now hahah! I'll let him know what you've said tho...always good to have a head start!

yea the problem was just to power to the efi relay i think he said...

[Grega]

let me know if you get stuck blake. i know this shit pretty well after all these years.

[Robbos_Toyotas]

any idea on how much power gain between the power chip, twin 2" hsv exhaust and pod filter i should get?

[BeRad]

u can use paint to cut the photos down surely you have paint its standard on any computer.....

[Robbos_Toyotas]

yeah i got to get them on my pc, ill get more next week when shes running - a vid speaks higer than pics :)

[sunkloto69@hotmail.com]

dunno if any of you guys have seen the 4wd on ebay with a 253 in it, cant be regod in sa so its going cheap...has monster tyres and its about a couple meters higher than usual :)

[Robbos_Toyotas]

dunno if any of you guys have seen the 4wd on ebay with a 253 in it, cant be regod in sa so its going cheap...has monster tyres and its about a couple meters higher than usual :)

but 253s are teh ghey.....if it was a 302/ 351 id consdier it seriously :P

No joke tho, i do think a later model efi 3800 would go harder....

[sunkloto69@hotmail.com]

but 253's are the shit ...if ur a little cletus with bundy stickers and truck mudflaps driving a H series holden ute :P

[Herus]

Hey! I drive a H series Holden ute...

its only got a 202 in it tho.. and no mudflaps or bundy stickers..

Andrew

[MR 1JZ]

but 253s are teh ghey.....if it was a 302/ 351 id consdier it seriously :P

No joke tho, i do think a later model efi 3800 would go harder....

they canned the 253 becuase the injected 202 made more grunt...thats pretty sad considering how hard the injected 202 licked balls

[sunkloto69@hotmail.com]

253 .. Power of a 6. consumtion of a 8

and herus being from s.a u would know where im coming from...im at birdwood so i have all the cletus yokels out here .....dont even get me started on the vn-vs ute boys

[Herus]

I used to live in Mt Gambier, before moving to Adelaide..

I understand completely :)

Andrew

[sunkloto69@hotmail.com]

i used to live in keith ;)

[Herus]

i used to live in keith ;)

Bad Luck. :D

[Robbos_Toyotas]

well, i drove it to the trimmers today - with no tray on i couldnt really comment on how well it goes, as a nudge of throttle and it would start smoking the tyres! i cant wait till i get my tray on, will hopefully negate the little bit of bottoming out i have in the front tyres due to them being a lot taller profile.

will get pics next week when i get it back from the trimmers..

[infotechplus]

well, i drove it to the trimmers today - with no tray on i couldnt really comment on how well it goes, as a nudge of throttle and it would start smoking the tyres! i cant wait till i get my tray on, will hopefully negate the little bit of bottoming out i have in the front tyres due to them being a lot taller profile.

will get pics next week when i get it back from the trimmers..

Really looking forward to seeing it.

I was wondering about driving it without the tray - what did you do for lights/indicators (on the back)?

Cheers,

Peter

[Robbos_Toyotas]

Really looking forward to seeing it.

I was wondering about driving it without the tray - what did you do for lights/indicators (on the back)?

Cheers,

Peter

i put a bit of timber accorss and bolted it to the chassis rail - then just screwed the two indicators to it....

edit - are you cming to dubbo man?

[Robbos_Toyotas]

okey dokey, tray is on (big ass steel bastard weighing about 400kg) - i had to lift the front a bit to clear the new wheels and big tyres i got. took it for a drive, and is a pleasure to drive...it still steps out when you give it to it, but for a work ute im quite happy with how it goes :) just gotta organise the 1000pics of the conversion i have..

edit: with the heavy tray and lifting the front, it is quite high - but rides a dream, not rough at all for a 2wd ute. It shows the difference in weigt between a steel and alloy tray..

[Grega]

picsorban blake. c'mon :)

[thechuckster]

blake...
copy pics from camera to PC if not done already
open this URL in a new window: http://imageshack.us/
follow the instructions (you can either anonymously upload, or register and upload)
when pics are uploaded, follow the directions onscreen to copy links to the pics, e.g.

To upload an image, click "Choose File", select an image, click OK/Open, and then click "host it!". After a short while, your image will upload. Depending on your use for the image, use any of the provided linking codes.

registering for imageshack allows you to update and delete your pics, anonymously posted stuff will be up there permanently.

it's dead easy to host your pics.

[Grega]

either that or email em to me ; and i'll host em for ya :)

[Robbos_Toyotas]

ill try and do it tommorow, but if not you will see it at dubbo, as im leaving brissie on next tuesday night...spending some time with family near dubbo before the nats...

[NeoNasty]

Heard no more?...

[Robbos_Toyotas]

fark this was ages ago...did you want pics of the rear brake setup?

[LeaThaL]

i just got a 4runner '84 model' with a 3.8 and a 2jz box on it and i can honestly say its one of the maddests cars ive driven, its quick, powerful, fun on and off road and it just generaly kicks ass, altho the fuel consumpson sux just as much as my spelling lol

[Robbos_Toyotas]

i just got a 4runner '84 model' with a 3.8 and a 2jz box on it and i can honestly say its one of the maddests cars ive driven, its quick, powerful, fun on and off road and it just generaly kicks ass, altho the fuel consumpson sux just as much as my spelling lol

yeah those stupidly short diff ratios, particularly if it was a diesel make those motors off their tits off road...low down torque is what they are good for. My ute has been great, couple of little issues but fuck all really...and ive now done over 14,000km since i built it

[Spanner]

how did the convertion go? ive been reading up on what you have done and im thinking of doing it to my 82 hilux have you got any pic's of th convertion process? and how much did it end up costing?

[Robbos_Toyotas]

how did the convertion go? ive been reading up on what you have done and im thinking of doing it to my 82 hilux have you got any pic's of th convertion process? and how much did it end up costing?

i went a bit over the top with my conversoin, but the motors being so cheap make the conversion easy. All i will say is the conversion is dickloads easier in a 4x4, a 2wd requires custom sump n pickup. as long as u can weld etc engine mounts arent too bad, i just used a single piece tailshaft and its worked fine...

[ROJ06]

I know this is a long shot in an old thread , does anybody actualy have any pics of this conversion . ie engine mounts , sump .etc. I am doing a VN3800 + T700 into an RN41 2WD dual cab. any pics or advice would be greatly apreciated. i will be grafting the commy dash into the lux to make it easier.
thanks , Roger . pics to > pog747@hotmail.com

[Robbos_Toyotas]

roger i grafted the dash etc too. I put auto + power steer on mine too. ill try and get pics together - they are on one of my pc's.