commodore v6 int 84 hiace commuter

[bennyballbag]

just wondering if anybody has done this conversion and what your thoughts are. i can get a v6 for free off a mate and he also has a celica 5 speed lying in his she. i have a t5 sitting my shed. does anybody know if either of these boxes will work with the factory colum shift?? most of the driving the van does is going camping or townign the motorbikes out for a day.

[Hen]

I've played a fairbit in the engine bay of a 85 Hiace and I found it a bit tight even with an inline 4 in there. Working around a V6 would be a bit of a pain. It can be done, but you might have to think pretty carefully about where stuff will sit, especially on the passenger side.

Unsure of the T5, but the Celica box won't work with column shift. You need a box with shift linkages sticking out the side to connect to the column shift. Most boxes out of cars have the shifter coming straight out of the top. But does the van currently have a box in it? If so then it will be a G52 (from memory) which is internally the same as a W5* (Supra 5 speed) box, in other words plenty strong enough.

Hen

[bennyballbag]

thanks for the info mate, the t5 has the linkages out the top aswell. the van currently has a 5 speed behind a 3y. ill have a look and see if i can find what kind of box is currently in it.

[bennyballbag]

i had a look on the van and the tag says TRANS/AXEL: G54 G282

[Hen]

Yep that G54 means it's a good box. You can tell everyone it's got a Supra 5speed in it. The G282 is the diff. G series, which is the same as the famed Hilux diff. It's funny how they put such an unbreakable driveline (and 11" clutch from memory) behind such a lame engine in such a tame vehicle.

They will cope with basically any engine you can throw at them.

Hen

[bennyballbag]

thanks for the info, your right about being a lame engine, it struggles with a half decent load and the fuel economy is crap.ive looked into a conversion kit and this is what ive found.
KIT CONTENTS.



* sump & oil pickup

* dipstick tube

* engine mount crossmember

* gearbox mount

* wiring kit

* speedo kit

* a set of instructions

Kit price - $1,560.00

[wa5]

If I were to ever perform this conversion, I would use the Holdens' THM700R4 4 speed auto trans, The 3.8 makes plenty of Torque, the TH700s are a very good box, and it saves on linkages.

[bennyballbag]

if i can use the current 5 speed behind the v6 i will, buy going t5 of th700 id eitherloose the middle seat in the van or have someone sit there with a gear stick in between there legs and thats just not cool with me

[wa5]

TH700 is auto, shift can be easilly mounted anywhere.

[bennyballbag]

personally id rather stay manual, mostly because ive got the toyota one, a t5 and a celica box sitting here i can use and for better fuel economy.

[Cuzzo]

put a 1GGTE or 1GGE in it.

[bennyballbag]

well after a long trip this weekend the van blew the radiator, so ive decided that kevin rudd is going to sponsor the v6 conversion for my van, ive found 2 places that have a kit. castlemain rod shop and dellow automotive, im just not sure who to use.

[bennyballbag]

http://www.v6conversions.com.au/hiace.htm
http://www.dellowauto.com.au/main.html

these are the 2 kits im looking at

[schnitzel]

I've used kits from both, and both have pro's and con's. Just beware that the kit is just the start, you can guarantee you will need other stuff not supplied with the kit. We used a Castlemaine kit to put a chev 305 into a 89 hiace, most of the stuff was pretty straight forward, we still had to make up the mounts though, Have used dellows a couple of times to put 202's into rh 20 hiaces and early coasters and still had to bits for radiators and tailshafts and make up mounts etc. So just expect to spend more than what you pay for the kits.
Castlemaine rod shop are puttung a 1uzfe into an early holden right now, does anyone now what the trans fluid specs are for the auto?

[bennyballbag]

thanks for the info mate, i will be using a dellow kit, the small stuff doesnt worry me because ive got about 10 mates who are helping and they are pretty switched on.

the radiator blew on the hiace on monday so now is the time to do the upgrade, any ideas what radiator will suit? another stock one or will the commodore one fit?