78 K30 4BD2T Frame Off Build

[Overthedge21]

Been a long time since I've been on here, and I've built several trucks but never bothered to post any of them. This one though I figure I'll actually run a thread on, mainly because there's not a lot of in depth info on this swap. I did a lot of searching before starting it and found that nobody else who's done it posted much info so I figured I will. Unfortunately I didn't start taking many pictures until today, but up.untik today I haven't really done anything major to the truck as far as modifications/custom parts

 

[Overthedge21]

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So this was the truck when I got it. Run of the mill best down wrecker. Drove a couple hours one way under the promise that it was solid. Got there to find out the frame was smoked. Whatever, ended up getting it for a fraction of the asking price because of that. Found a frame locally in absolutely mint shape for a couple hundred

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Stripped the truck down completely, sold off the old powertrain, and cut up the rotted frame for scrap

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[Overthedge21]

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Cleaned up and painted the new frame after removing all the old junk I wouldn't need off it

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Set the new suspension under it, new fuel tank, and got a hell of a deal on some 8x6.5 19.5s

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Had to cut the back couple inches off the frame because of how the wrecker body sits. Made a little crossmember to replace the already bent and beaten original that got removed with the last couple inches of frame

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set the body back on and then it kinda just sat for several months, got busy building a new custom service body for my f350, and getting the turbo LS tuned in correctly in the truck that's parked in frobt there

 

[Overthedge21]

Can't find the pictures of me setting the cab so we're just gonna jump-cut to the relative present, the only part that really matters here got the engine and trans bolted together, it's an Isuzu 4BD2T with an NV4500. Custom adapter bellhousing from a man who's no longer in business, but there's a different company still around that makes a similar product.

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The loader makes moving **** around a breeze. It was kind of a pain to stab in there especially by myself, lots of climbing in and out of the machine to make small adjustments but after about an hour or two it was in and sitting on jackstands

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From here it was nothing special, the length worked out perfectly to where I bolted the transmission crossmember back into its original holes, just redrilled the crossmember for the nv4500 mount

 

[Overthedge21]

Now that brings us to today, where I finally got going on building engine mounts. I decided to use the through bolted rubber isolators from speedway motors. I was planning to use the original engine side mount brackets but matching the 45 on the frame side was gonna be a pain and very tight, so I opted to make a set of mounts that would put the rubbers straight up and down like a mack truck engine mount

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Accomplished that with a some 4x4x1/4 angle iron and a little spray paint

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[Overthedge21]

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Pattern ended up being right on, they line up and bolt to the block like factory. Puts the mounts a touch lower than I'd like but not excessively, and redesigning them to bring the mount surface up higher would make the bolts hard to acess. It got dark while these were cooling, spent that time figuring out how to build the chassis side mounts. Have a solid idea on how I'm gonna do it, should be able to update the thread within the next day or two with pics on those once I get them done

 

[bucket]

Dang, I really liked the look of the 16" bias plies that came with the rig, lol.

Is this little Isuzu engine a variant of the big 7.8l 6 cyl, just with two less cylinders? Also, it looks like the front of the oil pan has been modified?

 

[Overthedge21]

No sir different engine, the 4bd is basically just an Isuzu 4bt Cummins. It's a 3.9 with almost the same dimensions and 135 gross rated HP. They just run smoother and a little quieter than the Cummins. Oil pan is stock as far as I know, I'm gonna have to modify it myself for sump clearance on the front diff but nothing too hard

 

[CountKrunk]

What kind of numbers are you expecting from your drivetrain?

You mentioned 139hp, wht about torque? Very cool build.