Diesel toys- Toyota Diesel engine swaps

[Hummelator]

Found these guys yesterday http://dieseltoys.com
They swap Diesel engines into toyotas for a small fortune.
If I had money I'd consider it but as long as my collar is blue, 'twill be but a pipe dream
Thoughts?

 

[JLee]

$25k buys a lot of gasoline.

 

[loudboy]

^Exactly. I did the math on this a few years ago when gas was cheaper and diesel was cheaper than that. The 3.0 turbo with an intercooler can return ~26mpg compared to my current ~16. It would have taken the better part of my life driving heavily every year to break even.

And that's not counting lack of readily available parts...

 

[Clutch]

Heard they aren't doing customer truck/engine swaps anymore as of Jan 1st 2017 Only selling what they converted already.

Tried to double check that the other day, but their website hasn't been updated in a while.

Honestly, you're better off buying a new diesel Colorado. Have seen those in the low $30K's.

 

[kojackJKU]

Or buy the new taco. gets better gas mileage than the Colorado diesel. No need to have the extra expense of diesel.

 

[Ballbearing]

That's the first I've heard of the 3rd gen getting better than the Colorado diesel. In many of the reports I read the owners were stating only a one mile per gallon advantage over their 2nd gens. Albeit, once I started hearing that I was no longer interested in "trading up", so I stopped reading those reports about a year ago.

 

[Arktikos]

If my rig needed a new engine and the price was comparable to the stock gas V-6, I still wouldn't do it. Not a fan of the diesel stink, or the idea of searching for hard to find parts.

With an old school, heavy duty clunker Land Cruiser, Rover, Scout, etc. the swap would be more appealing.

 

[Clutch]

If my rig needed a new engine and the price was comparable to the stock gas V-6, I still wouldn't do it. Not a fan of the diesel stink, or the idea of searching for hard to find parts.

With an old school, heavy duty clunker Land Cruiser, Rover, Scout, etc. the swap would be more appealing.

Probably better off with a LS swap in anyone of those, including the Toyota pickups.

 

[esh]

I found it better to look at a diesel swap for a combo of power and range upgrade. I don't think the daily mpg bump will ever work out economically especially at those prices. Depending on what is involved, I think $15K is just the starting point. I did a 5spd conversion from auto, 1HZ and added a new turbo in the FJ62 and had extremely good prices on the core parts plus a 2nd best historic low AUD to USD rate. Just the large items and misc parts ran to 10K. I bet I could have done the plain engine and plumbing alone for about 5K. On paper, that is a swap into less HP and torque than the stock 3FE.

I would probably talk with Valley Hybrids in Stockton, or the place in Bend, OR, that does conversions or TorFab to get better ideas. Engine sourcing is the usually limiting factor now that more people are savvy about overseas motors.

 

[SWITAWI]

Found these guys yesterday http://dieseltoys.com
They swap Diesel engines into toyotas for a small fortune.
If I had money I'd consider it but as long as my collar is blue, 'twill be but a pipe dream
Thoughts?

I live in the area, talked to them several years ago just for kicks. At the time they were working on getting a front-half 70-Series salvage from Down Under in order to put the 4.5L V8 turbo-diesel into a Tundra.

They honestly admitted that it is not a high-volume business and the only reason someone does this kind of conversion is because they want something different and have the money to spare.

I guess their business model would be sort of like Jonathan Ward's ICON/TLC4x4 but without all the extra customization and on a much, much smaller scale.

They laughed and said sometimes they couldn't believe they had made it into a day job.

 

[Clutch]

I would probably talk with Valley Hybrids in Stockton, or the place in Bend, OR.

these guys?
http://www.importperformanceusa.com/project/2004-expedition-tacoma-with-1kz/

 

[Deleted member 9101]

Probably better off with a LS swap in anyone of those, including the Toyota pickups.

Most trucks on this site would have been better off with an LS swap.

 

[Clutch]

Most trucks on this site would have been better off with an LS swap.

*thumbs-up*

 

[kojackJKU]

That's the first I've heard of the 3rd gen getting better than the Colorado diesel. In many of the reports I read the owners were stating only a one mile per gallon advantage over their 2nd gens. Albeit, once I started hearing that I was no longer interested in "trading up", so I stopped reading those reports about a year ago.

Yeah, My bad. There was a "shootout" of the zr2 diesel and the TRD Pro, Then the review site put up the gas Colorado mpg numbers. Not the diesel. So it was confusing. Still 10.2/l per 100 kms for a pickup truck is great. Same as my patriot. Nothing to sneeze at considering my JKU was pegging 16 etc.

 

[Clutch]

Yeah, My bad. There was a "shootout" of the zr2 diesel and the TRD Pro, Then the review site put up the gas Colorado mpg numbers. Not the diesel. So it was confusing. Still 10.2/l per 100 kms for a pickup truck is great. Same as my patriot. Nothing to sneeze at considering my JKU was pegging 16 etc.

You may not be so off after-all.


https://expeditionportal.com/chevy-zr2-review/

Unfortunately the fuel economy figures aren't so stellar. We assumed they would suffer due to the performance tunes, larger lift, aggressive tires, and wider body, but not quite as much as they are reporting. While the Duramax Z71 we tested last September returned figures between 20 and 29 mpg, the EPA is estimating the ZR2 will achieve just 19 mpg city and 22 mpg highway with the diesel, and 16 mpg city, 18 mpg highway with the gas motor. Strangely though, several journalists on the trip, myself included, saw fuel economy averages of mid-20s on the highway, with a total average around 20 mpg after a full day of low range and highway use. This left us wondering what the real world highway averages would be over time. Assuming though that the reported figures are right, these numbers compete closely with the TRD Pro Tacoma, which carries an EPA rating of 17 mpg city, 20 mpg highway