Denny's 80 Series

The Project

Turbo Charged 6.5ltr Chevy V8 Diesel into a Toyota Land Cruiser 80 Series

The Toyota was purchased in 1998 it was 18 months old and had approximately 50000kms on the clock. This vehicle replaced Denny's LWB Nissan GQ patrol which was fitted with a super charged Chevy 350ci engine. Shortly after the purchase date we fitted a new Chevy 350ci LT1 engine. This engine performed well, however it lacked the low down torque that Denny was used to getting from the Nissan. We still owned the super charger however its intake manifold was designed for a carbie model engine, and it was also only setup for straight LPG. It looked like we would have to design a new intake manifold for the injected engine along with a hole new pulley system for the front of the engine. We would also have to lower the compression ratio, at this point we decided it was to much work.

After discussing our dilemma with my mate Sam (the monster truck man) who by the way is a huge fan of Chevy Big Block engines, we decided, or should I say convinced that the big block was the way to go. At the time Eagle spares had a nice new Big Block 454ci EFI Chevy sitting in their showroom just begging for a new home. This engine was out of a Chevy truck, it only made about 300hp but it had plenty of low down torque which was what we were after. The engine was purchased and taken back to the workshop. Fitting the rear of the engine to the gearbox was no problem as our existing Chevy adaptor kit fitted without a hitch. Engine mounts where also no problem as the mounting points on the side of the the Big Block are in the same position as the small block, so the engine gust bolted straight in. However the exhaust manifolds where huge and would not look like fitting the Land Cruiser, Sam came to the rescue, being an expert exhaust fitter with many years of experience, he offered to make a set of extractors that would fit perfectly.

The next problem was the accessories on the front of the engine, a single serpentine belt was used, this very nice but unfortunately the A/C compressor was mounted high above the rocker covers and would not fit under the bonnet and I didn't really want to change the Toyota one as it meant the A/C would have to be de-gassed, re-plumbed and re-gassed again. The fan was also huge, in the wrong position and wasn't going to work in with the radiator and fan shroud so I decided it all had to come off. The Toyota accessories where going onto the Big Block. After more discussions with Sam