[appsie]

lol at joes zuk on its side under you
got this thing back together yet?

[remydog05]

tanshi wrote:

meh, i wonder if haveing a sierra rad modded to 4 core would be enough?

I know of one in Australia done like that but I think he went 3core and its has worked fine.

[tanshi]

will see if i can find some thng "off the shelf" first that suits my needs but this will be an option

[remydog05]

Im looking at trying to put the factory J20A radiator in the sierra.

By the tape measure it fits in between the rails but until till i get the other one out I wont know how much of a problem the steering box will be for clearance.

The other advantage for using the factory stuff will be, as far as I can tell it has a auto cooler in the radiator.

[tanshi]

im considering the radiator that daisy on here used in his, the alfa 30 one i think it is.

[tanshi]

seeing as i dont seem to have a build thread on here, even though i thought i did, i will add to this.

pics Mr H. Way Star?

[tanshi]

bit of an update too.

picked up j20 to sierra engine mounts from the US (these will be modded slightly to allow the engine to sit 30mm further back.

im having my radiator re-cored and one core added. also having the spouts moved to the other side. to fit the J20

passenger side of the tunnel is being widened about 30mm to fit the vitara gearbox.

im also fitting the hydrolic cluths assembly, which fits nicely beside the brake booster .

[Highway-Star]

tanshi wrote:

pics Mr H. Way Star?

Just these 3.
Might come and take some more tomorrow, when I get fed up with working on mine again.


Bit of an "action shot". Lowering the J20 and Vitara 5 speed into the car. Was doable as one assembled unit, and the front clip still on the car. Though the standard gearbox cross member has been removed.



Sitting in the engine bay. What an excelent fit. In fact, a G16 is a crap fit in comparison to this. Only the gearbox presents some challenges, and a decent G16 conversion would use the same gearbox, making that work moot in my opinion.


Side on view, assembly still needs to move back 30mm as Tanshi mentioned above. Tanshi's Sierra has a 2" bodylift, which makes this conversion easier. However a non bodylifted Sierra could also accept this engine; the harder part being the gearbox, not the engine.



Wish Tanshi wasn't doing this conversion, has me thinking bad thoughts about a powerplant for my LJ81 now!

[atari4x4]

thats going to be a ripper combo, what T-case are you planning to run?

[mr.green]

Highway-Star wrote:

What an excelent fit. In fact, a G16 is a crap fit in comparison to this.

yeh right

[Teracis]

That's bloody mental, what was wrong with the engine you're replacing?

[Highway-Star]

mr.green wrote:

Highway-Star wrote:

What an excelent fit. In fact, a G16 is a crap fit in comparison to this.

yeh right

I'm not kidding! A perfectly good G16 Baleno just came out of this car to fit the J20; and I have done a G16 GV conversion into my Sierra. This is a better fit (except for the exhaust). All the work involved in fitting it, you'd do in a decent G16 conversion anyway (ie Vit gearbox, Custom mounts, etc).

The intake manifold and alternator give more room around the steering box and shaft, and make it allot easier to pull a starter motor (pulling a starter from a G16 EFI in a Sierra is hell!).

The engine although taller, does not have the friggin stupid high intake manifold of most of the G16's. With his Bodylift fitted, Tanshi's engine clears his bonnet by 60mm in most "tight" places. One spot is under 50mm, but its in line with a bonnet rib ATM, with the engine back 30mm more, it will clear by miles.

Where the engine sits in the pictures I posted, the diff wants to tap the sump, but once its moved back 30mm like planned, it will either clear or very close to clear. If the sump needs modifying a bit, its not a big deal; some G16 conversions need a modded G13 sump for the crank angle sensor anyway.

The hydraulic clutch setup is completely taken from an SV420, and although it requires some work, is hardly the big deal some girls seem to winge about.

I think with enough patience and some clever dickery (read: notable sump and tunnel mods) you could fit one of these engine and boxes to an otherwise stock standard Sierra. I'm sorry but I do not see what makes this conversion prohibitive...





Atari, he has a Sierra case with 4.9s in it at the moment. I've said he'll want to go to a higher geared case, but for the short term that is going to stay put (will likely have stupid acceleration! ).

[tanshi]

i will take some more pics today, and once it is finished i will post up more detail of what was done, how and costs of what i paid.

[daisy]

look forwad to hearing about the costs and how it was done

[steak_knife]

I can't wait to see it go, I don't think traction is going to be an option anymore..

[Rusho]

Is this going to be driven on the road legally??

[appsie]

mr green seems to be missing the body lift bit.

[mr.green]

appsie wrote:

mr green seems to be missing the body lift bit.

and the clutch, radiator, fan, gearbox member, jackshaft, exhaust, engine mounts. all bolt on for a g16. all one off jobs for a j20.

anyways, continue with the topic

[Highway-Star]

[quote=Rusho"]Is this going to be driven on the road legally??[/quote]

Tanshi has had the car for years, up until recently its been his daily and his offroader. Now he has a little green LJ50 for offroad use, so the Sierra is becoming a dedicated road car (hence the conversion). The engine and gearbox can be blue plated along with the required brake upgrade (I have the go ahead to do it to my LJ if I feel silly enough ).

mr.green wrote:

appsie wrote:

mr green seems to be missing the body lift bit.

and the clutch, radiator, fan, gearbox member, jackshaft, exhaust, engine mounts. all bolt on for a g16. all one off jobs for a j20.

anyways, continue with the topic

I don't think the missing body lift would be overly detrimental.

I guess where I am dissagreeing with you, is not so much the work for a J20, but the work for a G16. I have never seen a G16 conversion that was entirely bolt in that I liked. Done well, most of the stuff is custom anyway (If I did mine again, it would have a Vit 5 speed not a Sierra box).



Tanshi's turn to post pics ....its his car afterall

[tanshi]

uploading pics now.

clutch, is custom but easy as the way im doing it as im using the standard gear box., Drilled a 30mm hole and the master cyl bolts up easy, bracket on the clutch pedal to push the master cyl.

radiator, i have taken my standard rad to a rad shop. getting it triple cored and the spouts swaps to the other side. costing me $300

fan, i already had a thermo fan for the g16 so no issues there

gearbox member, yeah this was a challenge but having made cross members before not impossible.

jackshaft, have not done this yet.

exhaust, meh, i need a new exhaust any way.

engine mounts. bought the ones from lowrange but have needed to be modded, this will be explained by pics.

[tanshi]

Ok the engine bay now that the engine is mounted further back 30mm
this is horizontal across the top to show height.

Vertical up behind the axle

Engine mount *modified*

This is the part we moved back 30mm before we moved it.

after

Gearbox mount

To save a little bit on tunnel mods, we shaved the back of the gearbox, this is just a cover to hold the back gearbox mount up, behind it is about 3 inches of void space.

Clearance at the steering box

[steak_knife]

Looking good, where's the stick going to come out??? Are you going to have to make a new hole for it??

[tanshi]

stick will come out of the original hole.

we are goin to mod a sierra shifter. this is a job for tommorrow so i'll take pics of it then

[3cyl]

Cool I think I even like it. You could A-frame the Fiddy behind it and not even know it's there. Easiest way to get the LJ to 100km/h. On the subject of speed I think an irresponsible person could go fast enough to push the windscreen in.

[tanshi]

i actually wish you could increase towing capacity in QLD. GV brakes, u rated springs and this motor and it would tow nicely i reckon.

[remydog05]

Look forward to seeing your radiator set up.

Its the biggest headache as far as I can see.

Going to run a thermo fan I suspect?

[tanshi]

i have a thermo that was already on the g16, it fixes to the front of the radiator so it will be retained.

biggest head ache i can see is the exhaust manifold. Given the difficulty getting extractors for these things.

[tanshi]

ok today we pulled the motor out. fitted the rear seal seal, clutch, put the gear box back on, created the adapter plate for the sierra shifter. (works like a dream). finished the hydrolic clutch assembly finished the tunnel mods and put the motor back in. picked up the new radiator, nad a few other small things. doesnt sound like a huge day but was full on.
gear stick adapter

new/modded radiator

gearbox with modded selecter

[31zook]

[mr.green]

yeh , nice work. you've done well.