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BJ 73 engine swap

snowman5511

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Joined
Oct 15, 2018
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united_states
hello,

i have just imported a 1988 bj73 with the 2.5TD VM HR588 from spain to the U.S. I am trying to find another engine to swap into it and very new to the land cruiser community any advice about which engine to use or references for information on how to swap would be much appreciated.
 
Hi and welcome.

The ideal engine to fit is the Toyota 3B as the VM engine used the same spline, clutch and, I think, engine mounts and radiator.
But the 3B or 13B-T (turbo) is a diesel and very few (read none) were officially imported into the USA but they were imported into Canada and many of the Canadian ones and all of the Oz ones are 12 volt whereas the rest are 24 volt.
Both are 4 cylinder 3.4 litre with the 3B being indirect injection and the 13B-T being turbo direct injection.

A 2H will also fit (size-wise) but engine mounts, clutch and spline are different so you'd need the transmission as well from a 60 series. 2H is also diesel but 12H-t is the turbo version of the same engine and comes from 61 or 62 series.

It maybe worth a conversation with sor.com (Spectre Off Road) in LA as they specialise in Mr T's older models.

Hope that helps

Regards,

Rodger
 
Hi Snowman.

Owned both VM and 3B powered BJ73s. I've owned two VMs and currently drive the 3B.

They drive very differently. The VM is a great deal more 'sporty'... if thats the word to use. It has shorter range diffs so its much faster off the mark. If you can get the VM running well its a cracking engine, and REALLY easy to work on. It suffers from legendary turbo lag but if its tweeked and you drive accordingly its got plenty of power.

The 3B with longer range diffs feels slow by comparison. Slow off the mark and its definitely slow up hills. The 3B will take a turbo conversion though. I haven't gone down that road as even with only 4 gears at 55mph it returns 30mpg.

If the VM engine is shot then by all means look at a replacing it, but if it's running well I'd leave it in.

If you need new cylinder heads theres a guy in the UK (i can dig out his details) that sells brand new OEM heads for £90 each. Use 1 piece steel CH gaskets if you can... you'll need end plates shaved down to accommodate .

The engine mounts are different, as are the gearbox input shafts and Rad.

My 3B has a gearbox fault (no fifth) and I have a spare H55F gearbox on the bench waiting for a rebuild. It came off the last VM and needs a different input shaft. The 3B version has (I might be wrong on this) 21 splines and is about an inch and a half longer. The VM has ten splines and is quite stubby. Antway, they're definitely not the same.

There is a brilliant thread on IH8mud buy a bloke who swapped a VM for a 3B.

The BJ73 is an awesome truck. Good purchase.

Iwan on here has a great thread...

https://www.landcruiserclub.net/community/threads/bj74-1hdt-h55f-combo.151177/

If you're going to do an engine swap this is the way to go.

keep us posted

Dan
 
Roger and Dan,

thanks for the advice i think i am going to go with trying to find a 3b or 13bt engine to swap in since the vm engine is in poor condition. if you would have in suggestions on where to find a new or used engine that would be useful the answer i keep getting is look on the forums.

thank you,

Snowman
 
Roger and Dan,

thanks for the advice i think i am going to go with trying to find a 3b or 13bt engine to swap in since the vm engine is in poor condition. if you would have in suggestions on where to find a new or used engine that would be useful the answer i keep getting is look on the forums.

thank you,

Snowman

you need to be on the ih8mud forum. You will be able to find your engine on there with ease and plus there are multiple threads on 73's https://forum.ih8mud.com/
 
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