Re: landcruiser workmate 4.5L V8 dual cab ute

ok, so no takers? Bugger. I thought someone might have had some experience with these engines as they have been on the market for a few years.

Re: landcruiser workmate 4.5L V8 dual cab ute

be the first and write a post about it :-) I was watching this space with interest, as I am thinking the same thing. My good old cruiser has just done 410.000km and I start to think about replacement in the next 2 years as it is my work vehicle. Can't one just rip the 1HZ out and stick it into the new body? Or even the 1 HDTE? I know by the price of $50.000+ for the ute and then another $10.000+ for the engine it doesn't seem to be economical.
But the I have clocked up over 200.000 km on Bio. @ roughly 15ltrs/100ks that's in my case 30.000 ltr of Bio (gees no wonder the girl gets upset that I spend too much time in the fuel shed :-) ) at a saving of roughly $0.60 that's $18.000. For me that would be a reason to consider a heart transplant if the drive gear would work.

You are right, so much more torque out of an extra 300ml means plenty of computer chips.

I am driving to Melbourne at the moment and I had to stop to take a leak and get a bite from Olivers. As I am walking past the Servo section with this big grin on my face, I hear a Mercedes G wagon diesel cranking over and over and over. The woman is rather upset, (could you imagine :-) ) so I stopped and asked her whats wrong. She said her mechanic told her there is air in the fuel system and its booked in to get fixed on Monday. So I was thinking, no problem lets bleed the lines and off she goes. She popped the bonnet and surprise, all pretty plastic covered with fancy dancy screws in it. I couldn't even see the bloody fuel filter. The worst thing about it is that she can't put it into neutral unless the engine is running, so you can't even push it out of the way. She said she had to get towed before and the tow guy had to use detergent to make the road and his tray slippery to get the car on with the tires locked up.
If he was competent or not I don't know, but this story puts me right off new diesel cars, is what I am trying to say :-)

Re: landcruiser workmate 4.5L V8 dual cab ute

Simplicity is definitely the key, thats why I like the workmate, with exception of the engine, it looks like its all very similar to what we all know and love. it probably wont happen because its so hard to justify the cost, but man, I would love a big powerful new ute.

on the topic of the auto not being able to select neutral, my Chrysler is the same (basically a poor man's mercedes) but there is a little cheat - under the cover plate for the gear selector there is a button. pry the cover plate off, and you can push the button and it will allow neutral to be selected. from what I understand thats pretty common on these sort of cars. its only supposed to stop dumb thieves.

at a saving of 60c per litre mate, you must be making some pretty dear Bio. I save around a dollar, as my bio costs me about 39c to make. diesel varies in price up here wildly, but last I looked it was around $1.30.

Ofcourse the Meth is the big cost. going wayyyyyy off topic here, but a quick calc on my costs are as follows (all very conservative)

40l meth = $50
2kg of KoH = $1
200l oil = free, but allow $5 of wear on car etc
electricity for heating batch and running motor = cant be bothered working this out, but I reckon $2 would cover it.
my time to make = 1hr of my time (I do other stuff in shed while its brewing) @ $20 hr
incidentals = (metho, tumeric etc) not worth considering

total = $78 for a 200l batch including paying myself $20. if I was to ignore the personal cost on my time, it drops to $58, and its down to 29c per litre.

do you pay for your oil? I know a lot of people dont have a choice, but in Brissie there is so much to choose from.

Re: landcruiser workmate 4.5L V8 dual cab ute

Yes, I am paying for my oil as it rare in this part of the world, shout out to everyone with spare oil :-)

I make 1000 ltr batches which costs about $0.40 per litre. On top of that is my oil costs and when I checked the servo last diesel was at $1.20. :-)

Anyway that's beside the topic.

Re: landcruiser workmate 4.5L V8 dual cab ute

I'm with Bueff. I have zero interest in owning a new car. The more electronic BS there is the more there is to go horribly and expensively wrong.

I haven't heard too many major gripes about the V8 recently, but the earlier models had a few teething problems with turbos. A mate of mine had a fleet of them for his diesel fitting business in Darwin and was forever back and forth to Toyota for warranty claims.

If the body and drivetrain on your 100 is ok, I would consider converting it to a dual cab ute. I've seen a few good ones that people have made from vehicles with a rear-end collision damage.

As for engine choice, I think the Toyota 1HD-FT SOHC 4-valve per cylinder factory turbo was the pinnacle for power, simplicity and reliability, as Beuff mentioned. That was the one they put in the later 80-series. The older 1HD-T from the earlier 80's is also excellent, the difference being it is 2-valve per cylinder. The later 1HD-FTE 100 series GXL wagons with independent front suspension and the higher-spec utes and troopies was basically the same but with electronically-controlled mechanical IP and would probably be fine on biofuels too and has even more power. These engines had matching HD manual gearboxes that are much tougher than the one that goes with the 1HZ.

If you really want it to go like the V8, you can fit one of those G-Turbos from WA that generate heaps of boost down low!

I'm predicting this series of engines will become collectors items, along with the highly sought-after Nissan TD42.