Rebuild the td42 or go chev v8 on gas

[roadster400]

My gq td42 has 468000km on the clock running perfect i tow a car trailer and the old gq has a hard time with hills so i need more power, i am a mechanic so my plan was to rebuild the motor and turbo it at the same time but with the price of diesel going through the roof i was considering put a new 350 chev gm crate engine on gas in the old girl i know it has be done before i would like to know if it is a good idea the pros and cons,i think the chev option will work out cheaper with the gas rebate of $2000

[A.J.]

This may not really help you much but if you want to go gas you should do it soon as the Gas Rebate is being scrapped under the Rudd Government mate

[no4b]

get a quote for a gas conversion first the $2k is probably
about half the cost. also gas gets chewed through pretty
quickly when your out playing. the td42 pulls pretty good with a
turbo, not sure on fuel usage though..

[Yom]

Wouldn't bother with a swap to a 350 chev (as nice as they sound).

Go a jap motor. VH45DE if you want to keep it nissan or a toyota/lexus 1UZ. Both motors offer excellent power and will have a degree of fuel economy compared to the old 350 chev! I'd probably lean to the toyota motor as they're more common nowdays. But the Nissan has more capacity and alot more low down torque - they also sound alot meaner, more like a yankee V8 rather than the sweetly smooth toyota v8!

But might be easier with the 350.. Id imagine they've got more off the shelf parts available to allow you to bolt one straight in where the old TD42 comes out?

[Esses]

Diesel $1-87.9, LPG $0-65.9, Chev reliability, torque & parts etc. Need I say more? Except what about a 400ci small-block?

[Tracteur Tom]

Yes but the Chev is going to shift a lot more LPG than the TD42 does diesel. Add to that all the installation costs of the V8 and approvals etc.
I dont think its an easy calculation, depends a lot on how many ks you plan to do. Is it not more a case of I want a V8 ? Also consider cheaper diesel alternatives, gas and bio.

[Esses]

Depends. When towing, a Diesel slurps it down pretty well too. It's also more expensive to recon a Diesel than the equivalent petrol engine & the OP is talking a crate engine from the States so I presume it's not real expensive. Sums really need to be done.

[Xtreme4x4]

I also had this decission to make as the costs would probably be very similar.I went the turbo diesel for a lot of reasons.Parts are all off the shelf,no custom engine mounts,easy exhaust,relyable,economical,no radiator mods,no clutch mods,etc.How many 350's do you know that have done 400k?I sometimes regret not putting the 6l v8 that I wanted but I used the truck in the 2008 OBC (yellow shorty #30)and was very happy with all the aspects of the diesel.I think if I was to do it again I would still go the diesel route.I am a V8 fan and I am busy putting a big block into a Wrangler for the short runs to the dunes but I will tow it with the Patrol.

regards
Dennis

[jpshepley]

Good decission, I turbo'd my td42 for towing & its a completely different car now.
I get about 18 l per 100 km towing a very large boat at 100 kmhr. I dont think a chevy would have gotten any where near that.

Josh

[Toyeatre]

Hmm.. if money wasn't an issue.. you could always combine both ideas.. And go for the Chevy 6.5litre turbo V8 diesel

[Esses]

[quote=Xtreme4x4].How many 350's do you know that have done 400k?


Well, my Uncle's stock 307 (HK Premier bought new by him) had nearly 500 000 km on it when he finally sold it. It wasn't pampered either as he used to drive Canberra - Brisbane overnight in 12 hours flat whenever he wanted some "home time".

My '91 Hiace did 428 000 km on it's first motor (2.4 OHC Carby petrol) with all but the first 20 000 km on LPG. Second motor was still going when I sold it on 699 000 km.

My old XE 4.1 Van had 350 000 km up when I last sighted it several years ago. 3rd transmission, but original motor.

And so on. A good, well-serviced petrol should last as long as as an equivalent Diesel these days though a lot of that is up to the driver, of course.