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The unfortunate story of swapping a blown engine

Even if you take the wheels off, a regular MachineMart engine crane isn't up to this job.
The engine is so tall, you have to phone a mate and get a much bigger crane - thanks Jules.

A small boy to operate it helps too - thanks Jamie.

Even getting to this stage was hard work, the engine bay is difficult to work in, and it was all unfamiliar for me.

Allow plenty of time if this happens to you.

This is the replacement, from a manual Vauxhall Monterey.

Known good from another mate, but not pretty.

No AC, and no inlet manifold, as that had gone to a 2.8 that was being intercooled.

I swapped over all my ancillaries, flywheel, injector pump, exhaust manifold, oil filter housing.

So much of it was different to the Isuzu engine, even the engine mounts. But it all swapped over without drama.

This was the cause of the swap, the original radiator split, just under the top hose. Its not unheard of, so if you drive a Trooper/BigHorn, check yours.

The engine seized whilst doing 70mph.

There was so much oil smoke we thought it was on fire.

On subsequent strip down, pistons and bores seemed okay, but the head had cracked, and the timing belt had jumped two teeth.

© Andrew Marshallsay 2008