Offroad-Express

I know I am not the first to put a 3.8 V6 engine out of a Commodore into an Isuzu Bighorn, so I'm hoping to find a guru or 2 who can give me all the information I need so I can successfully convert my lawn ornament into something a bit of fun with sufficient power to tow a trailer or get up a steep hill with ease...

I already have a few Isuzu's and for some reason I decided to buy a 1998 Isuzu Bighorn LWB auto with the typical engine problems (this one would turn over and ever but just not fire up) my diesel mechanic mate and I have tried all the usual tricks to get it going but to no avail so its time to ditch the 4JX1 in favour of something else. I was going to put a 3.1 4JG2 into it and convert it to manual but then one of my other trucks decided it wanted that engine when there was still hope for the 4JX1...

Anyway, a mate of mine has just brought a VS commodore with a 3.8 V6 auto in it as a rolling body in which to fit the V8 out of a damaged VN commodore. So I've got a strong engine and trans with just over 200km on the clock as well as the loom and ECU, keys etc so essentially everything I need from the car to make the engine run in another vehicle...

Has anyone been able to mate the Isuzu auto to a commodore engine? The Bighorn has the Torque on Demand 4x4 system which would be nice to leave in place but I'm not holding my breath... Otherwise I have a 3.1 manual box and a 2.8 manual box but at present, no pre-TOD auto box from which I could obtain a transfer case, so am rather keen to make use of what I have already if that is possible...

Has anyone on here in the Hawkes Bay done this conversion before? Or know someone I can go and talk to about the best way to get the engine and box set up with the goal of getting it certified for road use as well? While I do have plans to use the truck off road, it's a bit prettier than my other trucks, so it will get a lot of road use as well, at least until I take it for its first trash off road and realise how much fun that extra power will provide. But my point is, I want to build it strong at the same time as being reliable. (Binning the 4JX1 is a huge step towards reliability in itself but I'm sure you know what I mean!)

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

The trick is to mate the isuzu transfer case to the holden transmission as the out put shaft is the same trying to remember the name of the bloke who does the adapter it eludes me at the mo'. do a search here should find an article or two on the subject

Crash bandicoot wrote:The trick is to mate the isuzu transfer case to the holden transmission as the out put shaft is the same

Thanks for that, I have heard that and since seen a few pictures of how it is done.

My 3.8V6 has just fallen through, but my mate is giving me the 304 injected V8 and all the bits needed to get it running in another vehicle (trans, starter, alternator, wiring, ecu etc) so that is the new plan. Do the V8 transmissions share the same output spline as the V6? Otherwise I guess I'm on the search for a way to fit a 3.1 manual box to the back of the V8...

BlairH wrote:Otherwise I guess I'm on the search for a way to fit a 3.1 manual box to the back of the V8...

depends how you drive it, but our 2.8 with a 3.8 in it, has broken a few a parts, ie diff and even snapped the rear output shaft in too.but it is just a offroad only and tobe fair gets the shit kicked out of it...