1989 Toyota pickup diesel swap

[jakob874]

Hi, I'm recently bought a 1989 Toyota pickup with the 22re that doesn't run to well and I've seen a video on the overland bound YouTube about the 4 cylinder cummins and that gave me the idea to try and swap motors in my truck, but I have a few questions
1. What is a good, reliable, cheap diesels or turbo diesel?
2.is there any motors that would would work with my current transmission and other components in my truck?


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[000]

I don't want to offend you or anyone else, but The 22re is one of the most reliable power plants out there. If I swapped anything into it it would be another 22re. Swapping a diesel into it seems like a potential expensive nightmare. Cool if you're a diesel guy especially a diesel mechanic, but sounds like a good way to get stranded in an otherwise reliable Toyota to me. I've actually seen a couple diesel swapped Toyota's at the local diesel shop when dropping off our fleet vehicles and when I asked the mechanic about them, both times he just shook his head. Could it work? Sure, but why?


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[darthyota]

There are many proven diesel swap options out there from Toyota diesels to Mercedes Benz diesels out of 80's vintage 300D sedans, to Volkswagen TDI swaps. It comes down to what are your goals with the swap? If your not looking to have tons of horsepowers but make good low to mid end torque then diesel is a good option. If you want lots of power and want to go fast then an LS swap should be your first pick. Now like @Lintnercorey said the 22RE is one of the most reliable motors out there but it only make like 130 hp with some reasonably priced mods, unless you what to dump thousands into it its never going to make good power and its never going to get stellar fuel economy, you can get better with a v8 if you can stay of the skinny pedal. Figure out what your end goal is and then decide from there. I've personally been set on doing a diesel or an updated Toyota gasser at one point in time but for how I want to drive my 4Runner and the kind of power I'm looking for the most cost effective route for me is to stray from the Toyota purist I have traditionally been and go with a smaller displacement LS as it will make the power I want and still be reliable, plus if I ever want more power they are cheap and plentiful with tons of aftermarket support.

 

[000]

I guess that's what I meant by why. For a project just to see what you can stick together and make something different and fun to wheel around I get it and I like seeing what interesting stuff people come up with, but since this is an overlanding forum and if we're talking about overlanding rigs that you'll be relying on to live out of and get you into and out of remote locations and usually hauling a fair amount of gear on trails that you really won't be racing around on, I couldn't imagine why you would want to swap a reliable power plant that was designed to work with every component on the vehicle with something else. I get modifications to beef things up, but if you're building a vehicle for overland travel, to me reliability is king. that's just my take on it, someone probably has an incredibly reliable Frankenrig who will disagree.


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[Vertigo]

Like Darthyota said, 300D Mercedes engines (OM617) are a 5 cyl turbo diesel that is simple, economical, and decent on torque. They go 500k plus miles throughout Africa, so all of my research led me that way when it was time to swap a YJ I had. I know where you can get adapters made, reasonably priced, but know going in, this won't be near the powerhouse the 4BT Cummins is. Conversely, it won't require 1-ton axles either.

 

[darthyota]

The motor alone also doesnt weigh 700-800lbs either