The conversion kit I chose is from 4x4 Labs. Pretty standard adapter plate. This kit uses the Toyota V6 flywheel that's been redrilled to bolt to the OM617 crank and balanced to match. This allows the stock Toyota clutch and starter to be reused. It also has an adapter bushing to space the flywheel out for proper engagement with the clutch, starter, etc and also hold the stock Toyota pilot bearing. Lastly, a bag of hardware.

I would buy a different kit if I had it to do over again. The above mentioned adapter bushing is made out of aluminum instead of steel. The dude at 4x4 Labs claims to have several kits running around with many many thousands of miles on them and no issues. He's probably right. I still don't like it. The flywheel bolts included in the kit are also a joke. Hex head bolts were included, instead of socket head. The hex heads were so large that they interfered with each other and could not be tightened properly. The advice given was to arrange the flats and points in such a way that they could be tightened - which would make attaining torque specs impossible. I threw them out and bought cap screws to the tune of $70.

Onward! Chopped off the old motor mounts, fabbed up new ones, welded them in place. I'll see what pics I have of these steps. If you've seen a grinder used and a welder used, you've seen what I did.

I had to make a choice. The V6 powered trucks have the engine fairly far forward, a V6 is shorter than an inline 4 cylinder. My options were to move the transmission and transfer case back and have new driveshafts fabbed up, move the radiator forward, or move the radiator somewhere else. Only other place to put the radiator was the bed. I wanted a truck for a reason, I haul crap, taking up valuable space in an already small bed wasn't an option. While hindsight is 20/20, moving the transmission and transfer case back and fabbing new driveshafts sure seemed like a LOT of work at the time. I chose to move the radiator forward, and built an extension out the front of the truck that looks a bit like a big brush guard to hold the radiator.

This turned out to be fortuitous, as the exhaust was best routed around the back of the motor and down the driver's side. Toyota ran the exhaust down the driver's side of their V6 powered trucks and the brake lights and wiring down the passenger side. The engine being fairly far forward gave me room to route the exhaust behind the engine. I wrapped it in fiberglass exhaust wrap to keep underhood temps as low as possible.

I used the stock MBZ radiator and oil cooler. The radiator hoses are stock MBZ as well, although the top radiator hose has an inline filler neck spliced into it and the bottom radiator hose was lengthened with a chunk of pipe. I replaced the rubber tubing on the oil cooler lines. Cooling fan is electric, from a junk yard, with an off the shelf variable electric fan controller. In the future I'll add in a manual override switch in the cab and an indicator light that shows when the fan is on. In my limited use so far, it's worked fine, but I think I'll need an upgraded fan in the future.

For fuel, I'm using the stock Toyota in-tank fuel pump, feeding a surge tank in the engine compartment. The stock MBZ lift pump pulls from the surge tank. My plan there is to drop the fuel tank, remove the in-tank pump and run a pickup line all the way to the bottom, and lengthen the fuel return line to the the bottom as well to avoid foaming in the diesel. I'll also bypass the stock gasoline fuel filter. This will be to eliminate an electrical load as well as extra equipment and failure points that aren't needed, and allow the engine to run 100% without electrical power after it's started. As it is, if the lift pump fails........

Gauges! I plumbed in aftermarket oil pressure, EGT, water temp, and boost gauges. Eventually I'd like to hook up to the water temperature and oil pressure gauges in the dash of the pickup, right now aftermarket stand-alone systems were a lot easier and faster. Anyone have any input on getting the tach to work with the diesel?

That's all I feel like typing right now, and probably 10x what anyone feels like reading. Questions, comments, suggestions, throw them at me. I'll get pics up when I can.

P.S. My girlfriend named it Sid, off that whacko kid on Toy Story. Always taking his toys apart and putting them back together in odd combinations.