Diesel Swap from a Hilux

I was curious if anyone knew much about the Hilux. From what I can tell they are just a diesel Tacoma with a different front clip.

Here's why I ask.

My brother just dropped a small diesel in his YJ and struck a deal with a local Chick-Fil-A for free, used, peanut oil. He just pumps the peanut oil into a fifty gal. drum from their grease trap, through a filter, and then when ever he needs to fill up, back through another filter into his gas tank. He says it runs perfectly. He has made a few minor modifications to the engine, but this is a perfectly safe and cheap way (for him its free!) to fuel a diesel.

But we were talking about how it would suck if gas really did get up to $6+ /gal. and I commented about having a brand new, gas powered Tacoma, that I hope to drive for another 10 years but didn't see how that would be practical if gas climbed to such astronomical prices. My only other vehicle with four wheels is a classic car that gets about 8 mpg so the Taco is really my only vehicle right now.

The Hilux has a 3.0 Liter turbo diesel and I was curious if anyone knew if it could (fairly) easily be swapped with our 4.0 liter V6.

I hope this is never something that is necessary but it would be interesting to know. I think if gas prices do ever get that high we should just force the rest of the world to drive bicycles so we can keep sucking down cheap gas, but we'll see.

 

I've found several sites that have people swapping VW diesels and older toyota diesels into their 4 runners and older toyota pickups, which is cool. If it were ever going to be a possibility for my taco, I'd want to use a diesel from the same model year. I figure there would be more similarities in parts and it would be nice to have all the same ECU functionality.

I've also found a LOT of stuff on using peanut oil in a diesel engine. Some even tell you how to convert it to biodiesel so that it will run in an engine without any modifications.

Just something we might want to keep in mind.

 

They aren't built on the same chassis? That seems like such a waste. I was just looking at the Aussi version of the Hilux and you can get it with a 4.0L V6, so wouldn't it stand to reason that you could do a clean swap of the 3.0L diesel?

Is he going to put it in his '08?

 

That would explain why it is able to be dropped off buildings and survive a trip to the north pole!

 

i thought they looked more like a frontier (yuk)

 

I just talked to a buddy of mine that recently got back from Mexico City. He said that they have Hilux's there, and while he was there, he saw one parked next to a Taco. He said they looked smaller (he wasn't sure if they just had less sheet metal or if they were sitting on a smaller chassis) but the particular one he saw reminded him of a generation 1 taco. As he walked up to the back it had the same hight and dimensions of a gen 1.

It made me wonder if they kept the Gen one chassis and redesigned only the sheet metal for the Hilux.

 

Prior to 1995 the same Hilux sold elswhere was simply a Toyota truck in North America. When they started calling them Tacomas in North America they made some changes to the frame and the rest of the chasis. The Hilux frame is fully boxed and the first generation body was the same as the Tacoma except without the crumble zones. I'm not sure but I think the second generation (05+) has the same crumble zones and body as the second gen Tacomas.

I don't see any reason why the diesel Hilux engine wouldn't fit the drive shaft of the Tacoma... but I'd wonder what changes you might have to make to the airbox,oilpan, ect...

Also, since the only reason we can't just import the Hilux into the US is the EPA standard... you might want to check and see if the hilux engine would allow your Taco to pass for your inspection sticker.

I want a Hilux pretty bad but if this works out for you post your results because this sounds like the next best thing. Fully boxed or not the Tacoma is still far more stout than anything else available in the midsize truck category in the states.

 

Yup, we Americans got the Tacoma (frame has three sections, fully boxed front 1/3, reinforced center third c channel, and c channel rear third), while Hilux has a fully boxed frame. Mexico is the only country to sell both the American Tacoma, and the Hilux. Although if you compare the Hilux options from Mexico to the Options available throughout the rest o the world you would probably want to look at Toyota.co.uk. I came close to importing a Diesel Hilux - but the $$$$ was too rich for my blood. I drive a Diesel Hilux up in Greenland and the thing is a tank, and is nice,small, light weight, but built to survive anything. The Polar Challenge from Top Gear, and before that, there are two separate episodes where they try to kill one, and honest, it really is that strong and well built...."Oh bugger".

I have a dream.....That one day...There will be a diesel power Tacoma, can I get a AMEN....and that it will have 3 liters of displacement, and have forced induction so that it will smight all those who stand in its way! endeth sermon.