A good friend of mine is thinking about scrapping his excavator that has this Isuzu 6bd1 engine in it. My question is would this make a decent swap engine? It looks to be about the size of a cummins 6bt, but without a turbo (maybe worth adding?). Runs excellent and has good power.

I tried looking around for info on it but there's not a whole lot out there. I was wondering if anyone knows anything about them, like what kind of trans I could hook up to it or has anyone tried putting these in their fords yet?

 

I found a bunch of stuff searching "isuzu 6bd1". Not much useful though... some indicators these were produced with a GM bell pattern for use in GM step vans.

First thing I would find out what bell pattern. If it's GM, you can run a GM trans. If it's SAE, you can search one out with the bell to trans pattern you want.

 

Yea, You must have seen that one post on the whole internet that I saw,

There's not much info out there I take it?

 

It's like gold mining. You have to go through a lot of dirt to find the nuggets you need.

Hobohome - Repowering the Motorhome - using an Isuzu 6BD1-T"

ISUZU 6BD1 Diesel Engine For Vehicle Application - FD Power Co.,Ltd

Isuzu 6BD1 - 1977 GMC - TheDieselPage.com Forums

Diesel Talk Forums - Isuzu 6BD1 to GM Trans bellhousing

Isuzu Diesel Engine 6BB1, 6BD1, 6BC1T: Instruction Manual - Isuzu Motors - Google Books

6BD1 into Jeep [Archive] - Cummins 4BT & Diesel Conversions Forums

See, now that one mentions "dave at isuzu swapper". Let's see what happens when we search that shovel full of dirt:

Overview


Well, there you go--sorta. I don't see a mention of the 6bd1, but you might be able to contact someone there for info. The GM connection is probably the key to an easy transmission fix. I think you have to find out what bell pattern is on that motor first.

More, but on the NPR truck motors, the 3.9. Those are pretty common, maybe an easier deal than that excavator motor:

http://forum.ih8mud.com/diesel-tech-...bd1t-swap.html

Worst case, you can probably horse trade it if you come up dry on a way to adapt a trans to it.

 

very nice! After looking at those sites I could definetly make it work with enough time and money, but it looks like i should let this one go. for the money i could get a fully dressed turbo version of the 6bd1.

 

I have a 1977 F100 with a 6BD1 with Isuzu 5 speed manual. It is a good all rounder a bit slower on the hills than a V8 but more economical. In the long term I would like to upgrade to 6BD1T spec.

I also have a 1978 F150 Supercab with Cummins 6BT and Allison AT545 4 speed auto

More details
https://sites.google.com/site/grantwprojects/home

 

I have one of these engines in my Chev truck it has been in it for 32 years never missed a beet runs 25mpg all day long 373 gear has 14 bolt floater pull any thing and not lose mileage engine runs 2800 rpm goverened at that email me if you want to chat about it or need any other info frpc2003@aol.com