Pictures of the Conversion Here

On Behalf of Joe Petta - Thanks for the writeup Joe!

I did this conversion over a year ago so I might have missed a few things but I will give it a shot. I started out with a stock 1966 fj40, put in a 1971 F motor, added a sm420, all fine spline axles, four wheel disc brakes, power steering, rear no slip, reversed rear springs and did a spring over to fit 35's. I liked the low rpm power the F motor made, but I got sick and tired of trying to find parts for it and I couldn't find a carb that would run good when wheelin'. A friend of mine suggested I should put a diesel in it (he is familiar with the GM 6.2) so after a lot of thinking about it I decided to do it. The GM 6.2 shares the same motor mounts, bell housing bolt pattern, and clutch set up as the small block Chevy's. The diesel flywheel is different though. No the 6.2 is not a reworked 350! The early GM 5.7 diesel was a 350 Oldsmobile (I think) block with diesel heads and I hear it is a real POS. The 6.2 is a totally different motor. Anyways I got a running motor from a 1984 Chevy 4x4 1/2 ton p/u. I found a early cast iron bell housing to match the sm 420 and bolted it all together. I had to cut out the bell housing to fit the diesel starter. Next I ordered a set of motor mounts from Advanced Adapters for a small block, and set the whole thing in. First problem I noticed was that the steering column was in the way. I moved the motor over to the passenger side about 1" to help clear the column, which means I had to move the radiator over to the passenger side to be in front of the fan, still wasn't enough, so I pulled the column out and welded the motor mounts in. I later cut the column off at the firewall put a u-joint in it and routed it over to the inner fender to a pillow block, then another u-joint and finally to the steering box. Since I am using the Chevy bell housing I lost the rear motor mounts. So I ordered a rear transfer case cross member from Advanced Adapters and bolted it up. I also had to get rid of the battery box because the engine needed the room. I put dual Optimas in the rear of the cruiser on each side behind the roll 
bar. The 6.2 needs a return line to the fuel (not gas!) tank so I tapped in to the filler vent. I also needed to bolt up a fuel filter to the fire wall. The 6.2 requires a oil cooler so I picked up a tranny cooler and mounted it in front of the radiator. To hook up the glow plugs I tapped power from the starter to a 50 amp relay then to a Ford style seloniod. Then split off the other side of the selonoid into two ten gauge wires, then split both of those ten gauge wires four times to 
each glow plug. I activate the selonoid by a simple push button in the cab. Hooking up the injection pump to the cruiser is easy, I just ran a wire from the "run" post on the ignition switch to the cold idle switch on the rear of the passenger side head. Make sure all the air is out of the fuel lines or you 
will never get a diesel started! I had to open the fuel lines at the injectors and crank it over until fuel dripped out, then re tighten them. I used the old rear drive line for the front and had the old front drive line lengthened for the rear. After I got it started I drove it down to the exhaust shop and had dual 2 1/2" pipes bent with two chamber Flowmasters.Final thoughts, it is really loud inside the cruiser! Much louder inside than outside. Can't hear the CB, can't hear passengers talking, I use ear plugs for any trip longer than ten minutes. If I drove it daily I would defiantly put in some kind of sound proofing, but for now I'll 
stick with the ear plugs. I'm using the stock cruiser radiator and it works fine until I hammer down for more than a minute. Looking in to getting a bigger radiator for it. Also need to get a pyrometer, I have been told over and over this is very important in a diesel. I love the power, reliability and cheap fuel I get with running a diesel. I hope I never own a gas powered 4x4 again. The only drawback is listening to people at the gas station saying "hey do you know you are putting diesel in that thing" and "why didn't you just put a 350 in it". Some people will never understand how good diesels are. Disclaimer, I do not claim to be a mechanical or diesel genius. If you noticed something terribly wrong with anything above please let me know. On the other hand if you want more info or I missed something here is my e mail. Joe Petta. dzl40@attbi.com.