Thread: replacing a petrol engine with a diesel in a forklift

I have a petrol engine fork lift which has finally given me enough grief, I am trying to source a 4 cylinder non electronic diesel engine that can be dropped in .

I have gotten over the continuing maintenance of plugs , carburettor etc ,
I dont see any problems with the fuel tank and there is room for a bigger battery , easy to make an adaptor plate from some 1" plate with a fabricated bell housing which allows bearings etc to be accessed without a lot of work.

Does anyone know of a trustworthy place who could be approached in the new year ?

I have looked at new diesel machines and wont be buying one as the5re is far too much " control " on them to fail .

I just want a mechanical pump with a manual shutoff .

I prefer simplicity and reliability to shiny crap.
No doubt there will be some metal mods to be done as I have to replacce a belt driven fan with a set and forget drive .

Michael

Yes I did post an earlier plan , that was for a different machine , it has been shelved as the motor was not the industrial model.
This one is our daily use machine and I am over the petrol engine BS.
New machines are not on the radar as they are way too expensive for their ability , this one is outside more times than inside so a diesel is more suited as well as no plastic bits.

Michael

Not sure about new, but the earlier Toyota and Nissan engines are still going strong.

The problem is finding a dealer in used parts who is not full of it.

Michael

Have you thought about using an early Toyota Hilux 4 cylinder diesel or a Nissan one? Just thinking that the parts would be reasonably priced etc, or buy a written off one and get all the necessary bits too.
I had a Mitsubishi forklift, that the motor died and a petrol Mitsi car motor was fitted.
Kryn

Not sure of all the ins and outs, but when you change engines you could also be changing the capacity of the forklift. Your Load Plates will then be incorrect and could lead to an incident.

I know some Nissan forklifts used the SD25 motor same at the Navara.

Sounds like an interesting project to follow.

Not sure what will fit into the engine bay, but as someone who has 2 diesel tractors with no electronic "smarts", totally get where you are coming from.
How about a tractor donk?

Even my oldest relic from the late seventies still has parts available.

How much grunt does it need?

Originally Posted by .RC.

I know some Nissan forklifts used the SD25 motor same at the Navara.

They went right back to my old Nissan 720, I pulled a recoed one out to put the commodore v6 in, sadly I lost it in my separation or I would have offered it up cheap

I'm not sure what the issue is with a petrol motor, but you could almost do a full rebuild for the cost of an injector pump and injectors rebuild. If you want to keep it simple something like a Datsun 1600 / 180B or 200B motor would be worth considering. Not sure what size fork you have, but assuming a fairly small one and not something like a container fork, a 1.5 to 2 litre motor should be ok and those old Datto motors were pretty reliable in the day, and if you wanted some insurance on any issues in the short term, rebuilt carby, starter motor, alternator and distributor would eliminate wear and tear issues on an older engine, assuming the basic motor was in reasonable nick to start with.

How does changing the engine change the capacity of the machine?

The problem is petrol motors require constant maintenance , eg every week to keep them running at top performance.
I prefer reliability to cheap .
Diesels are a bit more exy to purchase but not hard to maintain , it takes about 3 hours to change injectors in one of the field machines which I have and no electronics to cause grief either.
The air fuel ratio has been set to give full power with little smoke .

It will happily run at full noise all day , wheras the petrol engine that was in it originally would start to get hot because it was working .
I discovered that the previous owner had altered the govener settings to reduce fuel consumption , on a 42 hp motor ????.
It has now got a 46 hp motor and will run for about 18 hours a day when working , we fuel it in the morning , blow the dust and grass out of the radiator chekck over for any leas etc , them go .
Michael

I would like to put whatever diesel wll fit in the engine bay , a bit more go is not detrimental to a machine if operated correctly.

Michael

Only a guess here, I have no idea of the rules and regulations pertaining to fork lift machines but any change in mass, or distribution of mass would affect the calibration and certification of the machine, so it may possibly need to be re certified and have a new lift capacity plate installed.

Originally Posted by Mike4

The problem is petrol motors require constant maintenance , eg every week to keep them running at top performance.
I prefer reliability to cheap .
Diesels are a bit more exy to purchase but not hard to maintain , it takes about 3 hours to change injectors in one of the field machines which I have and no electronics to cause grief either.
The air fuel ratio has been set to give full power with little smoke .

It will happily run at full noise all day , wheras the petrol engine that was in it originally would start to get hot because it was working .
I discovered that the previous owner had altered the govener settings to reduce fuel consumption , on a 42 hp motor ????.
It has now got a 46 hp motor and will run for about 18 hours a day when working , we fuel it in the morning , blow the dust and grass out of the radiator chekck over for any leas etc , them go .
Michael

I don't know what needs repairing on a weekly basis on your petrol motors, but in my experience with our sons Datsun 1600, long since retired, but it only had oil changes from time to time, and went years between plug changes or other engine maintenance items, and was never too short of get up and go either.
Overheating can be an issue with petrol or diesel motors, but usually a good radiator and correctly tuned motor and in the case of a fork lift maybe an electric fan because not much airflow with a slow moving machine should keep temperatures in check.
Like you I wouldn't think fuel consumption would be much of an issue on a fork lift.