1990 Spacecab Restoration and Diesel/WVO Conversion

Hey guys, a while back I posted several pics of my spacecab but never got into much detail so this will be my official build thread.

In 2010 I bought a 1984 Isuzu P'up LS with a Diesel C223 with the intention of converting it to Waste Vegetable oil from the start. When checking it out I saw patches of surface rust on the body but wasn't real concerned since its a common issue on older Japanese cars. After buying it for $400 I took it back home and discovered the rust was much worse then I thought, the frame had rusted from the inside out and was looking like it was about to snap. I located a red 1990 Spacecab from a local junk yard and hauled it home with not motor, just the tranny. After a year of on and off work, I finally got the conversion worked out, along with collecting several donor trucks to help out. I painted it black but had no idea what I was doing and didn't prep it or have any ventilation so its covered in over-spray. Long story short, I've used it since then as my daily driver, and its performed great especially in the harsh Alaskan terrain that I live in. I've since started working at an Autobody shop and learned the correct way to paint a car and do body work so here are the pictures from beginning to current, and as I begin restoring my truck ill keep posting pictures.

The 1984 P'up after I scrapped the motor. I didnt think to get a picture before hand.


Right after bringing home the spacecab, the previous owner attempted some body work.

The C223 While pulling it out of the P'up

Installing the WVO, These are the two Coolant lines and the two Fuel lines, The blue wires are electric soil heating wire that ive tied into my block heater power so when my trucks plugged in it heats my grease lines.



Wrapped in Fiberglass Cloth Insuation


Then wrapped in more Insulation, Afterwards it was wrapped in aluminum sheeting for shielding.


I built a 2-compartment Diamond plate Aluminum box for the bed. One side will be for my Grease tank, and the other side is for my tools. This is the 14-gallon grease tank, its been sprayed with urathane, then covered in undercoating. There is a hole drilled through the box and the bed so the lines can run under the truck. Also shown is the inline WVO filter.


From below, this is the hole through the bed and box


Grease lines following the frame up into the motor

Before it ties into the fuel lines, the grease runs through a homemade heat exchanger.


C223 after WVO conversion inside the Spacecab.

Taping off for priming and painting with Rustoleum, Like I said before, I wasnt sure what I was doing so I didnt do and etch primer, Surface Primer, or scuffing. It started to peel about a month after painting.




Finished product


I made some wooden brackets for some 6x9 speakers, and later added in some Subs



Interior after switching to Bucket seats from a donor truck, I also shampooed the carpets, and installed an Alpine deck.

All these Pictures were taken between 2010-early 2011, Anything posted as of now will be recent.

Was the bench seat original? Looking good so far. Dennis

Good job

Was the bench seat original? Looking good so far. Dennis

Yeah, the bench was stock, but I bought another spacecab as a donor and it had bucket seats and a center console that I switched it out for.

Cool. Did it still have jump seats in back? I changed my Spacer to a bench seat 'cause sometimes my Honey will like to ride next to me (when she finishes hating the Spacer and me). Never saw one factory w/ a bench. Dennis

could you post that over here hmm how many envelopes you reckon you need to send it over that way customs wont notice im slowly importing a motor

Recently drove 400 miles round trip to get a '92 Spacecab with the 2.6 I found on craigslist, I wanted it mostly for the body and the Duraliner in the bed, unfortunately the bed is to wasted to use but the hood doors and fenders are perfect. Psychomidget drove down to get the 2.6 for his trooper which worked out real good since I felt kind of bad having a working motor sitting and going to waste.





When changing my fuel filter I stumbled upon an old OEM filter still in the box that my dad had bought for his P'up back in the 80's.

Great project!
Have you had any problems with cold starts with that WVO system?
Do you mix it with diesel or is it straight WVO?
Great job!!

Mau

Great project!
Have you had any problems with cold starts with that WVO system?
Do you mix it with diesel or is it straight WVO?
Great job!!

Mau

No, I have a seperate fuel tank for the WVO that is tied into my fuel lines via valves. About 2 minutes before i get to my destination i flip off the supply WVO switch so I'm supplying diesel and returning to my WVO tank, thus purging the lines of any WVO. When I go to start it the next day the lines are 100% grease free.

It's straight WVO, but sometimes I mix 1 part diesel to 4 parts WVO in the summer.

Great project!
Have you had any problems with cold starts with that WVO system?
Do you mix it with diesel or is it straight WVO?
Great job!!

Mau

No, I have a seperate fuel tank for the WVO that is tied into my fuel lines via valves. About 2 minutes before i get to my destination i flip off the supply WVO switch so I'm supplying diesel and returning to my WVO tank, thus purging the lines of any WVO. When I go to start it the next day the lines are 100% grease free.

It's straight WVO, but sometimes I mix 1 part diesel to 4 parts WVO in the summer.

Interesting!
Now I'm curious, why do you mix it in the summer?

Mau

I live in Alaska and it gets down to -30 in the winter, and it would be bad news to have any WVO in my diesel tank or in my lines in that kind of temp, I would never get it started.

So are you able to use WVO in the summer only or do you also use it in the winter?

I can only do the mixing in the summer, but I use the straight WVO all year around.

Oh ok, I got confused

Thanks!

Mau

Greasemonkey gave me some great tips to restoring my corroded snowflakes.

Before/After


Powered by Isuzu, My sister is getting into vinyl printing and made me this as a test run to see how well it holds up, I had her make two, one for me and one for Psychomidget.

Bought an 83 Pup with the same C223 diesel in it. Rediculously clean interior and only 130k Miles!

Impressive!
You're a lucky guy!

Mau

I managed to get some work done on the Spacecab this week, Ive been meaning to upgrade my bumper for some time. The one that came with it when I got it was poorly built, and it was dented and rusty. I bought a tube style from a friend for 50 bucks. It had a bunch of surface rust and pits in it but I wire-wheeled it all out and filled most if it in with bondo. After Etch priming the whole thing I took it into work and welded on the factory bumper brackets so it would be and easy bolt on/off.

Cutting off the old grille guard/bumper. Note I got my Isuzu plates in


New bumper before I started on it


After welding I re-coated primer and laid on two thick coats of 3M rubberized undercoating, and two coats of Rustoleum spray paint. The end product turned out better than expected and almost looks rhino lined.


Mounted



I still need to build an rock shield to hide the radiator and to mount the licence plate and bottom marker lights.

Hey man, good job so far! I've seen it in person and it's an amazing project. The motor you sold me turned out to be in excellent shape, I'll update my posts soon, but the sticker looks awesome, I can't wait to get it on my trooper. Also, excellent job on that bumper!

Managed to get some work in this Memorial Weekend. My hubs basically ate my CV Shafts and so I replaced those, and while I was under there I noticed I needed a new Idler arm bracket. As I put it all back together I found that the inner needle Bering was ground down too so now I have to wait for those parts to come in. Apparently they're hard to come by. I figured since I had it up in the air I might as well change out all my shocks while im at it.

Old CV shaft


New CV


New Idler Arm Bracket.


New Gas shocks


And Here is the new calmini Lift shackles I bought from Maaakaaa.


As soon as I get my 4x4 all finished and up and running Ill be doing some off-roading. More pics to come.