Toyota Hilux Conversion

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Update as of 22nd June 08, if you proceed to the middle of this page you'll find we have talked about the price of diesel, That was in August 06, diesel was $1.35 a litre, now its a $1.78 at least, doesn’t it make sense now to convert, if not for the planet, but for the pocket, even if you were buying filtered UVO/WVO for half the cost of diesel per litre you are still making a considerable saving.

The installation process for this particular client involved sourcing another airbox so we could have some space to work with. The original Hilux airbox was removed and a second hand Holden Commodore airbox was used. This freed up a lot of space and then we mounted the Pollak 6 port valve and also the two fuel heaters (the big red thing with a black stripe). You can also see the heater hoses have the Tee’s in them so we can redirect hot water to heat the fuel heaters.

 Hilux 2

As shown to the right we installed two fuel heaters, one to heat the UVO before it hits the fuel filter and the other fuel heater before the injector pump (red cylinder with the black stripe). You can also see the 6 port Pollak valve with the hoses going everywhere. You can also see a T junction next to the date in the picture and this was used because the client had a limited budget and it saved the client having to run another fuel line back to the tank although this works the preferred method is having a return back to the tank. The black tube was the existing diesel line from the existing fuel filter that comes with the vehicle

 Hilux 1

A new fuel filter was installed just for the UVO and you can also see the new heater hoses which have been Tee’d from the original heater lines. The original intake pipe was cut and then moulded to the new airbox fitting

 Hilux 3

This client, like I mentioned earlier had a limited budget, so they ran the fuel line from the rear of the vehicle to the front and they also ran the wiring into the interior of the wagon, all I had to do was mount the two fuel heaters and Pollak Valve and wire the unit up and test for leaks etc and away they went. The system is operated via a switch mounted in the dash and when the car gets up to heat the client simply switched it over to run on UVO and then switched it back just before they stop (~ 1min).

The whole system cost this particular client just $1100.00 which included;
10 metres of fuel line
2 x Fuel heaters
2.5 metres Heater hose
1 x Fuel filter top
1 x fuel filter element
1 x Airbox (Second Hand)
1 x New airbox element
30 x hose clamps
1 x Pollak Valve
Numerous cable ties
Labour (approx 5 hours for this job)

And the client informs me that they have travelled just over 1200kms on about 1/5 of a tank of diesel (using it for starting and stopping - when they remember). That works out to be around $10. Their oil supply costs them nothing, but the time to collect it. They also used a 20 litre drum that was strapped into the back of the tray (picture below) and said they have acquired a 60 litre drum which they will start using soon - as you will see not my idea of the perfect situation but at least they are now running on UVO. I prefer to install a tank either made from scratch or bought from the wreckers and then to fit a tank sender so when the client switches over to UVO the fuel gauge on the dash will register the amount of fuel in the tank that is being used.

But overall my client is happy that I did it the way they wanted, on the budget they had.
Note: take a look at the math
The wagon will probably do 12km to the litre, a full tank is say around 55 litres (diesel) it will cost about $74 to fill from empty, and in perfect conditions it will get 660kms per tank. They have outlaid $1100.00 for the conversion, they have done 1300kms on 1/5 tank which is 11 litres of diesel @ $14.50 saving them $133.50 ($148 for 1300kms on diesel alone @ $1.35 per litre). Basically in 12000 kms the system will have paid for itself and who says that the price of diesel won’t keep going up?

  Hilux Aux Tank

More Pictures Below of the conversion

 

Original Hilux, This is what we start with

 Hilux 12
  Hilux 17

We had to remove the airbox so we could install the Pollak valve and fuel heaters

 Hilux 19

Pollak Valve installed

Hilux 20

Wiring to the Pollak Valve

Hilux 21

Two single coil fuel heaters were used as the dual one hadn't been in production. Heater hose between the fuel heaters has been installed.

 Hilux 18
  Hilux 16

Fuel line installed and heater hoses connected

 Hilux 13

View from the drivers side. also on the firewall you can see the new diesel filter next to the original (White thing below wiper motor).

 Hilux 11

A VN Holden commodore airbox was used as there was not enough space to re-install the original

 Hilux 15

This was a manual setup, so a switch was installed inside. The client has to wait until the temperature gauge reads normal temperature before flicking the switch to change over to UVO and also has to remember to flick back before turning the vehicle off (~1 min before stopping)

 Hilux 14

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