“Are you confused yet?” was the first thing Hayden Walsh said to us with a cheeky grin on his face, while we were snooping around under the bonnet of his EF XR6 at Red CentreNATS.

As the title of this story states, Hayden has chucked a turbo diesel engine into this XR6. It’s a four cylinder Isuzu 4JJ1 from a 2015 D-Max, and though much of our audience may not be aware of this, the 4JJ1 is kind of the Honda K24 of the diesel world.

They make a lot of power and torque with minimal effort, and there’s plenty around. They’ve become a common swap for replacing engines like tired ZD30s in GU Patrols, but what you don’t often see is people like Hayden stuffing them into less agricultural cars like his mint EF XR6.

“I’m a diesel mechanic, so for me it’s just what I know,” he says. “We’ve done a few swaps on mates cars like a Gemini, and it’s also great for trolling people.”

If you’re mad that Hayden pulled out a glorious Tickford enhanced SOHC four litre to do the swap, then save yourself the blood boil. “The car had been left under a tree for 10 years, and the engine had massive corrosion and was locked up,” he says. “The car itself however was rust free, even the sills were mint!”

And so, the swap began. Hayden used full FG Falcon front suspension and crossmember, so there’s been no cutting of the XR6s body. All the wiring is now Isuzu, but the engine itself is untouched. “It was +30 injectors and a 48mm turbo, I did all the work myself apart from my mate from Custom Alloy Welding in Mount Isa who did the piping for the cooler.”

Using a shift kitted five-speed auto, it made 235rwkW and 940Nm on the dyno at Bears Mechanical Mount Isa on 36psi.

“With that much torque, it rolls on really bloody quick,” says Hayden. “You can just be cruising along, and because it makes that torque at 1700rpm, it’ll bag ‘em up really easily.”

The rear end is still the live axle Borgy, now with a helical LSD. Hayden had a crack at the drags on Saturday at Red CentreNATS, and even in 30 plus degree heat and with road tyres, the XR6 ran a 13.32@105mph.

“It’s a lot of fun, you start it up and people are so confused, and it’ll roll coal with ease which just gets them even more!” says Hayden.