Cruisers and Company 80 Series Turbo (8 Viewers)

[Cruisers and Co]

We've been teasing our turbo kits for awhile now and they are finally available on the website!

In this post I hope to answer most questions that we have been receiving over the last couple months since we started teasing this. It's going to be a long post so bear with me!

First off for those of you that don't know me or our shop I'd like to introduce us. My name is Johnny Pryor, I am an owner of Cruisers and Company. We're a small Land Cruiser and Toyota 4wd shop based just north of Denver in Colorado. We provide a large range of services and are getting into producing aftermarket products. You can learn more about us here.

We're enthusiasts just like many of you and have been modifying our vehicles to meet our needs and this is how our Turbo came to be. My personal 80 (our test truck) is a 1997 LX450 and I've owned it since 2012. Fully loaded, 35's with 4:10's it is pushing over 7K lbs easily and the stock 1FZ was not cutting it anymore. We overland often and occasionally run harder trails such as the Rubicon. The truck gets driven long distances on the highway and swapping the engine was not the answer for me so we built our kit for it. The truck has been turbo'd for over a year now with two iterations. We've taken what we've learned between the two and put together a super comprehensive kit that covers pretty much everything for the OBD2 US Spec trucks.

Before we dive into what's included I want to give some insight and be completely transparent on how we have decided to launch our system. We are producing these in batches and only the allotted # of kits we have produced will be available for purchase and then they will be out of stock and it will be unable to be ordered until the next batch is ready. If you hop on the website right now you'll find it says available for preorder. We use Wix to host our website and to prevent more purchases than what we have on hand we have to list it as a "preorder" if we want to limit the # of sales to what we actually have in stock. Why Wix doesn't let "in stock" items fall to zero then go "out of stock" I don't understand, it's something were working through. They are in stock even though it says preorder. Everything in our first batch has been completed and we are just waiting on our finalized heavy duty boxes to show up this week so we can have a packing party and ship them!

Let's get into the fun stuff!

What comes in the box! I am going to list this from intake to exhaust by individual section.

• Intake pre compressor using factory airbox - Silicone 180 coupler, an aluminum intake pipe with 3 ports on it (one for recirculation valve dump and then 2 ports for crankcase ventilation (one for stock hose, one for using our catch can system which is coming soon), silicone reducer, 4x T Bolt clamps, bracket to clock the MAF (intake piping works with dual batteries
• Turbo - Pre clocked Pulsar 6682, Internally gated with .5 Bar (7.25 lb spring)
• Intake Piping post compressor - Silicone 90, Silicone reducer, Cast aluminum 90 with port welded on for recirculating BOV and port pre tapped for wastegate reference, 4x Tbolt clamps, and silicone cap for throttle body port no longer used for crankcase venting.
• Spark Plugs - 6x Denso PK20R8 3127
• Recirculating Valve - Turbosmart Recirculation 25mm valve, 1" reinforced high temp silicone hose for plumbing to pre compressor, 4 tbolt clamps, vacuum source tee that also works well as boost reference spot for interior gauge, 3/16 barb aluminum 90, 3/16 silicone vacuum hose to connect vacuum source tee to turbosmart valve
• Water Lines - 2x premade AN 6 lines, AN 6 water fittings for turbo, AN 6 fittings to connect water lines to the two 8mm water bypass lines at the front of the motor
• Oil Supply Line - A Tee to connect to where the factory oil pressure sending unit is, adapter to AN 4, premade AN 4 Line, AN 4 Oil restrictor
• Oil Return line- AN 10 Turbo Drain flange, AN10 45 Adapter to clear the JPipe and orient the return properly, premade AN10 Return line, AN 10 Flange with hardware that mates to upper oil pan, template for where to drill and tap for oil return into upper pan.
• Exhaust Pre Turbine housing - JPipe with all new hardware and gaskets to connect to factory manifolds, hardware to mount turbo, stainless steel bracket to stabilize J Pipe with hardware.
• Exhaust Post Turbine Housing - 5 bolt flange to 3" v band adapter with stainless hardware with gasket, downpipe with m18x1.5 bung for AFR gauge, 1x extra v band and some exhaust pipe for the diyer to connect to factory exhaust or take it to the exhaust shop
• Heat management - Turbo beanie, 12" x 48" Heatshield Products 1/2" heatshield with template and stainless zip ties to wrap downpipe and AC line

We've tried extremely hard to make it as comprehensive as possible and have been heavily testing it. The test truck has been driven from ~1,100 feet to ~12,200 feet, has had multiple days being driven for 10+ hours at a time, been up to the Eisenhower tunnel up I70 multiple times from Denver (those who have done it know the struggle in an 80, not anymore), and we are nearing 9K miles on the set up in the test truck. During our testing we've had had a "control" truck also to have a baseline. The control truck is a 1995 80 series 1FZ-FE/a343 with 4:88's 35's and similarly laden with gear as the turbo truck. To reiterate the turbo truck is a 1997 LX450 with 1fzfe/a343 4:10's and 35's. Both trucks have similar mileage on their Robbie rebuilt 1FZFE's and both have over 300K on the transmissions. They are very comparable. Even with the 4:88's the non turbo control truck is not nearly as enjoyable to drive or maintains speed as easily. On highway 80 (Wyoming) with cruise control set at 75 heading from Denver to Flaming Gorge reservoir (800 mile round trip) through Wyoming the control truck would constantly downshift and have to maintain its speed on rolling hills and still fall in speed while the turbo truck would build a few psi and maintain without downshifting. We've had both truck go to the Eisenhower at the same time and the Turbo truck leaves the control truck behind.

Land Cruisers are not meant to be rocket ships and the Turbo truck is still not one but the modernization is very enjoyable and makes going to the mountains/cruising highways much more enjoyable which was the goal with this kit.

Happy Trails!
Johnny


Install video part 1

 

[Squeegee]

That dyno run looks rough…

 

[Cruisers and Co]

Downpipe wrapped

1/2" Heatshield Products heatshield armor

IH8MUD tested

Climbing to Wheeler Lake at ~12,200

Control truck following

 

[NewbyColorado]

Congratulations!! I saw the email announcement yesterday! Will you provide install services as well??

 

[Cruisers and Co]

Congratulations!! I saw the email announcement yesterday! Will you provide install services as well??

Thanks! We will be providing install services. We actually have one going together in the shop right now!

Project Rosie Ruby the Poverty Princess

Rosie Ruby is a 3H4 Medium Red K292 1997 Fzj80 full blown poverty pack edition... No lockers, fabric interior, no roof rack, no rub rails and most importantly no sunroof. She's a rare beaut... @shellb has an eye for these beauts. When he saw her on the craigslist he had to have her and...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[Timpanogos Slim]

So there's no intercooling, and it looks like it would be difficult to add an intercooler.

 

[CrabCake]

So there's no intercooling, and it looks like it would be difficult to add an intercooler.

Nice looking kit! No intercooler needed for .5 bar of boost...just enough punch for that extra power band. Intercooler on this would be more effort than it's worth in my opinion and past experience with other boosted vehicles. Would be a perfect candidate for Meth injection for those that want a little more boost or security of running too hot on the charge or lean on the AFR's.

I had a Callaway turbo Rabbit GTI on meth that ran 1 bar all day with Meth on a stock bottom end, kept it nice and cool with decent AFR's on the CIS mechanical injection.

Unfortunately for me, I'm a '94 on OBD1, so this won't be going on mine...

 

[Timpanogos Slim]

Nice looking kit! No intercooler needed for .5 bar of boost...just enough punch for that extra power band. Intercooler on this would be more effort than it's worth in my opinion and past experience with other boosted vehicles. Would be a perfect candidate for Meth injection for those that want a little more boost or security of running too hot on the charge or lean on the AFR's.

I had a Callaway turbo Rabbit GTI on meth that ran 1 bar all day with Meth on a stock bottom end, kept it nice and cool with decent AFR's on the CIS mechanical injection.

Unfortunately for me, I'm a '94 on OBD1, so this won't be going on mine...

idk, maybe with WMI it might be ok. high IATs and high EGTs are something to be avoided.

I also have a '94. Just had to have a head gasket job, plus head milling and associated standard new valve stem seals and re-grinding valve seats, and there's no scoring on the cylinder walls, and I sprang for ARP head studs. So of course I'm thinking about turboing it.

At least a few people have turbocharged the OBD1 trucks with a split-second enricher and a 7th injector.

I've seen it implied that the ozzie j-pipes and exhaust manifolds don't work well with LHD trucks but i don't know what the details are.

 

[Squeegee]

idk, maybe with WMI it might be ok. high IATs and high EGTs are something to be avoided.

I also have a '94. Just had to have a head gasket job, plus head milling and associated standard new valve stem seals and re-grinding valve seats, and there's no scoring on the cylinder walls, and I sprang for ARP head studs. So of course I'm thinking about turboing it.

At least a few people have turbocharged the OBD1 trucks with a split-second enricher and a 7th injector.

I've seen it implied that the ozzie j-pipes and exhaust manifolds don't work well with LHD trucks but i don't know what the details are.

It’s pretty much the same as the wits end kit. A non-tuned, no intercooler, gross j pipe, low power numbers. Bleh

 

[Cruisers and Co]

So there's no intercooling, and it looks like it would be difficult to add an intercooler.

Intercooler is in the works. We've scanned the front end of Rosie (our current 80 build) and are hoping to have it wrapped up by summer. With the low boost pressure it really isn't all that necessary but I know people will start pushing the boundaries more and more with these kits.

Unfortunately for me, I'm a '94 on OBD1, so this won't be going on mine...

I also have a '94. Just had to have a head gasket job, plus head milling and associated standard new valve stem seals and re-grinding valve seats, and there's no scoring on the cylinder walls, and I sprang for ARP head studs. So of course I'm thinking about turboing it.

93/94's are in the works. I own a 93 and have been studying everything about the fueling, trying to decide how to manage that issue and I have two trucks lined up that still have the pair intact that want to be guinea pigs to make it work but also pass visual inspections.

 

[pgmatt]

This is a nice looking kit and more options for the FZJ80 are always good.
Have you thought about doing Haltech or similar packages? The OBD1 trucks would probably really benefit from one even without boost as Toyota's 90's fuel injection was kinda yuck.

 

[shellb]

It’s pretty much the same as the wits end kit. A non-tuned, no intercooler, gross j pipe, low power numbers. Bleh

What have you contributed to the community?

 

[Cruisers and Co]

This is a nice looking kit and more options for the FZJ80 are always good.
Have you thought about doing Haltech or similar packages? The OBD1 trucks would probably really benefit from one even without boost as Toyota's 90's fuel injection was kinda yuck.

Thanks!

The 93/94's will likely be a full standalone but that will come at a cost as obviously there are more components. For the 95-97's The goal was to work within the factory limits first since that's what the majority of people will do/want on these trucks. Also when we start the carb eo process it'll have to be with the factory ecu anyways. Both platforms would definitely benefit from a full standalone and tune, there is no denying that.

 

[Corbet]

I'm only running 5.25lbs of boost with my turbo on the stock fuel map. The truck is 100x better on overall drivability at my home area 6500-10000' elevation range. 99% people won't need to go beyond the stock map to be happy. If you want more details on my build its in the sig line link.

 

[deltapine1]

Looking forward to a bit of a whine and watching a Westach EGT/Boost Combo gauge in Beaulah! Thanks for offering modern options for antiquated icons.

 

[Squeegee]

What have you contributed to the community?

It’s funny you ask, I put out ton of info on how to 3 link an 80 series. Everything from how to educate yourself on suspension theory, what calculator to use, what the numbers mean, how it applies to my real world experience, what products to stay away from, and all of the stuff I messed up on. I think that’s pretty noteworthy, what about you shellb?

 

[SmokingRocks]

This kit is the real deal, such a clean and logically fiscal approach to turboing the OBD2 80 series.

I stand behind Johnny and his work, he's an incredibly well squared-away dude, we've been on many memorable ventures together since our local TLCA club guided our paths to cross many years ago.

Recently we had a cookout where the OG members of our old club got together, it wasn't long till we were all loaded up for a ride in his test mule, at 5,000 ft with four full-grown and totally not fat dudes loaded in, Johnny took us to 60mph.

My thoughts: Under full throttle it's clearly not a McLaren. It's never going to be and we would be insane to expect that level of quick, however, that aside it felt like it had the meat of a 200 series 3ur-fe V8, which is good... very good. Got us talking about the 93-94 kit, which has its own challenges as he stated above, but it also has upsides because it would have a fully tunable standalone ECU.

Overall I'd say that if you have ever thought about turboing your 80 series then don't hesitate to pull the trigger on Colorado Curisers kit. They know their stuff.

 

[SmokingRocks]

It’s funny you ask, I put out ton of info on how to 3 link an 80 series. Everything from how to educate yourself on suspension theory, what calculator to use, what the numbers mean, how it applies to my real world experience, what products to stay away from, and all of the stuff I messed up on. I think that’s pretty noteworthy, what about you shellb?

You are not the only genius to 3 link an 80. If you are all about design and development then you ought to know better and support those who are trying. Because I don't see you posting anything about a production turbo kit built to what you imagine it could be.

 

[scottryana]

We've been teasing our turbo kits for awhile now and they are finally available on the website!

In this post I hope to answer most questions that we have been receiving over the last couple months since we started teasing this. It's going to be a long post so bear with me!

First off for those of you that don't know me or our shop I'd like to introduce us. My name is Johnny Pryor, I am an owner of Cruisers and Company. We're a small Land Cruiser and Toyota 4wd shop based just north of Denver in Colorado. We provide a large range of services and are getting into producing aftermarket products. You can learn more about us here.

We're enthusiasts just like many of you and have been modifying our vehicles to meet our needs and this is how our Turbo came to be. My personal 80 (our test truck) is a 1997 LX450 and I've owned it since 2012. Fully loaded, 35's with 4:10's it is pushing over 7K lbs easily and the stock 1FZ was not cutting it anymore. We overland often and occasionally run harder trails such as the Rubicon. The truck gets driven long distances on the highway and swapping the engine was not the answer for me so we built our kit for it. The truck has been turbo'd for over a year now with two iterations. We've taken what we've learned between the two and put together a super comprehensive kit that covers pretty much everything for the OBD2 US Spec trucks.

Before we dive into what's included I want to give some insight and be completely transparent on how we have decided to launch our system. We are producing these in batches and only the allotted # of kits we have produced will be available for purchase and then they will be out of stock and it will be unable to be ordered until the next batch is ready. If you hop on the website right now you'll find it says available for preorder. We use Wix to host our website and to prevent more purchases than what we have on hand we have to list it as a "preorder" if we want to limit the # of sales to what we actually have in stock. Why Wix doesn't let "in stock" items fall to zero then go "out of stock" I don't understand, it's something were working through. They are in stock even though it says preorder. Everything in our first batch has been completed and we are just waiting on our finalized heavy duty boxes to show up this week so we can have a packing party and ship them!

Let's get into the fun stuff!

What comes in the box! I am going to list this from intake to exhaust by individual section.

• Intake pre compressor using factory airbox - Silicone 180 coupler, an aluminum intake pipe with 3 ports on it (one for recirculation valve dump and then 2 ports for crankcase ventilation (one for stock hose, one for using our catch can system which is coming soon), silicone reducer, 4x T Bolt clamps, bracket to clock the MAF (intake piping works with dual batteries
• Turbo - Pre clocked Pulsar 6682, Internally gated with .5 Bar (7.25 lb spring)
• Intake Piping post compressor - Silicone 90, Silicone reducer, Cast aluminum 90 with port welded on for recirculating BOV and port pre tapped for wastegate reference, 4x Tbolt clamps, and silicone cap for throttle body port no longer used for crankcase venting.
• Spark Plugs - 6x Denso PK20R8 3127
• Recirculating Valve - Turbosmart Recirculation 25mm valve, 1" reinforced high temp silicone hose for plumbing to pre compressor, 4 tbolt clamps, vacuum source tee that also works well as boost reference spot for interior gauge, 3/16 barb aluminum 90, 3/16 silicone vacuum hose to connect vacuum source tee to turbosmart valve
• Water Lines - 2x premade AN 6 lines, AN 6 water fittings for turbo, AN 6 fittings to connect water lines to the two 8mm water bypass lines at the front of the motor
• Oil Supply Line - A Tee to connect to where the factory oil pressure sending unit is, adapter to AN 4, premade AN 4 Line, AN 4 Oil restrictor
• Oil Return line- AN 10 Turbo Drain flange, AN10 45 Adapter to clear the JPipe and orient the return properly, premade AN10 Return line, AN 10 Flange with hardware that mates to upper oil pan, template for where to drill and tap for oil return into upper pan.
• Exhaust Pre Turbine housing - JPipe with all new hardware and gaskets to connect to factory manifolds, hardware to mount turbo, stainless steel bracket to stabilize J Pipe with hardware.
• Exhaust Post Turbine Housing - 5 bolt flange to 3" v band adapter with stainless hardware with gasket, downpipe with m18x1.5 bung for AFR gauge, 1x extra v band and some exhaust pipe for the diyer to connect to factory exhaust or take it to the exhaust shop
• Heat management - Turbo beanie, 12" x 48" Heatshield Products 1/2" heatshield with template and stainless zip ties to wrap downpipe and AC line

We've tried extremely hard to make it as comprehensive as possible and have been heavily testing it. The test truck has been driven from ~1,100 feet to ~12,200 feet, has had multiple days being driven for 10+ hours at a time, been up to the Eisenhower tunnel up I70 multiple times from Denver (those who have done it know the struggle in an 80, not anymore), and we are nearing 9K miles on the set up in the test truck. During our testing we've had had a "control" truck also to have a baseline. The control truck is a 1995 80 series 1FZ-FE/a343 with 4:88's 35's and similarly laden with gear as the turbo truck. To reiterate the turbo truck is a 1997 LX450 with 1fzfe/a343 4:10's and 35's. Both trucks have similar mileage on their Robbie rebuilt 1FZFE's and both have over 300K on the transmissions. They are very comparable. Even with the 4:88's the non turbo control truck is not nearly as enjoyable to drive or maintains speed as easily. On highway 80 (Wyoming) with cruise control set at 75 heading from Denver to Flaming Gorge reservoir (800 mile round trip) through Wyoming the control truck would constantly downshift and have to maintain its speed on rolling hills and still fall in speed while the turbo truck would build a few psi and maintain without downshifting. We've had both truck go to the Eisenhower at the same time and the Turbo truck leaves the control truck behind.

Land Cruisers are not meant to be rocket ships and the Turbo truck is still not one but the modernization is very enjoyable and makes going to the mountains/cruising highways much more enjoyable which was the goal with this kit.

Happy Trails!
Johnny
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Great job, really like that j-pipe with the bolt on support and cnc flange looks good!

 

[CrabCake]

93/94's are in the works. I own a 93 and have been studying everything about the fueling, trying to decide how to manage that issue and I have two trucks lined up that still have the pair intact that want to be guinea pigs to make it work but also pass visual inspections.

I still have the PAIR in mine, but the muffler box is gone for the dual batteries so I get the telltale fart box sound on decel...certainly not opposed to remove it completely if needed, but just haven't had a specific reason to require pulling it. I would like to get the O2's re-located and clean up the bay a bit, and would probably do a refresh and head/gasket/stud refresh just in anticipation of a kit being available.

Starting the list....
Remove PAIR and relocate O2's, head rebuild, new hg & studs, install Koso water temp gauge, water pump & hd fan clutch, oil pump rebuild, timing chain and slipper pads, lots more of "while I'm in there stuff".... this is going to be a slippery slope! Nice thing is that the refresh is all on the want to do list anyway in the next 9-12 months with 176k on my ODO...

For me, I'd rather have the OEM power plant in the truck with a fresh rebuild, and then a low boost turbo w/WMI instead of the full monty v8 swap. I know that there are opinions and pros & cons on both options, but I like the idea of a reversible setup for my needs. Keep up the good work and development, I'll be watching!