So i decided time to upgrade from the factory 3L 2.8 diesel to a 1KZ. I don't want the reliability issues involved in aftermarket turbos on a 3L so going with a factory 1KZ-TE converted to mech pump.
Sourced a whole KZN185 and sold off the bits for triple what I paid for it and that's with me keeping the engine. Have to do an engine leg and sump / oil pick up swap to suit solid axle but as I'm already running an R151F transmission its simple to swap the KZ bellhousing on the the R box. Keeping it legal, had an engineer approve the mods to the frame as the engine mounts had to be moved back about 50mm using a dummy block as a jig, so I had a qualified welder friend TIG on a pair I cut from a wreck. Really hard to remove them and keep both the frame and the mount intact so I sacrificed the frame of the donor and carefully unstitched them on the bench, then just cut and carefully ground my existing ones off. Slow progress but this is where its at the moment. Must say tho the KZN185 1KZ manual pulls like a train so cant wait to fire it up in the LN106. Lots of pics for such slow going
Cutting off the old:
Back to bare metal with no nicks or gouges to the frame.
Test fit the dummy for engine mount positioning on the frame:
Welds going on
Sourced a whole KZN185 and sold off the bits for triple what I paid for it and that's with me keeping the engine. Have to do an engine leg and sump / oil pick up swap to suit solid axle but as I'm already running an R151F transmission its simple to swap the KZ bellhousing on the the R box. Keeping it legal, had an engineer approve the mods to the frame as the engine mounts had to be moved back about 50mm using a dummy block as a jig, so I had a qualified welder friend TIG on a pair I cut from a wreck. Really hard to remove them and keep both the frame and the mount intact so I sacrificed the frame of the donor and carefully unstitched them on the bench, then just cut and carefully ground my existing ones off. Slow progress but this is where its at the moment. Must say tho the KZN185 1KZ manual pulls like a train so cant wait to fire it up in the LN106. Lots of pics for such slow going
Cutting off the old:
Back to bare metal with no nicks or gouges to the frame.
Test fit the dummy for engine mount positioning on the frame:
Welds going on
Last edited: