1KZTE Engine Conversion

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

Joined
Dec 5, 2006
Threads
6
Messages
12
Location
Montague, MI
I have a 94 LandCruiser with a 4.5L 6 cylinder and 5 speed auto with full time 4 wheel drive that I would like to swap out with a Hilux Surf/4Runner/Tacoma 1KZTE 3.0L 4 cylinder diesel with an automatic and transfer case. Anyone out there have any experience with this or similar conversion. I would like to talk to you. Thanks in advance.
 
Welcome to the board.

I have not seen any threads on here regarding using a 1kzte engine. There have not been any who have done it, but a few have discussed it.

To see those threads type into search this forum " 1KZTE"

you will hear things like too much electrical and also too small for most applications.

Also it is with in a year or so of being an engine that is importable to Canada, so once they start getting them, it might show up more in threads on here.

Where are you located.

If you look around in here you will see some conversions that have been done to 80 series land cruisers. Is it an 80 that you have?

One conversion done is a 1HD-t toyota diesel that mates to your exsisting tranny I think. The swap was done by "70sguy".

In the hardcore forum on here, there is a swap with a cummins into an 80.

One thing I would like to do is swap a 1hd-t into an 80. Would make a nice truck. But in Canada we get HDJ81's imported here, so if I wanted a diesel 80 I could get it.
 
I have a 94 LandCruiser with a 4.5L 6 cylinder and 5 speed auto with full time 4 wheel drive that I would like to swap out with a Hilux Surf/4Runner/Tacoma 1KZTE 3.0L 4 cylinder diesel with an automatic and transfer case. Anyone out there have any experience with this or similar conversion. I would like to talk to you. Thanks in advance.

The 1KZ TE is too small for a 80 series. Also the 1HD T which is the correct diesel for an 80 are probabaly easier to obtain and not much dearer and certainly a lot less problematic to install.

The reason I say its too small for the 80 is the weight differnce. The Prado must be at least a 1000lb lighter and the 1KZ TE only just pulls a 95 series around ok.
 
The 1KZ TE is too small for a 80 series. Also the 1HD T which is the correct diesel for an 80 are probabaly easier to obtain and not much dearer and certainly a lot less problematic to install.

The reason I say its too small for the 80 is the weight differnce. The Prado must be at least a 1000lb lighter and the 1KZ TE only just pulls a 95 series around ok.

Of course the 1HZ which is also available in a 80 series has similar power to the 1KZ but this causes a fair degree of complaints from 80 series owners.
However I think the 1HZ would be more durable in an 80 than a 1KZTE.
 
Thanks, I appreciate the feedback from everybody. The fella that owns the Land Cruiser, and yes, it is an 80 series, approached me to do the engine swap for him. He already has the engine, the ECU, transmission and transfer case. He figured it might be a bit underpowered, but he just uses the truck as a daily driver to and from work. No offroading with it. Too bad he didn't look on here for something that might be an easier swap. I guess as they say anything is possible, but I'm just wondering if it is even a doable project. The first thing that caught my eye when I unloaded the engine and tranny is that the implant has a centered rear output shaft and the one in the Cruiser is offset to the right. If anyone else has any words of wisdom for me I would appreciate it. If not, thanks anyway. By the way, we're located over by Silver Lake Michigan. Home of the Silver Lake Sand Dune ORV park. And right now it looks more like spring than the end of December. No snow.
Have a Merry Christmas.
 
Is it a manual or an auto ? Either way the easy solution would be to use the tranny extension housing and tcase from a 70 series to get the pass & pass offset outputs.
Otherwise Marlin probably has a toybox adapter for the tranny, so that you could use a cruiser split case. You could also keep the 80 series transmission and use just the engine but there will be some adapting work required. The project will be technically involved and require many hours to make it all work right. At least you will not have to worry about clearance in the engine bay lol. A swap in a minitruck would be easier and make more sense technically. If he could sell the package he has and buy a 1HZ or 1HD package he will save a lot of time and money. I wouldn't do it just to be stuck with a bastard, underpowered dog, uneconomical unreliable dog.
 
I thought if you place an 1KZ-TE in a 80 series it can do .. how much .. not sure .. but is a pretty strong and powerfull engine ..

Mi main thought are related to .. if jap uses and keep 4.2 and 4.5 6 cil engines in a heavy car as 80 series .. maybe they have one good reason to do that ..

One issue with the 1KZ-T engine and this tranny is the bellhousing .. or maybe I need to say the " not bellhousing " coz those trannys don't have ..

Other issue is the fron output of this t-case are on the drivers side.
 
I have a 94 LandCruiser with a 4.5L 6 cylinder and 5 speed auto with full time 4 wheel drive that I would like to swap out with a Hilux Surf/4Runner/Tacoma 1KZTE 3.0L 4 cylinder diesel with an automatic and transfer case. Anyone out there have any experience with this or similar conversion. I would like to talk to you. Thanks in advance.
Hey Shizlotty,

I have a 1991 4Runner that I've done a 1KZTE swap into. I made it right-hand drive since I got the 1KZTE from Japan. What would you like to know about the swap? ask away! my email is chekchekitout@gmail.com.

Josiah
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom