Considering picking up a KZJ95 that blew a HG/Overheated (1 Viewer)

[AdamFire]

Looking at potentially picking up a stateside KZJ95 from Europe. Its got about 300km on it but its the non-intercooler version. It over heated and blew a HG apparently and thus the current owner is looking to get rid of it.

I'm not super familiar with the 1KZ yet so i'm wondering what kind of work i'm looking at here. Do the 1kz heads get damaged typically when this happens? Or am I just looking at taking the head off putting a new head gasket/studs in and calling it a day?

I'll have to get a intercooler set up for it as well. Not finding any OEM kits so front mount seems the way to go.

 

[KiwiBogan]

It seems commonly excepted that overheating like this almost certainly cracks the head, but in my own experience not always. So it's hard to tell without pressure testing it or at least getting some more info on symptoms. I got away with replacing a blown gasket on mine which overheated last year and it was fine after that. But when mine blew, I took the head in to an engine rebuilder (friend of a friend) to inspect and he mentioned that the reason a gasket could blow out the way it did is because the head has been replaced previously and the person who did the job might have rubbed too much in one spot on the block face with sand paper of whatever trying to remove the old gasket, resulting in an uneven block and therefore a weak point in the gasket. Common with DIY head replacements apparently. If this is the case, the only way to permanently fix this is to have the block refaced. Otherwise, the gasket will just keep blowing out in that same spot. If you've got the engine out, I think it's a relatively affordable job to get done professionally. Maybe a couple of hundred dollars?