Cruisers and Company 80 Series Turbo

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Workbench is full of turbos getting clocked right now!

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Planning another Moab run next year so figured I had enough time to perform the install myself but my business travel schedule is insane for this summer and into the Fall, plus having to deal with maintenance issues on my own body on frame...lol.

So, I decided to have Cruisers & Company perform the turbo installation for me as well, and will be dropping off the rig in another few weeks...so excited.

Also went down that rabbit hole (actually, a few of them...lol) and decided to have a bunch of other work done while it's there in the shop including new motor mounts, knock sensor, knuckle rebuild with new bearings, rear hub rebuild, new OEM exhaust manifolds, new Boost and AFR gauges with pillar pods, full fluid replacement and tune, and probably new custom CARB-compliant over frame rail exhaust system.

Hopefully down the road I will have Cruisers and Company complete a 4.88 re-gear for me as well as a transfer case rebuild with 3:1 low range gearset, and Eaton e-locker for the rear.

I must have almost 40 emails back and forth with Johnny trying to sort through my wish list and all I can say is he is extremely patient and responsive, and definitely knows his stuff.

​
 
As more and more of these get installed (several happening right now) and as we install more of them at C&C I hope some tips and tricks will be shared by members here to help facilitate easier installs.

Case and point... Today I was swapping a bunch of stuff from an old motor to a new motor for a client and one of the exhaust manifold studs broke off in the manifold. After several attempts to back out with knipex pliers and welding a nut to what remained of the stud several times with it to just break lower down I broke out another method... Drill the stud all the way through and pound a torx socket into it and then back it out. This trick usually works and didn't fail me today.

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Nice thing about torx bits is that they usually aren't hardened steel so you can drill right through them if they do break. Also by drilling all the way through the stud if it does break then you can pound the broken torx through it with a punch if it does break. Then just drill out the stud to the next size and try again. Exactly what I did after my T27 snapped off, drilled it and then the T30 got it. This set is a Cornwell so my guy will warranty it but for those that want some to have on hand as sacrificial tools... Harbor freight has you covered for cheap!

The little wins.... Anyways I hope that may help someone when they go to install the kit since 4 new Toyota studs and nuts are provided in the kit.
 
Brindleboxer said:
Not sure if this was a fever dream or not but wasn't there talk about possibly fielding a kit for the 93/94?
Click to expand...
Not a dream, something we definitely want to accomplish but have two other projects in the que right now that are almost done and need to be wrapped up before we really start down that road. Have already looked heavily at how we want to get around the fuel issue. I own a 93 that could use a turbo and have had several offers for test mules with the emissions equipment intact. Not sure how we'll fit it with all of that yet but it's part of the plan. The 93 is bone stock besides 33's and yeah.... it needs some boost
 
Cruisers and Co said:
As more and more of these get installed (several happening right now) and as we install more of them at C&C I hope some tips and tricks will be shared by members here to help facilitate easier installs.

Case and point... Today I was swapping a bunch of stuff from an old motor to a new motor for a client and one of the exhaust manifold studs broke off in the manifold. After several attempts to back out with knipex pliers and welding a nut to what remained of the stud several times with it to just break lower down I broke out another method... Drill the stud all the way through and pound a torx socket into it and then back it out. This trick usually works and didn't fail me today.

View attachment 3639030

Nice thing about torx bits is that they usually aren't hardened steel so you can drill right through them if they do break. Also by drilling all the way through the stud if it does break then you can pound the broken torx through it with a punch if it does break. Then just drill out the stud to the next size and try again. Exactly what I did after my T27 snapped off, drilled it and then the T30 got it. This set is a Cornwell so my guy will warranty it but for those that want some to have on hand as sacrificial tools... Harbor freight has you covered for cheap!

The little wins.... Anyways I hope that may help someone when they go to install the kit since 4 new Toyota studs and nuts are provided in the kit.
Click to expand...
:cool:
 
Cruisers and Co said:
Not a dream, something we definitely want to accomplish but have two other projects in the que right now that are almost done and need to be wrapped up before we really start down that road. Have already looked heavily at how we want to get around the fuel issue. I own a 93 that could use a turbo and have had several offers for test mules with the emissions equipment intact. Not sure how we'll fit it with all of that yet but it's part of the plan. The 93 is bone stock besides 33's and yeah.... it needs some boost
Click to expand...
Yep mine was offered. A Cali smogged compliant rig intact for ghenea pig.
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@Cruisers and Co - I don’t know if this subject has been covered or not? What about additional heat input to the cooling system? Have you noticed higher coolant temps than prior to the turbo for the same scenario’s.
 
baldilocks said:
@Cruisers and Co - I don’t know if this subject has been covered or not? What about additional heat input to the cooling system? Have you noticed higher coolant temps than prior to the turbo for the same scenario’s.
Click to expand...

Good question, let's talk about it!

With the turbo there is more heat input on the system but so far I have not noticed any issues with any of the cooling systems on the trucks that we have turbo'd. With that being said, I do recommend the cooling system be up to date and in good working order on any truck that is being turbo'd. Also the ambient temp under hood will be hotter after cruising and pushing hard with the turbo so anything on the exhaust side like aftermarket electrical may need to be wrapped in higher temp loom/shielding if it's anywhere close to the JPipe/turbo. The insulation we provide cuts the heat down a ton but there is still heat radiating off of the pipes.

On the topic of actual water temps.... The test mules radiator is a TYC that is 4 years old with a 4 year old modified blue hub fan clutch and it runs exactly the same as it did before. It has always lived right at 195 on the highway when cruising and in town and continues to do so. The highest temp to date I've seen on the test mule was 208 degrees going over Berthoud Pass (11,300 ft) on a 95 degree afternoon loaded down for a weekend of camping just absolutely flogging it. Still well within the safe working limits of the 1FZ. Last summer we took a road trip to Oklahoma City when it was 90-100 the entire week and humid. Stayed around 198 the entire time with the AC on high everywhere we went. Took a clients turbo truck on its first true maiden voyage this weekend from Denver to Walden CO for some camping to put miles on the new engine rebuild and one of the obstacles is Cameron Pass (10,300 Ft). On this 80 we installed a temp gauge into the upper radiator hose neck in the boss Toyota so nicely gave us. Max water temp pushing fairly hard was 193, yesterday it was in the mid 80's. This truck is on 37" toyo mt's with trail gear bead locks and fully armored with a roof top tent... heavy but it had no problems. @baldilocks if you're going to Rubithon I think this one will be there. On Rosie we've had no issues highway cruising, haven't gotten it into the mountains yet but I don't think it's going to have any problems. Trail cruising haven't seen anything different, turbo vs non turbo. Offroad you are almost never loading it to the point to where you'll build any boost so there isn't much added heat to the system.

I do recommend people change with their driving habits a little bit and the main thing is don't shut it down right away after flogging it unless necessary. Give the fan a chance to pump some of the heat out after long drives, long hills or hard pulls. After cruising at 75 for hours on the highway I'll tone it back the last few miles coming into town where I am going to fill up and let some heat get pumped out. Doing this also gives the turbo a chance to cool down. The center cartridge of the turbo gets extremely hot and a few minutes of coolant circulating with little to no load will bring it's temp way down. No need to go crazy with the time but if you can give it 2-5 minutes of little to no load that is probably enough to shed a lot of the built up heat.

I have a road trip this upcoming weekend from Denver to the little belt mountains in Montana, over to Bozeman, Jackson and back to Denver with two turbo trucks. I'll get some good data to post up. Looks like it'll be 80's.
 
As with all products there is always room for improvement. Our biggest challenge to date with the turbo's has been the J pipe. They are time consuming to make, a bit of a pain to keep everything lined up and difficult to keep from warping since there are a lot of welds on the J pipes. So far we've been able to do this since we are building each one on a head and we're going to continue building them that way but we knew there are better ways out there. We've kept each iteration of J pipe and I think we have finally got them to where they are easily manufacturable, incredibly strong, and fit perfect every time.

Our initial prototype V1 J Pipe (left) was a bit of a mess as we made it on the truck. We then found a head and were able to refine it and get the the angles worked out. The problem with V2 (right) was that all of the straight sections were cut by hand which meant the human error was there and every once in awhile would require cutting new pieces... Not ideal at all. It worked but it could be better...

PXL_20240604_155033738.webp


To negate the human error we turned to a company that does laser tube cutting. Sent them the CAD files and got the straight sections lasered perfectly every time and so V3 (left) was born. These are really easy to weld since everything lines up every single time BUT....

We knew there had to be a way to cut the # of welds down!

SO... we laser scanned the best one we've made to date and went back to the drawing board. After some CAD and researching we figured out the pipes could be made in 3 sections to bring the # of welds down to 5. If you look and count the welds on the proto there are 15... V2 and V3 had 10. With V4 we've cut the pieces needing to be assembled in half, taken out the human error of cutting pipe, made it a uniform thickness and it just looks awesome! Really trying to make the best product possible. The pipes and flanges are thick allowing us to get really good strong welds, the cnc collector ensures a perfect platform for the turbo and allows us to tie it back to the head so that it's really locked in. Excited to get these built!

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Cruisers and Co said:
Good question, let's talk about it!

With the turbo there is more heat input on the system but so far I have not noticed any issues with any of the cooling systems on the trucks that we have turbo'd. With that being said, I do recommend the cooling system be up to date and in good working order on any truck that is being turbo'd. Also the ambient temp under hood will be hotter after cruising and pushing hard with the turbo so anything on the exhaust side like aftermarket electrical may need to be wrapped in higher temp loom/shielding if it's anywhere close to the JPipe/turbo. The insulation we provide cuts the heat down a ton but there is still heat radiating off of the pipes.

On the topic of actual water temps.... The test mules radiator is a TYC that is 4 years old with a 4 year old modified blue hub fan clutch and it runs exactly the same as it did before. It has always lived right at 195 on the highway when cruising and in town and continues to do so. The highest temp to date I've seen on the test mule was 208 degrees going over Berthoud Pass (11,300 ft) on a 95 degree afternoon loaded down for a weekend of camping just absolutely flogging it. Still well within the safe working limits of the 1FZ. Last summer we took a road trip to Oklahoma City when it was 90-100 the entire week and humid. Stayed around 198 the entire time with the AC on high everywhere we went. Took a clients turbo truck on its first true maiden voyage this weekend from Denver to Walden CO for some camping to put miles on the new engine rebuild and one of the obstacles is Cameron Pass (10,300 Ft). On this 80 we installed a temp gauge into the upper radiator hose neck in the boss Toyota so nicely gave us. Max water temp pushing fairly hard was 193, yesterday it was in the mid 80's. This truck is on 37" toyo mt's with trail gear bead locks and fully armored with a roof top tent... heavy but it had no problems. @baldilocks if you're going to Rubithon I think this one will be there. On Rosie we've had no issues highway cruising, haven't gotten it into the mountains yet but I don't think it's going to have any problems. Trail cruising haven't seen anything different, turbo vs non turbo. Offroad you are almost never loading it to the point to where you'll build any boost so there isn't much added heat to the system.

I do recommend people change with their driving habits a little bit and the main thing is don't shut it down right away after flogging it unless necessary. Give the fan a chance to pump some of the heat out after long drives, long hills or hard pulls. After cruising at 75 for hours on the highway I'll tone it back the last few miles coming into town where I am going to fill up and let some heat get pumped out. Doing this also gives the turbo a chance to cool down. The center cartridge of the turbo gets extremely hot and a few minutes of coolant circulating with little to no load will bring it's temp way down. No need to go crazy with the time but if you can give it 2-5 minutes of little to no load that is probably enough to shed a lot of the built up heat.

I have a road trip this upcoming weekend from Denver to the little belt mountains in Montana, over to Bozeman, Jackson and back to Denver with two turbo trucks. I'll get some good data to post up. Looks like it'll be 80's.
Click to expand...
Is a turbo timer potentially a good idea?
 
Cruisers and Co said:
As with all products there is always room for improvement. Our biggest challenge to date with the turbo's has been the J pipe. They are time consuming to make, a bit of a pain to keep everything lined up and difficult to keep from warping since there are a lot of welds on the J pipes. So far we've been able to do this since we are building each one on a head and we're going to continue building them that way but we knew there are better ways out there. We've kept each iteration of J pipe and I think we have finally got them to where they are easily manufacturable, incredibly strong, and fit perfect every time.

Our initial prototype V1 J Pipe (left) was a bit of a mess as we made it on the truck. We then found a head and were able to refine it and get the the angles worked out. The problem with V2 (right) was that all of the straight sections were cut by hand which meant the human error was there and every once in awhile would require cutting new pieces... Not ideal at all. It worked but it could be better...

View attachment 3647269

To negate the human error we turned to a company that does laser tube cutting. Sent them the CAD files and got the straight sections lasered perfectly every time and so V3 (left) was born. These are really easy to weld since everything lines up every single time BUT....

We knew there had to be a way to cut the # of welds down!

SO... we laser scanned the best one we've made to date and went back to the drawing board. After some CAD and researching we figured out the pipes could be made in 3 sections to bring the # of welds down to 5. If you look and count the welds on the proto there are 15... V2 and V3 had 10. With V4 we've cut the pieces needing to be assembled in half, taken out the human error of cutting pipe, made it a uniform thickness and it just looks awesome! Really trying to make the best product possible. The pipes and flanges are thick allowing us to get really good strong welds, the cnc collector ensures a perfect platform for the turbo and allows us to tie it back to the head so that it's really locked in. Excited to get these built!

View attachment 3647291
View attachment 3647292
Click to expand...

Looking great! Working with tubing isn't a learning curve for the faint of heart. I think I asked this before, but are those Spear flanges? If they aren't his they should be. Paul does some killer work and flogs his Hitachi Seiki's so hard China can't touch his prices.
 
PIP said:
Looking great! Working with tubing isn't a learning curve for the faint of heart. I think I asked this before, but are those Spear flanges? If they aren't his they should be. Paul does some killer work and flogs his Hitachi Seiki's so hard China can't touch his prices.
Click to expand...
Thanks! No, not Spears. I looked heavily at his flanges and they are nice products. If this thing wasn't so cantilevered off the manifold his would work great. The thing that sold these for me are that they have mounting provisions for a brace so that we can tie the J pipe back to the head to make it extremely rigid side to side. American made by a small business too! Proto brace shown below.

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