Build Fresh Start For A Tired 60 - 1HZ Conversion

[The Machinist]

I also tossed a cheap ebay top mount intercooler specifically for the 1HZ/1HD on it just to try it out. Obviously, it doesn't make a much difference without a hood scoop, but I have a spare hood that I am planning on grafting a 4th gen 4runner Sport or second gen Tacoma hood scoop into; just need to keep an eye out in the local junkyards for one. Ultimately if I'm not satisfied with the end result, I'll go back to the stock hood and spend some real money on a water to air system. Only problem is that the cheap intercooler core was welded together horribly crooked

I also ordered a pile of 3" exhaust tubing that I will eventually get around to turning into a new, free-er flowing exhaust. Ski season is just around the corner though so all of that might end up waiting until spring,... unless the snow sucks this year.

Also took it for a quick overnight trip up to the Sawtooth's and poked around the upper Salmon river looking for good fishing spots. This is the same general route that prompted me to add the turbo; unsurprisingly, it performed significantly better with boost than without.

 

[The Machinist]

A few weeks ago I grabbed a hood scoop off of a late 90's Subaru Impreza and started mounting it in my spare hood. The paint and body working stuff I ordered won't be here before the holidays, so I decided to test fit it yesterday. I'm glad that I did before painting because this hood got a bit tweaked from its time in the junkyard; definitely going to have to straighten it out in a few spots before painting it.

To test the intercooler, I did the same drive on Saturday and Sunday, with the only difference being the hood swap. The scoop successfully dropped EGT's while cruising at 70-75mph by 100-150*F on flat ground, which is where I have previously have had trouble keeping things cool. Yesterday's ambient temps were about 45*F and at 75mph my EGT's were sitting comfortably at or below 700*F. Taking it up a long grade, I was able to maintain 65-70mph in 5th gear and could not get the EGT's above 1000*F; interestingly when I repeated the same hill but used 4th gear like I normally would, EGT's ran hotter exceeding 1100* if I let it. This confirms what I already knew: the exhaust or turbine housing is too restrictive at higher rpm. It will be interesting to see how much of a difference the 3" exhaust will make when I eventually get around to it, but I still believe that the 7cm exhaust housings are too small for US highways and will likely swap the turbo out for an 8cm version down the road.

 

[cruisermatt]

looks great!

 

[Knowbuddy]

A few weeks ago I grabbed a hood scoop off of a late 90's Subaru Impreza and started mounting it in my spare hood. The paint and body working stuff I ordered won't be here before the holidays, so I decided to test fit it yesterday. I'm glad that I did before painting because this hood got a bit tweaked from its time in the junkyard; definitely going to have to straighten it out in a few spots before painting it.

To test the intercooler, I did the same drive on Saturday and Sunday, with the only difference being the hood swap. The scoop successfully dropped EGT's while cruising at 70-75mph by 100-150*F on flat ground, which is where I have previously have had trouble keeping things cool. Yesterday's ambient temps were about 45*F and at 75mph my EGT's were sitting comfortably at or below 700*F. Taking it up a long grade, I was able to maintain 65-70mph in 5th gear and could not get the EGT's above 1000*F; interestingly when I repeated the same hill but used 4th gear like I normally would, EGT's ran hotter exceeding 1100* if I let it. This confirms what I already knew: the exhaust or turbine housing is too restrictive at higher rpm. It will be interesting to see how much of a difference the 3" exhaust will make when I eventually get around to it, but I still believe that the 7cm exhaust housings are too small for US highways and will likely swap the turbo out for an 8cm version down the road.

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This is so cool you are making me want a top mount intercooler instead of my front mount.

 

[The Machinist]

Took a while for me to get the hood cleaned up and painted, but I'm pretty happy with the end result. Its far from perfect, but perfect from afar. I'm very happy with how the scoop came out now that its all color matched.

This hood came off of a 62 in a local junkyard that had a blown up transfer case and had clearly sat somewhere for a long time before it was sent to the junkyard. I had to fish a bunch of vines out of the hood supports before I could do any paint work!

 

[davegonz]

Great job!

 

[The Machinist]

Knocked out a new 3" stainless turbo back exhaust over the last two weekends. A while back I ordered a generic and cheap DIY exhaust tubing assortment off of ebay, along with a 4 pack of cheap vband clamps, and a nice quality flex pipe and muffler/resonator from Vibrant. The v-bands were branded "evilenergy" on amazon and are actually pretty nice.
This exhaust is by no means show quality, but its way better than the 2.5" rusty junk I had previously put together. Was great to get almost two full days of TIG practice while welding it all up, but its definitely a lot more challenging than you might expect to get it to all fit nicely. You can definitly tell the difference between my work and someone who does this professionally, but I'm quite happy with the end result. It should flow a lot better which will help keep EGT's more manageable and it sounds amazing. The resonator toned down some of the rasp from the old setup and the overall tone is lower. Idle is quieter in the cab and highway cruising is notably better than before. Under load while accelerating it sounds smoother and has a killer tone; overall I am extreamly happy with how it sounds!

Here's the resonator that I used. Vibrant Performance 1142 3" Ultra Quiet Resonator

 

[Ditcherman]

Enjoyed reading through your build thread, nicely done.
That evil energy stuff is pretty good.
Did you purge your pipe when you welded it? I re rally enjoyed welding stainless for the most part but worried I didn’t take purging seriously enough.

 

[The Machinist]

Enjoyed reading through your build thread, nicely done.
That evil energy stuff is pretty good.
Did you purge your pipe when you welded it? I re rally enjoyed welding stainless for the most part but worried I didn’t take purging seriously enough.

Thanks!

Stainless is definitely my favorite material to tig weld! I did not backpurge for any of this stuff. The way I look at backpurging is that for anything downstream of the turbo it is just a waste of gas. Would be a different story if this was for a show car, but I'm not good enough at tig welding to make anything that nice anyway.
If I was making charge pipes or a custom intercooler I would probably give back purging a try just to reduce any chance of getting a chunk of overheated weld from breaking off and getting consumed by the engine.

 

[Miloslavich]

Nice work!! enjoyed reading your thread.

Love the 1HZ, workhorse of an engine. Makes me want to find a beater 60 to diesel swap for off-roading. My 60 is too nice for those duties anymore

cheers

 

[The Machinist]

 

[The Machinist]

Recently replaced a very leaky power steering pump which I had thought was the cause of my heavier than normal steering. Unfortunately after the new pump went in there wasn't much improvement on steering assist and I noticed that the gearbox was also leaking so I decided to upgrade to an 80 series gearbox. The pump is new OEM, the gearbox is a reman unit from rockauto.

Just got the gearbox in last night and oh man its so much better now. The old one had slowly gotten worse over the last few years so I didn't really notice how bad it was until recently. The original gearbox was last rebuilt around 2012-2013.

 

[The Machinist]

As I've been wrapping up the supporting mods for the turbo this year, one of that last things left to do was the boot compensator for the fuel pump. Actually having proper adjustability in the fueling has been amazing. Absoultely wish I did this sooner, even with my initial tune the engine runs smoother all throughout the powerband, maintains/gains speed on the highway better, and my highway cruise EGT's actually dropped slightly (likely because of the reduced total fuel load).

When doing the turbo install on the 1HZ I wanted to do one piece at a time to see how much of an improvement each supporting component made individually. With the boost compensator being the last piece I needed, I can now summarize my thoughts on what supporting mods should be prioritized for anyone that isnt going to do everything all at once.

EGT Gauge: This is not optional. Do not put a turbo on your car without one. Don't be stupid, they are cheap and easy to insall.

Exhaust: A 3" exhaust made the largest improvement in EGT's out of all of the supporting mods. I would consider this a mandatory upgrade at the time of the turbo install. Don't skip it or you will be overheating on the highway and putting your engine at risk.

Boost Compensator: Although not as important to do right away as the exhaust, trying to properly tune the engine without one is imposible; you will either be way too lean all across the board, or way too rich at idle and still too lean on boost. The boost compensator makes the tuning easy and the engine will run so much better throughout ist powerband. I'd highly suggest doing this as soon as possible after installing a turbo.

Intercooler: Not strictly necessary if you are keeping it mild, but if you skip the 3" exhaust and choose not to run an intercooler, you WILL struggle with EGT's on US highways; restricted exhaust flow will increase the boost temps so adding the intercooler without a 3"+ exhaust is just putting a bandaid on a bullet wound. The intercooler made a solid improvement in EGT's at highway speeds, but wasn't as dramatic as the exhaust.


One final note, when tuning for a truck that actually gets used and not just something to rip around town in, alway tune it for the worst case scenario. For me that means making sure that the EGT's are not going to skyrocket when going up a mountain pass at highway speeds in the summer when its 105*. I'll leave a little power on the table to keep the engine happy.

 

[The Machinist]

Brought the 60 out to the 4x4 show put on by the Treasure Valley Vintage Jeep Club again this weekend. Really good turnout this year, although less land cruisers than usual this time.