HZJ77 vs KZJ78. What are your opinions?

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C

Crazy Dragon

10 Year
Joined
Sep 29, 2012
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8
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I fell in love with the 70 series since I was 10 years old when my dad first got an LJ78 in Malaysia. Now we all moved to the NZ and he bought a KZJ78 for work. I too got a KZJ78 but due to the head cracking and other little minor stuff that will cost me a fortune to fix, I sold it cheap and got a Nissan Maxima with the VQ30DE engine. Right now I can't do much since I'm still a student. But in the future I definitely want to buy another KZJ78.

However, recently I saw a few HZJ7- popping up on New Zealand's "eBay" aka TradeMe. I quite liked the look of it and I heard 1hz is the ultimate bulletproof engine. But apparently it's very underpowered and turbo-ing it costs a fortune and decreases the reliability.

What are your thoughts about it? original 1HZ vs original 1KZ.

Also turbo-ed 1HZ vs original 1KZ.

Which one would win in terms of reliability and power?

PS: HZJ77 is extremely rare here though.. I've only seen 2 over the past 3 years on TradeMe. KZJ78 is plenty.
 
I'll take a stab at this one.

Buy an HZJ77. Way more reliable with the 1hz and heavy duty drive train.

the 1kzte are prone to head cracking and the injector pump since its electric is very very very pricey to fix. They are hard to come by as well.

They are slow, remember you drive a land cruiser. If you turbo the 1hz they will have more power and you can turbo them safely to still provide good reliability and plenty of power. Its all about how you tune and drive it. I'll be turboing mine soon.

What to you figure a fortune costs for a turbo. You can get a system in for not a bad price. More if you get someone to install it for you. I would say drive one and see if you need more power.

The HZJ77 wins in my books hands down for reliability and probably neck in neck with the kzj78 for power. But if you turbo the 77 it will blow the 78 out of the water.
 
Turboing a 1HZ doesn't decrease reliability.
 
Has to HZJ77. Obvious reasons.
 
IMO KZ engined toyotas are not really landcruisers...
You have probably noticed the price difference between a KZ and HZ Cruiser.
An HZ engine powers along a 70 series quite happily, loaded up, and with a trailer, its just not a sports car...
 
the KZ is NOT a gutless engine and will run circles around the NA-HZ in terms of get up and gone. they are very peppy engines (the 2LTE is both gutless and thirsty by comparision)
the turbo 1HZ is a beautiful match that is reliable, decent on fuel with tons of torque.
the KZ rides much nicer than the HZ
the KZ (usually) has a nicer interior than the HZ but the HZ is not dog in this area.
the HZ does not have the head cracking issue that the KZ can.
the HZ pump is all mech and easy to work on (if ever needed)
the KZ pump can be a nightmare

both fetch close to the same money at auction in Japan.

never shop by buying price, shop by what you need and history of the vehicle for repair costs and time.

hands down i would go with the HZJ77 over the KZJ78, but a swapped in HZ into a KZJ78 platform is one sweet ride.
 
crushers said:
the KZ is NOT a gutless engine and will run circles around the NA-HZ in terms of get up and gone. they are very peppy engines (the 2LTE is both gutless and thirsty by comparision)
the turbo 1HZ is a beautiful match that is reliable, decent on fuel with tons of torque.
the KZ rides much nicer than the HZ
the KZ (usually) has a nicer interior than the HZ but the HZ is not dog in this area.
the HZ does not have the head cracking issue that the KZ can.
the HZ pump is all mech and easy to work on (if ever needed)
the KZ pump can be a nightmare

both fetch close to the same money at auction in Japan.

never shop by buying price, shop by what you need and history of the vehicle for repair costs and time.

hands down i would go with the HZJ77 over the KZJ78, but a swapped in HZ into a KZJ78 platform is one sweet ride.
Click to expand...

I agree with all your points, so I guess the KZ is suitable for most people. I had always thought that the KZ was a bit lower powered, but looking at engine output specs they are pretty evenly matched... though I bet the KZ is a fair bit lighter in weight, So probably has as many advantages as disadvantages.
 
In a nutshell: DO NOT get the KZJ77, get the HZJ77.

The KZJ is not going to be appreciably lighter in weight, a bit, but not hugely.

The 1KZTE engine here in Canada (Japanese imports) is not all that reliable.

The 1KZTE electronic pump is a bitch to deal with if (when, is more like it) it fails.

Get the HZJ77, slap a turbo on it and enjoy the reliability.

~John
 
HZJ77 is extremely rare in NZ though. I saw finally saw another one few nights ago on the NZ auction site. Listed at around 12am, someone bought it at 8am the next morning. I didn't even had the chance to ask questions regarding the vehicle..

I know the KZ is prone to head issues.. I unfortunately experienced it.

As for turbo-ing the HZ, I've seen some forum posts over the internet about head issues once you start putting a turbo on it. Is it true though?

Has anyone done a 1HZ into a KZJ78 body before? Would it fit though since one is 4 cylinder and the other is 6?
 
do a search on the 70 forum and diesel forum.
i have installed the PZ into a 78 and (i think) a guy in BC installed a 1HZ into a 78. both need the HD front clip. the PZ will use the R series tranny, the HZ can use the R sereis or H series trannies.

why not shop direct in Japan? I can recommend a guy to use that is trustworthy.
 
Heck us yanks would just be delighted to have the option of either Cruiser? You are in an envious position. :)
 
I am curious to know what a nice hzj77 sells for in nz.

Mark at brave auto international is a good guy to talk to.

Just know you may have a long wait because nice ones are rare
 
Yeah but I think importing one is not an option anymore. The NZ government doesn't allow vehicles that are older than 10 or 15 years old to be imported. I did think about importing one directly from Japan but I doubt it's possible now..

I think HZJ77 is extremely rare here and it'll sell in a heart beat. The FRP-top ones are more common in terms of HZ 70 series. I've only seen 2 HZJ77 in the past 4 years appearing on TradeMe. The first one was a 1992 almost mint condition. Priced at $25000 (Extremely expensive for a pre-2000 70 series as normal range is 2k - 12k) and sold after a few days. The 2nd one was 1991 and in a very very bad condition. The starter wasn't working, a lot of leaks, plenty of body rusts but the owner asks for 5k. The ad was placed at 12am and someone bought it straight at 8am. That's only 8 hours and it's gone.. So you can see how rare they are here.

KZJ78 is not too rare, but it's very sought after as well. The manual ones are rare and are priced at double of the auto ones.

Are the PZ engines better than the HZ? They're the 5 cylinder ones right?
 
the PZ is NOT better than the HZ, the PZ is an HZ with a cyl lopped off.
but the PZ is way better than the KZ, now you have to compare apples to apples so the PZ needs a turbo the same as the KZ has a turbo.

you are thinking from the wrong thought process, age is not the value factor, condition is.
a 25 year old truck in excellent shape is worth (to me) more than a 5 year old truck in rough shape.
the last HZJ77 i sold was $28,500. it was worth every penny.

you would be further ahead to rethink your values. a RARE (in the world, not just in NZ) HZJ77 in excellent shape is worth what ever it costs to find and purchase. if you think you can pick up a HZJ77 in the same shape as a HZJ73 for the same price then think again.
 
Douglas S said:
How can that be possible? I understand that the decrease in reliability is small, but there's no doubt that it's present.

boost = stress = decreased reliability
Click to expand...

Ok, any change from what Toyota spent millions of dollars engineering will have an effect. So yes, there will be a decrease in reliability, though negligible.

Unless you're running massive boost on an old dog of a HZ everything should be fine.

Until recently, Toyota has had a habit of over-engineering nearly everything, that's why you see 2H's that go for literally a million klicks on oil + filter changes only. So turboing a healthy 1HZ with a sensible amount of boost would add an almost unmeasurable amount of stress - to the point of saying that it wouldn't decrease reliability.

:grinpimp:
 
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