LJ-78 RL-TE repower ideas

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L

Landlover

10 Year
Joined
Mar 18, 2014
Threads
1
Messages
6
Location
Tauranga New Zealand
Hi there
Ive been reading this forum for ages and have finally joined
my question is i have a 1991 lj-78 prado and want more grunt it's so slow:bang:
I am thinking of putting a 1KD-FTV hilux in it but am not sure if it will marry up to my current auto trans ?? and any other problems that may occur ??

Any other ideas are welcome i have heard that a 1KZFE goes nearly straight in ?

 
You can get way more out of the 2lte if you:
- scrap emissions
- scrap throttle plates
- efficient intercooler
- 2.5" exhaust from turbo back
- boost 16psi
- turn up fuel 3/4 turn

I did all that to mine, and it drives like a gasser now. EGT's ar 200F lower than before, power is at least 50% more. I can do 8% grade at 100km/h now. I can easily out accelerate other traffic from a light to jump in front of them if I need to. Passing is no problem.

If you're set on a swap, probably a 1KZT would be easiest. You'll still need an intercooler and big exhaust though. 3B with turbo can also be done. 1UZFE V8 gas can also be done. Really just depends on who is doing the work and how much money you have. The straight 6 diesel's need a different front end to fit.

The newer common rail diesels have a lot of electronics from what I understand, so are not a popular swap. Would be neat to see it done though.

Do a search too, your question has been asked a lot.
 
I'd stay away from the toyota common rail stuff. problems....
Like GTS says, if youre looking for more juice, do all things he mentioned. Somewhat less labour intensive than a full on swap.
But if you're hell bent on a different motor altogether,
1KZ-T is okay,
3B turbo is good, I like it.
13BT(if you can friggin find one) would be nice.
Some Mitsubishi and Isuzu turbo direct injected motors can be had for fairly decent prices.

theres a 3.0L DI turbo mitsubishi CAT excavator motor in our shop storage that I kept glancing at.....80HP

same as this. http://miamiequip.com/photo_gallery/20100701023217_big.jpg
 
Thanks heaps for your reply's GTS and yotahed!
Questions
1: Would the 2L-TE in it after doing what you said GTS be more powerful and more reliable than a stock 1KZ-T ?
2: Roughly how much did that all cost you GTS??


Here a pic of my beast
1991 Prado
2 owners including me
78000km on the clock
Landy.webp
 
Landlover said:
Thanks heaps for your reply's GTS and yotahed!
Questions
1: Would the 2L-TE in it after doing what you said GTS be more powerful and more reliable than a stock 1KZ-T ?
2: Roughly how much did that all cost you GTS??
Click to expand...

That is one sexy clean prado! Nice.

1. I've never felt a stock 1KZ-T, so I'm not sure. By the wikipedia power numbers, I'd say I'm in the same ball park as a stock 1KZ-T, yes. With the same modifications done to a 1KZ-T, it would blow any 2LTE out of the water though. Reliability wise, I think the intercooler is a huge plus on these small engines. So I'm almost ready to say the intercooled 2LTE might be more reliable than a stock 1KZ-T. Again though, add an intercooler to a 1KZ-T, and it wins again.

2. I did a water/air intercooler. I think it set me back around $500 in parts. I did the work myself. If you had to pay someone, you'd be another $500 in labor. Exhaust cost me about $300 in parts. I did the labor. If you had to pay someone, add $300-$500.

If you have the money, swap in a 1KZ-T with intercooler and 3" exhaust. You'd be laughing!

There are a few people on the forums here (from NZ I think) that have swapped 1KZT into a LJ78, they may chime in also...
 
Landlover said:
1: Would the 2L-TE in it after doing what you said GTS be more powerful and more reliable than a stock 1KZ-T ?
2: Roughly how much did that all cost you GTS??
Click to expand...

Reliability is never a term used when referring to the 2L-TE or 1KZ engines they are both well documented head cracking engines, if you do a bit of research you'll find all the mods people do to the egr, exhaust etc and drive by pryo gauges to get better reliability and mileage out of them. Both engines are pretty mild in performance the 2LTE is about 97hp/241Nm torque and the 1KZ is 130hp/343Nm torque, are you wanting to stay diesel or considering all options and are you just looking for a faster quicker truck? Conversion costs depend on whether you are doing the whole swap yourself or getting someone to do it for you. :)
 
are you wanting to stay diesel or considering all options and are you just looking for a faster quicker truck? Conversion costs depend on whether you are doing the whole swap yourself or getting someone to do it for you. :)[/QUOTE]


I am looking for more grunt manly towing wise. we have a Caravan that we go away in heaps to Doc camps .
Petrol or Diesel doesn't bother me , just want to be able to do 100 on hills not just flat roads and a engine that I'm not spending more time looking at the instruments more than the road.

Whats yours like now for towing GTS?

Our Caravan is about 900KG loaded plus the landy is almost at its 450kg load capacity
 
Landlover said:
Whats yours like now for towing GTS?

Our Caravan is about 900KG loaded plus the landy is almost at its 450kg load capacity
Click to expand...

I would recommend not towing with the 2LTE or 1KZ engines if you want to go fast. Towing also pushes the head issue significantly. I tow a 1300kg trailer (loaded) with 500kg in the LJ78. It would have been impossible before the engine modifications I made. As it is, it is slow on the big hills, and hard on the engine.

If you want to tow with good power and ok fuel economy, I think a 1uzfe swap is your best bet. Here is a thread on a NZ forum where a fellow swapped a 1uzfe into an LJ71 (would be the same job as into an LJ78). http://www.offroadexpress.co.nz/Forums/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=22013 Has lots of details on what needs to be done. I'm sure you could contact the guy and ask questions. He is on this forum too.
 
Just an update I have got my hands on a 1UZ-FE and trans so if anyone is after a 2L-TE done 78000ks get in touch .
I'll keep ya posted , if any one knows anything about joining the 1uz tans to the transfer case please let me know as this is still a grey area in
my research
 
Landlover said:
Just an update I have got my hands on a 1UZ-FE and trans so if anyone is after a 2L-TE done 78000ks get in touch .
I'll keep ya posted , if any one knows anything about joining the 1uz tans to the transfer case please let me know as this is still a grey area in
my research
Click to expand...

Good choice. That engine will making towing easy.

Did you see this thread in your search? https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/lj71-1uz-repower-and-ute-conversion.701913/

Quote from that thread: "The 1UZ engines are cheap here and once I did a bit of homework found that I could just swap the Bellhousing,pump and Torque converter over and it'd bolt straight up to my Landcruisers Aisin A34* trans."

I think your challenges will be more electrical than anything.
 
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Cheers GTS yeah i think it's the best motor for what i wanna do with it.
no ihadn't seen that thread but i did read the one you sent me in a earlyer post and it was very helpfu.
I've been told twice now that the A34 trans wont handle the 1uz and that you put the last 1/3 of the A34 tans on to the front 2/3 of the
1uz tans and boom bolts up and stright into the transfer case but i guess i'll find out soon enough :)
Ive have a auto sparky that said $800 to wire everthing up so i think ill do all the mounting up and exust and what not and palm it off
 
A343F is used in the 80 series with the 1FZFE, and the 100 series with the 2UZFE, so I'm thinking it can probably handle the smaller 1UZFE just fine. Unless there is something specifically different about the LJ78 A343F?
 
Definitely post pics. I'll be interested to hear how this goes for you. In a few years when I have time for another project, I may find a blown prado and do the same thing.
 
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