Mag's poor man 1HD-FTE dream. (15 Viewers)

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Well I feel like slight dumbass, I ordered the timing belt and water pump kit before I got home to see the truck myself. The only sticker I saw in videos was on the timing cover, had two more on the core support.

Last changed at 295,000km. I guess I'll have one on the shelf for when I need it.

I've been driving the s*** out of it. Just to get a feel for it. I really enjoy the torque curve, and of course just the sound of the diesel in general.

I've really been flip-flopping on what to do next. So I need to make a plan and just stick with it.

This weekend im going to start tearing into the 80, my goal is to have everything prepped to pull the engine when im ready.

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what was the cost on the donor plus transport/import?
 
what was the cost on the donor plus transport/import?
  • Vehicle Purchase (Hokkaido, Japan): ¥1,300,000 (~$9,000 USD)
  • International Shipping (Hokkaido to Port of Long Beach): $2,000 USD
  • Customs Brokerage Services: $600 USD
  • Domestic Transport (Long Beach Port to Final Destination): $1,600 USD

Total Cost: ~$13,200 USD
 
Subscribed and following along - we chatted on Reddit about your build recently.
 
We're getting closer to pulling the motor, got the rest of the wiring harnesses and connectors dealt with, drive shafts are out, which were an absolute bear...

Got the exhaust disconnected at the collectors? Where the manifold meets exhaust, whatever that's called.

Tomorrow im going to start with the shifter console, and the rest of the small things that has to be done from inside the rig.

Following the Holy texts to make sure I get it right.

It hasn't been too bad, I think I'd be more meticulous if I was worried about getting the 1fz back in, for right now. If I pull a bolt/fastener I just thread it back into the body once I've removed whatever I've had to, I'm always taking a s*** load of pictures which I then mark up and save with more info if I need it.

Tomorrow the goal is to have everything done except the trans cross member, saving that until im 100% ready to pull it.

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You might have mentioned it earlier but how much did you pay for the donor rig?

I ask because Land Cruiser Heaven sells an 1HD-FTE swap almost $19K basically a drop in conversion and I might be interested in doing the 1HD-FTE in my 80. Basically trying to figure out what would save me the most money, if I went your route I could make some of the money back parting out the LC.
 
You trust LCH enough to hand them $19k?

You wouldn’t if you knew what I know.

A donor is the cheapest and easiest way to do the swap for a DIY guy.

Cheers
 
You might have mentioned it earlier but how much did you pay for the donor rig?

I ask because Land Cruiser Heaven sells an 1HD-FTE swap almost $19K basically a drop in conversion and I might be interested in doing the 1HD-FTE in my 80. Basically trying to figure out what would save me the most money, if I went your route I could make some of the money back parting out the LC.
Hey Scott! A few post above this one i gave a pretty accurate breakdown. I personally think the cheapest route is importing from Japan, and then parting out like you mentioned.
 
You trust LCH enough to hand them $19k?

You wouldn’t if you knew what I know.

A donor is the cheapest and easiest way to do the swap for a DIY guy.

Cheers
I couldn't hand someone 19k knowing its all used and pulled off by someone else. At least when you import one, you have a pretty good idea of what you've got.

I had mine inspected, and told them to concentrate on the power train, and the inspections really saved me.

A few were smoking badly, vibrating a lot, hard to keep running. Then I got one inspected that was rough cosmetically, but they said the engine, and trans was great.

That turned out to be true.
 
You trust LCH enough to hand them $19k?

You wouldn’t if you knew what I know.

A donor is the cheapest and easiest way to do the swap for a DIY guy.

Cheers
Well that is good to know. The little things that float around the community are never mentioned unless you ask.
 
  • Vehicle Purchase (Hokkaido, Japan): ¥1,300,000 (~$9,000 USD)
  • International Shipping (Hokkaido to Port of Long Beach): $2,000 USD
  • Customs Brokerage Services: $600 USD
  • Domestic Transport (Long Beach Port to Final Destination): $1,600 USD

Total Cost: ~$13,200 USD
Wow, this is a lot better than handing someone $19K for a swap and not knowing the condition of the drive train prior to pulling it out.
 
Wow, this is a lot better than handing someone $19K for a swap and not knowing the condition of the drive train prior to pulling it out.
I highly recommend Import Quality JDM Cars from Japan | Japan Car Direct - https://www.japancardirect.com/, make an account and start looking at auctions, you can get an idea of what HDJ100's are going for, I got mine pretty cheap. I think average was, at the time around 11-12k USD. Lower mileage nicer ones would go for 15k tops usually. I saw a few as low as 6-7k but they had problems most likely.

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I highly recommend Import Quality JDM Cars from Japan | Japan Car Direct - https://www.japancardirect.com/, make an account and start looking at auctions, you can get an idea of what HDJ100's are going for, I got mine pretty cheap. I think average was, at the time around 11-12k USD. Lower mileage nicer ones would go for 15k tops usually. I saw a few as low as 6-7k but they had problems most likely.

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Thank you. I will take a look later tonight.
 
I have done the FTE conversion so you can check the thread too: 1hd-fte conversion in process - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/1hd-fte-conversion-in-process.1153912/

Bear in mind that you will need some extra stuff to make the conversion:
* 1fz airbox can be used with fte with 1hdt/ft lid
* oil pan needs to be swapped from 1hd-t//1hdft/1hz to fte
* the right hand side engine mount needs to be reused
* you need to source bigger feed line then 1hd-t 10mm , 1hd-fte uses 12mm. Some guys just leave it and use pickup pump
* in my case i had transfer case without viscous coupler so had to extend the rear drive shaft ( kardan )
* the aircon compressor needs to be taken care off ( still missing in my case ), the upper housing needs to be changed from 1hd-t to 1hd-fte compressor
* speedo meter needs to be modified and one transistor needs to be re-soldered

UPDATE1: together with the oil pan you need the oil screen and also the proper dipstick, right hand side engine mount can be reused and you need to off-course buy the left hand one, bigger lines should be 12mm not sure if you would fabricate your own or buy 1hdft ones from the 80, aircon setup ( I still did not finish this one :( - you will need to reuse the lid from the 1fz ), not sure if you go with the a442f or not

UPDATE2: Seems that you actually have 24v starter, would suggest just to throw away that solenoid and get 12v starter.

UPDATE3: the conversion can be done cheap if you don't want extra stuff like bigger turbo, new injection pump, unichip, nice stainless exhaust, cool stainless snorkel, shiny Australian intercooler the list can go on and on. Honestly looking back I would probably not put all the stuff and just keep it simple. Otherwise you can go completely nuts and do crazy stuff like putting 8hp70 with boostec ECU. Just the boostec ecu would be around 6000$ (Ultimate FTE Guide for Aftermarket ECU | Boostec Diesel - https://boostec.com.au/fte/) , the 8hp70 conversion is also not cheap.

Who will sort out the wiring for you ?
 
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I have done the FTE conversion so you can check the thread too: 1hd-fte conversion in process - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/1hd-fte-conversion-in-process.1153912/

Bear in mind that you will need some extra stuff to make the conversion:
* 1fz airbox can be used with fte with 1hdt/ft lid
* oil pan needs to be swapped from 1hd-t//1hdft/1hz to fte
* the right hand side engine mount needs to be reused
* you need to source bigger feed line then 1hd-t 10mm , 1hd-fte uses 12mm. Some guys just leave it and use pickup pump
* in my case i had transfer case without viscous coupler so had to extend the rear drive shaft ( kardan )
* the aircon compressor needs to be taken care off ( still missing in my case ), the upper housing needs to be changed from 1hd-t to 1hd-fte compressor
* speedo meter needs to be modified and one transistor needs to be re-soldered

UPDATE1: together with the oil pan you need the oil screen and also the proper dipstick, right hand side engine mount can be reused and you need to off-course buy the left hand one, bigger lines should be 12mm not sure if you would fabricate your own or buy 1hdft ones from the 80, aircon setup ( I still did not finish this one :( - you will need to reuse the lid from the 1fz ), not sure if you go with the a442f or not

UPDATE2: Seems that you actually have 24v starter, would suggest just to throw away that solenoid and get 12v starter.

UPDATE3: the conversion can be done cheap if you don't want extra stuff like bigger turbo, new injection pump, unichip, nice stainless exhaust, cool stainless snorkel, shiny Australian intercooler the list can go on and on. Honestly looking back I would probably not put all the stuff and just keep it simple. Otherwise you can go completely nuts and do crazy stuff like putting 8hp70 with boostec ECU. Just the boostec ecu would be around 6000$ (Ultimate FTE Guide for Aftermarket ECU | Boostec Diesel - https://boostec.com.au/fte/) , the 8hp70 conversion is also not cheap.

Who will sort out the wiring for you ?
Hey Jorgito, I read your conversion thread a while back, and will re-read it again! When you say re-use the right hand side engine mount are you referring to re-using the fte mount or the 1fz mount?

As for accessories (aircon, etc) I have everything from my 1fz and the 1hd-fte still so that shouldn't be a problem.

I'll probably bend my own fuel lines, and use the stock ones as a reference.

Wiring is going to be the challenging part for me. This is my first ever engine swap, and ive never been strong at wiring, so it'll be a learning curve. My goal is to have it in and able to start/run by the end of summer.

Also! I fully intend to keep this as simple and cost efficient as possible, I do plan on a few performance upgrades at some point, but not during the swap itself. Id like to have 275whp or so when its "finished"

Thanks for all the info! This is great for me, and others who are looking at the swap. I think you'll start to see more and more of these in the states now that we can import HDJ100's
 

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