possible lj78 engine swaps

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Joined
May 13, 2008
Threads
6
Messages
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Location
Van City, BC
so i am reading around here and i pretty much would have to be an idiot to not get the point that my poor little 2lte prado motor is going to bite the dust some day. that being said, i suppose my having a plan of action for such a case would be good. so. my only complaint with the 2lte motor is that its incredibly gutless. i installed a full custom medrell bent exhaust and all that did basically was make it sound really fast but the bark is way worse than the bite. so id love to swap in a different motor.

what kind of prices should i expect to be facing start to finish of install?

what kind of motor options do i have?

how easy are these motors to get here in vancouver canada?

all good questions, no? anywho thank you guys in advance for your wise advice. (and no, selling my lj is not a option)
 
Hi All:

A buddy of mine recently replaced the blown 2L-TE engine in his LJ73 with a regular-old 22R-E from a Toyota pick-up. It is not a direct bolt-in, but not too bad.

Yes, the 22R-E has more uumph than the 2L-TE does! :D

Regards,

Alan
 
a budget? um.. probably no more than 3500 if possible. i wouldnt mind keping it diesel. i know that there is a 3.4l turbo diesel motor that comes in the... er, dunno the model number, but it looks a lot like my truck just with two doors... is that motor expensive?
 
3L is a hardy little engiune, not much power tho.

Went in easily but if you are running auto you would have to get creative with the throttle positioning sensor or else your trany will not down shift. Quite possible some of the speed sensors on the fuel pump might also have something to do with the tranny?

Anyways auto tranny not good, five speed a better swap or engine tranny combo?
 
seriously if $3500 is your budget then the gasser 4 is your swap...
a diesel engine alone in good shape will cost you more than that just to buy..
 
a budget? um.. probably no more than 3500 if possible. i wouldnt mind keping it diesel. i know that there is a 3.4l turbo diesel motor that comes in the... er, dunno the model number, but it looks a lot like my truck just with two doors... is that motor expensive?



The 3.4 is the 3B and will not fit into yours without a lot of work.

Sell your 78 while it is good and buy a full size landcruiser;).
 
Some people, in Nepal, have been turbocharging the 3L engine with the turbo charger etc. from the 2L-TE engine, with great results.
 
Im in the same boat as Aaron_d, Im kind of planning ahead, I'm looking for a diesel that has reliability 1st (also good as far as sourcing parts), then mpg, then power that I could throw in my LJ78 later on, from what I've read, the 4.2L non-intercooled (1HD-FTE)version that powers HDJ78 Troop Carriers is really good or just the plain 1HD-T, same with the 3B and 13B-T ones would be a good choice. Just wondering what your opinions are and what engine suggestions you guys might have from experience?
 
I've been waiting for someone to use an Acme kit to bolt in a VW TDI. I'll bet you can get similar performance from the 1.9 to that of the 2LT. This swap could be done for a lot less than $3500

There are a lot of Toy pickups running this setup.

86 Toy pickup 1.9 TDI swap - YouTube
 
interesting ... for decades now i have wanted to do up a TDI sammi. hummm, once again Bruce contaminates my thoughts.

personally, i thing the 78 might be a bit heavy for the 1.9TD but then the 4.88 factory gears would allow the engine to play in its "sweet spot". i didn't see an adapter kit for the auto so i guess a R151 would be needed.
 
interesting ... for decades now i have wanted to do up a TDI sammi. hummm, once again Bruce contaminates my thoughts.

personally, i thing the 78 might be a bit heavy for the 1.9TD but then the 4.88 factory gears would allow the engine to play in its "sweet spot". i didn't see an adapter kit for the auto so i guess a R151 would be needed.

I never really considered the VW an option until they started making big HP versions of it. The 2 litre comes with 200 HP in some versions.
 
I never really considered the VW an option until they started making big HP versions of it. The 2 litre comes with 200 HP in some versions.

VW 1.9 TDI (89 HP..reliable) .......2L-TE ( 97HP..not so reliable ) I had a 1998 VW Beetle with the turbo diesel for several years and while the car was a piece of crap, the engine and manual drive train was great. I realize the LJ78 is a lot heavier than the Beetle but that turbo diesel would make that
little car fly.:)
.......1978HJ45
 
I have a Seat Ibiza FR with the VW 1.9 PD TDI engine as my DD i was looking at the spec between the engine in the Seat and the 1KZT in my KZJ70 and my Seat has more HP (130BHP vs 128BHP) and only slightly less torque. There is a Cupra model of the Ibiza with the same engine with 160BHP and more torque, with a stage 1 remap you can easily get 200BHP with no extra mods required.

So really they should pull a Landcruiser better than the 2LT. The engines themselves are quite small too so I would imagine they are much lighter. They seem incredibly fuel efficient too, Ive had 70MPG out of my Seat when I was going steady, obviously you wouldnt get that out of a Landcruiser due to the extra weight and drag but I still think they would be more efficient than any of the Toyota units.

If my 1KZT ever gives up Id be very tempted to try a VW PD 1.9 conversion as they are incredibly reliable engines.
 
if you can't afford a real landcruiser engine the buy a 22re and a manual tranny and do that you will have enough $$$ left over for beer and gas
 

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