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For your situation a supercharger sounds like the way to go. Those are easy to maintain superchargers and reliable. No need to rebuild the engine. As long as you have good oil pressure and have a wideband afr gauge to keep an eye on afr's you should be fine. Those v8 swap estimates are for brand new crate motor setups which ads a lot to the cost. If you want more power you can always install a smaller pulley on the supercharger and install free flowing exhaust and stuff.Reviving this thread because I see a brand new supercharger for the 1FZFE that is CARB approved.
Toyota Land Cruiser 1995-1997 1FZ-FE 4.5L I6 Magnuson - MP90 Supercharger Kit - TREperformance.com
Unlock the full power of your Toyota Land Cruiser with the Magnuson Classic Series Supercharger System! Designed specifically for the 1FZ-FE 4.5L I6 engine, this bolt-on kit delivers an impressive 25%treperformance.com
Granted it is only for 1995-97 years but pretty much a bolt on solution with 25% more power promised.
Leaving the DIY route out of the discussion given it isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, I think an apples to apples comparison would be CARB legal LS swap vs this Magnusson Supercharger.
Not taking any sides, but off the top of my head, with the new swap rules in CA (cuz that’s where I live so I am mostly concerned about being street legal here):
- An LS swap with a matching year/class will likely net you hp somewhere a little north of 300hp at a cost of $20-25k. Right? For CARB compliance, you can’t chop and swap like in some other locations so CA legal swap is likely to require lots of custom work.
- The Magnusson SC is $8.5k plus tax and install (say 8 hours @ $140/hr) will cost you about $11k. A 25% increase from a stock 1FZFE, on paper, would give you about 240hp.
Questions I’d ponder over:
- how much power increase is satisfactory?
- what does reliability mean?
- how much do I want to spend?
Again, not taking sides but thinking aloud my situation. ‘97 LX450 with stock engine and 265k miles on the odometer. Runs great, drinks oil but given the weight of front and rear bumpers, wrap around cage and goodies in the trunk, it is slow.
Power: I don’t need it to go 0-60 in 4 seconds, I just need it to get to 60Well, it struggles to get there on all these lovely mountain ranges we have in California and roads that run along foothills. I feel the current motor is just at the cusp where if I gave it some more power, it will be a much smoother ride and I won’t have the tach jumping from 2k to 5k every time there’s an incline on the freeway.
On the flip side, forced air through a 30 year old engine sounds like signing its death warrant.
Flip again and LS swap sounds like an endless project and money pit. Mine isn’t a DD so I have even less motivation to start a new project (and it does compete with other projects).
Choices choices
Edit: new Google estimate for CA legal swap. Drum roll - $70-90k. Don’t shoot at me, just relaying what Google led me to:
“but estimates can roughly be between $70,000 and $90,000 USD. (as of 2023)”
(Scroll all the way to the bottom)
LS3 Conversion; 60, 62, & 80 Series Land Cruiser
Want more muscle for your Toyota Land Cruiser FJ60, FJ62, or FJ80? Is it time to give your Land Cruiser a more modern mill? An LS swap—specifically a Chevrolet LS3— can be just the thing.Why an LS Swap into a Land Cruiser?Land Cruisers are amazing vehicles—something we all know. However, if...www.corsetticruisers.com
Not being a smart a** I live in California also and have a OBD 1 truck.
I think you know...
Mine is to make sure I either have a valid CARB tag on my SC/Turbo or my swap is refereed and signed off. Not saying there aren’t other ways - you can green sticker and tow your rig or find some other way.I think you know...
Ouch! Maybe we need the impress upon Magnusson that between 1995 and 1997, Toyota sold about 18-20k LX450. Looking at Land Cruiser sales figures here:
