Builds "The Cucumber" build. Ultimate 80-series. 1HD-FT, H152F (world's first), PTO. Titanium and carbon fiber galore. (3 Viewers)

[TurboDennis]

After tapping the holes, it's highly recommended to build up some metal to the right of the actuator to ensure enough sealing surface. I used some Toyota red FIPG on both sides of the gasket to reduce the chance of leaks further (note the extra FIPG on the area that was built up). Finished product:

Next came the wiring. Front locker harness plugs into existing connector near the air filter, so no drama there. For the rear, i went the most difficult route imaginable, because i wanted the conversion to be as close to original as possible. All the 80 series are pre-wired for the lockers in the dash (for the switch and ECU), but the non-locked trucks are missing the 5 wires in the main body harness (that runs along the drivers side rocker panel and then down under the truck). My first plan was to just swap the body harnesses with a set from a locked LX450 parts truck that i have. That plan went out the window when i saw that my LC body harness has about 10 more wires in it, despite not having the locker wires. Im not yet sure what all those extra wires are for, but they might come in handy for installing other cool factory gadgets later down the road, so i decided to keep the original LC harness and add the locker wires to it.

So i opened up the LX450 harness, removed the 5 correct color-coded locker wires from it (including the pins from connectors at both sides). Then i removed the entire body harness and "rear bumper harness" from the LC. Opened them up, inserted the locker wires into the middle of the loom, pins into the connectors and taped it all back up, and reinstalled, using all original mounting clips and wire protectors. The whole procedure took a ridiculous amount of time, but end result is a conversion that looks nearly 100% factory, even with close inspection. In fact, i dont think anyone would ever be able to tell that this truck didnt come triple locked from the factory (without checking the axle code on the door sticker, of course )

After that i rebuilt the knuckles with all new OEM bearings, seals, new spindles (the old ones had a bit of wear on the bearing surfaces). The procedure was detailed on mud a million times, so im not gonna go into details. Just a mandatory "greasy mess" pic.

 

[TurboDennis]

Last week i spent building the custom turbo back exhaust. Pics will follow in a couple of days.

Yesterday i started on the wiring - the last big hurdle before the truck is operational. Originally i was planning to modify (lengthen) the RHD 1HD-FT ATM harness that came with the engine. I also sourced a LHD 1HD-T MTM harness that i thought i could adapt, as a back up solution. Both turned out to be horrible ideas, mainly because MOST of the locations of the pins (where it plugs into the dash harness on the truck) are completely wrong on diesel trucks. Good thing i didn't spend a retarded amount of money on a new, discontinued 1HD-FT LHD MTM harness, because it would still requite a lot of work re-pinning everything.

What i decided to do instead is to modify the original 1FZ harness. Its already correct length. Just a couple of wires need to be lengthened, a few sensor connectors swapped, and a few wires added for the factory glow screen system/timer (if i chose to use it). WAY less work than modifying the 1HD harness (even the "correct" LHD one).

 

[kendrick]

You just promised me a post..where is it lol

 

[TurboDennis]

Coming along slowly but surely. Completely finished the exhaust. Finishing up the wiring now.

The exhaust took a ridiculous amount of time to fabricate. Half way through it i started wondering if i should've just paid a professional to do it, which would probably take them 1/4 of the time it took me.

In the spirit of the build, i wanted to build the best system possible. Full 3" 304SS mandrel bent , turbo-back piping, all V-band connections, utilizing ALL factory mounts and mounting locations, using ALL factory heat shields, no cats or other silly restrictions and completely tucked away WELL above the frame. I followed the factory routing with one exception - going over the frame under the passenger seat, instead of under the frame like the original pipe goes.

Im not a welder, so my MIG welds won't win any aesthetic competitions... But im pretty confident in their structural integrity and corrosion resistance. All the welding was done with SS wire and proper Tri-Mix gas.

The exhaust HAD to eliminate the factory turbo elbow. I spent my younger years playing with 3rd gen Supras, and it's common knowledge in the Supra community that the factory cast turbo elbow on CT26 series turbos is very restrictive.
I could not find a pre-made SS flange to fit the turbo outlet, so i had to make my own from 1/2" 304 plate. Something that would take less than a minute with a CNC laser/water jet took me pretty much the whole day (with angle grinder, die grinder, drill and belt sander).

Another day or so of work:

The almost finished downpipe (before cleanup and welding a bracket for the turbo heat shield).

... and the fancy pipe that goes over the frame rail. It's a pretty tight fit - about 1/2" of clearance left between the pipe/frame and pipe/floor

 

[TurboDennis]

Tailpipe. LOTS of bends in this piece to clear all the obstructions along the way and allow for suspension movements without interference.

End result. I'll take some better pics when the truck is on a lift.

 

[TurboDennis]

Way behind original schedule, but "stage 1" is nearing completion. I can almost smell the diesel fumes.... oh wait.... i can!
Fired her up for the first time today! I spent most of my free time for the past 5 months working on the thing, so im very happy and relieved to finally see it running.

It took a few seconds of cranking, but she fired up and started running perfectly smooth within a couple of seconds. There was a puff of smoke that came from somewhere on the engine shortly after starting it, but it never came back. Here's the video of the very first time i tried to start it.



I did plenty of research, and i really wanted to have everything working properly by the time it was started. To my surprise, it didnt quite work out like that. My issues are the tach and the coolant temp gauge.

Coolant temp gauge needle goes to the middle (normal operating temperature) as soon as the key is turned to "on" position. And it just stays there, regardless of actual coolant temp. This one should be pretty easy to troubleshoot, as i can first try a different temp sender unit, then possibly the gauge from an HDJ81 truck (i haves spares of both). Perhaps my sender is faulty, or the gasser gauge is not displaying the input from the diesel sender properly (although the senders look identical).

Tach is a lot more confusing. Im about 98% sure that i wired it properly (black wire from tach pickup on IP wired to E7D(10) pin behind the glovebox, brown (ground) wire from tach pickup is grounded to engine block)). Used the tach from the same year HDJ81.
Yet for some reason the tach is not working at all. I didn't install the "t-belt" and "turbo" screws into the circuit board on the gauge cluster yet. Could this cause dead tach somehow? If not, perhaps my tach is dead (same problem as @Rock40 had). This would suck, as i don't have a spare one.





Some shiny brand new OEM parts i was waiting on before starting the truck:


Brand new diesel, manual tranny specific radiator available form Toyota USA:

New Toyota rear driveshaft (ordered from Japan). It only cost me about $100 more to buy a brand new unit as opposed to lengthening the original one. All local driveshaft shops gave me the same BS that there is no metric tubing in existence in Canada, and they would need to machine the yokes to fit the imperial tubing, which means more work and $$$. So i just shelled out for a new one instead of dealing with all that crap. (why there is no metric tubing available is beyond me, considering that probably 80%+ of cars on the roads in Canada use metric parts... Front driveshaft was shortened from original, which only cost about $120

Set of new shoes, in my favorite size - Cooper ST Maxx 255/85/16

 

[mudgudgeon]

Pretty decent job on the exhaust.

I've done a couple now. Definitely not quicker, and probably not cheaper than having one made, but it's a pretty satisfying challenge IMO

 

[Travis 76]

I have a gauge cluster from an FJ80, don’t know the condition of the tach. It should be in working condition.

 

[Travis 76]

Should be from a 3FE cruiser.

 

[Jroc561]

Yeah im sure its has to be pretty satisfying.

I personally bought a couple Vibrant mufflers, some vbands and a 3inch downpipe from Aus and just took mine to an exhaust shop to put it all together.

 

[Workhorse]

Nice work Dennis! I'm super curious about how the H152 performs for you. Are you planning on doing a video driving to show what RPM's it's at in relation to the speed?

 

[bottombracket]

Dennis, I have a Euro HDJ80 cluster with tach if you need it. I was going to put it in my HZJ80 but it might benefit you more.

 

[TurboDennis]

Had a day off work yesterday. First hooked up the clutch lines and bled them, which was pretty much the last thing left to do for the truck to be driveable. I did "drive" it on my driveway back and forth so it officially moves under its own power now, through the H152, which is a win!
Will get registration for it today, and probably take it out onto the streets (if the heavy rain stops).

Then i fixed the coolant temp gauge. Turns out the actual gauge in the cluster was bad. My guess is that the gauge pegged so hard when the previous owner overheated the engine, that the gauge just overheated and broke, lol. I swapped another gauge in and it's working great now. Interestingly, the part number on the gas and diesel temp gauge/oil pressure gauge assemblies (for the same year) is different, although they look IDENTICAL. I tried both gas/diesel gauges, and they both work fine with 1HD-FT.

The rest of the day (8+ hours) i spent troubleshooting the tach. More on that on the bottom of this post.

I have a gauge cluster from an FJ80, don’t know the condition of the tach. It should be in working condition.

Thanks, but gas tachs wont work with a diesel.

Nice work Dennis! I'm super curious about how the H152 performs for you. Are you planning on doing a video driving to show what RPM's it's at in relation to the speed?

Thanks Ross! Trust me, im even more curious how H152 will perform, but i won't be able to fully evaluate it without a working tach...

Dennis, I have a Euro HDJ80 cluster with tach if you need it. I was going to put it in my HZJ80 but it might benefit you more.

Thanks for the offer Galen, but your tach probably wont work either... See bellow


So this is what i determined after spending 8+ hours troubleshooting my tach and digging through the 3 general market EWD's that i have (1996, 1992 and 1990).

First i did some research on mud and found quite a few instances where people's tachs weren't working after swapping the diesel engine in. People just assumed that their tachs were faulty, and replaced them with another unit that solved their problem. Such as @70sguy described here:

Builds - Euro 1HD-FT Turbo Diesel/H151F 5 Speed Manual LHD 96' USA Swap

Steve, What size type, font and style did you use? ...12pt Arial .

forum.ih8mud.com

or @Rock40 in the same thread.

I found this odd, as documented, proven tach failures are relatively rare on these trucks.

Then i found another thread by @craigbuilt :

FZJ80 to HZJ80 conversion Tach wiring problem.

Hello All, I have a 97 FZJ80 that now has a 1hz diesel in it. Everything on the vehicle works great no wiring issues ect.. except for the tachometer. I finally got around to wiring it up the, last thing on the list, and I am stumped. I will do my best to explain what i have done and how I have...

forum.ih8mud.com

He bought a brand new tach which wasn't working. He came to conclusion that his pickup sensor was bad and gave up.

So i decided to dig deeper and this is what i found:

According to EWD's that i have, on the trucks with a factory installed 1HD-FT AND either an auto tranny OR EGR valve, the signal from the tach doesnt go straight to the pickup sensor on IP... It actually goes to either the ECT computer (auto tranny), or the Emissions ECU (EGR valve). The ground wire from the tach sensor on IP also goes to ECT/Emissions ECU, instead of straight to the ground.

So my theory is that the Emissions ECU or the ECT ECU processes the signal somehow, to a format that the tach gauge can read and display.

I further confirmed this theory by digging through Toyota EPC's:
83242-6A260 - 1997 1HD-FT tach /w EGR equipped
83242-6A240 - 1997 1HD-FT tach /w ATM equipped
83242-6A220 - 1997 1HD-FT tach /w MTM (without EGR or ATM)
(there are no visual differences between these tachs, such as turbo/t-belt lights)

On earlier trucks with 1HD-T or 1HZ, the tach works the same way as the 1HD-FT tachs without ATM/EGR - signal straight to sensor via black wire, then through the sensor to ground on engine block via brown wire). That's why using an earlier tach fixes the problem.

 

[Rock40]

Interesting stuff, nice work on the research. I'm about 99% sure that my first tach was for a 1HD-T tho, and it was fried.

 

[Jroc561]

Great knowledge/research being dropped in here

 

[TurboDennis]

Ok, so i got the tach fixed for now. A local fellow cruiserhead was kind enough to lend me his 1hd-t tach (his truck is down now anyway). I swapped it in and it works great.

Went and got it plated/inspected/insured today, so now its fully legal. Was short on time, so i just drove it around the block a bit.

Felt great and very smooth, except it seems like i did actually damage the turbo oil return rubber hose when i was wiggling the drivetrain in. I have a small oil leak there (the hose was brand new). Will put a generic hose on there (while i wait for OEM) tomorrow and take the truck on a highway for testing.


One thing i noticed though, is that the first gear is sometimes difficult to shift into (regardless of whether or not the truck is moving or standing). None of the other gears have that problem. I never drove a vehicle with s brand new manual transmission, so hopefully it just needs to be broken in a bit.

Interesting stuff, nice work on the research. I'm about 99% sure that my first tach was for a 1HD-T tho, and it was fried.

Youre right, i looked at your pics and it does look like a 1hd-t tach (1hd-ft tachs had turbo and t-belt lights on it, i believe, instead of 1 or 2 turbo lights like the earlier ones). I need to look into it more, but maybe some 1hd-t tachs also got the signal from some sort of computer.

I got a buddy with a 96 HDJ81 with A/T. I will ask him if i can try my tach in his truck. If it works, then it will pretty much prove my theory from the earlier post for sure

 

[Rock40]

I highly recommend the Redline full synthetic oil for your transmission. I run it in all my Toyota manual boxes and it is a night/day difference over any other gear oil I've tried. Much smoother shifts overall in every gear. I've got 45K on the current oil and the H151F shifts like new.

 

[Lumpskie]

I highly recommend the Redline full synthetic oil for your transmission. I run it in all my Toyota manual boxes and it is a night/day difference over any other gear oil I've tried. Much smoother shifts overall in every gear. I've got 45K on the current oil and the H151F shifts like new.

I had the same experience with my manual Tacoma. I thought I had an issue with first gear. It was hard to get into first unless totally stopped. I put redline in there and it smoothed it out. First worked perfectly for 100,000 miles, till I sold the truck.

 

[TurboDennis]

I highly recommend the Redline full synthetic oil for your transmission. I run it in all my Toyota manual boxes and it is a night/day difference over any other gear oil I've tried. Much smoother shifts overall in every gear. I've got 45K on the current oil and the H151F shifts like new.

I had the same experience with my manual Tacoma. I thought I had an issue with first gear. It was hard to get into first unless totally stopped. I put redline in there and it smoothed it out. First worked perfectly for 100,000 miles, till I sold the truck.

I've used Redline oil in the past, and had great results with it as well, however i highly doubt my issue is oil related. First of all, im running Amsoil GL4 Manual Transmission -specific oil. It's supposed to be just as good as Redline, if not better (Amsoil stuff is just easier for me to get around here).

But most importantly, my transmission is BRAND NEW. A brand new, HD Toyota transmission shouldn't require some sort of exotic, special oil to shift properly... Imagine someone buying a new LC for $75K+, and the dealer trying to tell the new owner that the oil it comes with is no good, and needs some sort of exotic special blend that almost nobody sells, including the dealer themselves.. It just makes no sense.

 

[mct75]

I know on some transmissions first gear isn't synchronized, so it helps to double clutch when you shift into first, even if you're not moving at all. Just let the clutch out in neutral for a second then try to shift in first.