Totally new to Diesels: Summary of what I've learned, questions, concerns (1 Viewer)

[Vossie]

diesels love being worked, far more so than being lugged. what i mean by that is in a gasser, you can shift early and have the engine lug/strain until it gets up in revs and its not a big deal bc gassers arent as high compression engines as diesels. you dont want to do that in a diesel. if you feel your losing power, say up a long hill, or your just not pulling out even with more throttle, change down, get the revs up, let the engine do the work.

i have a 12HT, just a smaller 1HD-T without the timing belt or overhead cam. it loves to stay between 1500rpm and 2500rpm. going over that just increases the noise without too much extra go.

as for maintenance and mods, yes you can mod everything, put gauges, do the exhaust, change this, do that. but IMHO, its not necessary. we do those things bc we want more. more power, more torque, more information, more whatever it is your looking for. but a toyota diesel doesnt NEED these things. it will be just as bullet proof without them.

my $0.02, just drive it. get to know it. then you will be in a better place to know what you want to do with it. and dont stress every little noise and jerk and clunk. that cruiser has survived for 26 years before you, you would have to go out of your way to kill it now

 

[mudgudgeon]

I agree with Vossie above. But would strongly recommend an EGT gauge, you have no way of knowing what the state of tune is after 25years of potential for having been fiddled with.
Everything else is really as vossie suggests, if you want more, then go down the road of upgrading exhaust, initercooler, turbo etc etc

80's have well and truly been put through their paces and proven to be tough, and extremely reliable so long as you keep up the PM.

Something like 30% of ALL diesel landcruisers sold worldwide are in Australia, the vast majority of diesel 80's are still stock standard.
There would be countless examples of 80s that have done things like tow a caravan across the Nullabor Plains. There is literally 145km (90m) of highway that is dead straight, not a single bend for 145km, and around 300km between towns. ( Eyre Highway - Wikipedia ). Temps can reach 38C+ regularly, or similar outback roads in the Norther Territory with unlimited speed zones, travelling at 140-160km is not uncommon. If that's not a test for how hard you can push them, I'm not sure what is

 

[Vossie]

I agree with Vossie above. But would strongly recommend an EGT gauge, you have no way of knowing what the state of tune is after 25years of potential for having been fiddled with.
Everything else is really as vossie suggests, if you want more, then go down the road of upgrading exhaust, initercooler, turbo etc etc

80's have well and truly been put through their paces and proven to be tough, and extremely reliable so long as you keep up the PM.

Something like 30% of ALL diesel landcruisers sold worldwide are in Australia, the vast majority of diesel 80's are still stock standard.
There would be countless examples of 80s that have done things like tow a caravan across the Nullabor Plains. There is literally 145km (90m) of highway that is dead straight, not a single bend for 145km, and around 300km between towns. ( Eyre Highway - Wikipedia ). Temps can reach 38C+ regularly, or similar outback roads in the Norther Territory with unlimited speed zones, travelling at 140-160km is not uncommon. If that's not a test for how hard you can push them, I'm not sure what is

EGT is a great one to have. something im still looking for on mine. and dont worry, im not saying dont do mods. one look at my 45 and you will see where i stand on that. im just saying, toyotas are damn tough with or without em.

here in Zimbabwe, the 80 series has proven itself time and time again. i know of at least 10 of them that have gone 1 million plus kms. and our roads and terrain is rough. hell, even highway and town driving here is like trail riding for you guys.

 

[ClassicYotas]

How fast do you want go?
How much can your ears handle?
So long as your EGTs and cooling system are ok, push it as hard as you're comfortable with.

I just want to go cruising speeds. 60/70 mph/ 90/112 KPH.

 

[ClassicYotas]

I run 120kph all day long on the flat highways around here. EGT's are fine, trans temp is fine.

Why buy a Land Cruiser to handle it with white gloves? I think the truck is a lot tougher than you are giving it credit for.

Oh I barely have seat time in it. I am being cautious out of ignorance and due to the fact that I have no base of comparison to this experience.
I've driven stick for a good amount of my young life, and have owned many cars, but nothing is like this experience. So I am just gathering information and asking questions to make sure I proceed appropriately.

 

[ToyotaDyna]

Don't let your diesel lug, keep your revs up, you will get used to the sound and won't have to look at the rev counter to know when you have to shift down a gear or two when driving. Also make sure you change your airfilter it's important on a diesel aswell as the others.

They are abit more sluggish than a petrol but I think it adds to the fun and experiance of driving a diesel cruiser. It's like a miniature big rig

ToyotaDyna

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Looking for a LHD, Diesel Land Cruiser?
Canarian Land Cruiser Exports • DIESEL • LHD

 

[chappohj47]

You don't need egg if your. It touching the fuel screw

 

[chappohj47]

Egt not egg

 

[DancesWithMutts]

Egt not egg

The problem is that his fuel screw could have been messed with by the previous owner, like mine had.

 

[CycloSteve]

Agree with the prior posts that the EGT is the first mod which will be helpful along the way with all other mods. 2nd on my list would be to swap out the exhaust to a 3" free flowing system. Then find a shop which can help with the tuning of the injection pump if you are not willing to dive into that yourself. The IP and injectors may need to be serviced, and that is typically money well spent if not done and documented recently.

1HD-FT here with a H151F, 35's, 4.11's, OD gears in the T-Case, 3" exhaust, GTurbo pushing about 7500 pounds of truck fully loaded. The truck goes like stink, and definitely rivals the supercharged 1FZ-FE that I had previously, but with much more torque. 120KPH all day long here, and EGT's max out at 900F with my current tune pulling long hills. I fiddle with the IP on a fairly regular basis, still learning and working on balancing fuel consumption with good even power across the rpm range of 1500 to 3500 rpm, and little to no smoke.

 

[panamacruiser]

My two cents...I've owned my HDJ80 for 15 years now, second owner, so far it has about 600 000 km not done an engine rebuilt yet (should pretty soon) ...in the mornings idle it for about 2 mins, if you run it at 2000RPM just shut it off, nothing will happen, turbo starts spooling at 1800RPM...last time I ran mine, I saw 170Kph...fuel starts to go down alarminly quick like that...best fuel consumption 1800RPM or 80Kph...you can still use a good 40 grade oil, as your engine starts to get older (more km) then put a 50...have the timing belt replaced...all hoses replaced...with a manual trans, no need for a trans cooler...intercooler is a nice thing, not needed unless towing or want to go faster...if you let go of the gas pedal, the car will try to stop, once you learn this, you will use less your brakes and more the downshift, if you go downhill while in 4WD even if it High no Low, you will see all the others just trying to melt their brakes...torque comes at 1400RPM (when loaded) so it is a great car for rock crawling, if you just put it in 1st gear and ease off the clutch, it can take you up a little hill with no gas pedal effort at all...your idling RPMs should be anywhere from 750 to 850, the AC should kick it up like 50 or 100 more...if you don't see snow, no need to use those glowplugs...mine have never been changed nor used...about the exhaust, first off do a search and get an "elbow" for your CT26 that is 3 inches
3 inch exhaust elbow on CT26

 

[ClassicYotas]

Agree with the prior posts that the EGT is the first mod which will be helpful along the way with all other mods. 2nd on my list would be to swap out the exhaust to a 3" free flowing system. Then find a shop which can help with the tuning of the injection pump if you are not willing to dive into that yourself. The IP and injectors may need to be serviced, and that is typically money well spent if not done and documented recently.

1HD-FT here with a H151F, 35's, 4.11's, OD gears in the T-Case, 3" exhaust, GTurbo pushing about 7500 pounds of truck fully loaded. The truck goes like stink, and definitely rivals the supercharged 1FZ-FE that I had previously, but with much more torque. 120KPH all day long here, and EGT's max out at 900F with my current tune pulling long hills. I fiddle with the IP on a fairly regular basis, still learning and working on balancing fuel consumption with good even power across the rpm range of 1500 to 3500 rpm, and little to no smoke.

What is the importance of tuning the injection pump? What benefits or risk do I run if I do it/dont do it?

 

[ClassicYotas]

The problem is that his fuel screw could have been messed with by the previous owner, like mine had.

Please tell me more about this fuel screw and how it affects things.

 

[Dork]

Here's 43 pages of information about your injection pump and tuning it that you can try to read, but eventually go blurry-eyed over, forget most of the information and then subsequently decide not to actually touch your injection pump.

The Official 1HD-T/FT Fuel Pump Mod Tuning Thread

 

[DancesWithMutts]

Get your EGT gauge working and head to Denver. We'll get you all sorted out.

 

[ClassicYotas]

Get your EGT gauge working and head to Denver. We'll get you all sorted out.

I'm going to Denver this December!

 

[IanB]

1st thing I'd do is add an EGT (pre-turbo as others have pointed out), and a boost gauge. You'll find that these things don't "warm up" per se from idling, I don't bother with it at all, 30 seconds at most to make sure everything is properly oiled and I'm away, just drive nicely until it's up to temp. The EGT is useful for idling to cool off as well, once the EGT drops to 350F you're safe to shut it down. You're looking to avoid "coking" the turbo bearings.

From there you can add a manual boost controller and turn the boost up to 14-15psi safely, you'll find this aids in extending the powerband (engine revs higher before power drops off), as you've got more air available than the stock 10psi, makes a big difference for highway driving, and runs cooler thanks to the extra air assuming fueling is untouched. 3" turbo back exhaust is another great mod, I've heard it lowers EGT's by about 100F on the highway, and may have other benefits as well.

Some other random bits of info:
-this is a fully mechanical injection pump, if you let off the throttle abruptly, the engine will cut power abruptly and lurch. Smooth out your inputs for a smoother response.
-tuning the injection pump affects the volume and timing of fueling = power output of your engine, you can affect the power delivery, and overall power output of your engine via tuning the injection pump, you can read about it here and greatly increase your understanding of how your engine works and the relationship between various factors: The Official 1HD-T/FT Fuel Pump Mod Tuning Thread
-You can change your gearing and bring down your revs on the highway by going with larger diameter tires = rubber overdrive. I find the torquey diesels deal with larger, heavier tires better than gassers without needing to regear, but I live in the prairies where it's a road trip to find a decent hill
-I can run 120km/h on the highway for hours on end with no issues, but auto's rev lower than manuals, and I have 33" tires which helps keep the revs down a bit as well, the EGT's and noise are the only real roadblocks here

 

[ClassicYotas]

Great wealth of information.

Thank you.

 

[mudgudgeon]

Good summary from @IanB

The "official tuning thread" linked above is huge.
I'd suggest start with the last 5-10pages, find posts by both @DancesWithMutts and @Lumpskie who recently worked through baselining tuning of new to them HDJ81
Lots of good info come from that, I think almost everything you need to know to base line your tuning is there. You can always dig in deeper for more info

 

[DancesWithMutts]

Good summary from @IanB

The "official tuning thread" linked above is huge.
I'd suggest start with the last 5-10pages, find posts by both @DancesWithMutts and @Lumpskie who recently worked through baselining tuning of new to them HDJ81
Lots of good info come from that, I think almost everything you need to know to base line your tuning is there. You can always dig in deeper for more info

Thanks for the shout out! You long time diesel guys really paved the way for the rest of us.

Hey @ClassicYotas check out this video for a general overview of how your pump works.