The Great Engine Change

(or one mans quest for more power)

Background

Although I had never found the normally aspirated diesel engine (1HZ) in the Land Cruiser inadequate off road, on road was another matter, especially when towing the camper trailer.  To say overtaking was "challenging" would be an understatement.  Together with mates we contemplated purchasing an aftermarket turbo charger, but after conversations with some that were dissatisfied with that route and the lingering doubts about the longevity of the 1HZ in boosted form no firm decision was made.

Enter the chance conversation with a workmate.  His neighbour imported cars and stuff from Japan.  With a scrap of paper noting the engine model desired off went my workmate to see his neighbour next time he came into the country.  Out of the blue came a call from 'Ken'..."So you want a multivalve turbo from a cruiser?".  "Yep, but has to be an 80, the later one is electronic injection".  "Well I have one and I'll put it in the container tomorrow if you want it".  What a quandary, the price was great with a changeover price being within $500 of going aftermarket turbo after I sold my old 1HZ.  But no chance to think about it.  The bit that made it too good an offer to turn down was the mileage...or lack of rather, 8,500km plus the fact it included a the gearbox and transfer case.

So sight unseen, and no chance to even explain it to my wife and I was committing to a new engine.  Well, the reception on the engine news was better than I imagined, but understandably not happy.

So it was research time.  Fortunately Southside Toyota (Brisbane) employ some great guys in their parts area, so with the help of my contact there I was able to ascertain that I would need only a few parts, the AC hose from the compressor to firewall and the aircleaner lid, engine mounts are the same size but a different composition, so I didn't worry.  Unfortunately these two parts were ex Japan, so a 2 week wait was in order.

After a few false starts and delays the engine arrived, 2 weeks after it was supposed to and 3 weeks before a planned holiday to Mt Moffatt NP with friends.  Fortunately, I had almost everything in place (except for the aircleaner lid) and so collecting the engine 2 days before the workshop weekend wasn't a major drama.

A week before this I had ordered a 3" engine pipe for the exhaust as I knew this would not fit.  A call at 3pm on the Friday elicited that it probably wouldn't be available for another week....not happy at all.  A quick call to John at 4WD Off Road Wrecking, Archerfield found they had recently wrecked an early 1HDT 80 series and the engine pipe was available for $110.  So fancy when I turned up there at 4pm found it was in very good condition and spied the complete aircleaner assembly siting in the engine bay of said Land cruiser (little did I know I would eventually buy this for $75 about 2 months later).  I couldn't be bothered buying this aircleaner knowing I had a nice new one coming soon enough and thought the lower can was identical anyway (its not, it mounts closer to the guard - hence why I bought the used one later)

Friday 6.30pm.  The Cruiser has been reversed in to the bay besides Hans and Wendy's shed and we're ready to start.

Thumbs up and ready to go.

Friday night's effort was mainly due to a good mate (James Yatras) being unable to assist on the weekend due to work commitments.  So rather than miss out on the fun we decided to start early.

Note the Safety Boots.

By 10.30pm James, Gordo and I have got everything undone bar the engine mount bolts and rather than keep going we called it quits and had an icy cold XXXX.

Saturday.  Saturday morning was a slow start.  Most of the gang had otehr family committments before we were "good to go".  My 10.30am Hans was back and we enlisted a 30minute visitor (Matt Pozzi) to help pull the engine out.

By the time Peter "Stinky" Blackmore arrived we had an empty engine bay for him to stare at.

The light blue hoses are the ARB Airlocker lines.  Everything was stripped out, both battery cradles, aircleaner, radiator support etc.  This made rolling the old engine out very easy with only a low lift required to clear the steering arms and it was rolled out.

There is it one Japanese import Toyota 1HD-FT turbo diesel complete with 5 speed and viscous couple transfer case.

You can see the packing as it came.  There was no damage other than a coupe of minor dents in the front sump.  The engine was purchase as a complete unit so it included the loom (not used), EGR computer (not used) and all the hoses were as removed from the old car.

The engine is easily identified as a 97/98 80 Series engine by the cad plating on the Power steering reserviour.  Pre 97 had black paint.

Video footage shows it wasn't as easy as we thought getting the new engine in, without stripping off accessories.  However, after removing the engine mounts it slid in easy as pie.  The problems lay in clearing the turbo as it settled in to position.

This picture shows Peter B, Stuart McMurtrie and I bolting back in the ancillaries (the new engine is already in place).  The top radiator support piece is laying to my left.

With Stuart, Hans, Peter, Gordo and myself working on the vehicle we powered through a mountain of work in short order.  All fluids, belts hoses were changed by the time we stopped on Saturday afternnon.

The only major problem was the rear tailshaft.  Unlike my old 1HZ the new engine had a viscous coupling which made the whole rear of the transfer case assembly about 100mm longer.  A factor I had considered before hand and not a part I could easily identify.  With no chance of shortening the old shaft on a Saturday afternoon and the likelihood of sourcing one from a wreckers distant (so I thought) we skipped the idea.

There is, one of Toyota's finest pieces of engineering.  This is slightly different to the Australian spec engine only in the air intake cross over pipe and the two exhaust gas valves seen to the rear right of the photo.  The conversion was very uncomplicated as the basics of the engine are in common with the original 1HZ (normally aspirated diesel) engine.  By utilising the original loom all accessories, gauges and instruments worked without modification, except for an intermittent fluctuation in the tacho.

This engine unlike the earlier 1HD-T turbo diesel and the 1HZ engine does not utilise a glow plug system for pre-ignition combustion heating.  As this part of the loom was not used all the wires for it were taped up except for an earth lead in the same harness section.  The problem with the tacho was isolated when Stuart, Gordo and I were playing around with an oscilloscope a weekend later and it was found the tacho was working when Stuart was pushing on that section of loom.  Bolting the loose lead to earth solved the problem.

This is where the conversion was by Saturday 6pm.  No grill etc, but all in place and almost ready to start.

Sunday

After a big Saturday night BBQ there was little chance of an early start.

Gordo, Hans and myself bolted up the cosmetic stuff (except the bonnet)  connected and aircleaner lid (donated off Hans' vehicle).  With the fuel injectors cracked off to stop it starting it almost time for the moment of truth.  So away we went and cranked the engine for about 2 minutes while it built up oil pressure.  By the time the gauge registered 1/2 pressure it was "that" time. 

So with injectors reconnected a block handy for the air intake in case of an unstoppable runaway engine and the key turned.......purrrrrrrr.   The sound of a direct injection turbo diesel as it fired up and ran as smoothly as if it had just driven off the showroom floor.  To say I was elated/relieved and excited was an understatement.  Gordo and Hans and I "Hi Fived" and I had a bit of a holler.

So by Midday Sunday it was all over bar the unresolved tail shaft and a delay from Toyota on the aircleaner lid.  Lunch was in order and then a sit down with the Yellow Pages and a call to one of the few wreckers open on a Sunday.  A quick call to ABC Wreckers at Oxley elicited that "yes they had wrecked a few cruisers and to bring the old shaft out and measure a few up".

So off we went, picked around a few wrecks and went into a shed lined with various parts, including about 100 various Toyota tail shafts.  Quite amazing the third shaft appeared to be the right length.  So using the fairly worn rear uni joint as a bargain point we drove home with a suitable tail shaft.

An hour later and the three of us were testing out the new engine's performance near Whytes Island.  I was amazed,  the engine appeared to be a bit down peaky with poor off boost response but it was faster than a cut cat compared to the old 1HZ.  The other guys were also similarly impressed.  A few laps around the block and we gave it the thumbs up.....one conversion 99% finished, time to pack up the tools and head home.

Final Notes on the Saga.

The new aircleaner lid arrived on the Tuesday as promised by my friendly Toyota man and another mate gave me a suitable AC hose that I could use for the alloy fiittings.

Another mate's refilled the AC after I had the new hose made and the total cost of the conversion added up.

• Engine (less sale of 1HZ) $3000
• Exhaust $110
• Aircleaner Lid $50
• Decals $83
• New turbo oil and water hoses $20
• Tailshaft $110
• Rear Uni  $50
• Oil, filters, hoses and belts (all in stock for old engine) $150
• AC Re-gas $50

Now for the best part.  After regassing the AC, Gordo got a call that a 1996 turbo diesel Landcruiser was for sale in Dubbo (NSW), so due to the invauable assistance he gave during the conversion and before hand, I offered to go with him to Dubbo but in my newly converted Cruiser. 

The reason was two fold.  My vehicle was extra long seat tracks for the Flowfit seats (plus 1.5") and the standard seats are a bit uncomfortable for me and also to give me a chance to try the new engine with someone mechanically competent beside me if a worst case scenario arose.  So Sunday morning saw us on the road to Dubbo and 9 hours later inspecting a Landcruiser in a carpark.  The drive down was a revelation.  Overtaking roadtrains was effortless, once above 2000rpm the engine was really delivering some HP, to go from 90 to 130 kph in the length of a B double semi trailer was something unachievable with the old 1HZ, hills were gobbled up effortlessly in top gear and fuel economy was astounding, returning 12l/100km for the return trip, the majority at 110-120kph.

After returning home it was time for its next test, towing the camper trailer.  Brisbane to Mt Moffatt then to Makay and home was enough to convince both Marianna and I that the engine was worth it.

After returning home it was time to see if something couldn't be done about the off boost response of the engine.  The others in the group were constantly commenting that there was no sign of diesel soot under even the heaviest load, so I gathered fuelling was at the lowest setting.  A call to Diesel Australia at Slacks Creek was all that was need.  For the measly sum of $135 they stripped off all the old EGR hoses, connected only the necessary vacuum lines and played around with the boost compensator settings.

And what a transformation.  Off boost response was as good as the 1HZ, on boost response was better than before and fuel consumption appears no worse.

So ends the story.  1HZ to 1HD-FT in one weekend, no drama's and only little hiccups easily and more importantly cheaply overcome.