Offroad-Express

Thinking about what to do when the 1KZ dies (when, not if lol) I am miles away from doing any form of engine work (hopefully unless it dies quicker than thought) but at 260+ km's its worth having a plan for when it dies. I guess if I have a plan I can start collecting parts and things for when it does blow.

Options in my brain are:

Rebuild the 1KZ-TE with a bigger/high flowed turbo, manual pump, inter-cooler, and screw some boost into it. bigger exhaust high flow air filter, supporting mods etc. No idea on what a kz can make reliably.

1UZ-FE with a link ECU to control it and intake exhaust mods. somethign like this should make around 300 hp?

350 Chev with a dirty big cam decent carb & Extractors etc. Nothing too wild, a nice easy 300-350 horse?

Cost wise the rebuild option would probably be cheapest, followed by the chev option, then lastly the 1UZ thanks mostly to the cost of the link and tune.

I'm looking for a package thatscheap to maintain, and something reliable. Ideally i'd like to keep the conversion costs to a minimum, under 10k, ideally under 8 (lower is better). I am able to do most of the mechanical myself, but the fabrication I would need to outsource.

What would you do and why?

Sheepy wrote:What would you do and why?

the 1kz wont die mate its got shitloads of life left at 260k the only thing it'll do is a head so when it does go throw a new one on and you'll be sweet its the easiest cost effective option

chevs are old technology and will devalue your truck unless your looking at an LS engine and if you go down the LS road it'll cost you more than a 1UZ swap, the strength and reliability of the rest of your drive train will be dependant on how you drive it

keep the 1kz.

one is the conversion cost for the others you could spend on doing the 1kz up.
theres a few threads on the conversion, i think someone mentioned the costs. but also factor in your still going end up with a 2nd hand engine, where as rebuilding the 1kz you end up with practically a new engine.

the other is that you can do things bit by bit. you can do turbo/ic/IP upgrades without touching the motor internals.

put a dump pipe on it now , block off your EGR, check your viscous fan regularly and replace your radiator fluid regularly, don't let the truck struggle up hills etc change up get it over 2000revs

Also 1 major thing to think about is running costs, you say it needs to be under a price etc and you dead right.

The oil burner will just chug away quite happily not detroying diffs all of it life, the V8 on the other hand........

Plus the fuel cost alone made mine (1UZ Surf) a vehicle for special occasions. Its a bit like building a truck to go really well off road when its a daily driver, 99% of its K's are on road and yet we seem to miss that part and make it go really well for the 1% of the driving we do.

Your first option seems like the best there.

M2c

Although nothing beats the V8 noise......thats gotta be worth something.

bob_or_jim wrote:Also 1 major thing to think about is running costs, you say it needs to be under a price etc and you dead right.

The oil burner will just chug away quite happily not detroying diffs all of it life, the V8 on the other hand........

Plus the fuel cost alone made mine (1UZ Surf) a vehicle for special occasions. Its a bit like building a truck to go really well off road when its a daily driver, 99% of its K's are on road and yet we seem to miss that part and make it go really well for the 1% of the driving we do.

Your first option seems like the best there.

M2c

Although nothing beats the V8 noise......thats gotta be worth something.

This sums up my opinion based on my experience.

All valid points. The truck is a weekend toy, I dont drive it daily, so fuel costs don't really matter. Maintenance costs however are somewhat important, I don;t want to be chucking new difs at it every month,.

All valid points. The truck is a weekend toy, I dont drive it daily, so fuel costs don't really matter. Maintenance costs however are somewhat important, I don;t want to be chucking new difs at it every month,.

Been there done that , that's why i now have a suzuki it doesn't have enough power to break anything

Sheepy wrote:All valid points. The truck is a weekend toy, I dont drive it daily, so fuel costs don't really matter. Maintenance costs however are somewhat important, I don;t want to be chucking new difs at it every month,.

Anything more than the 1KZ and you'll be replacing drive lines etc.

If $$$ isnt a problem go with the LS1 + auto (easier on drive line), fit what ever T case you can find and then save up for axles (is this an older beam axle wagon or IFS version? - if beam then get some stronger axles, if IFS - Pray and then get some stronger beam axles).

One day in the far far future a SAS would be the ticket. I guess rebuild and try and get some more power out of the desiesel and save for SAS. one would assume the SAS will get me further than a fancy high HP motor.

Sheepy wrote:one would assume the SAS will get me further than a fancy high HP motor.

yeah mate you'd probably be surprised how far you can go with some good axle articulation and driver technique there's a lot more to it than a loud pedal alone..... not that there's anything wrong a an lS1

Your SAS will be far cheaper than rebuilding the 1kz if thats any help. Find a KZJ78 or LN78 chassis or front half and your away cooking. CV's are super strong if there still the factory ones so you will never worry about busting items.

Cheers

I sasd my surf and dropped a 350chev in and i recken that it ya wana be a budget c@#t you could do both for 8k. just grab an eng off tradme and conversion gear from a1 turbos and an axle with leaves and go hermit in the shed for a month.
If you want basic reliabilty and torque then go put a good carb on a 350.
Ive driven 1UZs and i really wasnt impressed by their lack of torque,
they rev well but yea no torque.
also say all those fancy electrics shit them selves 50k in the bush how ya gonna fix that?

Go with the chev, you wont be let down. and if you wana see for yourself pm me and ill take ya for a run

Dannz71 wrote:I sasd my surf and dropped a 350chev in and i recken that it ya wana be a budget c@#t you could do both for 8k. just grab an eng off tradme and conversion gear from a1 turbos and an axle with leaves and go hermit in the shed for a month.
If you want basic reliabilty and torque then go put a good carb on a 350.
Ive driven 1UZs and i really wasnt impressed by their lack of torque,
they rev well but yea no torque.
also say all those fancy electrics shit them selves 50k in the bush how ya gonna fix that?

Go with the chev, you wont be let down. and if you wana see for yourself pm me and ill take ya for a run

Where abouts are ya?

Kumeu area

oh right. Let me know if you're going out somewhere, keen to see how yours performs.