Project "Snapping Turtle": 1KZ-TE into a 2nd Gen 4Runner

[4Rescue]

Hi Dave!
I commented on your recent thread on ToyotaDiesel, but just saw this one over on ExPo. I am here more often anyway. Good to see the progress you are making. I have tackled quite a bit with this engine in my Tacoma, so if you need any help or documents, I have amassed quite a few over the years. I know I need to put up a build thread here, but it always feels like my truck isn't cool enough yet, so I just keep tinkering and figure I will post something later. Maybe after the water to air intercooler and garrett gt2560r turbo swap gets finished, I will post something. I do now have parts drawn up to fairly simply make an adapter to the intake manifold inlet for an intercooler that I am happy to share if you want.
Cheers

Hey man, great to se you on here too... I will let you know what I run into, currently I'm waiting to get my oil-pan so we can do a final mock of the engine in the bay, but as always Im sure I'll come across something else that becomes a major road-block lol. Believe me, a 1KZ Taco is more then "cool enough" mate. Inter-cooler Adapter sounds awesome, I keep thinking I'm going to want one for the long hard pull up oer the mountains so yeah when I get there I'll be pestering ya for some insight aye.

Cheers

Dave

 

[NorthernWoodsman]

Where to mount a spare tire, that's a really good question. I believe that a 33x10.50 tire fits up under the frame rails just fine, so keep that in mind. Since I don't plan on running a bigger tire than that I plan in leaving mine down there.

I run 33x10.50x15's and have a full size spare under my bed in the stock locale. It fits, snugly, but no problems running the cable up/down. I did have my exhaust moved as far to the drivers side as possible to prevent too much heat near the tire though.

 

[NorthernWoodsman]

Bad TPS:
View attachment 195159

Cheers

Dave

How'd you know the TPS was bad?

 

[Clay]

How'd you know the TPS was bad?

atlastrekker.com/blog/2013/11/06/22re-timing-issues-solved/

I just went through an episode with my tps. The main things I saw were code 51 and not being able to set my timing.

 

[NorthernWoodsman]

Thanks Clay. Guess it's not my TPS that's causing my troubles. New bookmarked website though

 

[vision19]

I have not read the entire thread, so sorry if this has been mentioned already.

I've got a 93 4Runner with a 94' 1KZTE/auto tranny. Runs great, awesome little engine. One thing you MUST do: Large exhaust and intercooler. On hot summer days, these engines tend to overheat under heavy loads. I have a 3" downpipe from turbo, and 3" straight back. Also have a very large Evo front mount intercooler with 2.5" piping. It helps tremendously during the summer months. The previous owner modified the temp gauge to be "linear," so when the needle is right on the line before the red zone, the thermostat is all the way open. If it crosses into the red it allows me to reduce load and let it cool off before serious engine damage occurs. I'll see if I can dig up the article about it if you want. Otherwise you can just get an EGT gauge and watch that.

This summer I climbed up the I-70 pass in Colorado at 70 MPH without overheating (32" tires). These engines can sure produce if you treat them right.

Also, if you still have the engine out of the truck, install a block heater!!! One thing I really wish I had on mine.. it has some trouble starting when its -30F. I use an oilpan heater, which helps quite a bit, but a block heater would be way better.

 

[4Rescue]

I have not read the entire thread, so sorry if this has been mentioned already.

I've got a 93 4Runner with a 94' 1KZTE/auto tranny. Runs great, awesome little engine. One thing you MUST do: Large exhaust and intercooler. On hot summer days, these engines tend to overheat under heavy loads. I have a 3" downpipe from turbo, and 3" straight back. Also have a very large Evo front mount intercooler with 2.5" piping. It helps tremendously during the summer months. The previous owner modified the temp gauge to be "linear," so when the needle is right on the line before the red zone, the thermostat is all the way open. If it crosses into the red it allows me to reduce load and let it cool off before serious engine damage occurs. I'll see if I can dig up the article about it if you want. Otherwise you can just get an EGT gauge and watch that.

This summer I climbed up the I-70 pass in Colorado at 70 MPH without overheating (32" tires). These engines can sure produce if you treat them right.

Also, if you still have the engine out of the truck, install a block heater!!! One thing I really wish I had on mine.. it has some trouble starting when its -30F. I use an oilpan heater, which helps quite a bit, but a block heater would be way better.

Hey man, thanks for the info, I'd LOVE to read that article if you happen to find it. my plan has been to do a big Exhaust and an IC but I'm still trying to decide on how to do the IC at the moment. I've had some experience with these trucks in Australia where they got the IC version but it's good to hear feedback from someone here in the US with feedback from our weather/road conditions cause they're very different climates where I was and where I am now in the PNW. With the hurdles I've had this far, I have time to work it out, but I greatly appreciate any/all ideas, feed-back and info you can give mate. I'm beyond excited to get this thing on the road, but it's going to be a "do it right once" kinda build and as such WAY slower then some might have patience for.

I a also doing a block heater as this will be taking me to far Northern Canada and up to AK to see family, winters on Mt. Hood and also just for the fact that, yeah, as you say, I HAVE THE BLOODY ENGINE OUT!!!! Hahahaha. Good call man, we're on the same page. Same reason I'm doing the T-Belt and gaskets while I have her out in an easy to access place now too.



So, to anyone who might peek in or has wondered if I died and or gave up: NO, the dream is still alive aye.

I've had some issues with a crucial part I got from Japan. The oil-Pickup tube is just slightly the wrong shape/length to fit into the pan correctly so rather then try to order another one were just modifying the one we got because it's such a small ammount of adjustment needed that... well, we just want to get on with it.

Other developments:
- Cleaned up the engine
- Got started laying out the wiring (oh MAN am I going to hate that part when it comes time to put it in the truck...)
- Got the rear axle/suspension tacked in/built up.
- Realized at the Last minute that I'd be stupid NOT to put an E-Locker in the back so we did that. I'm looking at going to a cable actuator for ultimate simplicity and field reliability (any opinions welcome on this bit)
- Designed my Bumpers/sliders
- Ordered up some Rigid Industries LED lights for the truck. Light bar and 3 sall 4-bulb units one of a back-up light, and two for "alley lights"
- Decided on a Fuel Filter and found a good coolant filter.
- Bud-Built T-Case X-Member and front Skid arrived... SO NICE, I'm gonna feel REAL safe with these and I can't WAIT to see it without that pesky factory "rock-snager" X-Member under there!!!

Still to work out:
- Intercooler
- Fans (electric or clutch/mech)
- AC comressor
- Re-fresh engine
- Mount engine..
-Lots of other stuff that's a problem for "Future Dave and co."
- Possibly going to yank the carpet and go with a HD molded/sound-deaening vinyl floor. Actually I've already decided to do it but I'm trying to find the right/best one and see if it's worth the cost one I figure out how much they want. This is something I REALLY want to do though, no carpet would be SO great and added sound deadening would be awesome.

Pictures when I've remembered to take them (really need to get better at this bit aye)

Old V6 out, waiting for the Diesel to be back together and ready to bolt in...




Ready for THIS to go (back) into it:



new pan and parts from Dave at Japan4x4 (Flywheel bolts and a TPS that I badly needed as we found out)


The offending Oil sump pick-up Tube... drops down about 1/8+ " too far to allow the pan to bolt on so I'm having it shortened and modified (the support arms in particular) and it should be back from the fab guy soon. I'd love to have been able t do this myself, but I can't/don't weld TIG well enough yet and I didn't trust a part this vital to the survival of my engine to my own hands... Simple enough aye


In THEORY, a "KZN130" Oil Pick-up tube on the left and what we believe is a "Hi Ace" pickup on the right (the pan that came on this engine was something else) for kicks/comparison... This is what started the whole "hang-up" in the first place and this alone has taken


The rear axle perches (might have already posted this... thought I had a picture of the E-Locker install but can't find them now) For anyone who didn;t read through my rather poorly crafted earlier posts, I converted to rear-leaves on this, a 2nd Gen 4Runner/Hlux Surf mainly for load-capacity reasosn adn for simplicity. I also have the same leaves on the back of my 1st Gen 4Runner and they're great. I prefer a more "truckish" ride and with the planned drawer system/sleeping platform, the 'constant" load combined with towing capability meant I either needed to go with complicated over-load system or a more complex rear system. SO, I just went with what I know: OME CS009 Leaf's. Some may see this as a Bad choice, but as I said I'm familiar with them, and I now they work. if at some point I get fed up and decide to SAS the thing these will find heir way up front and I'd likely go with longer OME springs for another application but for now, being IFS up front and more about the range/hauling capability then out-right trail toy status, they're more then capable and even flex well for the load they can handle and the relatively short length.


Bye for now...

Cheers

Dave

 

[4Rescue]

Sometimes you just have to wonder if humanity is plotting against you or if sheer stupidity has officially taken over the the "norm". Ok with that out of the way... The last few weeks have been slow, frustrating and finnaly resolved in us thinking "Why the $%^& didn;t we just think of that in the first place". Lovely.

SO my "Engine Oil Strainer" (as I've found it's named in the FSM) aka the Oil-Sump pickup tube that's been completely screwing me up lately went to a local fabricator with fairly detailed instructions and a pretty simple request: "can you cut here and here and TIG it back together"... There was more but you get the point. We even drew on the thing where to cut yadda yadda yadda. So, with Spring Break, people having kids and Holidays, I expected it to take a week or two... well, I finally got fed up and after not getting any responce, we get eventually get ahold of the shop, and they seem to hae forgotten it or didn't read the instructions etc. cause it's not done. But they prmise to look at it the next day... SO a WEEK later after more silence we finnaly make contact again and this time the guys says "Yeah you can't do that..." We counter with "...Well you clearly can, it's pretty straight forward and simple but we need someone who;s really sharp with a TIG machine to do it". And eventually he says "Well eah I guess it is doable... but I don;t really have any interest in doing it, it's kind of a small piece...". Fine, you don;t "want" to do it, can;t make you but 4 WEEKS to finnaly pull your head out and then turn down the job after ANOTHER week of futzing around???

So we finally just get the piece back, and while we're scratching our heads, Matt finally has a "light-buld moment" and says "Why don;t we just cut the little round 'faring" around the screen off??? That's at least the amount we need to shorten it and we wouldn't have to screw with the support arms or anything else."... I could have slapped myself it was so simple and such a "why the hell didn;t we think of that before" kind of thing. I really do feel kind of silly having not thought of that first. It's funny how sometimes when you;re frustrated, and you spend too much time stewing over and staring at a part, the less you actually see what you're doing.

SO what we're going to do is this:

We'll cut on the red line first, then if for some reason we still don't quite have the clearance we need, we'll cut on the yellow line and we'll definitely have the room we need.


On a positive note, I ordered up my Dual Battery controller and I'm about to order my Batteries here in the next few days. I also just got my cool new "Turbo Diesel" badges to sneeakily fit on the truck somewhere. Next little thing I have to find is the right Fuel/Water sep./filter. I'd love to find a real "Coaster Bus" type like the Aussie Nissan and Toyota guys use on their diesels, but I'll likely go with an easily sourced unit from like Racor or someone else. I also need to find a coolant filter and an external tranny cooler as well as an EGT/Pyrometer gauge system. Lots to do, but I'm really excited to button up the engine and get it hard mounted into the engine bay so we can REALLY start making progress on this thing... I literally have no idea how I've remained calm all this time cause usually I don;t do "patiently waiting" all that well and I'd think I'd be bald by now. HAHAHAHAHA

Cheers

Dave

 

[the kid]

this thing is gonna be sweet! id love to see it on the road sometime. if you ever see my feel free to honk and wave.

 

[4Rescue]

this thing is gonna be sweet! id love to see it on the road sometime. if you ever see my feel free to honk and wave.

Why thank you sir and will do mate, I love your Rescue Runner too, she's a beaut aye, I don't think I could miss it if I saw it so I'll keep my eyes peeled. I'm big on the "biker wave" hello to fellow Toyotas, I'm hoping it'll catch on hahaha.

I'm actually heading off to take another WMI W-EMT course here in a moth and half or so and I'm hoping with the engine assembly issues some-what sorted out that the progress will speed up considerably and I'll be able to have her fired and clattering for the drive to Lander WY.

Cheers

Dave

 

[4Rescue]

Well the hits just keep on coming!!!! First off I found out we still didn't get the engine buttoned up today and when I got back home to get on the computer and do some serious sleuthing, I go to re-start it and poof... suddenly I get a blue screen of death and now the lap-top where ALL my stuff for the project (except the notebooks with PN's and design sketches) is now failing to start-up. Presumably something to do with CLASSPNP.SYS if anyone's a windows 7 adventurer like myself, but long story short I DID post one reply on Toy Diesel and I get back by email (course can;t respond by phone cause I'm not logged IN on my phone ans their stupid "scrambled letters" security deal is just a broken image tag... SO I can't even request a new password... ANYWAY, what I get from him is that in looking at my pan (see below) he sure doesn;t THINK that's what his looks like... but as I say, I can;t get back onto the site to reply and converse with him... AHHHHHHHH

Found some interesting things in poking around though... the engine I have has the "oil level" sending unit wired to the OPPOSITE side of the new pan so we'll have to wire around that (although it makes me wonder what this tells us about this engine). I've also been seeing that MOST 1KZ-TE (in fact ALL I've seen) have an oil filler cap at the front RIGHT of the VC if you're looking into the engine bay from the front of the truck with little to no "neck" to the filler, just a cap going straight into the VC... Well MINE, has the filler on the LEFT front corver of the VS and there's a pronounced, maybe 2" "neck" to the filler.
Like SO: (can;t really see but there's a bit of a raised NECK under that cap off the VC...


SO I had been wondering, "did I get an older, odd duck engine or???" But I got the Engine SN off the block "1KZ 0350614" if anyone can make hide nor hair out of that... I can't. and in searching randomly for that Toyota SN I come across a re-man company and they do have an engine that looks JUST like mine, only it's for a 90-series Cruiser and a few other NEWER trucks... I also then found that the PN I was given might have been wrong (althgouhg in fairness the part is listed as though it's two identical things for the same chassis etc. when it's CLEARLY not.

So we cut off the shroud part of the OIl pickup tube, but NOW, instead of worrying about it hanging DOWN too far, it's now sticking too far BACK towards the tranny/bell-housing end of the engine... (left side is towards the tranny


And it does this... STILL HITS THE BLOODY PAN!!!!!


This is the pan in question though that's supposed to be for a "4wd KZN130" chassis and may well be, but it sure doesn't seem to work... Left is the tranny end so back of the truck


This is kinda disorienting but you're looking at it upsiide down from the back so if you flipped it right way up PRESUMABLY, that little "wing" has the drive shaft running underneath it to the diff just ahead of it I believe.


I'm LITERALLY about to say screw it, take a BFH to the pan and clearance it for the strainer head and just do an SAS on the truck so I can be COMPLETELY done with this IFS front end stuff in general. I like the way trucks drive, I drove XJ's for years and in talking with Matt, he thinks we could get the thing nearly as low as a 1.5" OME lifted SA mini-truck with a set of OME springs and clever fab work and frankly... I'm starting to think that while I like the IFS for those long hauls across the land, with the diesel under there, I may WANT a solid front just to help in the strength department. Plus, as RMP&O has inspired me to do... This truck will be a sort of "do it all truck" that could go run trails one weekend, pull my dump/utility/shuttle/rafting trailers, drive from one tip of the globe to the other and still be live-able 365 days a year as a DD. I mean I've always WANTED a solid axle Toyota and I'm in the process of building a truck so why bother building an IFS truck??? It's not like the SAS'd rig will be horrid to drive down the road with the diesel it'll cover miles well and get good mileage. SO what if it rides a little more wagon like, I've already swapped out the rear-coils for leaves in the interest of utility/strength so why not the front end???

Anyone still watching this think I'm mad...

Do I Try and throw caution to the breeze and order ANOTHER oil-pan hoping that this time I solve my solution, or do I beat and weld on this one, and see if I can make it work WITH the IFS or do I "B?C" it and bash and weld it into submission and then ALSO do the solid axle swap???

ARGH!!!!!

Cheers and some serious worries I've lost it

Dave

 

[4Rescue]

I know... most boring build thread ever huh??? I seriously hope I can make this worthy of even being here sometime in the next few weeks/month.

So yeah... Lap-top Died and I spent a solid weekend freaking out trying to find a work-around for the oil-pan... Came up with all kinsd of crazy ideas, some more crazy then others.

Lars over at Toyotadiesel.com (great member, gotta remember to point him over here) found a completely different PN for the 4wd Pan then what I got (and the pan I got... it AIN'T for a 4wd KZN130 Chassis) and I've gone ahead and ordered another pan {Toyota PN 12101-67080} which interestingly is listed as the pan for a KZN165 but is ALSO listed as the pan for a 1993-1995 KZN13 MANUAL trans truck. It appears to have the "dent" in the correct pass-side... at this point I'll have three oil-pans and 2 sump pickups... What is REALLY doing my head in is that regardless of how annoying this all is, even though I'm in the US, that doesn;t change the fact that the OPC's that the dealers and parts guys the WORLD over use for these trucks has some hinky PN for a 4wd KZN130 oil-pan. So that means that while YES, in countries where they got these trucks, they could go to a pick/pull and get a pan I'm sure, they would STILL presumably get the wrong pan like I did if they went to Toyota of wherever. BAH, so weird, whatever...

It's actually looking like the SAS might happen regardless of what happens with pan #3... There's a SFA 2nd Gen roaming around near my house and it looks great, looks like I could live with it and presumably from the build, it wasn't done to keep it low per-sey, it just isn't "HUGE" like some. I also got offered a pretty much built axle for around $1800 with an ARB, 5:29's (those will get sold on and the ARB might just replace the rear E-Locker I had planned), real Longfields and cryo-axles, full truss-work and braced Birf balls. Biggest issue is it was built around a Hydro-ram set-up and while the Ram's been sold on, I'd need to get a Hysteer/X-over set-up for it and probably some 6 bolt steering arms as well but hey... the ARB Diff alone may be worth the price of the whole axle. Either way, I'm gonna talk it out with Matt and I may have an SAS's chassis sitting there waiting to figure out if it's gonna ever have an engine in it...

Got all sorts of goodies for the engine though, from a full seal rebuild-kit to a new Timing-belt to a "Hilux" badge that I can't WAIT to put on the truck eventually.... It's the little things that count right :sombrero:

Hopefully I'll get the pan (my god how many times have I said those words... :violent-smiley-031 here sooner then later I'll be able to finally put this horrid chapter of my project truck life behind me... Yeah right, "Next problem please... next problem???"

Cheers

Dave

 

[4Rescue]

New (hopefully correct) pan should be on a boat headed this way now... Looks like she will indeed be getting a solid-front axle regardless, now the question is whether I end up going full-monty with F/R E-locked 80-series Axles or stick with the 8" Mini-Truck units. I WANT to do the 80's/E-lockers, but I've already gone through the process of stripping and leaf-converting the rear 8" axle so... BAH decisions decisions decisions.

Putting the cart a bit before the Horse but... I had to have one of these for the truck:


Cheers

Dave

 

[Clay]

Unimog axles maybe?

I'd stick with the rear you have and go with an '85 and some 30 spline axles. Keep it low and you'll be just fine.

 

[4Rescue]

Unimog axles maybe?

I'd stick with the rear you have and go with an '85 and some 30 spline axles. Keep it low and you'll be just fine.

Dam you and your "REASONABLE, LOGICAL THOUGHTS" Clay... DAM YOU!!!!! [/mutters to self] Stupid CLAY just doesn't want Dave to have any fun or a cooler rig then his... ( just givin' you the gear mate, I'm totally kidding aye).

In reality, you're right. I've already started doing an E-Locker in the 8" rear which is already all converted and sitting on it's new leaf-sprung sus. I also have a line on an 85 Axle with 5:29's (I'd sell on) an ARB (possibly swap it for an E-Locker/sell it on or keep it) and Cryo Axles/Birfs for $1500 or so. I'm a bit put off by the over-done trussing but that's all removable and re-doable to my specs, and it was set-up for a Hydro-Ram steering set-up so I'd need to get some 4-6 bolt Hy-Steer knuckles and associated parts to convert it to what I need but... Hell the ARB lockers worth $1500 and a re-gear is simple with the axle out. So it's looking like I'm going to just go 8" axles F/R... Plus, frankly, I gotta keep reminding myself that I'm NOT building a out and out crawler, I'll be going with Leaves instead of coils (read the 80 axles would take a bunch of work to get all set-up for my application) and that I already gain something in going to the 8" axle up front over the 7.5" IFS and it's associated CV joints. So, looks like I'm gonna go for an 8"/8" set-up... thanks CLAY hahahahaha

On another note: THE OIL PAN JUST GOT HERE TODAY (as always, GREAT service from Dave at Japan4x4 and I'm pretty impressed considering it only got thrown in the post Monday)!!!!! SO, tomorrow I'm going down to the shop and un-packing it to lay hands/eyes on it and see if maybe, FINALLY I've solved the illusive KZN130 Oil-Pan kunundrum once and for all. Luckily, with 3 Oil-pans now in my possession, and heading towards an SFA set-up, we should be able to make something that will work once we get that static IFS lump out of the way.

Cheers

Dave