1KZ-TE swapped Tacoma

Dude also from oregon, super sick swap you did.

 

Man that's awesome

 

Dang.. I need all the info!
My 3.4l just gave some bad knocking sounds on the way home.
Doing a motor swap would be the smart decision, but I’d love to get a 1KZ in there if I can!
Nice job OP.

 

Thanks man it was a lot of hard work and research to get it done the way I wanted. If you’re seriously considering a 1KZ swap I would start with getting a complete wiring diagram for your truck and one for the donor vehicle then just taking the time to map out the terminal locations, figure out what sensors and features you do and don’t need then track down any circuits those wires are a part of. Some things are going to be wired differently but function the same way like the AC controls for example; the Tacoma had two terminals, one that went directly to the AC clutch and one to the controls through the cowl harness (might have been the other way around) whereas the Land Cruiser had both going to the controls then to the clutch but I wired it the way the 3.4 was and it works fine.

I used the part number printed on the ECU to narrow it down to a 96-00 Land Cruiser Prado and used a diagram for a 96 (it was the only 1KZ Prado diagram I could find and buy the book for). It definitely was not the correct one as I could not find the 1st gear detection switch anywhere in the book so I had to use a Hilux Surf diagram to figure out where this random pink wire went to.

I would give you the diagram I made but it’s completely incomprehensible to anyone other than myself and missing some critical information that I figured out in the process of crisscrossing wires and I don’t remember what exactly needs to be added or removed.

I left most of the finer points out of my write up but if you have any questions I’d be happy to help.

 

Dude, that's incredible. I've suspected this is possible, since the Hilux Surf had the 1KZ, but this is the proof. Wish I could check it out in person.

 

Finally got some old film developed that had a few build pics on it. Nothing exciting but probably worth an addition to the thread.

 

When did you do the swap 1985?

 

Haha I do a little film photography as a hobby. Of course when I was doing the swap I only had one camera with good batteries and it already had 20 something frames used up on a 36 exposure roll. Trying to shoot 100 ISO in a dim shop didn’t yield the finest of results but I didn’t want to risk ruining an $18 roll of Ektachrome by swapping it for a roll of Lomo 800. Had a few shots of the tranny going in and the harness getting dissected but they came out all shakey and underexposed.

 

A couple questions. Why the the 1kz? Is there any other motors you would consider? Why not a vw tdi? What trans came with it? Any good places to find info about the diesels?

 

I picked the KZ mostly based on cost and availability. My first choice was the 1KD which is the 4v common rail direct injection version of the KZ but they were few and far between at the time, cost about three times as much and very few came with a transmission attached. I liked the fact that it uses the same engine mounts as the 5VZ so that saved me the trouble of fabricating new ones. Both the KZ and KD used the same R150F transmission as the V6 Tacomas but have a different bellhousing and a longer input shaft. There’s only a few Tacomas with Toyota diesel swaps that I’ve seen and I wanted to do something that would look as close to a factory option as possible. As far as I know I have the only 1st gen double cab in the US/Canada with this engine and a manual transmission.

As far as info there’s a factory repair manual somewhere on the first page of this thread but other than that I mostly googled anything I couldn’t find in there or picked through forums for info.

 

Well I am definitely intrigued. I've always liked the idea of the tdi swap but I feel like an all toyota would be a lot cooler. I'm looking into the rc61f trans too. It's a double overdrive 6 speed.

 

Have you done any mpg averages?

 

Pre DEF emissions FTW!!!!!!!

 

I haven’t yet but I would guess I’m around 30mpg. When I went to school in Idaho it was a 3.5hr drive home and I could do it on 3/4 of a tank of gas and now I can do a 5.5hr drive on the same amount of diesel.

 

crazy good!
I love it when
The shit tons of work/cursing during swapping pays off in spades!

 

That's awesome. What gears are you running in your axles?

 

Factory 4.10s

 

How does it compare driving wise? Does it feel sluggish compared to the 3.4?

 

The 1KZ blows the 3.4 clear out of the water. The low end torque is off the charts, boost comes on around 1800-2000 rpm. There’s a fuel cut at 1 bar so around 14.5psi but I can easily pass people at 85mph on the freeway. The 3.4 would be absolutely screeeeaming at 70. The factory specs for the KZ are 250lb/ft at 2000rpm vs the 5VZ’s 200 at 2500.

 

That's what I like to hear! What would you do differently? The transmission is a 5speed right? Which one?