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

[4Rescue]

Well, this has been a wasted month.... After getting some Immunization update shots for my upcoming W-EMT re-cert class I came down with a wicked URI somehow and I've been sick as a dog for the last 3 weeks. Running a fever on and off and coughing up green stuff is... well it's NOT FUN.

But I got to go down and oggle the new Half-Cut. This thing has only 23,000 KILOMETERS on it.

Now the hard part is deciding whether I swap over the new Timing belt and water-pump off the other engine I already had (which will likely be going into a more "tame" 2nd Gen build for my Dad who's dying to have a Diesel Toyota of his own), run this engine as is knowing that I have a good many miles until I have to worry about both issues, or do I push forward with the original engine that only has 65,000 Kilometers on it and already has the new T-Belt and water-pump on it. I'm leaning towards dropping the lower-milage engine in there with the new pump and t-belt swapped over to have the lowest mileage, "newest" engine possible with the least amount of things to go wrong done to it.

I was also stoked to see that this half-cut came set-up with dual Batteries already wired from the factory so it SHOULD be a matter of swapping in the harness and upgrading to a controller of my choosing to have a nice dual-bat/back-up system for her (my guess si that ONE of the batteries I'm going to be using will be more powerful then both of the stock 95 bateries Toyota put in and I'm still not sure how the system is wired up from Toyota, whether they're in series or set-up as a switchable linked pair).

This is how she's sitting with the original engine under the hood and the SAS done. Even with the small tires on her it's a nice ride-height, but with 33's on her it'll be PERFECT IMO. Can't WAIT to get the sucker done.

 

[RBx]

Very cool
Generally its a 12v system with two batteries, one for starting and the other for everything else.
I bought a 1KD to stuff in my 4Runner, hopefully I can start the project this fall.

 

[RBx]

Been meaning to ask...
Is that a crated halfcut 1KZ? I need more information on how you imported the halfcut. I'd be happy to take this convo off-line.

thanks

 

[4Rescue]

Been meaning to ask...
Is that a crated halfcut 1KZ? I need more information on how you imported the halfcut. I'd be happy to take this convo off-line.

thanks

PM Sent

Cheers

ave

 

[4Rescue]

Very cool
Generally its a 12v system with two batteries, one for starting and the other for everything else.
I bought a 1KD to stuff in my 4Runner, hopefully I can start the project this fall.

Cool, thanks for the info man, I was wondering if that's how it was set-up but I really hadn't looked into that aspect of the swap yet and didn't even realize it was a dual battery set-up until I got the HC but I'm just stoked that I'll have the basic physical set-up to run two batteries and then do what I want with them down the road aye. It's nice to have the engine bay laid out for dual batteries from the get go as I've seen some "issues" with Dual Bat set-ups that were added in after the fact (I've seen plenty that work too but the ones that weren't well thought out were... BAD) and it just created a head-ache for the guys working on the truck.

The 1KD is SUCH a neat engine... I've driven several Aussie market trucks with them (mostly Manuals) and they really are awesome so that's super cool you scored one to do a swap with aye. The power delivery, even in stock form, is impressive and the chipped models I drove were really fun, especially out in the Dunes of Queensland. I'll be looking forward to seeing your swap sometime here.

Cheers

Dave

 

[the kid]

UPDATE: 3/18/15

Truck/project is still very much alive (hate to be "that guy" who just starts something then drops out in case anyone is actually reading this)...

As of 2 days ago I actually bought a super-clean/complete Half-cut (which I should have done straight off although for the $3500 I paid for the 2nd gen/1KZ I still got a pretty dam good deal and a very clean/solid engine) SO, that means I now own TWO 1KZ-TE's and double everything pretty much. THe HC will simply make the swap process, all the little bits and what not that much easier. I've been out of town training and doing a bunch of fun stuff (shooting courses, some SAR/Tech-Rescue sessions, some great early season rafting/backpacking) AND we moved which REALLY took it out of me so the trucks been sort of on "hold" while we lined some things up and decided on whether or not to buy the Half-Cut...

Anywho... I put new shoes on the 1st Gen which will swap to the new DIesel truck: I went with my tried and true BFG AT's in my favorite 33x10.50x15 size, because {AHEM} BFG seems to dragging their bloody butts on getting GOOD/WORTHWHILE sizes out to market for their ATKO2's. I would have REALLY loved to go to the new KO2's as I think BFG's got a real winner on their hands (tested the 34x10.50x17's on a trail rig with a bunch of other tires -many of the much lauded competitors as well as MT's and others- and I can honestly say they're the best AT's for my wants/needs/likes (SO much so I about bought a set of 17's to run them on my new truck but...). NOW THEY (BFG) JUST NEED TO MAKE THEM IN SIZES FOR REAL TRUCKS, not silly new trucks with giant wheels only.

I'm also thinking of doing the tube/bar-work on my truck in a traction type FDE/Desert-tan which I think will look SWEET up against the green exterior, and I'll be working with my cousin who does custom "clear protection" for all the Super/sprort's car owners/dealers around the NW and I'm thinking of doing a hood-black-out (largely because, like most old Toyotas, this truck has hood-paint issues) and maybe even a cool graphics scheme with a Topo map ala' the ARB 4Runner from years back. At the very least there'll be the hood-black-out and a side/lower body protection like most folks do.

Cheers

Dave

saw you rig the past few times i have been at the shop, my GX will be there this next week for a couple weeks getting a light bar mount made for it while im out of town at school.

as far as the BFG thing, i have heard that BFG will not be releasing 15" versions of the KO2s till the very end if ever. IDK what is going on over at BFG, but if you ask me they are shooting themselves in the foot big time. they are selling the KOs for more then the KO2s and not willing to come down on the price of the KOs -this is from both retailers and distributes. and they will not release the KO2s until all of the KOs are gone. everyone i know is wanting the KO2s and they are not available in the size they need/want, and going to other tires... and the ones who do end up with the KO2s, they are buying new wheels(in some cases shops are almost giving wheels away just to sell the tires -because BFG is pushing so hard to get the tire out the door, thus turning a lot of shops off and creating tension...) just to be able to get the tires. i have never been a fan of BFG, and this is a prime exsample of poor business and corporate stupidity. BFG should know better than to alienate customers like this(both commercial and end user). i get wanting to sell off all the KOs and wait to release the KO2s until the KOs are gone, but why charge more for the KO than the KO2?! the KO has a cult fallowing almost, it will bleed over to the KO2, and BFG should know this. they could almost afford to sell the tires at cost just to get them gone, and get the new KO2 on the market and attract more buyers -people are always looking to try a new tire when they go shopping, especially if its supposed to be as good as they claim the KO2 is, it would sell. for me personally i dont like BFG tires the last BFG tire i liked was the KM1. i have run the KOs and never had good luck with them. that being said i would be willing to give the KO2 a shot, but their limited release in sizes and availability of them has once again turned me away. i can be an impatient person, if im in the market im ready to buy, not wait around, now i will shop around till i find a good deal, but im not willing to put things on hold and hope that maybe some day something might happen... if i did that id still be living with my mom and dad, and have no life. people have to keep living, if you dont have what people want, they wont get what you have to offer, they will move along. maybe at some point BFG will figure this out, but until then they are gonna piss off a lot of loyal long time customers.
i get that most newer vehicles are coming with minimum 16" wheels, and more and more commonly 17", so it only stands to reason that the 16 & 17s would be released first and then fallow with others as that was what the market would dictated the biggest sales points to be. good on BFG there, but then they dragged their feet, like almost threw out the anchor with the rest, at first it was only stock OE size replacements that got released, and it took almost a year to start letting the others out, and here we are almost 18months later and they keep pushing dates back. get it together BFG! there are still a great number of potential customers to BFG with 15" wheels, why they are holding out on them is beyond me, and on top of that, typically the reason guys are running 15s is that they cant or dont want to spend the money for the larger tires/wheels, so why would you try to bleed a turnip? i mean charging more for the old tire than the new ones? again how about dropping the price of the old ones to cost to get them out there (make some 15" customers happy to get a killer deal on a great set of tires) and get their new tire on the market to start selling itself. but nope, we are gonna hold out and either force everyone to upgrade to a 16" wheel(not a bad idea, opens up more wheel options and backspacing/offset and wheel types, or go to a different tire all together, and then by the time BFG lets the KO2 out in the 15s, nobody will want it or need it or worse yet, use it. then BFGs sales will tank on those tires, and they will have lost more money in the long run. i see someone over at BFG is really earning that 6 figure income, keep up the good work guys!


sorry about thread jacking there, i just had to vent at the stupidity of corporations sometimes, and i could not resist. anyhow im not opinionated, im just right lol. maybe one day we will run into each other at the shop.

 

[jeverich]

Hmm... I've got some 255/80/17s that I'm trying to get rid of...

http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...-R17-BFG-Mud-Terrain-KM2s-(Western-Wash-)-800

 

[4Rescue]

saw you rig the past few times i have been at the shop, my GX will be there this next week for a couple weeks getting a light bar mount made for it while im out of town at school.

as far as the BFG thing, i have heard that BFG will not be releasing 15" versions of the KO2s till the very end if ever. IDK what is going on over at BFG, but if you ask me they are shooting themselves in the foot big time. they are selling the KOs for more then the KO2s and not willing to come down on the price of the KOs -this is from both retailers and distributes. and they will not release the KO2s until all of the KOs are gone. everyone i know is wanting the KO2s and they are not available in the size they need/want, and going to other tires... and the ones who do end up with the KO2s, they are buying new wheels(in some cases shops are almost giving wheels away just to sell the tires -because BFG is pushing so hard to get the tire out the door, thus turning a lot of shops off and creating tension...) just to be able to get the tires. i have never been a fan of BFG, and this is a prime exsample of poor business and corporate stupidity. BFG should know better than to alienate customers like this(both commercial and end user). i get wanting to sell off all the KOs and wait to release the KO2s until the KOs are gone, but why charge more for the KO than the KO2?! the KO has a cult fallowing almost, it will bleed over to the KO2, and BFG should know this. they could almost afford to sell the tires at cost just to get them gone, and get the new KO2 on the market and attract more buyers -people are always looking to try a new tire when they go shopping, especially if its supposed to be as good as they claim the KO2 is, it would sell. for me personally i dont like BFG tires the last BFG tire i liked was the KM1. i have run the KOs and never had good luck with them. that being said i would be willing to give the KO2 a shot, but their limited release in sizes and availability of them has once again turned me away. i can be an impatient person, if im in the market im ready to buy, not wait around, now i will shop around till i find a good deal, but im not willing to put things on hold and hope that maybe some day something might happen... if i did that id still be living with my mom and dad, and have no life. people have to keep living, if you dont have what people want, they wont get what you have to offer, they will move along. maybe at some point BFG will figure this out, but until then they are gonna piss off a lot of loyal long time customers.
i get that most newer vehicles are coming with minimum 16" wheels, and more and more commonly 17", so it only stands to reason that the 16 & 17s would be released first and then fallow with others as that was what the market would dictated the biggest sales points to be. good on BFG there, but then they dragged their feet, like almost threw out the anchor with the rest, at first it was only stock OE size replacements that got released, and it took almost a year to start letting the others out, and here we are almost 18months later and they keep pushing dates back. get it together BFG! there are still a great number of potential customers to BFG with 15" wheels, why they are holding out on them is beyond me, and on top of that, typically the reason guys are running 15s is that they cant or dont want to spend the money for the larger tires/wheels, so why would you try to bleed a turnip? i mean charging more for the old tire than the new ones? again how about dropping the price of the old ones to cost to get them out there (make some 15" customers happy to get a killer deal on a great set of tires) and get their new tire on the market to start selling itself. but nope, we are gonna hold out and either force everyone to upgrade to a 16" wheel(not a bad idea, opens up more wheel options and backspacing/offset and wheel types, or go to a different tire all together, and then by the time BFG lets the KO2 out in the 15s, nobody will want it or need it or worse yet, use it. then BFGs sales will tank on those tires, and they will have lost more money in the long run. i see someone over at BFG is really earning that 6 figure income, keep up the good work guys!


sorry about thread jacking there, i just had to vent at the stupidity of corporations sometimes, and i could not resist. anyhow im not opinionated, im just right lol. maybe one day we will run into each other at the shop.

LOL No worries man, I feel the same way... BFG is apparently more interested in selling OE and replacements for the silly F150's that will NEVER be taken off-road and they're leaving the actual USERS of their tires out in the dark. Stupid move IMO and they ought to leave the "poser bling truck" market to Toyo and get back to focusing on their actual OFF-ROAD USERS who need the tire tech more then the Mall Crawlers. The other odd thing is that having just BOUGHT some old KO's, I was happy to find that they WERE in fact "Sever Weather rated" despite BFG's listing the old tires as somehow "downgraded" and Matt showed me a set of the 17" versions that were NOT Sever weather rated so apparently the size of the rim makes a difference there so I'll be sticking with the 33X10.50x15's on this truck until I go to a 16" rim maybe but I doubt I'll ever make the jump to 17" unless I find myself "needing to" to get the tires I want years down the road (read: BFG refuses to release useful sized KO2 in the next 3-4 years that these KO's will last me). I can tell you that I still LOVE my ATKO's no matter what new tires are out there I KNOW these tires and how they hook-up etc.

That's awesome your trucks gonna be down at LCNW, I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for it when I'm down there and maybe we'll run into one another sometime, I'd love to meet another Expo Portal'r aye mate...HOPEFULLY we're about to crack this sucker open and get it built cause it's now ALL THERE, the Chassis is done for the most part and I've spent a TON of time researching and scouring for parts etc and I'm getting SO dam antsy to get the job done. UGH... projects.

Cheers

Dave

 

[4Rescue]

Hmm... I've got some 255/80/17s that I'm trying to get rid of...

http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...-R17-BFG-Mud-Terrain-KM2s-(Western-Wash-)-800

Thanks mate, but I went and bought some 33x10.50 ATKO's.

Cheers

Dave

 

[the kid]

LOL No worries man, I feel the same way... BFG is apparently more interested in selling OE and replacements for the silly F150's that will NEVER be taken off-road and they're leaving the actual USERS of their tires out in the dark. Stupid move IMO and they ought to leave the "poser bling truck" market to Toyo and get back to focusing on their actual OFF-ROAD USERS who need the tire tech more then the Mall Crawlers. The other odd thing is that having just BOUGHT some old KO's, I was happy to find that they WERE in fact "Sever Weather rated" despite BFG's listing the old tires as somehow "downgraded" and Matt showed me a set of the 17" versions that were NOT Sever weather rated so apparently the size of the rim makes a difference there so I'll be sticking with the 33X10.50x15's on this truck until I go to a 16" rim maybe but I doubt I'll ever make the jump to 17" unless I find myself "needing to" to get the tires I want years down the road (read: BFG refuses to release useful sized KO2 in the next 3-4 years that these KO's will last me). I can tell you that I still LOVE my ATKO's no matter what new tires are out there I KNOW these tires and how they hook-up etc.

That's awesome your trucks gonna be down at LCNW, I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for it when I'm down there and maybe we'll run into one another sometime, I'd love to meet another Expo Portal'r aye mate...HOPEFULLY we're about to crack this sucker open and get it built cause it's now ALL THERE, the Chassis is done for the most part and I've spent a TON of time researching and scouring for parts etc and I'm getting SO dam antsy to get the job done. UGH... projects.

Cheers

Dave

yeah i totally hear you, BFG lead the way in tire development along with GoodYear back in the day. it seams they have fallen off the wagon and are attempting to get back on with the new KO2, but i think they forgot how. BFG didnt make their name selling tires for soccer moms and dads who work as managers for the local grocery store... they made a name on the tires that worked for the guy out logging and being the modern day lewis & clark... anyhow. the reason some tires are "sever weather rated" and some are not is only because of the size they submit to/for testing... they do not submit all of the tires they make for the test/cert, just some of the more popular sizes. they will all perform alike, just BFG didnt bother to submit that size for the cert because they figured that tire would never be used for it -at least part of their thinking was reasoned, i mean 80% of suvs never leave the metro area, and the ones who do hardly go off road or will get used on snowy roads... i mean the owners would buy a set of studded snow tires just for the off hand chance that one day it might snow an inch or two, but they will be ready with those studded snow tires for 5 months just in case, never using the BFG AT, so i mean why even bother to have it certed right? lol

yeah keep your eye out for a silver GX470 with FJ Cruiser 6 spoke wheels and a small SAR sticker in the back and side windows. -its got a toyota badge on the back gate to replace the lexus one.

 

[4Rescue]

yeah i totally hear you, BFG lead the way in tire development along with GoodYear back in the day. it seams they have fallen off the wagon and are attempting to get back on with the new KO2, but i think they forgot how. BFG didnt make their name selling tires for soccer moms and dads who work as managers for the local grocery store... they made a name on the tires that worked for the guy out logging and being the modern day lewis & clark... anyhow. the reason some tires are "sever weather rated" and some are not is only because of the size they submit to/for testing... they do not submit all of the tires they make for the test/cert, just some of the more popular sizes. they will all perform alike, just BFG didnt bother to submit that size for the cert because they figured that tire would never be used for it -at least part of their thinking was reasoned, i mean 80% of suvs never leave the metro area, and the ones who do hardly go off road or will get used on snowy roads... i mean the owners would buy a set of studded snow tires just for the off hand chance that one day it might snow an inch or two, but they will be ready with those studded snow tires for 5 months just in case, never using the BFG AT, so i mean why even bother to have it certed right? lol

yeah keep your eye out for a silver GX470 with FJ Cruiser 6 spoke wheels and a small SAR sticker in the back and side windows. -its got a toyota badge on the back gate to replace the lexus one.

Awesome man, I will keep an eye open for her when I'm down there.

Cheers

Dave

 

[94ZRunner]

Any progress? I have a 3L diesel and love Diesel swap into US spec rigs. I am NW too so this is fun to watch and maybe see one day.

 

[RBx]

Update? Working on a 1KD swap at the moment.