Turbocharging your 1HZ Landcruiser

Turbocharging your 1HZ Landcruiser? Welcome to the complete guide to Turbo kits & performance

Turbocharging your 1HZ Landcruiser
If you’re reading this, then you might be thinking it’s time to start upgrading your 1HZ Toyota Landcruiser engine. At HD Auto, we turbocharge and dyno tune these vehicles every week, which means we also spend a lot of time clearing up confusion about what’s on the market & expected results, so for the purpose of making it simple we’ve broken it down into horsepower levels, to suit budget and goals. With that only list the required parts to get there, there are always optional parts that are of course an upgrade, but not required.

We’ll start out by listing some basic information and look out what’s out there and our turbocharger upgrades on offer.

The 1HZ Engine
In stock form, the 1HZ makes about 70HP on our Mainline Dyno. It doesn’t need much introduction, this member of the 1H engine family only came out naturally aspirated with mechanical fuel injection. Famous for reliability, it’s not uncommon to see them with 500,000km or more. they are a mechanically simple engine, which are still produced brand new to this day for the overseas market with poor fuel quality.

There are early and late variants of the motor, as well as some technical differences between 70 series, 80 series and 105 series Landcruiser Engines – when ordering parts for the engine they have some differences such as timing belt and clutch kits, but the upgrades and results are similar.

For Australians, the biggest downside is the lack of horsepower being short of our requirements, they’re also famously slow, these days most owners are fitting their cruiser out with heavy camping gear, bigger tyres and using them to tow. Which means poor economy and a frustrating experience crawling up hills.

The good news? They respond really well to Turbocharging! It’s not often you can have your cake and eat it too, but turbocharging the 1HZ correctly increases power and fuel efficiency under load, while still being reliable. Owners of our turbo kits have racked up many thousands of k’s – We think it’s a great idea and it’s almost criminal they weren’t available turbocharged from factory.

HD Auto 1HZ turbo kit – The Basic turbo kit with Arashi turbo is a great place to start.

How much does it cost to turbocharge a 1HZ?
It starts at around $6500 to get the basic turbo kit installed at our workshop, including a dyno tune. The Turbo kit itself starts at $3000, so DIY mechanics can save money by buying the turbo kit and fitting at home.

Notes on Diesel Tuning
A basic understanding of diesel tuning is helpful to understand why we recommend certain parts. A diesel essentially only has compression and injection. Diesel engines can go towards the ‘lean’ side of fueling entirely safely. Essentially that will keep the combustion cool and exhaust gas temperatures lower. A common misconception is that this is dangerous, as we find a lot of people come from an understanding of petrol engines before diesels – we typically want at least 20:1 AFR ‘on boost’ but would expect to see even leaner with a good turbocharger.

Our friends at Tillix have an in depth article on diesel tuning here:
https://www.tillix.com.au/learn/mechanical-diesel-engine-tuning/

Don’t be scared of boost!
One of the most common misconceptions is that by using a large turbo and ‘low boost’ it is somehow safe for the engine. But one of the unique aspects of Diesel engines is that we can increase the airflow with boost, to Lean out AFR and get a desirable result. Keeping EGT and soot down.
To get a target result of 20:1 AFR – We use a minimum of 15PSI

Continuing on from that, many of the old design, inefficient turbo kits on the market don’t work well above 12PSI (or straight up explode) – so our recommendation of our HD Auto turbo kits will make sense.

-More power is achieved by adding more fuel
The factory injector pump can only deliver so much fuel, beyond a certain point we need a built ‘mod top’ pump to deliver more fuel. More power also means more heat, which is why we need airflow

Leaner AFR is achieved by adding more air flow (or more boost)
That means upgraded turbochargers, intercoolers and free flowing intake systems are an important benefit to your engine which let us increase the power safely

80 Series 1HZ with a Front mount intercooler fitted

Do I need an intercooler, & should I use a Top mount or front mount intercooler?
An intercooler is not required to turbocharge the 1HZ with the basic turbo kit, That means we can keep the cost down and still get a good result. However if it’s in the budget, the intercooler can be added at any stage, and is always better. No question about it.

Front mount intercoolers are always the best option, they don’t suffer heat soak and any affect on the radiator is offset by providing much cooler air into the engine.

PDI are the leaders in Landcruiser intercooler kits. Designed in Australia to be a true bolt-in kit with fitting instructions, their cores are designed to push back as far as possible, they are also extremely efficient at cooling charge air


Horsepower Guide
For the sake of simplicity, we’ve broken it down to having only the required parts you need listed, there are many optional extras that are of course an upgrade but not necessary
.

Naturally aspirated (~70HP)
Very little to be gained naturally aspirated

Turbocharged – Basic Turbo Kit 120-140HP (non intercooled)
Most new 1HZ owners are just looking for this – It gets the 1HZ up to where they should be from factory, massive increase in power ~120-140hp is the limit of the factory injector pump when dyno tuned.
⦁ HD Auto Arashi Turbo Kit
⦁ 3″ Exhaust
⦁ Heavy Duty clutch required – Exedy HD clutch is a great budget option

Turbocharged – Performance Tourer / Towing 160-180HP
For those maybe towing or carrying weight and wanting to invest a bit more in the 1HZ performance, this package is a sensible horsepower goal, that can be tuned efficiently with a boost compensated pump.
⦁ HD Auto Arashi Turbo Kit
⦁ 3″ Exhaust
⦁ Exedy Heavy Duty Clutch (consider NPC Super Heavy Duty 1300NM for towing)
⦁ HD Auto 10mm ‘Mod top’ Injector pump
⦁ Front mount intercooler (PDI)
*High Flow Airbox as an optional extra to get the most out of this

Turbocharged – High Performance 200-250+HP
At this power level, we are making approx. 3 times standard horsepower, they absolutely rip and are fantastic to drive, but engine internals should be upgraded for insurance. We supply larger Gturbo/UFI turbo options and the airbox upgrade to suit
⦁ Built engine, with Turbo Rebuild Kit, upgraded rods and ARP head studs
⦁ UFI 18G / Gturbo Turbo Kit
⦁ 3″ Exhaust
⦁ NPC 1300NM Clutch
⦁ HD Auto 200+HP Boost comp Injector pump
⦁ HD Auto Airbox

For any questions there’s a dedicated HD Auto text line you can message anytime at: 0483906923
We keep all of these parts in stock and they can be found on our website

Notes on 1HZ injector pumps / injectors
-It’s true the factory injector pump can be fitted with a ‘boost compensator’ – we may choose to convert the pump while dyno tuning. However that doesn’t turn it into a true performance injector pump and you don’t necessarily gain more power.
-Standard injectors in good condition are suitable for performance upgrades. There is no real ‘high flow’ upgrade we can do to the 1HZ injector. If your injectors are old they may have a poor spray pattern, consider replacing them with new for best results.
-When having an injector pump built, its important to have it done by a performance shop and built to your Horsepower goal – There are many generic diesel pump rooms who simply don’t understand the performance industry, but will sell you a ‘built pump’ that has just standard internals with a boost compensator fitted.

Freshly built ‘Mod Top’ Injector pump


Notes on Turbocharger choice / Turbocharger guide
A common question we get asked is what turbo fits onto a 1HZ? There is no turbo that bolts straight onto a 1HZ, but using our CT26 based turbo kit & manifold, it will bolt up if it were a factory 1HD-T Engine.

-All of the turbochargers we supply are ‘CT26’ Based, that means they can use a standard manifold and bolt up to standard Landcruiser parts. The Factory low mount turbo manifold works perfectly and there is no noticeable power increase using a high mount turbo manifold.
-The Arashi Turbo in our Turbo kit is a great 1HZ option, it makes efficient power right across the rev range, we rate them up to 180HP.
-The other turbo upgrades we stock are from UFI / Gturbo, with 250+HP capable 1HZ options. Both are premium Australian manufacturers of Landcruiser turbochargers and have a few different models on offer.
-Water lines are not required on these turbochargers.

Turbo Manifold -Pictured left is a factory style manifold fitted to the 1HD-T engine in the 80 Series Landcruiser. Using your existing rear half, this piece replaces your factory front half.
-If your engine has extractors fitted, you’ll need to buy a rear section, or upgrade to the complete Tillix CT26 manifold pictured on the right

HD Auto Arashi Turbo Kit – From $2999
https://hdautomotive.com.au/product/landcruiser-1hz-turbo-kit/

With many happy owners our Arashi Turbo kit is the most popular option by far, it’s everything need to turbo a 1HZ properly on a budget! Suitable for stock injector pump, non intercooled or intercooled.

UFI Turbo Kit – From $3499
https://hdautomotive.com.au/product/toyota-landcruiser-1hz-ufi-turbo-kit/

UFI Turbos are built in Australia, they are a premium option and sound great with a massive 4″ Anti surge Inlet. UFI were first well known for Patrol turbochargers but they are gaining a great reputation and following with Landcruiser owners.
-The standard size supplied in our 1HZ kit is a UFI 16G suitable for up to 180HP.
-Contact us for an 18G upgrade if chasing 180-250HP goal.

Gturbo G300/G350 – From $3100+
https://hdautomotive.com.au/product/hd-g300-green-wheel/
Gturbo are a leading Australian manufacturer that develop and design Landcruiser turbochargers in house. For the 1HZ we have CT26 based turbo options, the smaller G300 turbo is usually most suitable, but if building a performance 1HZ for 250+HP, the G350 would be ideal.

The Gturbo doesn’t come complete with every single component & hose required to fit, so contact us to organize a Gturbo conversion kit if converting your 1HZ from naturally aspirated.


Landcruiser already Turbocharged?
If your 1HZ is already turbocharged with an older turbo kit and you’d like to upgrade. We now have some bolt in options to save you purchasing an entire turbo kit from scratch.
The first step is to try and identify what brand of turbo kit you have, if its Denco or DTS Turbo – we have Direct fit upgrades on our website.

https://hdautomotive.com.au/product/1hz-ufi-turbo-dts-direct-fit-upgrade/
https://hdautomotive.com.au/product/1hz-ufi-turbo-denco-direct-fit-upgrade/

Most of those older turbo kits use a custom T3 manifold which doesn’t bolt up to the CT26 turbocharger, these days we have some great options available so it makes more sense for us to use a CT26 based turbo and manifold in our kit, which bolt together like a factory 1HD-T engine.

Radiator upgrade?
The Factory radiator, and fan in good condition is well designed and perfectly fine, will perform and last better than anything else, Turbocharging correctly will keep the temp down.

Notes on fitting
-Fitment of the turbocharger itself is pretty straight-forward. Our kits bolt on as if it were a factory 1HD-T Engine
-Our Turbo kits require the sump to be removed and a sump drain fitting welded in, we believe it’s the best result. It’s also a great time to put a fresh oil and filter on the engine, which should always be done when fitting a new turbo.
-The Turbocharger oil feed line is connected into the oil pressure switch via a ‘Tee Piece’ this is supplied in our turbo kit.
-Don’t forget you will need an intake pipe to go from your airbox to Turbocharger inlet
-We have bolt on exhausts available for most models, or Turbo dump pipes to save time building a custom exhaust
-The vehicle can be driven safely after fitting turbo & does not need to be tuned. But dyno tune is needed to get the most power out of it

Building an upgraded 1HZ Engine
When rebuilding a 1HZ long motor into a ‘turbo spec’ engine for higher performance levels, there’s no secrets or specialist tricks. Many of the internals are already good quality, so are replaced with new Japanese OE quality parts. But we do fit upgraded Rods, Pistons and ARP Head studs.
These are the components we use:

-1HD-T Gturbo Billet conrod and upgraded gudgeon pins (33mm), with Japanese ART Pistons
TP (TEIKOKU) / NPR Brand Piston Rings
-ARP head studs, provide increased clamping force on the head gasket, and more evenly distributed torque on the block threads
-Japanese OE Gaskets; STONE Gasket Set Japanese quality aftermarket brand gasket kit. It utilizes Japanese seals, gaskets and O Rings, with Cherry (OEM) head gasket
-DAIDO / NDC / TAIHO Japanese Engine Bearings

The engine rebuild kit starts at $3074.50
https://hdautomotive.com.au/product/1hz-turbo-upgrade-engine-kit/

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