1KZ Turbo and performance guide

1KZ-TE Turbo Upgrade, Tuning & Performance Guide

1KZ-TE Turbo Upgrade & Performance guide
There’s huge room for improvement with the mighty little 1KZ-TE. At HD Auto, we upgrade 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.

For the Australian Market, these are the models we most commonly work on.
Most parts are essentially interchangeable across all years such as Turbocharger, Fuel pump, Timing belt. But there were some internal differences such as cylinder heads and external gaskets in the early/late variants. There may be some model year crossovers and more differences we’re not aware of, but these are the main ones:
Early 1KZ-TE (1993~2003) Landcruiser Prado KZJ95, Hilux Surf KZN130 / KZN185
3 Row ECU, CT12B Turbocharger,
Cable throttle links to an Electronic throttle position sensor. Electronic injection pump.
Late 1KZ-TE (06/2000 onwards)- Hilux KZN165, Landcruiser Prado KZJ120
4 Row ECU, CT12B Turbocharger
Electronic injection pump with fly by wire and newer intake manifold.

There doesn’t seem to be an exact year/month the model crossover happened, so there may also be later model 1KZ fitted with cable throttle and the old style intake.

Less common vehicles fitted with a 1KZ-TE are HiAce vans, Granvia vans and the KZJ70 series Landcruiser, on those models, many of these parts will fit, but there may be some differences we aren’t aware of.

KZJ95 with 44MM turbocharger, producing about 185HP Tuned.

1KZ Performance Upgrades
Although they’re slow by our modern standards, being turbocharged with Toyota electronic injection from the factory makes it a lot easier to upgrade the 1KZ-TE with bolt on parts. There’s only a few parts you need to consider upgrading to get a Huge increase in torque / horsepower.

-Turbocharger
-Unichip
-Intercooler & Airbox
-Clutch Upgrade / Auto Valve body upgrade
-Exhaust

Electronic injection or Mechanical pump conversion?
The electronic injector pump is the best for performance. We have been able to achieve such good results that it doesn’t make sense going backwards to a mechanical pump. Tuned with a Unichip, The factory Electronic pump is reliable and capable of huge HP increases. It will make more power, with less Soot and better drivability. Also why wouldn’t you want to have 5 tunes, optional hard cut rev limiter and Lumpy idle?

Many consider converting their 1KZ engine to mechanical pump for reliability, we don’t necessarily agree. What’s more reliable than a factory Toyota? Mechanical pump conversions are worth considering if swapping a 1KZ into an older Hilux with less electronics. But our preference would still be electronic if the parts are available.

Unichip
This is our preferred Tuning solution for the 1KZ. The Unichip Uni-X a computer that piggybacks onto the factory ECU, letting us take control of fuel, boost, timing and more with a custom tune. It’s a proven solution that’s been reliable and given us consistent results for years.

Because we have tuned many of these vehicles hundreds, maybe thousands of times. We can offer Pre-Tuned Unichip Kits for our Supported upgrades, meaning we can deliver the same results and ship them ship Worldwide.

Other features of the Unichip are 5 map select for multiple tunes, and programmable hard cut rev limiter.


Horsepower / Performance Guide
It costs anywhere from $2400 to $10,000 in parts to upgrade the 1KZ depending on how far you want to go.
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.

Stock (~70HP)
The 1KZ is fitted with a factory CT12B Turbo, it produces around 70HP on our Mainline Dyno

Unichip Upgrade (~100-120HP)
Worthwhile power increase from stock, but limited by turbo and intercooler. The KZJ120 Prado benefits greatly with just these, with its factory intercooler.
-Tuned with Unichip
-Heavy duty clutch

Turbocharger upgrade – Tourer / Towing ~150+HP
At this point, we have basically doubled the HP, comparable to a Modern Hilux. They are much more responsive and efficient
-Tuned with Unichip
-BRC 260MM clutch upgrade/valve body upgrade
-Turbo upgrade: HD Auto Billet 1KZ CT12B
-Front mount Intercooler
-3″ Exhaust

Turbocharged – Performance 1KZ 200+HP / 500+NM
High performance 1KZ’s are a blast to drive.
-Tuned with Unichip
-BRC 275MM clutch upgrade/valve body upgrade
-Turbo upgrade: Flex 44MM Turbo conversion
-Front mount intercooler, High flow airbox
-3″ Exhaust


Do I need an intercooler, & should I use a Top mount or front mount intercooler?
Front mount intercoolers are always the best option, no question about it. They are simple, don’t suffer heat soak and any affect on the radiator is offset by providing much cooler air into the engine.

An intercooler is recommended for upgrading the 1KZ, we can get only moderate gains working with the non intercooled, or small intercooler factory setups. Unfortunately for most models there’s no bolt on kits we supply, we recommend our customers get a good quality custom intercooler kit before bringing the vehicle in for Performance work.

For the 120 Prado owners there is a bolt on PDI kit available. They are industry best so we wish they had some some more options for the KZN165, etc!

PDI Front mount intercooler for a 120 Prado

Notes on 1KZ injector pumps / injectors
-The standard pump in good condition is fine for performance work. If it needs to be replaced – we recommend buying a new genuine pump if available, or having old pump reconditioned.
-Standard injectors in good condition are fine, realistically there’s no upgrade that can be done to them.
-Old worn injectors may have a poor spray pattern & will contribute to loss of power.

Exhaust?
Pretty simple, a 3″ exhaust is recommended to increase flow and responsiveness with your 1KZ-TE Turbo upgrade. It also sounds great.
Manta exhaust have high quality bolt on exhausts for the KZN165 and KZJ120 Prado. For the models they don’t support, contact a local exhaust shop for a custom 3 inch system.


Reliability and disadvantages of the 1KZ?
A common issue on the 1KZ is cracked cylinder heads. It seems to be due to age, we see it happen on completely stock and tuned vehicles with the original 20+ year old cylinder heads. Once replaced they are good to go.

The 1KZ-TE can handle over 200HP tuned.

AMC make a high quality Spanish cast Cylinder Head

Turbocharger choices:

Upgrading the turbo helps us double the power on your 1KZ when combined with Tuning. The factory low mount turbo manifold works well and is good for performance upgrades with the Bolt on Turbochargers, but there are BRD Low and high mount manifolds available to bling it up.

These are our preferred options:

HD Auto Billet CT12B $1945

This turbo uses a new copy of factory housing to be an easy bolt in upgrade. It features a billet wheel and greatly increased flow and response characteristics compared to a factory 1KZ CT12B turbocharger. Turbo design has improved a long way so we can really have our cake and eat it too. Suitable for basic / Mid range, up to 200HP.

Flex R77 44MM Turbo conversion $1999

You may have heard of the 44MM upgrade. The Flex R77 is an F44 Turbo designed by Flex Thailand, for the performance 1KD Hilux market. We adapt them to suit the 1KZ – It’s bigger and capable of 250+HP on a tuned 1KD, so naturally reaches full boost later in the RPM, but still feels responsive with tuning.

It’s labelled as a conversion because there is some work required to adapt, but the Hilux R77 is much easier to fit than a ‘Universal/ D-Max’ style 44mm Turbo which get adapted to many makes/models.

Gturbo G180KZ $2490

G180KZ is Gturbo’s latest product for this Market. Built in Australia & Rated to 28PSI, it’s also a bolt on turbo capable of around 200HP.

Flex High Mount Turbo Kit $2800+

The High mount turbo kit utilises a BRD custom ‘collector’ manifold and 44MM Turbo such as Flex R31 or PKS – It requires some custom plumbing to fit up such as exhaust dump pipe, intake and intercooler piping. We don’t see any real performance gains by using a High mount manifold on a 1KZ, the high mount turbo kit simply looks great and bling’s up the engine bay.

Radiator upgrade?
The Factory radiator, in good condition is well designed and perfectly fine, will perform and last better than anything else

Cooling fan can be improved with our updated 10 blade fan Kit:


https://hdautomotive.com.au/product/10-blade-radiator-fan-1kz/

Heavy Duty Clutch
Beware of buying just any heavy duty clutch! Most aren’t directly involved in the aftermarket tuning scene and aren’t suitable for remapped and tuned Hilux’s.

The 1KZ has a small 260MM flywheel and clutch kit that will not handle tuning. It can however, be easily upgraded to the N70 Hilux 275MM Flywheel, they share the same bolt pattern and starter motor. BRC make an upgrade Kit clutch for both.

KZN130/KZN185 Surf: Many of these models had a factory Dual Mass flywheel, in this case the best option is the BRC 275MM conversion to a solid flywheel. But you will need to source KZN165 Flywheel bolts.

All BRC Organic Clutches are designed to:
-Handle high horsepower/torque, will not slip even on highly modified Toyota Hilux’s,
-Fit as a factory clutch (no pricey billet flywheel or other modification required)
-Last under heavy duty conditions such as towing or big tyres
-Retain or improve factory pedal comfort

BRC 260MM Bolt on Clutch

Highest rated clutch available for the factory flywheel. Still rated at 250HP
https://hdautomotive.com.au/product/brc-organic-clutch-kit-1kz-hilux/

BRC 275MM Flywheel / Clutch Upgrade

For only a small price difference, the BRC 275mm flywheel upgrade kit is almost too easy. They are rated at 350HP.
https://hdautomotive.com.au/product/brc-250hp-flywheel-clutch-kit-1kz-te-kzn165-hilux/

Valve body upgrade
We recommend a valve body upgrade to the A340 Automatic transmissions. This increases the shift pressure with firmer, more positive shifts. Helping it handle the extra torque.

Building a 1KZ engine
Considering we don’t see any common failures tuning. When rebuilding a 1KZ long motor for performance work, there’s no secrets or specialist tricks. To make it last we rebuild with Quality Japanese components.

-ART Pistons
TP (TEIKOKU) / NPR Brand Piston Rings
-AMC Head bolts (Head studs aren’t necessary)
-STONE Gasket Set (Japanese OE Gaskets;
-DAIDO / NDC / TAIHO Japanese Engine Bearings

The engine rebuild kit starts at around $2100
https://hdautomotive.com.au/product/early-1kz-premium-engine-rebuilt-kit/

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 (Air and fuel). Diesel engines can run ‘lean’. In Fact a lean Air Fuel Ratio is what we are aiming for when tuning, which keeps the combustion cool & efficient – we typically want at least 20:1 AFR ‘on boost’ but would expect to see even leaner with a good turbocharger.

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. At 200HP, to get a target result of 20:1 AFR – We use a minimum of 25PSI

The factory Turbo is not up the task of handling increased boost pressures. They may snap shafts or perform poorly on the dyno – so our recommendation of Turbo upgrades hopefully make sense.

-More power is achieved by adding more fuel
We use a Unichip to control fuel output and increase power. But 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

HD Auto text line
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

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