Fitting a turbo to a HJ60 Cruiser

[Tom HJ60]

Hi Guys

I've got a HJ60 non turbo running about 8 inches of lift, and 35's, which is great, but been going over to straddie and i struggle in the sand, just lacking power. So ive been searching around for a turbo to fit to it, and came across a stock as HJ60 Turbo, for a good price to. So ive bought it, and now comes swapping the turbo from one to the other. I thought ill swap everything over, which looks pretty simple, and then ill get a mechanic to come out and tune it for me. Ive got a pyro meter on it which i believe will help tuning it. Also i have a 2.5 inch exhaust on my truck, will that be big enough for the new turbo??

Appreciate any insight thanks

Tom

[dogbreath_48]

I assume the turbo 60 you bought for the parts is an aftermarket kit? If it were a factory turbo engine you'd be crazy not to swap the entire motor over.

Otherwise sounds like a good plan. Use new gaskets etc where possible. A
The 2.5" exhaust will be good, 3" would be better. If you're mechanically apt enough to do the conversion yourself I doubt you'll have any dramas tuning it yourself using the pyro and keeping an eye on the smoke. I'd recommend a decent coolant temp gauge too - it'll run hot in the sand.

[Tom HJ60]

Yeh it is an after market turbo. The truck i bought has 499000 on the clock, where as mine was my fathers and only has 200000 on it, and i know its been serviced regularly as he keeps his cars in top shape, being a mechanic. Yeh im thinking of taking off the engine fan and running either single or dual electric fans, onlly because the radiator shroud has been cut and doesnt cool as well as it used to. Thanks for the help

[dogbreath_48]

Personally i'd repair/replace the shroud and stick with the engine driven fan - they're far more powerful when operating correctly. If the viscous hub is shot they can be refilled with fluid to restore them back to as-new condition. I think there's a writeup on ih8mud.com for the fan rebuild. IMO the radiator is the weak link, not the fans. Consider an oil cooler too (if it's an ARB/safari turbo kit an oil cooler may be included)

[Tom HJ60]

yeh ok, ill repair the one ive got, should save me some money doing that to, and yeh it has an oil cooler already, so ill put that on it, ill post some pics of it soo, thanks heaps for the help mate...

[Beefcake]

I'd also buy a boost gauge if you haven't already mate. Your best bet would be to have it set up on a dyno when the time comes to tuning it, so it can be put under full load and then you can be confident wherever you take it(ie: soft sand, long pulls on h/way, towing etc) that the exhaust temp won't get too high. Won't take long and won't cost a lot either, especially in comparison to a rebuild. I ran a mandrel bent 2" exhaust on my turbo 1HZ with no muffler and it was fine and not too loud, but if you are worried about noise get a free flowing muffler, too much backpressure will cause you to have high exhaust temps and low power. Also when I fitted the turbo to mine, I added 2 tubes of the fluid the viscous fan to lock it up and never had a problem with overheating. You buy it from toyota @ about $20/tube from memory.

what's your plans for the donor vehicle? I am on the lookout for a cheap (very cheap ) 60 series...

[Tom HJ60]

Yeh mate, ive got a boost gague and a pyro meter and have had it tunned since, it runs great now. As for the donor truck, i sold it to a mate already, he loves it. yeh its running a 3 inch down to 2.5, so i chopped it where it shrinks down, just behind the front seat, the power difference now is huge compared to when it was running the whole exhaust.