Hilux 3l Motor- Oh so slow

[4x4Monkey]

OK after 4 weeks of driving my lux its realy ticking me off that its so bloody slow. takes sooooooooo long to wind it up then u hit a small hill at 120 and ur luck to come up the top doing 80km

My rig: Hilux 96 model single cab with a deisel 3l motor
Now can i turbo the 3l motor or would it be better to do a engine conversion

with the turbo are there complete kits to to the turbo?

[4x4Monkey]

17 views and not one reply

[runnin4life]

i know how you feel about hitting hills at 120 and luky to be doing 80 at the top

my F20 does the same thing but its got the trusty of 12r tough as nails but slower than a wet wick

i have herd of people turboing 3L's with good results on chap on 4wdmonthly forum has cant remember who but just remmeber him saying it made a good improvment

hope this helps
cheers
elliot

[sniper]

Ive got a 4Runner with the 3L (2.8) was soooooooooo slow. I turboed it 10psi, new pistons and stuff (you dont need them really, but it helps) goes terrific. I can keep up with landcruisers now.

Definetly recomend a turbo. Plus i dont use more fuel as it gives the extra power, unless of coarse you floor it every where you go then tyour bound to use more fuel.

[4x4Monkey]

http://www.axtturbo.com.au/Turbos.html
have a conversion turbo kit and if there results of them testing are correct iam very keen

[sniper]

ppl say you will get soooooooo much power but that depends on how much boost. The 3L dosnt like much boost or she goes BANG. Never boost over 12psi to be safe. I stayed at 10psi, just to make sure. I also run 32`s and it is quick enough to beet an nissan exa and stay with the cruiser so im happy.

Any less then 10psi and its quicker but still a little slugish. 10psi is a good setting.

[4x4Monkey]

yeah i was thinking of just setting it a 10psi

its more for the on-road use not so much offroad

[muddylux]

Have a 93 Lux DC with 2.8 3l and Safari turbo 11psi boost, 2 1/2" zorst no muffler, K&N air filter, and Safari snorkel, running 32"tyres.
Goes like a shower of shit compared to nat asp donk. Blows a lot of black smoke b4 boost, so I think a lot of wasted fuel goes out back. Fuel enco on par with na donk. I carry a fair bit of weight as it is set for touring, lr tank, draws, conopy, watertanks dual battery, bar work, winch ect.

To put a turbo on your looking at least $3500 fitted 20- 30% more power and better fuel econ if you don't use it all at once.

Got a price for LPG fumigation 2 weeks back $2100. On a non turbo donk u can except 20-30% better power and 20-30% better econ + longer range as you have an lpg tank 1/3 size of diesel tank + your orig diesel tank.
If you run out of lpg u can drive as per normal on diesel, but with loss of power and fuel econ of lpg.
Plus you get lower EGT and longer engine life as lpg produces a cleaner burn plus longer between oil changes and lower emissions.

I will fit lpg soon to my rig, and recomend u at least look into it as a better alturnative to turbo.

[sniper]

if you are handy with tools you can make all the pluming by yourself. No need for a kit. Kits are like $2000, waste of money. Buy like a CT20 turbo form a surf and some of the plumbing you can still use. Cost would then be like $200-$500. You can find heaps of pics on the net of how to pumb it up.

I would never do a conversion as i like diesels and the turbo is so easy to transfer over to the 3L.

[4x4Monkey]

kool sounds like a idea i'll be doing....
jsut gotta save the $$$ for the conversion

[sniper]

keep us posted to the turbo

[sniper]

I dont know if you know NSW, but i used to drive from newcastle to syd and the big hills use to kill my car, now its 5th gear the whole way on $1.15 its sooooo much better

[Willy Hilux]

Run mine at around 15 -17 psi. Self tuned it. Not hard to wind up the fuel. I tow a 14 1/2 boat 14 hours straight and no probs. Also tow my comp hilux on trailer with plenty of power. Try to get it on a piro gauge to see what the exhaust temp is under extreame load. Try to keep it under 500'c.
Good luck.
You will also need a heavy duty clutch when you bolt a turbo on. Dynamic Clutch in Brisbane do an fantastic one around $450 mark. Well worth it. Had mine for about 3 1/2 years and they said it still looks new.

[4x4Monkey]

would a ct26 turbo do the same thing

[Luv to 4B]

im stoked to hear that these guys who've turboed their luxes have had such a good experience, however before you rush into things ill offer not necessarily a better view but an alternative for your consideration. I had a 3L and took it out and put in a 1KZ-TE, 3 litre factory turbo diesel, 85Kw standard. This conversion including a new gearbox was less than the price of a turbo kit and the new motor only had 56K Kms on clock. Car now has loads of power and torque for the highway and off road is awsome with power on tap. It turns 33 x 12.5 muddies with ease at 100 to 110 Km/hour up all bar the steepest of hills eg Mt Ousley. Other than this i would suggest a V8 (lexus) on gas. Although i like my conversion, with the price of diesel now i would rather the endless power of a V8 and the price of gas...i think it would be cheeper to run the V8 than the diesel and it has shiat loads more power. Also the V8 would let you shed an instand 200 to 300 Kgs cos it is so mush lighter than the diesel.

Just food for thought...best of luck whatever you choose.

[4x4Monkey]

but a v8 jacks up my insurance and rego
iam currently on lke 1200 a year
paying $128 every 2 weeks _car loan
sourcing a lexsus v8 then converting it to gas and then converting all the other crap getting a engineer plate
I Fail to see how that can be cheaper then a turbo conversion

[sniper]

I think the CT26 is water cooled, not sure though
If so alot more trouble to hook up, better turbo but alot harder.

And i dont see how if you get say a CT20 and duct work for a cost of like $300 is equal to a 1KZ-TE where you will then also need to do a new harness to suit plus you then have the troubles with having sensors all over your motor.

If turbo changed to a 3L no sensors all over the motor no harness to be retro fitted. Bolt up and your off.

[viper]

I say stick with the 3l now there is plenty around and parts are getting cheaper, turbo'd mine for $500 second hand included nearly all plumbing except for about 1 foot of intake easy fix, and for your info ct20 is water cooled also but this was all included with mine. I run 9psi and tweaked the fuel pump a little. Mine runs 35's on road and only really dies on long pulls but this didn't happen with 31's.

[the plough]

i used to have a 2.4 diesel but brought 2.8 turbo deisel. It was amasing the difference it makes in every sort of driving town/highway/offroad. I am running 12psi with standard 3l clutch with no probs.
I was on the beach last weekend and raced a V6 pajero from third gear and left him for dead. Fuel doenst make a diffence wether town/highway or offroad, its all the same to about 50kms for me, but driver makes a differnce.

This is some of the hills i was trying (its much steeper in real life too!) and i still use bout 11l/100kms

[Luv to 4B]

Having been there and done that i can assure you that you dont need a new harness for a 1KZ-TE conversion, it is true that you have to splice into the old harness in a number of places BUT with the correct diagrams and half a brain this is done quite easily. I conceed that the V8 may be difficult to insure BUT you will still have to tell your IC that you turboed your engine anyway...It does depend on the type of driving you do but i assure you that no small 4 pot diesel, particularly toyotas, is going to be a power house if you want it to last...i dont dispute that there are things that can be done to help with longevity and doubtless there are a number of guys on here who've run turbos on 2.8's for ages but at the end of the day you can get HUGE power out of a small diesel....there is no substitute for cubic inches (FLAME SUIT ON!!!!!!!!!) As i said before good luck with whatever you choose but having been in the frustrating shoes your in now regarding the 2.8 NA deisel just consider all the available options and although money is always a consideration dont pick the option based soley on price....the cheapest isnt always the best. Remember if you turbo it and it still doesn't meet your expectations you will be up for more money in additional mods later anyway.

(double layered flame suit on) Luv to 4B.

[sniper]

luv to 4by has a valid point the 3L will never match 1KZ-TE in power. That is something you will have to way up. The 3L with turbo does give a great deal more power the N/A 3L but you will still not be the fastest kid on the block. Also the more power you get out of an engine the less life expectency it will have. Say you run a 3L at 15psi (boarderline safe, due to weak bottom ends) the motor will go well, you will even keep up with some crapadores, 10psi (very safe psi) you can beat a VH crapadore and i beat a nissan exa turbo

plenty of options out there, i got a 327 chev at home, you can put that in if you want

[4x4Monkey]

*wall bash*
Ive coem to the conclusion that i could not give a fuck wat i do to the engine as long as i can keep up with my buddys
I get beaten by a fucking feroza
A FUCKING FEROZA

Mech/install side of thigns dont worry me as iam a 2nd year apprentice
its just the $$$ side of things, More thinking will be dont over the next couple of weeks

[Joombi]

I think you just have to think about what you want in a Vehicle & go with that, do you want to drag your mates, or do you want to 4by, you CAN have both, but thats expensive, what do you most want to do, if its 4WD, stick with the hilux, a very capable 4x4, if its drag, by a 350 chev Torana for 1/2 the price of your Lux..
2nd year Appentices have lots of dreams, been there, bottom line...
decide what you want your car to do until you can afford the all purpose, 10 sec over the 1/4, 4x4.....

[sniper]

been in the whole drag racing bit with the boys, over it now and into 4by`s kick myself now 4by`s is a way better option. All that time and money wasted on street racing

(although i still do have a slooooow project car, HJ 1 tonner also have a 327 and 454 for the tonner nfs)

[4x4Monkey]

Ive come to a medium
work the suspension,
Everyone loves articulation (sp)

[My Lil Lux]

If your worried about onroad, V6 commo is my option for my Lux, I've got a CT20 on my 3L, with 230K on the clock, goes well, but wish I'd spent the money towards going V6, or other option is 2.7 petty like Beebee and 83 Lux did, will certainly give more bang for your buck,

my 2c

[+dj_hansen+]

What tyres are you running? tyres on standard gearing will suck allot of power.

Turbo the 3L would be $3,500 for a standard kit... then your looking down the barrel of intercooling, pump/injection work, exhaust in the search for more power...

bang for your buck, V6 conversion will make the most power for the least money if you dont mind petrol/diesel.

[dirt-monster]

don't know why complain about not having enough power. Dont buy a hilux if you want power. If you want a good car off-road buy a hilux. Running 9 PSI on mine, more than enough and in 4 low turbo doesn't even pass 3 psi. On road has more than enough power to pull boat doing 100kph on Freeway. best $3500 spent, fuel economy means nothing really, if i wanted economy would have bought an excel.

spend a bit more and get it down properly or else you could be forking out more for engine rebuild.

[dirt-monster]

don't know why complain about not having enough power. Dont buy a hilux if you want power. If you want a good car off-road buy a hilux. Running 9 PSI on mine, more than enough and in 4 low turbo doesn't even pass 3 psi. On road has more than enough power to pull boat doing 100kph on Freeway. best $3500 spent, fuel economy means nothing really, if i wanted economy would have bought an excel.

spend a bit more and get it down properly or else you could be forking out more for engine rebuild.

[Turbo Tonka]

spot on dirt-monster. everyone knows a hilux is going to be slow but they still complain. i used to have a 2LT with 33's,great truck sit on 5th all day on the highway. i now own a 3L non turbo on 32's and its 4th for all hills or maybe 3rd on the odd steep/long hill.You learn to live with it and just remember they are built for the bush. In saying this i am definately going to turbo mine when $$$ allow,best brand anyone????my 3L has had extractors,2 1/4 inch zorst and snorkel on it,helps a bit.