Suggested upgrades for more power and fuel economy.

[Lewie Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Lewie]

Hey guys I have come to the point on my prado if I should upgrade to the D4D or make mods to my current 1KZ. Our Prado is main used for in town and highway driving. When it comes to overtaking on a single lane road I have no confidence, so is there any mods I can do to give it more power.

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

Have a look in the Engine - Diesel section. Plenty of threads on exhaust upgrades and chips.

[fridayman Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close fridayman]

If I were to mod another 1KZ-TE, I would do these mods in this order:
Econokit - good returns for the money
3" exhaust - expensive, but required to get worthwhile gains from further mods
EGT gauge, boost gauge & manual boost controller - I would add more air (boost controller) before more diesel (chip) to avoid overheating, and the pyro and boost gauges are so that you know what is going on. A coolant temp sensor is also handy, but not essential.
Chip - for best results get it setup on a dyno
Highflow the turbo - only if I have money burning a hole in my pocket though

[macaroon1 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close macaroon1]

^ FM has more or less hit it on the head but dunno what an Econokit is!! I will add though, is get someone who knows a bit about engines and strip the Throttle body, MAF and MAP sensors. Clean them thoroughly then add @ 1L catch can to stop future EGR oil from going back into the intake. The difference to mine was quite marked gave it a few extra horsepower???.. I talked about a manual boost controller to mechanic but could not be bothered in the end. If I ever chip it though I'd do above first though. Read through MickL's old posts, what he does not know is not worth knowing.

BTW more power and fuel economy do not go together! A 2.75/3" exhaust will only return @3% increase. They're just to get more uplift really.

[OziOffroad Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close OziOffroad]

Not sure how many of my posts you'll be able to find (Formally "MickL) also a lot of my pictures were lost at one stage due to an issue with Photobucket.

In a nutshell; Yes you can do a lot to a 1kz and get very good results. It's just you have to be smart about how you go about it. There are quite a few low cost mods you can do that make good real world driving gains after the big ticket items of exhausts and chips.

I'm a bit time poor to do any in depth posts on the subjuect but if you have any specific questions maybe shoot me a PM

Mick

[clarkie383 Member Find all posts View Profile Close clarkie383]

I also have not heard of the Econokit.
I fitted a 3" Scotts Rods mandrel exhaust and dump pipe after having the same feeling as you with overtaking and hills.
The result was very impressive and totally changed the vehicle.
I started with the exhaust as any further mods would only be benifitial with a good exhaust anyway.

[Lewie Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Lewie]

Thanks for the feedback guys, I was thinking about a new exhaust and chip because the old man put a Beaudesert Exhaust and chip in his 100 series cruiser and it did wonders. Any particular exhaust specialists in North East Melbourne that you would recommend.

[fridayman Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close fridayman]

^ FM has more or less hit it on the head but dunno what an Econokit is!!

I also have not heard of the Econokit.

It's a low/no tech variant (no electronics or pump) of water injection.

The other thing that seems to be making a difference is removing the throttle butterfly - the pickup is a bit faster, similar to the change when I fitted the large dump pipe.

The bonnet scoop, intercooler fan and fan shroud on the intercooler should also make a difference, but I didn't have an intercooler before fitting them so can't say from personal experience.