Landcruiser 60 Series Info and Upgrades
The first of the family 5 seater 4WD set a new benchmark for the industry. Even with 4 leaf spring suspension they travel very well in most conditions.
Please give us some feedback on the information below. While we do our best to give good advise it also means we are constantly looking to improve.
Items available on our website for 60 Series.
Front mounted intercooler kits are deigned to improve drivability but lowering intake air temps and maintaining the cold day driving performance. This means the tune can generally be more aggressive and still safe for the engine. More details below.
GTurbo performance turbos. The turbos are a direct bolt on using the same centre housing configuration for water and oil feed and return. The compressor cover has the same 2” outlet and the inlet can be either 3” or 3.5”, being larger than the factory size of 2 ⅞”.
The GTurbo G300 is very responsive as its ideal for the 12HT. Built as a direct replacement for the factory turbo.
Turbo intake pipe available for 3” and 3.5” turbo entry. If you have the factory turbo with the 2 ⅞” entry, we suggest ordering the 3” pipe and then use some WD40 between the clamp and silicon so it pulls down evenly and fully seals on the turbo entry.
Brake booster upgrades early 4 bolt master cylinder. We stock these for the 80 series, and has a larger diameter body for more response. If you have the vacuum assist clutch master cylinder out larger boost won’t fit (due to interference), but if brakes are important to you then it is worth considering our booster and a normal (non-assisted) clutch master cylinder as fitted to every manual Landcruiser since the 60 series.
Diff gear changes. 3.72 ratio diff gears that are direct fitment for 60 series. Can also install 3.54 and 3.909 ratio gears but needs more work (cost) to make them fit in the diffs.
Torsen Mechanical LSD Differential centres - we like these are a huge improvement over the poorly designed factory rear LSD. We are also sure that these are more suitable for most customers than actual diff locks. That said, we do like the strength of a factory front locker.
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FJ60 Petrol 6 cylinder started with a 2F 3.9L engine and then later the 3F 4.0L Petrol.
HJ60 12HT or 2H powered.
HJ61 12HT powered Japan import spec
Came in the poverty pack G model, GX and VX spec.
Factory diff locks, power windows and sunroof can be found on the higher spec models with cable activation.
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12HT - direct injection diesel, inline pump, 4 litre,12 valve push rod engine with factory turbo - this was the engine that we can look back upon and know that is when Toyota proved they could build a great engine that would last. I swapped one of these into an HDJ80 and decided it would be nice to bore and stroke it into a 4.7L. After the crank broke, we went back to a standard crank and it become a 4.3L. The torque was good, the engine ran great, but the standard pump is limited to putting down 90kW at the wheels so rather than pump upgrades I added a LPG system and it went well enough until it was time to get into a newer vehicle. The injection pump is lubricated by engine oil and the only way to turn this engine off is to close the intake butterfly - non electrics to the pump itself.
for more info
https://www.engine-specs.net/toyota/12h-t.html
2H - the non turbo indirect injected diesel that shares the same block and crank as the 12HT. These are not too fast, have inline pumps that can deliver much mhttps://www.engine-specs.net/toyota/12h-t.htmlore fuel than its bigger brother (the 12HT) and are different in that a rod moment to the pump turns fuel flow on or off.
for more info
https://www.engine-specs.net/toyota/2h.html
3F - 4L petrol, with long stroke, great torque off the bottom and the typical poor petrol fuel economy. We owned one of these for a few years and did my first trip through the Canning Stock Route around the north of Western Australia so have lots of good memories for the 60 series.
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Differentials are the same 9.5” front and rear and use the same mounting and setup as the 80 series rear utilising a 30 spline axle setup (from 1998 in 100, 105 and 79 they had a 32 spline rear axle setup). If wanting better traction, both on and offroad, we can supply torsen (mechanical LSD) centres.
Standard ratio was 4.11, but can be swapped out to 3.72 if wanting longer legs. Shorter ratios are also available if running bigger tyres and need more RPM.
H55 manual 5 speed gearbox was the first 5 speed offered in the 60 series starting in 1982 - the 5th gear was an add-on so is not as strong and (apparently) suffered from poor lubrication so is not suitable for towing. The early 4 speed manual isn’t as great to drive (due to higher RPM on highway) but was regarded as being strong and suitable for constant load manual. The A440 (4 speed auto) is a very reliable box and, although not as strong as the later A442, it had a taller overdrive.
Top or front mount in the 60 series.
PDI only develop and supply front mounted intercoolers. This is simply because we know the efficiency so so much better with front mounting and this is better for almost every 4WD drive user - particularly for the 80 series where there is no temperature compensation on the injection pump.
We once had the idea that while our front mounts are very good at dropping heat, for low boost levels a small top mount would be sufficient. This was disproved soon after, as we had this setup on the dyno. It produced less power than with a PDI front mount (due to tuning with air fuel ratios AND a quick check on the outlet temperatures showed it wasn’t doing very much. We would always recommend a front mount to improve performance and economy.
We expect the temperature difference to be 50-100degC - more for higher load as front mounts can maintain their efficiency better as the load comes on.
If you are concerned a PDI front mount will put too much heat load in the front of the radiator, we have a smaller core option for low boost applications. Contact us for more information.
12HT Upgrades.
Increase boost to 18psi with a suitable turbo such as the GTurbo G300.
Fit a PDI intercooler to maximise the power and economy from the limited fuel available.
Wind out the maximum fuel stopper screw, but not all the way. Set the position so max fuel flow can be felt with foot flat, not as your foot is being lifted off the pedal. Hopefully this will result in around 90kW at the wheels.
Concerns about the 12HT
Top ring groove in factory pistons is alloy so the ring groove wears with high km and if pushed too hard it can result in a broken ring which rotates and gauges the bore.
The head gasket can give out at higher boost so need to consider swapping out for a modern design for good sealing.
Next stages upgrading the 12HT.
More fuel and boost is the way forward, while staying within the technical limits of the engine.
Modified pump and +30 injectors (plus above mods) and 20psi will get 120kW at wheels.
From there a larger plunger pump can be built, which can supply enough fuel to support 25-30psi of boost - enough for over 150kW at the wheels.
Turbocharged 2H.
The 2H fuel pump has more fuel available standard than a 12HT pump, but no boost compensator. The 12HT manifold is a direct bolt on to the 2H head and can be an easy way to increase power. Our PDI intercooler kits assume the turbo sits in the normal location and we can provide a fitting solution to the factory intake manifold.
Differential Upgrades.
When you’ve upgraded the power and torque on your engine you may find that it pulls much harder and you are shuffling through the gears constantly. A nice improvement can be to install taller gears to give longer legs in each gear as well as drop your highway cruising RPM. The standard gears can be easily swapped from 4.11 to 3.72 or with more cost (parts) to 3.55 (PDI specific) or 3.909 (are as VDJ79).
Also considering improving traction there are a few ways of going about this. Generally people know that the front diff is an open centre and the rear diff is a LSD, which is probably operating as a open centre with power being sent to the wheel thats easiest to turn. Most people aren’t aware that mechanical LSDs called Torsen (short for torque sensing) exist. These have become well used in vehicle as they are fully gear driving and can transfer up to 4 x the torque to the wheel that has traction - from the wheel that is spinning. One should note that if the wheel is spinning with no load then 4x zero is still zero, but this can be overcome by applying the brakes, which should result in forward movement
The transfer case could be fitted with a PTO system and in some imports this was used to operate the winch. The input shaft to the transfer was prone to wearing, as very little of the splined section was linked to the gears that drive the vehicle. Replacement parts are available to make better use of this and prevent being caught at a set of traffic lights one day with no drive and the splines have sheared off. Another fix, if the above hasn’t been done is to pull the PTO access plate off and weld the PTO drive gear to the gear that drives the vehicle.
The crossmember in front of the crankshaft has a slot for a hand crank and the nut in the harmonic balanceer has a 2 finger claw designed to engage a crank handle and then show it out. Unfortunately the radiator goes down below the front of the engine so no evidence of being able to start the engine manually.
Swaps.
While not common, the cool kids are doing body swaps to place an 80 series coil chassis under the 60. The next trick is the engine position as getting a 1HDFTE in there requires some consideration for clearances since such an upgrade should come with intercoolers and transmission cooler (if auto).
There are a range of other conversions that are done including the Barra turbo engine from the Falcon.
What You Should Know About a Brake Booster
The PDI upgraded brake booster is specifically designed for the 60 series to improve brake capacity by generating more hydraulic pressure using the same (or less) pedal pressure. If you can’t lock up your brakes or feel that they could be better:
Upgrade the Brake booster.
Correctly adjust the load proportioning valve to share the braking evenly between front and rear brakes.
Don’t think slotted or cross drilled since not appropriate for 4WD unless you are doing lots of repetitive braking. For an offroad vehicle the slots and holes can grab material that will get caught in the brake pad and gauge the rotor.
Quality brake pads designed to bite harder than normal, rather than just last a long time.
An effective brake booster is a critical component to the braking and appears as a black, circular canister located on the firewall, between the pedal and master cylinder. Together with the master cylinder, it works at stopping the vehicle with less force applied by the driver.
This is better than changing to a full hydraulic unit as our boost is ample strong enough and the hydraulic units share the load to the steering so if steering down a hill while using brakes you will notice BOTH have been partially compromised. Also OEM hydraulic units have a nitrogen reservoir so that they can comply with ADR specifics that require the brakes to be able to work for a few depresses AFTER then engine has turned off.
PDI brake boosters are larger than factory (and other aftermarket options) so that the force able to be applied on the master cylinder is increase (up to 50% more) so that stopping ability is increased.
Ultimately, an upgraded PDI brake booster massively changes the results when emergency stopping is required or when the vehicle is fully loaded or running larger diameter tyres. The standard brake booster means the driver would have to apply more pressure to the pedal to try and slow the vehicle down – often not enough assistance is available from the standard booster to achieve satisfactory stopping so driving style needs to change.
About Performance Diesel Intercoolers
We are the result of trying to get the most out of intercoolers for our vehicles and after years of testing, established our efficient brand. Moreover, we designed our kits for high load situations and increased performance in conjunction with other modifications.
Contact us for upgrades to your vehicle.