Toyota’s SEMA show lineup for this year will include a curious SUV known as the Turbo Trail Cruiser, essentially just an FJ60 Land Cruiser swapped to the latest Tundra powertrain and otherwise rigged for a lifetime of adventure.
A 3.4-liter V6 i-Force engine under the hood uses turbos to hit the wheels with 394 PS (389 hp / 290 kW) and 650 Nm (479 lb-ft) of torque. The company claims that’s about twice as much as the FJ60 could possibly extract from its inline-six. Furthermore, the new engine runs quieter, produces less vibrations and consumes much less fuel regardless of where you go.
In order to make the new powertrain fit without cutting the bodywork, the engineering team had to design and fabricate a number of new parts, including an oil sump and a subframe. They also had to redo the wiring to persuade the mill to work with the off-roader’s dated on-board electronics. Last but not least, an adaptor plate had to be devised to link the engine with the standard five-speed manual transmission.
The entire suspension has been overhauled, the ride height raised by 40 mm (1.6”), and new beadlock wheels installed along with 35-inch tires. Other than that, Toyota took care to keep the exterior and the cabin stock, only adding a new multimedia system with a touchscreen and a JBL audio system.
The restomod won’t be mass-produced, but the company says it is supposed to demonstrate the respect Toyota still has to its roots, as well as to emphasize the importance of the internal combustion engine (ICE) in the automaker’s product strategy going forward.
