Well, short of putting a turbo on it, I have now finally taken my Hiace to the
place where
there is no more power to coax out of it, AND solved all my problems with smoke,
missfires and general bad sounds over 3500 rpm.

The short of it is that I got a 2.5" exhaust and had the injection timing
advanced. Pro-
active in Calgary did the latter. I had already had a 10% boost from the
exhaust, but then
got the smoke troubles. after troubleshooting fuel delivery from the tank to the
injection
pump inlet, my mechanic in Edmonton said he was sure it was either the injectors
or the
injection pump, and theat he could inspect the injectors for $500, and the pump
for
$1500 (!!!!!!!). So i ordered some new injectors from Australia - cheaper to bu
new ones
than have him inspect the old ones, so I figured I'd start there. Meanwhile my
TEMS system
went. So I figured I would take the thing down to Calgary, where Mike is, who
knows what
he is doing when it comes to toyo-things. He figured he should advance the
timing for the
smoke.

The injectors did not land in Edmonton until I was in Calgary ( a 3 hour drive
away). So he
did not put them in - but it turns out he does not need to. the injection timing
trick fixed
everything with the engine. It just purrs now, and it feels like it has yet
another 5-10%
more power. He says that for some reason the timing on the 3-L is consistently
retarded about 3-5 degrees coming out of the factory. Coming home on the highway was
surreal. I was passing almost everyone. I had to ease off for fear of getting a ticket.
Hills that I
would do at 80 before the exhaust replacement I was doing at 94. And it sounds
good at
4000rpm (!!!!!).

It could be that this fix is best for higher altitudes, and I have heard it
creates more heat in
the engine bay, but especially if you put on a bigger exhaust I can not
recommend it
enough, if you want more power. I expected more black smoke, and got only a few
puffs.
Fuel efficiency is perhaps a hair better.

Anyone need injectors?:)

Pard

Dang Pard- makes me want to go out right now at nigth with a trouble light and advance our timing too!!! Haha. Good news. Although 4000 rpm scares me a bit.

I guess I should read your other thread but you got smoke troubles after fitting a custom larger exhaust? How come? Any idea?

My guess is that better breathing called for more fuel, or earlier fuel delivery, esp. when the time of each piston stroke got shorter.

Apparently 4000 rpm should not scare us on these, at least for short bursts. My bus can't hold that in drive on the flat, so that's just up hills etc.

I think it might not be that easy to do just right - one of the two master mechanics at Proactive was reluctant to do it because the other one was so good at it.

If you don't have rough running or white smoke, your engine might need it less. Still, you should get a power boost out of it . . .

Well I was sort of joking - if I do a mod first thing will be to ditch the stock exhaust and fit a 2.5". I'm pretty reluctant to touch anything on an IP if I dont have to that's for sure - and I would take it to a diesel shop for anything timing related - still it is a intersting observation of yours. Ours runs like a clock right now - no sense in messing with it. THanks for the info.

Well, mine went from a top speed of 108 on the flat to 122 after replacing a leaking stock exhaust, bigger tires and advancing the timing. I have a high-flo muffler, which helps. My vehicle is an autobox, which sucks a good amount of the power out, and it's the heaviest SWB Hiace you can get , at 2100 kg.

Pard