Turbocharged 1UZFE HT Ute

What makes a good sleeper? It seems like a pretty simple formula really, take a car add a big dose of horsepower, leave the rest looking like the standard vehicle and off you go right?

What’s missing from 99% of sleepers though? They all have the power and looks yet at idle most sound like they’re ready to tear your arms off and beat you around the ears. It’s not a bad sound, it’s a sound we all love and chase, but a true sleeper needs to be subtle and unassuming in every way, including its exhaust note whilst putting around town.

Kris’ turbocharged 1UZFE powered HT ute is the perfect example of a true sleeper. With powder blue paint, ridgey didge holden hub caps on steel wheels, 320hp at the wheels and a the subtle burble of a V8 eminating out the back at idle.

Check the video out (above), at idle you would be hard pressed to think this is anything but a stock standard HT ute, but get on the loud pedal, the turbo spools up and the rear tyres skate side to side searching for some traction.

A best of 12.6 has been achieved on the ¼ mile, crossing the line at 119mph, so it definitely has the potential to hit the 11’s if properly setup. Bare in mind this time was achieved with the skinny rear radials, 3.08 diff ratio and standard stally.

The initial build left me with a naturally aspirated 1uzfe in the engine bay and it left me wanting more power, so after 12 months of driving. I decided a turbo would do the job

‘I bought the ute back in 2003 with a 327chev and powerglide. I wanted to go EFI, more power and have something a little different. Looked at options like a chev, LT1, holden 304 and even a Nissan VG30DETT, but wanted to stick with a V8. Started looking into Jap V8’s and found the only real choices were Nissan VH45 or Toyota 1uzfe. After some research, the 1uzfe seemed like the best option by a long shot.’

‘The standard exhaust manifolds were too wide, so I sourced a pair of Crown log style manifolds as they have a lower profile.’

‘The initial build left me with a naturally aspirated 1uzfe in the engine bay and it left me wanting more power, so after 12 months of driving. I decided a turbo would do the job and hunted one down on ebay. The standard computer caused a lot of detonation when the turbo was added, so I ended up getting a Wolf 3D computer along with bigger injectors and a fuel pressure reg. She’s running on 12psi and putting out around 320 at the rears for now. I’d like to get it tuned properly in the future and squeeze out a few more horsepower.’

Congrats on building a tough sleeper Kris, it’s a seriously tough ute with a very unostentatious look about it.

Quick Specs

Kris Allan aka Krayn

1969 Holden HT Ute

Colour : Blue (Spies Hecker)

Occupation : Comms Liney

Age : 32

ENGINE

Make : Toyota 1UZFE

Induction : Master Power T70 Hybrid Turbo

Heads / Bottom End : Stock

Ignition : MSD 8.8