A good write up, however running a 76 degree thermostat isn't necessarily the silver bullet that Bob seems to think - it is more likely the fact that he completely rebuilt the cooling system that he didn't get any further problems
All fitting a 76 degree thermostat does is make an engine designed to run at 82 degrees run cooler than designed. How much difference to the internals and general running I don't exactly know.
In most cases the head gasket problems tend to be down to a number of factors like corrosion in the cooling system from not using genuine Toyota coolant, leaks from the rear heater pipes leading to over heating, radiator leaks (more often from fitting cheap radiators), viscous coupling problems, etc.
The bottom line is that the cooling system and head gasket are very sensitive on the 1KZ-TE so they need to be looked after. We have rebuilt three in the last month including our own being done now and all due to coolant leaks.
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Cheers,
Julian Voelcker
Overland Cruisers - Specialising in Land Cruiser preparation and servicing.
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