Hello From Europe (1 Viewer)

[Cañonero]

Hello, friends of ih8mud.com


This is my first post, so, as suggested, by the forum, I'm going to introduce myself:

My name is David, I'm spanish, but I live between England and Spain.

I just bought a Toyota Land Cruiser Amazon in England, (this is what you call FZJ 80, and, in Spain we call it HDJ 80). Anyway they are all the same vehicle (almost). Here in Europe, the 80's are 90% diesel (my one is got a 4.2 Diesel Engine with 168 Horse Power).

The reason why I signed in in an american forum is because the european 80 series forums I found haven't got even 1% of the information I've seen in yours. This car is quite popular here but only for 4x4heads, there are not many of them and most of the people don't know what car is it.

I got so many things to learn from you, and, If you have any curiosity to satisfy about the european 80's, I'll be glad to answer.

Thank you and best regards.

 

[zcruiser]

Sounds like you've already discovered the wealth of information that is 'mud.

Welcome, and as always, post pics of your rig preferably including (a) the countryside where you live and (b) your engine and (c) your dash. I don't know why, those are just interesting things to us.

Sure would be nice to have 90% diesels over here, though 168HP may feel a little low, torque band notwithstanding.

We call them FZJ80's here only because they are gassers.
Not sure what an 'Amazon' model is but would like to know more.

 

[ERG80]

Hello and welcome. Lets see some pics please!

 

[Cruiser804]

Welcome and 3x on the pictures!

 

[Skillet]

Yup, welcome! Enjoy your long and addictive stay!

 

[lovemylc]

My name is David, I'm spanish, but I live between England and Spain.

Do you mean you live in France or the Atlantic ocean...?

Welcome

 

[Cañonero]

Hello zcruiser, and thank you for the welcome.

I'll post the few pictures I have from the car. The next chance, I'll post some more. It's not very good looking now, the suspension is low, the tires very small, and the last owner painted it in a funny way. But I'm on the way to make it has the looks of a proper off-road car (that's one of the reasons I need your help to ).

I don't know how to post the pictures, so I'll leave the links:


http://img341.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p1010366pp2.jpg
http://img341.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p1010366pp2.jpg
http://img341.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p1010372fm0.jpg




Yes, the diesel hasn't got a big amount of horse power, but the torque is huge, and you got lots of it from a very low rpm.

In Spain, we call HDJ 80 the diesel model and UZJ 80 the petrol one.
My one is an english one, that's why it's called Amazon, but it's the same car (the only diference I found is that the english ones have cruise control). They are all amazon in England: diesels, petrol, and (very popular here), hybrids (work half petrol, half propane gas). The price of the petrol here is crazy (you pay about 2$ for a litre), so we have to find ways to save some money .

 

[80 Cruiser Rod]

Welcome






Hope you enjoy your stay here, I'm sure you will find it very rewarding.

 

[Cañonero]

Je,Je. lovemylc.

I mean I spend half of the time in England, Half in Spain.

Anyway, I'll move the car to Spain soon, I'm going to enjoy it more there, and, If I drive it to the south, I can take a ferry and be in Africa in 1 hour. (For me, the best way to enjoy an 80 series is taking it to Africa).

 

[zcruiser]

I don't know how to post the pictures...

You're very close just put

at the end of each URL and the pic will show in your post.

 

[Romer]

I tried to edit your post to insert the image links. Click the little icon thats yellow and looks like it has a little mtn. The links don't work.

Welcome to the forum

 

[cooldry]

Welcome.. Cool to have someone from across the pond. I'm sure you'll really enjoy your LC.

 

[e9999]

Bienvenido!

right-hand-drive, eh? how's it going to be in Spain? not too many down there...

 

[Cañonero]

Well, the right hand drive won't be a problem in Spain except in narrow roads with lots of bends.

I had a right hand drive Citröen before, and the only problem I found was to overtake in this narrow roads. (well, not really another funny situation is when paying in tolls and in subterranean parkings).

Anyway, it's worth the effort. England is, by far, the cheapest place in Europe for buying an 80 series. I paid 4000 pound for mine (about 8000 $). It's from 91, three diff locks, diesel engine, in excellent condition and it's got 80.000 miles on the clock (It has to be true, cause it's got the full history book).

In Spain, you won't get an 80 series in such a good condition whith all the locks for less than 14000 euros (about 18000 $). The difference in the price is huge!

PD: I tried putting

, but it doesn't work.
Anyway, from here the links work, I tried with some computers and worked in all.

 

[reffug]

diesel envy...........................

 

[Cañonero]

Diesel envy?, why?, you have V8 engines much more powerful than my one haven't you?

By the way, I'm looking for a complete OME suspension for my truck and I'm going to buy it in the USA, cause it is much cheaper. I've found two interesting sites: www.sleeoffroad.com and www.rocky-road.com

What I can't understand is, in slee, the lift kits starts in 2.5" and then, they go to 4" and more. But in rocky-road, you can only choose between 2" and 3" lift.

It sounds very strange to me, specially being all OME suspensions.

Can anyone explain it to me?

 

[mot]

I can't explain the suspension deal, but just wanted to

Welcome aboard!


Me llamo Mot. Soy de Japon.

 

[zcruiser]

Here are pics of David's rig:

To get the image URL, I used the links from David's post, then did a right-click over the image and then 'Copy image location' which I placed between the tags. So a little more complicated that I thought, sorry. There was a 3rd one there before but it seems the 1st has been duplicated in his post.

Sorry, can't do much about the improper color balance!

 

[e9999]

Slee has some OME suspension parts (still, last time I looked) and also his own custom ones (4", 6"). But OME has a number of mainstream springs for the 80, ranging from barely more than stock to about 4", and then even some taller (competition springs). So a wide variety, but not everybody stocks all I guess.

If by weird paint you meant the red, it's probably OEM. We have a (very) few like that in the US also.

People here talk about Diesels with envy mostly because we don't have any OEM for the 80 so it's special. Some like the torque for wheeling. Most like the better economy. No OEM V8 in the 80 though.

 

[Cañonero]

Zcruiser, thank you for the pictures. I think I'll be able to post them properly next time.

e9999, yes, I thought the silver/red was made by the owner. Anyway, I'll wait to see it raised, but I don't like that paint very much at the moment. What do you think?.

About the ome springs, I think the best for me (I'm doing lots of kilometers on road and going to expeditions in Africa) would be 2.5" lift and 33" tires. But, the 3" kit from rocky road is cheaper than the 2.5" from sleeoffroad.

Does anybody know some provider that sells the 2.5" kit as cheap as rocky-road.com sells the 3"?. This is because I think 3" is too much for me, and the 33" tires would look small with that lift. Do you agree with me?