Cruisin'
Out in the shop, building something cool!
I was quite encouraged to go ahead and put this up by the thread about the 80 forum ROTW going all quiet. My rig may not be as built as many here, but I’m gradually making it into my own, and the story of how all this came to be is a little different than most so I thought I’d share. If you’re into a good read, enjoy!
I became a Toyota convert several years ago. I knew they had a reputation for being tremendously reliable and long lasting vehicles, and after owning a varied assortment of vehicles (including a Russian made Lada, a ’78 Porsche 911, and a Heep YJ among many others), I bought a ’91 pickup off a buddy. It had 340,000km on the clock, but I knew he had been on top of the maintenance so I figured it should be good. It was with that little truck that I started really getting into fixing my own vehicles, and expanded my abilities greatly. I tackled several jobs that I thought were beyond me, including a timing belt (it was the 3.0 V6), complete front brake job including calipers and rotors, replacing body panels, paint, and saving the biggest for last, removing a head to replace a fried exhaust valve. After the truck was all back together from that one I only had two small parts left over on the bench, and I knew where they were both supposed to go (way in there, but not that important!).
But I digress, this is supposed to be how I came to have a Land Cruiser. My wife and I were expecting our first child, and the little pickup wasn’t going to be big enough anymore. I needed a SUV, but I had some pretty specific demands of it: It needed to be capable off road so we could get to mountain biking, climbing, and hiking destinations. It needed to have enough room to haul around all the stuff that you have to take along on trips when you have a small kid. It needed to be able to tow a travel trailer which we were planning to buy to replace the slide-in camper we had for the pickup. And it needed to be able to do all that without getting lousy milage. Hmmm… Anything that got the milage I was after was too small or based on a car chassis. Anything big and powerful enough was a fullsize with a thirsty V8…
About this time I became aware of a growing number of RHD Japanese import vehicles coming into Canada (they must be at least 15 years old). I knew a little about Land Cruisers and their reputation of being one of the toughest, most reliable vehicles ever built, and the ones coming from Japan could be had with a Diesel. I’d found the solution. It was big enough, it was good off road (I later realized what an understatement that was), it could tow a trailer the size I wanted, and it would get decent milage. Now the search was on.
There are a handful of importers local to where I live, but the prices were a little more than I could really spend. I mentioned to a guy at church who has a RHD Mitsubishi Pajero what I was looking for, and it turns out that his son-in-law is Japanese, and works for a vehicle exporting company in Japan. I contacted him to find out how this might work. Basically I send a deposit (about $1,000), and I get access to the Japanese vehicle auction online. Then if I see a truck that I like I email him with the stock #, and he sends back a translation of the auction report. I was about to buy a vehicle based on one photograph taken from 20 feet away of the front/quarter view, and an auction report that gives the model, milage, engine/trans, a list of ‘deficiencies’, and grades for the exterior and interior condition. How I talked my wife into this I will never understand. Looking back on it, how I talked myself into it I’m not so sure about either.
Over the course of a few weeks I kept an eye out for a nice clean HDJ81 with low miles, and a short deficiency list. I learned what the grades indicated, and that was part of the criteria too. Exterior is a 1-5, with 5 being showroom condition. Most 15 year old vehicles are a 3 or 3.5. Interior is A, B, C, or D. A being immaculate. Most are a C. I finally found one that looked nice and clean with only a couple deficiencies, and grades of 4 and B. I checked out the translated report, and told them my maximum bid. The next day I was the proud owner of a 1991 HDJ81 with a 1HD-T and 110,000km on the clock. Only problem is it is in Osaka, Japan. And would I please wire the money over tomorrow. Gulp.
After about a month the exporter emailed me with the good news. The truck was finally on a ship! It would be in Vancouver in about 3 weeks. I was getting excited, and my
was relieved by the fact that there was now some evidence that the vehicle we had wired $10,000 to Japan for might actually exist. Once the paperwork arrived, and the customs broker I had hired got the 47 forms and documents processed I was told when and where I could go to get my truck. With a new import in BC, it has to go through a provincial vehicle inspection before you can insure it to drive. You can get a temp permit to take it directly to a shop for repairs and inspection, and a permit to go to the insurance office. That’s it. Since I wanted to check it over myself and do any work it needed before going in for inspection I had to trailer it home. Having no idea if it would start or what troubles I might encounter I took some tools and borrowed a F350 and a car trailer and headed to the dock to meet her.
It was love at first sight. She was nearly bone stock. There is the obligatory rain guards over the windows, some big lights on the front, and some pretty cool looking wheels. It was in nice shape too, the auction report hadn’t lied. And it had the magical little knob beside the steering wheel. Diff Locks!!! She fired right up with a flick of the key, and up on the trailer she went. An hour and a half drive later and she was sitting proudly in my driveway. Nice.
I became a Toyota convert several years ago. I knew they had a reputation for being tremendously reliable and long lasting vehicles, and after owning a varied assortment of vehicles (including a Russian made Lada, a ’78 Porsche 911, and a Heep YJ among many others), I bought a ’91 pickup off a buddy. It had 340,000km on the clock, but I knew he had been on top of the maintenance so I figured it should be good. It was with that little truck that I started really getting into fixing my own vehicles, and expanded my abilities greatly. I tackled several jobs that I thought were beyond me, including a timing belt (it was the 3.0 V6), complete front brake job including calipers and rotors, replacing body panels, paint, and saving the biggest for last, removing a head to replace a fried exhaust valve. After the truck was all back together from that one I only had two small parts left over on the bench, and I knew where they were both supposed to go (way in there, but not that important!).
But I digress, this is supposed to be how I came to have a Land Cruiser. My wife and I were expecting our first child, and the little pickup wasn’t going to be big enough anymore. I needed a SUV, but I had some pretty specific demands of it: It needed to be capable off road so we could get to mountain biking, climbing, and hiking destinations. It needed to have enough room to haul around all the stuff that you have to take along on trips when you have a small kid. It needed to be able to tow a travel trailer which we were planning to buy to replace the slide-in camper we had for the pickup. And it needed to be able to do all that without getting lousy milage. Hmmm… Anything that got the milage I was after was too small or based on a car chassis. Anything big and powerful enough was a fullsize with a thirsty V8…
About this time I became aware of a growing number of RHD Japanese import vehicles coming into Canada (they must be at least 15 years old). I knew a little about Land Cruisers and their reputation of being one of the toughest, most reliable vehicles ever built, and the ones coming from Japan could be had with a Diesel. I’d found the solution. It was big enough, it was good off road (I later realized what an understatement that was), it could tow a trailer the size I wanted, and it would get decent milage. Now the search was on.
There are a handful of importers local to where I live, but the prices were a little more than I could really spend. I mentioned to a guy at church who has a RHD Mitsubishi Pajero what I was looking for, and it turns out that his son-in-law is Japanese, and works for a vehicle exporting company in Japan. I contacted him to find out how this might work. Basically I send a deposit (about $1,000), and I get access to the Japanese vehicle auction online. Then if I see a truck that I like I email him with the stock #, and he sends back a translation of the auction report. I was about to buy a vehicle based on one photograph taken from 20 feet away of the front/quarter view, and an auction report that gives the model, milage, engine/trans, a list of ‘deficiencies’, and grades for the exterior and interior condition. How I talked my wife into this I will never understand. Looking back on it, how I talked myself into it I’m not so sure about either.
Over the course of a few weeks I kept an eye out for a nice clean HDJ81 with low miles, and a short deficiency list. I learned what the grades indicated, and that was part of the criteria too. Exterior is a 1-5, with 5 being showroom condition. Most 15 year old vehicles are a 3 or 3.5. Interior is A, B, C, or D. A being immaculate. Most are a C. I finally found one that looked nice and clean with only a couple deficiencies, and grades of 4 and B. I checked out the translated report, and told them my maximum bid. The next day I was the proud owner of a 1991 HDJ81 with a 1HD-T and 110,000km on the clock. Only problem is it is in Osaka, Japan. And would I please wire the money over tomorrow. Gulp.
After about a month the exporter emailed me with the good news. The truck was finally on a ship! It would be in Vancouver in about 3 weeks. I was getting excited, and my
was relieved by the fact that there was now some evidence that the vehicle we had wired $10,000 to Japan for might actually exist. Once the paperwork arrived, and the customs broker I had hired got the 47 forms and documents processed I was told when and where I could go to get my truck. With a new import in BC, it has to go through a provincial vehicle inspection before you can insure it to drive. You can get a temp permit to take it directly to a shop for repairs and inspection, and a permit to go to the insurance office. That’s it. Since I wanted to check it over myself and do any work it needed before going in for inspection I had to trailer it home. Having no idea if it would start or what troubles I might encounter I took some tools and borrowed a F350 and a car trailer and headed to the dock to meet her.It was love at first sight. She was nearly bone stock. There is the obligatory rain guards over the windows, some big lights on the front, and some pretty cool looking wheels. It was in nice shape too, the auction report hadn’t lied. And it had the magical little knob beside the steering wheel. Diff Locks!!! She fired right up with a flick of the key, and up on the trailer she went. An hour and a half drive later and she was sitting proudly in my driveway. Nice.
pants wiring $$$ somewhere these days.
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