Hello! New owner: JDM 100 series Diesel (1 Viewer)

[1mtomselleck]

Welcome to my intro post! I'm Allen, a British Columbia resident and lifelong Toyota fan boy. My JDM Land Cruiser, after a few months of waiting, is landing in Vancouver this week. I have been holding off on this thread until the ownership papers arrived, but the day has finally come..

I upgraded to a 100 series to accommodate my growing family (two dogs, wife, and a baby boy on the way). Previous Toyotas include: A beat up Lexus SC300, a beat up '99 4runner, and a not-so beat up supercharged '12 Tacoma. Selling that truck was painful but it has free'd up some capital for this vehicle, and of course, life moves on.

The inspection report says it's mechanically sound and some other pics indicate that rust is not a problem. Though man, that aero kit has got to go. It has 167k miles on the clock, so it's far from factory fresh but I'm not too concerned.

This will primarily be a garage-kept road trip and camping vehicle, with my old 4runner taking the brunt of day to day labor (and road salt). It will spend some time offroad, but primarily just highway cruising and forest service roads.

Planned mods (in order of priority) and estimated budget:

- 3" Catless turbo-back exhaust (quiet for highway cruising, but with a cutout for the rest of the time because I'm an asshat) ($2k)
- Aero kit removal. I will stick some bigger wheels on it to see if those flares will work for me but the chin spoiler, rear bumper lip and running boards are a huge no-no. Fully expecting paint restoration will be required on the bumpers after this.. (est $1k?)
- Wheels (method bronze for sure, haven't decided on specifics yet) ($1.5k) + Tires ($1.5k)
- Sound deadening (DIY, mats cost ~$500-1k?)
- HID retrofit (DIY, mats cost ~$500?)
- Unichip with boost controller, valve body upgrade, big intercooler, tune (this is the big one, $8-10k?)
- New sound system and replacement head unit ($2k, partial DIY)

These estimates and the DIY work that I'll be taking on are possible for me largely thanks to the help of this amazing community, so thank you for being there for us (formerly) silent forum lurkers

Allen

 

[Camotubebender]

We like to see what's under the hood

 

[1mtomselleck]

We like to see what's under the hood

Hah! No doubt. This is the best I can do for now:

Many more to come, as soon as I get my hands on it and can take some decent photos. I hope my experience can help out anyone else looking to import one of these

 

[silvarshooter]

That aero is pretty hilarious. I’m definitely jealous of the cloth interior and particularly the headlight washers, would love that for sloppy winter roads.

 

[daohaus]

So cool, congrats. As the years roll by it'll be easier to bring them in. Wouldn't mind a LHD 100 series diesel powered one

 

[1mtomselleck]

That aero is pretty hilarious. I’m definitely jealous of the cloth interior and particularly the headlight washers, would love that for sloppy winter roads.

Agreed, pretty stoked about the headlight washers. The extra body parts, not so much lol. I'm praying they're easy to remove but suspect they're stuck on there pretty good!

 

[1mtomselleck]

So cool, congrats. As the years roll by it'll be easier to bring them in. Wouldn't mind a LHD 100 series diesel powered one

The LHD diesels are out there, but I don't know where you'd have to ship that in from! It's true though, as of this year people in the US can finally start bringing in 100 series diesels from 1998. It was funny shopping for this because the 98' model year vehicles are more expensive than the 2000-2003 range

 

[daohaus]

The LHD diesels are out there, but I don't know where you'd have to ship that in from! It's true though, as of this year people in the US can finally start bringing in 100 series diesels from 1998. It was funny shopping for this because the 98' model year vehicles are more expensive than the 2000-2003 range

They know lol

 

[XAlent]

Nice one mate. Similar spec to my JDM model, though mines a bit earlier judging by the serial number. 1HDTFE is one of Toyota's best engines. Upgrade the intercooler, 3" exhaust and maybe chip it and it becomes a real weapon. And block the EGR as soon as you can

 

[1mtomselleck]

1HDTFE is one of Toyota's best engines. Upgrade the intercooler, 3" exhaust and maybe chip it and it becomes a real weapon. And block the EGR as soon as you can

I'm glad to hear that, and thanks for the reminder on the EGR. It seems like a bad idea to import a vehicle with a motor that was never available on this continent, but you Aussies have been driving and in some cases torturing these for decades, so there's a lot of great empirical data out there to show how tough they are

Is your vehicle chipped? I'm curious about really long-term reliability after a "typical" unichip tune?

 

[XAlent]

Mine isn't chipped but it's got a Tunit device that helps it make more power. As long as your demands aren't crazy it should take it easily.

 

[DubsonHDJ100]

Welcome, also a fellow British Columbian with an HDJ101 here. I have most of the mods aside from the cutout and also spare headlights if you need housings to do your retrofit. That aero is pretty funny but part of me wonders what big tires and those flares would look like? Before doing Unichip, upgrade the intercooler, exhaust, add pyro/boost gauges and boost controller. the stock turbo puts out about 8-10psi stock. Once you add a manual boost controller and the other mods, you turn up the boost to about 14.5psi before you hit boost cut. Doing this will really wake the truck up. Recently did the wholesale auto valve body and tc upgrades and trans shifts are quick, and the torque converter lock up on the highway is not so clunky anymore. If you need a valve body core, let me know, was more to ship back to aus than the core charge.

 

[D21FJ60]

Though man, that aero kit has got to go.

no it doesn't- put a 3" lift on there and leave the aero kit !

 

[chapel gate]

rust proof it my friend, then rust proof it some more..

 

[tetelestia]

Hey neighbour with an almost twin truck. Mine arrived from Japan a few months ago and is fantastic.

 

[1mtomselleck]

Welcome, also a fellow British Columbian with an HDJ101 here. I have most of the mods aside from the cutout and also spare headlights if you need housings to do your retrofit. That aero is pretty funny but part of me wonders what big tires and those flares would look like? Before doing Unichip, upgrade the intercooler, exhaust, add pyro/boost gauges and boost controller. the stock turbo puts out about 8-10psi stock. Once you add a manual boost controller and the other mods, you turn up the boost to about 14.5psi before you hit boost cut. Doing this will really wake the truck up. Recently did the wholesale auto valve body and tc upgrades and trans shifts are quick, and the torque converter lock up on the highway is not so clunky anymore. If you need a valve body core, let me know, was more to ship back to aus than the core charge.

Wow, just now read all of this - Great to know! I'm happy to hear that the valve body upgrade and tune upgrades are worthwhile and will certainly let you know when the time comes if I can relieve you of those parts. I'm especially curious what your source was for the unichip and intercooler out of Australia? Also, any notable changes to fuel economy (for better or worse) after the mods?

 

[1mtomselleck]

no it doesn't- put a 3" lift on there and leave the aero kit !

Hah! Well at the very least the rear lip is getting removed pronto - It covers up the hitch receiver We'll start with that and see how much damage it does taking it off. I am certainly going to try to live with the flares though, just ordered some Method 706's with 0 offset so will report back once those are on..

 

[1mtomselleck]

rust proof it my friend, then rust proof it some more..

Might just do this - I'm planning to avoid most winter travel with this vehicle but it will inevitably happen and it's best to put that coating on before it becomes a problem..

 

[1mtomselleck]

Hey neighbour with an almost twin truck. Mine arrived from Japan a few months ago and is fantastic.

That is so good to hear! There's a lot of unknowns to this process, which scares most people away. It is finally getting delivered next week so I am still on pins and needles waiting to see what I just spent all that money on lol. If you're like me you've probably been fantasizing about a diesel Yota for so many years that the effort and unknowns are worth the risk.

Who did you use to import? Also curious, what kind of fuel economy have you gotten with your rig?

 

[chapel gate]

Might just do this - I'm planning to avoid most winter travel with this vehicle but it will inevitably happen and it's best to put that coating on before it becomes a problem..

good to hear, they suffer from rust pretty bad over here.