1998 Prado rescue mission!

[John Young]

The work on the chassis has begun. It is a lot cleaner now.

And here is where the little hole used to be:

 

[John Young]

Here's another shot of the repair

And a couple of shots under her skirts

 

[John Young]

The painting has started!

 

[John Young]

The little prado is back together again and the engine starts.

And most importantly, earlier this evening it passed Road and Transport Authority inspection!

I had never heard of the color Piege. But apparently there is such a color:

I rather like it, but the peanut gallery all say it is a horrible color. When I go to pick up the plates tomorrow I will see if they will correct it. I suspect they meant beige.

I am going back and forth about taking the plastic cladding off. Any opinions out there?

 

[Fiddy5000]

The little prado is back together again and the engine starts.
View attachment 3133475
And most importantly, earlier this evening it passed Road and Transport Authority inspection!
View attachment 3133471
I had never heard of the color Piege. But apparently there is such a color:
View attachment 3133472
I rather like it, but the peanut gallery all say it is a horrible color. When I go to pick up the plates tomorrow I will see if they will correct it. I suspect they meant beige.

I am going back and forth about taking the plastic cladding off. Any opinions out there?

Do you know what is under the cladding?

 

[John Young]

Do you know what is under the cladding?

If it is like the 80 I'm just finishing up, there will be some holes for mounting that could be welded up. It should look something like this:

This is a 4-door 1998.

 

[John Young]

The Little Prado has plates!

 

[cruiserdan]

Why are there no mounting holes in that plate? Odd.

Just poke your own I guess?

 

[John Young]

Why are there no mounting holes in that plate? Odd.

Just poke your own I guess?

Hey Dan! You know a big part of the reason for the rescue of the Little Prado is that my son Jonathan fell in love with the 90 series Prado while looking at them in your museum. I did not see it at first, but over time I came to share his POV. I also think the factory front bumper actually looks pretty nice although it is 100% plastic. I'm now questioning my decision to replace it with the AUS bull-bar, which research suggests was a dealer option actually developed in Australia.

Regarding the plates, all plates in the UAE come without holes. You can ask for plates in long or short or mixed when you register the car. It is kind of a PITA because to get it to look right you have to measure carefully and usually the holes come up right in the letters. I usually just go for the regular 'short' plates.

I've only seen the 'luxurious' plates once or twice. Usually it is on a lambo or ferrari, and I've seen them where they are kind of up on a curved part of the bumper where they would be pretty hard to see from another vehicle. I suppose if you have one of these plates you are not as concerned about visibility.

And like the UK, they auction off short, attractive numbers.

There is a little cottage industry in this too. The workers at the registration place will charge you a few dollars to put the holes in and put the plates on. They do an ok job, but I prefer to do it myself.

 

[cruiserdan]

That tan bomber deserves a Luxurious plate. I think you should do it.

 

[John Young]

That tan bomber deserves a Luxurious plate. I think you should do it.

Good idea.

 

[cruiserdan]

Good idea.
View attachment 3134403

Hey, it's a lot cheaper than the #5 on that dude's Roller.

 

[John Young]

I just drove the Little Prado home for the first time. Really interesting. Power steering is a little heavy but very precise. Plenty of power to go as fast as you like. Incredible tight turning radius. Brakes not quite there yet. They are a little weak. Just a hoot to drive! And so easy to park. This is a fun little truck and I think it can be a really nice daily driver. First time I have really driven it in traffic. The aircon is out but I will try to take care of that tomorrow.

So many little things... Some numb nuts had changed out the headlights for pretty poor LED's. They have to go. Lot of interior stuff. Too many items to list. But this is a very fun little truck!

 

[John Young]

Latest hurdle is that I want to change out the brake master cylinder. Here is a photo from the auction:

The part number from ToyoDIY is 47201-3D350 which looks like:

I have to say that from memory the fittings almost always are on the side of the master cylinder furthest from the engine. So I am wondering if some numb nuts put the wrong master cylinder in the poor little prado.

Here is a view from the back side of the engine from when the body was off:

Those brake lines look kind of randomly bent up to me.

Do any of you know for sure which side the fittings are supposed to be on for an early 90 series LHD?

 

[John Young]

I'm slightly confused about the field service manuals. I found a good collection here. But there are a set of manuals for 1990-1995 and I thought the J90 came in around 1996. Mine is a 1998 and I'm trying to solve the mystery of the master cylinder. The 90-92 manual has this:

Which looks right to me. Unfortunately the 1996-1999 section for Prados on the same page only shows RHD models. Can anyone clarify for me when the 90 series actually came to market?

 

[apexwerks]

The 90 Prado came to market in 1996. 90-95 would have been a 78 series Prado.

Hard to tell from your pic, but I think mine looks a lot like yours, but it is an RHD.

I'm slightly confused about the field service manuals. I found a good collection here. But there are a set of manuals for 1990-1995 and I thought the J90 came in around 1996. Mine is a 1998 and I'm trying to solve the mystery of the master cylinder. The 90-92 manual has this:
View attachment 3138608
Which looks right to me. Unfortunately the 1996-1999 section for Prados on the same page only shows RHD models. Can anyone clarify for me when the 90 series actually came to market?

 

[John Young]

The 90 Prado came to market in 1996. 90-95 would have been a 78 series Prado.

Hard to tell from your pic, but I think mine looks a lot like yours, but it is an RHD.

View attachment 3138971

...except that you have ABS, I think...Fancy!

The dates jive with what I could remember. We have a 1991 model 77 that also was called a Prado. Maybe I was looking at those manuals--I will have to look again, or maybe the file names were incorrect. So much to get familiar with. Thank you for the reply!

 

[John Young]

Today was a busy day. A Prado-specific salvage operator (a really nice guy) was taking apart a very similar SWB and although some of the parts were in pretty rough shape I got quite a number of items--not sure if I need all of them but I figured it was a good idea.

Included in the haul was a back seat, which was missing from my Little Prado.

The last thing I got was an odd little spotlight from the passenger side rear rain gutter. It was in bad shape but my Little Prado has the same mounting bracket on it and so I think it originally had one of these. I will clean it up and powder coat it and see if I can use it. It will need a lens it looks like. Odd that it is yellow....

 

[John Young]

One last video

 

[TheMU]

One last video

Last video that guy looking under the suspended load would give our safety guy a heart attack.