80 series questions

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Rustydog32

Rustydog32

Joined
Apr 14, 2026
Threads
1
Messages
3
Location
Blairsville ga
Looking to buy my first 80 series. It will be a daily driver for my wife and a weekend toy. I’ve got a few questions.
1) should I buy imported or domestic
2) look for one already built or do it from the ground up?
3) diesel or gas?
4) potential problems to look for when purchasing?

Thank you for the info!
 
Welcome to MUD!

You're asking great questions, all of which have been discussed at length on here. Google is your friend. For example, use Google to search: "should I import an 80 series ih8mud" and a number of helpful threads should pop up.

Spend some time reading and you'll learn way more than you bargained for. I surely have.
 
Most of this depends on you, your use case, and your tolerance for spending money.

I would love to have a left-hand drive diesel manual 80, but my spending tolerance did not allow me to import one.
 
Rustydog32 said:
Looking to buy my first 80 series. It will be a daily driver for my wife and a weekend toy. I’ve got a few questions.
1) should I buy imported or domestic
2) look for one already built or do it from the ground up?
3) diesel or gas?
4) potential problems to look for when purchasing?

Thank you for the info!
Click to expand...
I'll only address question 2.

As background, I bought a total beater of an 80 for my wife (gasser and factory triple locked) for cheap... and it was cheap for a reason.

Rust bucket that needed TONS of work and $$$ thrown at it.

Mechanically rebuilt it myself and welded in new sheet metal (sourced from great dudes here who were parting out 80s) to deal with the rust.

It's now runs and operates exactly as I hoped, and it's an absolute blast to wheel... it feels like a tank...

Would I do all of that again? Honestly, probably not. I'd just save and buy an already built rig from Mud member via the classifieds. BUT, I will also say, that going over nearly every nut and bolt on an 80, and taking it from a piece of s*** to a reliable daily driver (which also wheels wonderfully) was fantastic... so, maybe I lied. I might do it again.

If you aren't doing the work/build yourself, even keeping a well sorted 80 on the road is likely going to cost you a... lot... these rigs are entering "antique" territory. If you've got the cash to have someone else do the work, that's great. If you don't... please don't buy a thrashed 80. It'll cripple you. Took me the better part of two years - saving - getting a project done - saving again - getting a project done, etc., etc.

Buy the best rig that you can afford.

As @hisandhers80s noted... research here.

Edit. Sorry, it was @mathlete who suggested searching deeply.
 
Rustydog32 said:
Looking to buy my first 80 series. It will be a daily driver for my wife and a weekend toy. I’ve got a few questions.
1) should I buy imported or domestic
2) look for one already built or do it from the ground up?
3) diesel or gas?
4) potential problems to look for when purchasing?

Thank you for the info!
Click to expand...
ikarus

Thread 'Should you buy an imported 80 Series Land Cruiser in the US?'

Should you? Should I? Should anyone? I’ve been asked this enough times both in real life and online that I thought I would attempt to put together a “guide” to owning an imported cruiser. I hope this helps someone and I can contribute a little to this forum that has been so helpful to me.

I’m not an expert of course, just wanted to share some of the insights and knowledge I’ve gained over the past couple years owning a ’97 HDJ81 - that’s a diesel 80 Series from the Japanese domestic market (JDM) with the 1HD-FT engine.

7eud9YH.jpg


It seems like the idea of...
  • Like
 
Rustydog32 said:
Looking to buy my first 80 series. It will be a daily driver for my wife and a weekend toy. I’ve got a few questions.
1) should I buy imported or domestic
2) look for one already built or do it from the ground up?
3) diesel or gas?
4) potential problems to look for when purchasing?

Thank you for the info!
Click to expand...
Yes
 
Depends how deep is your wallet....

few questions.
1) Domestic-parts are easier to source
2) already built can save you $$
3) diesel for better mpg
4) 30+ yr old parts needing replacing....doesn't matter if low mileage, its still a 30+ yr vehicle but #1 is rust.
 
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Rustydog32 said:
Looking to buy my first 80 series. It will be a daily driver for my wife and a weekend toy. I’ve got a few questions.
1) should I buy imported or domestic
2) look for one already built or do it from the ground up?
3) diesel or gas?
4) potential problems to look for when purchasing?

Thank you for the info!
Click to expand...
1) How much money do you have to spend? Importing your self means a good amount of paperwork and wait times, especial with the world the way it is right now... You could buy an imported rig from a reputable dealer who specializes in that kind of thing, but it will be more expensive.
2) Again money and time. Do you have the skills and tools to do the work your self, or are you going to pay some one to do the work? If you buy a built 80 you could be signing up for fixing some one else's issues and mistakes. You will also most likely find that some of the mods are not to your personal liking and will want to change them. I've been into cars and Toyota 4x4s for many years, and over that time I have come to prefer buying "unmolested" vehicles. Many of the modified vehicles I have bought end up having hidden issues because the previous owner did some weird or incorrectly installed modification that leaves me hating life. Especially wiring. Or they pay some unqualified person to install something like a key-less entry/alarm system, and that person destroys the wiring in the car while installing said system. I'd rather buy a vehicle that's old and original and needs a decent amount of maintenance, instead of buy a vehicle with a bunch of bells and whistles that's a total hack job and a nightmare to figure out.
3) This one is 100% personal preference. Pros and cons too both. Do some research.
4) This one is already covered on here and you can read all about it. Spend time reading through the forum.
Romer

FAQ Thread '80-series FAQ for General Info, Modification and Repairs'

forumlogo.png

The Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for the 80/LX450 series tech section continues to be a work in progress. The goal is to have links in the below to other threads and tech articles. By having these linked, instead of pasting the text, the threads will remain live. The live threads can continue to be updated and/or modified for things such as part numbers, adding on additional insight or after a period of time, some follow up information.
These FAQs have been put together by FORUM members. They have put extensive...
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Where's the op? We're just providing advice to ourselves... lol.
 
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Old Nick said:
I'll only address question 2.

As background, I bought a total beater of an 80 for my wife (gasser and factory triple locked) for cheap... and it was cheap for a reason.

Rust bucket that needed TONS of work and $$$ thrown at it.

Mechanically rebuilt it myself and welded in new sheet metal (sourced from great dudes here who were parting out 80s) to deal with the rust.

It's now runs and operates exactly as I hoped, and it's an absolute blast to wheel... it feels like a tank...

Would I do all of that again? Honestly, probably not. I'd just save and buy an already built rig from Mud member via the classifieds. BUT, I will also say, that going over nearly every nut and bolt on an 80, and taking it from a piece of s*** to a reliable daily driver (which also wheels wonderfully) was fantastic... so, maybe I lied. I might do it again.

If you aren't doing the work/build yourself, even keeping a well sorted 80 on the road is likely going to cost you a... lot... these rigs are entering "antique" territory. If you've got the cash to have someone else do the work, that's great. If you don't... please don't buy a thrashed 80. It'll cripple you. Took me the better part of two years - saving - getting a project done - saving again - getting a project done, etc., etc.

Buy the best rig that you can afford.

As @hisandhers80s noted... research here.

Edit. Sorry, it was @mathlete who suggested searching deeply.
Click to expand...
Your path is what I wanted to take so I could learn the platform. That is the big question for those of us that do the work ourselves. I don't have a much time as I used to so I bought a built rig from a mud member and it has been pretty well base lined. It has some issues but overall a very solid 30 year old truck. I definitely paid more than a stock truck that has been neglected but it would have cost me way more to build it myself and taken probably 2 years. Instead I have a solid truck I can enjoy now and learn over the next few years. The only major downside is not know how/why everything was done. I hat not knowing how things are wired up and configured.
 
jeremy j said:
Your path is what I wanted to take so I could learn the platform. That is the big question for those of us that do the work ourselves. I don't have a much time as I used to so I bought a built rig from a mud member and it has been pretty well base lined. It has some issues but overall a very solid 30 year old truck. I definitely paid more than a stock truck that has been neglected but it would have cost me way more to build it myself and taken probably 2 years. Instead I have a solid truck I can enjoy now and learn over the next few years. The only major downside is not know how/why everything was done. I hat not knowing how things are wired up and configured.
Click to expand...
If/when we buy another Land Cruiser, I'm fairly sure that's the route I'm going to go as well. Your two year estimate was pretty much spot on for me. There are only so many hours in the day/week. But, I do have one big project left in me. The '75 Piggy that's sitting in my shop is getting a 1.9TDI swap from an '03 Jetta... that's sitting in front on the shop... facing the road (a lawn ornament... lol). I've been collecting sheet metal for the Pig for 3 years in preparation. BUT, there's no hurry on that project. A little here, a little there, and in a couple of year (laughing) it'll be ready to go.
 
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Old Nick said:
If/when we buy another Land Cruiser, I'm fairly sure that's the route I'm going to go as well. Your two year estimate was pretty much spot on for me. There are only so many hours in the day/week. But, I do have one big project left in me. The '75 Piggy that's sitting in my shop is getting a 1.9TDI swap from an '03 Jetta... that's sitting in front on the shop... facing the road (a lawn ornament... lol). I've been collecting sheet metal for the Pig for 3 years in preparation. BUT, there's no hurry on that project. A little here, a little there, and in a couple of year (laughing) it'll be ready to go.
Click to expand...
Now that's a project worth doing so I'm glad you have a build thread for it. Can't wait to see it finished.
 
Devils Paw 80 said:
Has not returned since April 15. He mentioned "daily driver for my wife" as its primary use. 🤣 My advice is to NOT buy an 80.
Click to expand...
My wife daily drivers a '91 80 series and loves it. Its funny to me because shes a tiny little Asian lady, and I always imagine dudes seeing her rig going down the road and going dang look at that cool Toyota, and then seeing her driving it and doing a double take 😁
She loves her LC a lot. I've even offered to replace it with a different car and she has said no.
 
jeremy j said:
Now that's a project worth doing so I'm glad you have a build thread for it. Can't wait to see it finished.
Click to expand...
Thanks, man. It's going to be fun.

I've got to emend my sig. line... 2025 and the Pig build blew right by... I'm thinking 2027 (for something close to being finished) is more likely. When I hit it later in the summer, I'll definitely be updating the build thread with progress.
 
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