Builds '97 VZJ95W to Canada - Ontario - Misc Blathering on (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Jan 14, 2020
Threads
4
Messages
106
Location
Ontario Canada
Hi

After a departure from the JDM world a couple of years back (L049 LWB Palero) it is time to jump back in.

In short, I ran the search gamut from cheap sub 10K pickup up to an amazing 2017 Tacoma 6spd king cab in blue. But because of other vehicles, I need to buy, I turned again to JDM. The Tacoma would have killed the budget.

I am located in Ontario Canada where the import of vehicles, not originally destined for Canada or US, can be imported to Canada 15 yrs after the date of manufacture.

In 2005 I did import a diesel Montero (Pajero) and ran it for 12 years. The largest issue was running gear parts that I typically brought in from the UK and mechanics to do the big jobs (Timing belts, water pumps et al) was hard to find.

So this time I decided to stick with something as close to NA running gear as possible.

Choice #1 was a Hilux Surf with an easy choice of a '98

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It only had 122k/km and some clear coat peel - It was the 2.7l w ith an auto - So checkbox for maintenance with easily available parts here and no fear factor for my Mechanic should a serious issue needed to be done that could not wait for a weekend with good weather to do the work. But it was still in need of work for the clear coat. It would have landed to my driveway in Ontario at $7800.

Then I found this gem on Japan Auto Partner - I have had Japan Auto Partner on my bookmark list for over 15 yrs. It became apparent for a couple grand more I could get a 90series.

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My broker was familiar with Japan Auto Partner and thought it was a clickbait listing and in the end, it was. But it had instilled in me the LC bug

A few auctions transpired (Loosing just barely) until this one popped up from an automated alert I set up. My broker got the same notification by different means and within 20 min a hold was placed.

A 1998 with 106,000km - 5VZ-FE - Blue and other than aftermarket wheels and stereo appears stock.

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All in, it is $8800 to Vancouver . It should be on a boat within 12 days and in Vancouver early March.

From Vancouver to Ontario is an additional $1400 (or less)

For sure tires will need to be swapped for DOT approved (and they are bald as well) - The curtains need to go as well. Funny thing is that my old Pajero arrived with curtains as well all those years ago.

Here is a link to the full listing - I found it via beforward.jp, but broker found it via another listing house.

Once everything works out (Good or Bad) I will link to the broker - Up to now, I have had a very pleasant experience working with them.

Shortlist for parts are...

Rock Auto has Lower Ball joints with a grease nipple, so those go in for sure.

Rubbing my chin on Calipers - They are probably fine, but 22 years and only 106K/km means lots of sitting so I may just swap them out with pads , rotors and the entire load of brake fluid.

The most perplexing thing at the moment is a trailer hitch. I may have to have one fabricated as online searches are coming up empty for a standard Type 2 or Type 3 hitch. Quite a few hits for EU spec hitches but monkeying with them I would probably be throwing good money after bad...

Replace the Stereo

A good, good, cleaning.

Auction sheet listed only one deficiency as an oil leak. I bet it is the valve covers time will tell if they need to be swapped.



I drop bits and pieces here as they come up - Now to read up on best fluids for the rest of the truck.

Cheers

Bill

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This post update will be about ball joints for my LC 90

So I did some Google deep diving with the online parts manual and then crossing to Rock Auto.

I will not actually order these parts until I have the truck and have a look at the actual condition.
But I am 90% sure I will swap out the ball joints regardless just because the front end service for Ontario safety will almost certainly mean new brakes, and since I will treat it as a 160,000km service might well swap 'em all out. (except bearings).

Here is the page from the Toyo-parts lookup for the upper ball joint.

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It returns part number 43324-39016 for left-hand. Right-hand returns 43310-39015.

Rock Auto has reference to the Left (ending in 16) but not the right (ending in 15).

I can not see an obvious reason for the two-part unique numbers from the drawings.

Plugging the part ending into Rock shows a bevy of choices, this one being most compelling...

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Both the grease nipple and the (attempt?) of rustproofing look compelling. If they are indeed interchangeable (15 and 16) I will go for this option for the uppers.


For the lower Toyo - part lookup shows this..

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These return with Toyo part numbers LH 43340-39325 & RH 43330-39415

At Rock, again there is a bevy of choices with this Mevotech option with grease nipple, being most compelling. It does not have any reference to corrosion resistance

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Now on to Calipers, Pads, and Rotors.
 
Tires and wheels

So I was going to stick with the rims supplied with the truck for the initial run of tires. While they do not look _bad_ they are definitely not my style.

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But I really wanted the OEM look - Some rims were on the Canadian equivalent of Craigslist (Kijiji) but all had some really good battle scars or showed heavy winter use.

I expanded the search criteria to all of Ontario and a tire dealer in Ottawa (about 7 hours away) popped up. They had 16 (4 sets) new "Pulls" from the southern US where a Yota dealer was upselling rims on a feverish pace. The dealer was to sell 100 sets to him which lead him to price them at $125 each. Well, the dealer in the US only sent up a little over 25 sets, but the pricing was set in their advertising.

Then there was the 7-hour ride west to pick them up . Well it looks he has a friend who was up in Ottawa for the week from London (adout an hour and a half east of me) who was willing to drop them off on the way home for $40. I am about 10km away from the main connecting highway from Ottawa to London

So a new set of 4 center caps ($10 ea) and Yota OEM nuts are thrown in as goodwill - $650CDN inc tax (He is a retail outlet) to my door. $162.50 Hudsons bay pesos each.

Still need one for the spare, but being the 2014 - 2017 series I have a better chance of getting a nice wheel #5

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As far as I can tell from checking the 265/70 17's should fit just as good as the stock 265/70 16' at one inch different.

Not sure if I will keep the old rims for snows (16") or sell them off for what I can get and find regular steels for winter (2020/21).

I have really enjoyed my last set of Yokohama for the High and dry. So much so that I am pretty well sold on a set of GEOLANDERS for the LC unless I reading something more compelling to choose something else.

So Ball joints and tires set - Now off to brakes ........
 
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Hey, I don't want to be a " Debbie Downer " here or " Negative Nancy ", but is there anything really compelling here to share? The wheels, routine ball joint fix and the like seem like common jobs between Toyota, Ford, Hyundai, riding lawnmower, or anything else.

Tell us how you scrambled under an old broken RAV4 at a local pick and pull to grab that one expensive and rare part that cross referenced to yours.

More meat and potatoes, please.
 
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This thread is (assumed targeted) for the person(s) who do not have the tacit knowledge to cross parts or who down not have a 90 series currently and wants to know the complexity of importing and running one in Canada, Ontario specificly. Or maby one of the people buying one locally from a few of the dealers and are getting hosed on parts and service.

Until the truck gets here this is, it is just menu photos and once it is here just mundane stuff of getting it on the road. It will be a daily driver.
 
The fellow from Ottawa just doddled along so I canceled the transaction and don't have rims yet.

One slight twist on the rear calipers though - They are not 4runner specific, but 80 series LC type, '93 to '97. And Rock auto still carries them so no biggie.
 
Got the Boat Note

Feb 6 from Kawasaki with a dock date of Feb 22 to New Westminster.
 
Now this is cool

I asked my Co-worker in the Tokyo office to decode the Japan Licence plate from the auction photos.

He states the truck was registered in Kitami on Hokido @ 43 deg Lat. ( 43°48'00.0"N+143°54'00.0"E)

I live at 43 deg latitude as well (43°25'07.0"N+80°28'22.0"W)

He (Co-worker) states that cars ordered to Northern Japan typically get a higher spec alternator, wipers battery et al.

Time will tell - the ARTEMIS LEADER has left Kawasaki (Assumed with the Prado) and is off to Nagoya (well Gamagori) before heading across.
 
Bill... Its similar to Mitsubishi's winter package. If you run your chassis ID on partsouq, you should be able to see that info.

In any event, my research found the following options with the winter package:
-dual batteries
-heated fuel filter element
-idle up switch

Mine was non winter spec but so far I've doubled my battery count and added the idle up. I'll likely do the heated filter before next winter. So if yours doesn't come with, rest assured you can add it. ;)
 
The truck is in the "Livingston International" logistics chain for arrival in my driveway hopefully on the 11th or 12th.

An odd twist for the Ontario safety - I have a secondary mechanic that is licenced who I was hoping to do the safety - Unfortunately he only does vehicles that are less than 10 yrs old so I have to search for that for a bit. I may just default to Canadian tire once all the work is done by myself.

The paper packet should arrive by courier this week so I can get the Ontario title set up and insurance arranged.

Reading the forums in more detail I am going to skip all of the Rock Auto brake parts above and just go Toyota OEM parts - Especially the LBJs

16" 6 bolt Tacoma rims were purchased and they were already sanded and ready for clear coat - I will give it a once over with 200 grit and IPA to be sure if any oxidation has sprung up since the fellow that had them cleaned them up. They also have the TPMS sensors which I will remove..

New Key Fob arrived as well - I get to find out trivia on whether the 4Runner (7 times on-off with the key) or the Prodo 2001 (20 times on-off) of the key allows me to sync the new fob..
 
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Bill... Its similar to Mitsubishi's winter package. If you run your chassis ID on partsouq, you should be able to see that info.

In any event, my research found the following options with the winter package:
-dual batteries
-heated fuel filter element
-idle up switch

Mine was non winter spec but so far I've doubled my battery count and added the idle up. I'll likely do the heated filter before next winter. So if yours doesn't come with, rest assured you can add it. ;)



This one is the
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petrol one so none of the above - At least from the photos - There is a mysterious blue box to the right of the battery though ...
 
A bit of a runaround which I hope is fixed.

A) in August 2019 Canada switched to a new import system that does not have a paper form (Wryly named "Form 1") and not all registry offices know this

B) My VIN was (apparently) Phat Phingered into the interprovincial database.

This led to soothing interactions with Service Ontario

1) Schooling the office that did not know that form 1 was no more. They could not find the VIN and I chalked it up to inexperience

2) Finding an office that knew the new drill, but they could not find the VIN either

3) Went back to the broker, which went back to the logistics company, which went back to RIV and RIV stated that the VIN is now correct.

All the offices were polite and diligent to the best of their ability.

Tomorrow I go back to Service Ontario for my title - Fingers crossed

The truck should be in my driveway Wednesday or Thursday
 
Truck - Should be here Wed in the driveway.

Insurance - Difficult - Only one or two firms currently doing RHD vehicles in Ontario at this time. My broker is finding trouble finding them. But if they can not I will use the other broker who quoted my in Whitby, get the insurance company name and then pass to my broker to see if they can do a better deal. I have used them (broker) for 30 yrs and they are good folks.

Ownership/title - BecauseRIV phat phingered the VIN into the database it is now "Suspect" with MTO (Ministry of transport Ontario) hence I have to get a safety to get the title as the facility will confirm the VIN.

Since the ownership and VIN do not let me get a temp tag for it I will do the brakes and the headlights here at home and tow it to the local Can tire for the safety for full plates.

Toying with getting a Pajero io or Jimny in the same paint scheme as it would look uber cool as daddy and son truck.. :)

We had a trip down to our house build in Nicaragua planned but with all of the goings-on that is cancelled and I will have more time to tinker.
 
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Well, she arrived this morning while I was on a short shift at work.

Needs a real good cleaning and the remote start module installed (Not HID) has to go.

As expected the Toyo's are older than allowed for safety in Ontario so I am torn between a set of Yokokama Geolanders @ just over 900CDN and what looks like a good deal on a set of Kumho's Venture AT51s at a little over 700CDN. Both 3 peak rated


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The mystery of the blue box is solved...

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So it looks like there are smake oil salesmen for autos on every continent. This box is just connected between live and common and nothing else. A quick google shows it improves, power, fuel economy and idle. It is ...... A capacitor... and in 2003 it was $460 US - Out she comes.
 
Wheels from a '10 taco were sourced - The last owner worked in a machine shop and sanded them down real good.

Etching primer, then Hammercoat pewter. Tomorrow clear coat and mask off the toyo logo on the center caps and paint up the same.

Geolanders are on order and should be here Tuesday or Wed.

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And this is the result - Maybe a 5 to 10' paint job

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Managed to get all of the wax/grease pen off of the windshield the yellow text took a hell of a lot of elbow (de)greas(er)

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Now Day time Running light controller and clamps to hold the lights to the bull bar is on order. It looks like it is required for Ontario safety for anything made after 1989, and my old Pajero was an 88 so it never came to my attention at that time I wanted them overnight via Amazon but suddenly delivery is Apr 25 <shrug> Looks like Amazon is feeling the border slowdown. Hope they come sooner
 
Nice fellow in the 3rd gen forum measured up the bolt spacing for the 4Runner - It looks like (on the surface) that a 3rd gen hitch will bolt in place.

Now I have to find a wrecker that is open and will ship in these times.

It is 39 & 5/16 "
 

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