a 1997 Omani diesel 80

[John Young]

Hi all, I have mentioned and occasionally provided photo of a 1997 Omani diesel 80 that was sourced by a friend in Oman. Looking back now I see that it was in mid 2020 in the height of the pandemic, and I bought it sight unseen from Virginia. I'd gotten a taste for diesel Land Cruisers and put the word out that I was looking for anything with four wheels and a diesel engine of a certain age. My friend came up with a very nice but well-used diesel 80 and I jumped on it.
These are the first photos I saw of it back in June 2020:

That is 303k miles to us 'Mericans.'

 

[John Young]

The inside was in pretty good shape considering the life it already has lead. Just a crack or two in the dashboard like almost all 80s have in this part of the world.

And importantly it has the rear AC:

And a manual transmission and factory fridge between the two front seats:

And the cool jump seats in the back:

 

[RC51]

Nice truck. I've always wondered, would it be possible to install those 3rd row bench seats and use them in North America?

 

[John Young]

We bargained and in the end we agreed on a price and money changed hands. Soon the truck was on a flatbed for the 6 hour trip to Dubai:

The border crossing turned out to be a real challenge--minor paperwork problems but the customs folks are rather precise with what they want.

But it got done, primarily through the efforts of my friend. I felt rather badly about all the trouble.

Eventually the truck arrived at the mechanic's in Dubai:

And later we thought the papers were lost somewhere between my shipping company and customs and the multiple trip to the border to sort things out--none of which I could help with. I was still in Virginia because of the pandemic. So I just had to live vicariously until I was able to get immunized and get back to Dubai some months later.

 

[John Young]

I have not written much about the Omani Diesel, but that is because it is basically a solid car. It needed the expected stuff, a new heater core, rubber bushings throughout, a new windshield, etc.. It had some windshield frame rust but nothing catastrophic. The engine ran fine before it got to me, and it ran fine after. And I had a bunch of other projects that were very urgent because they were preventing registration. The Omani Diesel got sorted out reasonably quickly and I was able to register it when I finally returned to Dubai.

What I did do was pull the dash and work through the entire heating and air conditioning system, which I like to do myself now that I've been through it a few times and know what I am doing. The thing about 80s is how dirty they get under the dash, and while the guys at the garage would be fine getting things back in service I knew I would pay more attention to the cleaning. I also wanted to see for myself how things looked. I posted about some of that here. I covered the dash with camel leather as kind of an experiment. It worked out ok, but if I had to do it over again I would only put a dash pad over the top, not get so focused on covering most of the dash.

Skipping forward 18 months during my struggle with an HDJ81, a struggle I lost., I used the Omani Diesel off and on as my daily driver. I was not happy with the power. Basically Yaris's would leave me in the dust, and I'd constantly have people blinking their lights behind me for going too slow. The Omani Diesel would eventually get to highway speeds but it would take forever to do so. Just picture me as Mr. Magoo:

Last September I was sitting with one of the best mechanics in Dubai lamenting the problems with the HDJ81 and commenting that the ONLY thing I liked about it was the 24 valve turbocharged engine. And in the same conversation we started discussing adding a turbocharger and 3 inch exhaust to the Omani Truck, along with an engine overhaul. There was a pause the he asked me why I didn't just swap the engines between the two trucks. I was dumbfounded. It was so simple! Take the 200k km 1HD-T and swap it for the 1HZ and sell the HDJ81. It took a while but we got the Omani engine into the HDJ81 and after more effort than I care to think about, it went back on Emirates Auction and is it now out of my life.

And we are now (finally) getting going on the Omani Diesel, which I intend to keep for life.

 

[John Young]

I have been collecting parts for the 1HD-T for some months now, and as they come in I bring them over to the garage. The 1HD-T is getting a real going-over. The bearings look fine and the compression was fine, and it is only a 200k km diesel with a very modest 7 pound boost so we are going with the engine core as-is. But I have asked the owner to treat the Omani Diesel as if it were his own truck. Let's paint inside the engine bay. Let's get a new firewall blanket. Replace EVERYTHING rubber. I want this truck to be good to go for another 25 years.

Today I dropped by with another load of parts and the guys have been busy:

It filled me with happiness to see this progress!

 

[John Young]

Meanwhile the poor Omani Diesel has been outside and has gotten rather dusty:

And the engine bay is looking a little lonely:

If you look closely, you will see it has a new brake and clutch master cylinder. Basically the truck is in good mechanical shape.

The body is going to to get a complete re-do, and I am thinking I likely will remove the plastic from the side and go for a simple, oil-and-gas truck look.

 

[OGBeno]

1HD-T is a 12-valve turbo diesel.

1HD-FT is a 24-valve turbo diesel.

 

[John Young]

1HD-T is a 12-valve turbo diesel.

1HD-FT is a 24-valve turbo diesel.

Thank you OGB. I appreciate the correction. I know it is the 24 valve so it must be the 1HD-FT. Still have a lot to learn. I do know that I love the engine. Even with the slush box and only 7 psi boost in the 81, the engine had more than enough pep for me. I've read here that the 3 inch exhaust should further improve things. I'm quite anxious for the first drive in the upgraded Omani Diesel... however many weeks or months away that may be...

 

[John Young]

Nice truck. I've always wondered, would it be possible to install those 3rd row bench seats and use them in North America?

They are cool, but mostly they kind of get in the way. And I wonder whether an average adult could reasonably sit there. The ones with the jump seats that I have seen have some extra threaded mount holes and flat spots in the rear sheet metal. I dare say that you could manage something. Happy to take detailed photos if you get excited about it. And I know where there are a pile of new pulls from Land Cruisers. Not sure whether they are from 70s, 100s,, or 200's. Come to Dubai and bring a pair back with you and give it a whirl.

I suspect Mr. Toyoda did not make provision in US spec 80s for these seats.

 

[OGBeno]

Thank you OGB. I appreciate the correction. I know it is the 24 valve so it must be the 1HD-FT. Still have a lot to learn. I do know that I love the engine. Even with the slush box and only 7 psi boost in the 81, the engine had more than enough pep for me. I've read here that the 3 inch exhaust should further improve things. I'm quite anxious for the first drive in the upgraded Omani Diesel... however many weeks or months away that may be...

-FT is worth the wait.

 

[John Young]

Here is a photo from our trip to Oman over the last few days. The gentleman in the traditional garb are my friend who sourced the Omani diesel and a new friend who is a pretty serious 40s guy. My friend standing in front of the holy truck took this as a selfie..

 

[cruisermatt]

Going to be great

 

[John Young]

There's been some more progress.

Sexy right?!

 

[D21FJ60]

i'd say

 

[John Young]

Big news! The 1HD-FT is in its new home:

I also splashed out on an new OEM 3kw starter:

 

[alia176]

So the swap included purchasing the ECU for the FT engine or does it use the same ECU as the HZ engine that the Oman Diesel came with? I'm guessing the FTE engine requires a whole new ECU for sure but wasn't sure about the FT engine.

 

[John Young]

So the swap included purchasing the ECU for the FT engine or does it use the same ECU as the HZ engine that the Oman Diesel came with? I'm guessing the FTE engine requires a whole new ECU for sure but wasn't sure about the FT engine.

1 wire diesels. Mechanical fuel pump. No ECU. Here is the SOLE critical electrical element of the engine: the fuel cut off solenoid:

Here are all the electrical connections to the engine:

As you can see, nothing critical to operating the engine.

I will add that I often see various 6 cylinder Land Cruiser diesel engines, often from half-cuts, and have asked about them. The seller often will say that the later verisions can be a real bear ECU-wise, with immobilizer problems, etc. But this early engine out of an HDJ81 has none of that.

 

[Gerry McGerry]

Sexy right?!

The FT or the M3?!

Can't mistake that C pillar, cool DTM mirrors too.

 

[John Young]

I dropped by the garage today to have a look for myself. Really nice to see that engine finally in place.

... and the new starter: