Baja California - mechanic needed + Xmas trip

[Tofel]

Hi guys!

It's my first post here, so I wanted to say hello! Together with my partner we've bought a 1996 Land Crusier three weeks ago and plan to drive eventually to South America. With a stockpile of spare parts we plan to leave this Friday (to Baja California), but it won't probably be around 2017 until we hit Tierra del Fuego (we work online thus we can drive only on weekends).

The car needs some minor fixes (change of 4 o-rings + powersteering pump rebuilt + radiator/thermostat replacing), which here in US seems to cost a lot of cash. And since we're going to spend arouna a half a year in Mexico we thought that we could fix it there - best as the very beginning of the trip. So... do you happen to know any decend/trustworthy mechanic/garage anywhere in Baja California? That would help us a lot

And if you're planning to be in Baja between 12/20 and 01/06 we'd been more than happy to hook up and drive/surf/ride bikes/camp somewhere. Our plan is to slowly move South to Cabo San Lucas and they either stay there for a month or so or catch the ferry to Mazatlan and then slowly continue South along the Pacific in the direction of Guatemala.

Cheers,
Bartek

Ps.
... and here's the beast itself

 

[e9999]

well, Hello! And enjoy the trips!
there are indeed many talented mechanics in Mexico who are very good at improvising repairs on the cheap.
However, they likely have never seen an 80 and won't have any OEM parts. So you'd want to take the parts down with you.
The 80 is a very reliable beast but that's with reliable parts. You probably want to stay OEM in general.
And if you'll be on the road a while all the way South, might it not make sense for you to learn how to do it all yourself, since what you mention is not that difficult it seems? And you probably would want to take a FSM with you on the big trip, I imagine.

 

[Tofel]

Yeah, knowing how to do it all by myself would certainly by the best way, but don't know whether it's good to begin with the engine of a car that is going for a looong trip Not to mention that I don't have required tools (especially for the pump rebuilt). So I guess I'll stick with someone else doing the job this time.

I have all the parts needed for current repairs straight from Toyota (radiator as well), just need a mech to install them, so in this case improvisation won't be needed. FSM is already on my computer, seems to be a very decent manual.

Cheers!