Hello everyone, and apologies to CruiserPilot for not doing this sooner! I moved to Nanaimo almost a year ago and have been dailying My '91 LJ71 ever since, so some of you may have seen me booting around.
I bought a minty 2lt Hilux Surf in 2007 because I couldn't find a diesel 80 which was what I really wanted. I loved it despite cracking the head and rebuilding the injection pump, I sold it to get a commuter and instantly regretted it. Fast forward to 2016 and was looking for a cheap bush truck/camping rig, i was looking for a SASes 4runner or a Cherokee (ugh). Well I stumbled on an ad for 'Land Cruiser' with this pic..
I bought it for under 4k, despite having reservations about getting back into a 2lte, I figured it was a small price to pay to get into a 70. And I had been reading GTSsportscoupes thread because I'm a huge toyota/cruiser geek, so I had some idea what i was getting into.
She held together for a year before the headgasket went, took us to some pretty cool spots and earned the name Whistle Pig because the rusted exhaust made it sound like a semi truck. I considered different engine swaps and searched classifieds. I stumbled on a low km engine trans combo, swapped it in with a new headgasket but original head.. At this point I was installing gauges, working out all the kinks from the swap. Did exhaust, intercooler was running good but fighting weird heat soak issues. It wasn't my primary vehicle so i chipped away at it, about a year ago, right before I was about to move John Voo hooked me up with an adaptor that lets you use a 1kz thermostat. That solved all coolant temp issues, just in time!
This is how she sits not, just finished the Coastal Offroad bumper and I have a winch waiting to go on.. that may require me to swap to a water/air intercooler setup. Just trying to catch up on maintenance.
I've met some of you at a coffee meet before Christmas, Ive been super busy but need to make some time to get out and explore, so if anyone needs a partner hit me up.
I'm also considering picking this kz71 for parts and the clean body, anyone need anything from it?
I bought a minty 2lt Hilux Surf in 2007 because I couldn't find a diesel 80 which was what I really wanted. I loved it despite cracking the head and rebuilding the injection pump, I sold it to get a commuter and instantly regretted it. Fast forward to 2016 and was looking for a cheap bush truck/camping rig, i was looking for a SASes 4runner or a Cherokee (ugh). Well I stumbled on an ad for 'Land Cruiser' with this pic..
I bought it for under 4k, despite having reservations about getting back into a 2lte, I figured it was a small price to pay to get into a 70. And I had been reading GTSsportscoupes thread because I'm a huge toyota/cruiser geek, so I had some idea what i was getting into.
She held together for a year before the headgasket went, took us to some pretty cool spots and earned the name Whistle Pig because the rusted exhaust made it sound like a semi truck. I considered different engine swaps and searched classifieds. I stumbled on a low km engine trans combo, swapped it in with a new headgasket but original head.. At this point I was installing gauges, working out all the kinks from the swap. Did exhaust, intercooler was running good but fighting weird heat soak issues. It wasn't my primary vehicle so i chipped away at it, about a year ago, right before I was about to move John Voo hooked me up with an adaptor that lets you use a 1kz thermostat. That solved all coolant temp issues, just in time!
This is how she sits not, just finished the Coastal Offroad bumper and I have a winch waiting to go on.. that may require me to swap to a water/air intercooler setup. Just trying to catch up on maintenance.
I've met some of you at a coffee meet before Christmas, Ive been super busy but need to make some time to get out and explore, so if anyone needs a partner hit me up.
I'm also considering picking this kz71 for parts and the clean body, anyone need anything from it?
