Hi all,
New to the forum, so short introduction: I have been doing car based exploration and camping since I have a drivers license, with multiple trips in Europe and Central Asia. I purchased my first dedicated 'Overlanding' rig 3 years ago: a Cherokee XJ, which I built out over the past few years. My girlfriend and I love the overlanding style trips and are planning a trip to Morocco for next year and a 6-12 month trip to South America (Pan American Highway) or possibly Africa for 2023/2024.
I am about to pull the trigger and sell my fully equipped Cherokee XJ for my dream rig: an 80 series Land Cruiser. Current prices are crazy in Europe, with asking prices of about 20-30k for a neat HDJ80 with ~250k km on the odometer. I found quite a good deal on a 1997 HZJ80 with only 240k km on the clock (poverty pack, with barn doors). I don't mind that it's slow (I cruise at 100-110 kph max anyways), and love the simplicity of the 1HZ engine. Also, for South America, or possibly Africa, this seems to be the perfect rig in terms of parts availablity/road side repairs.
One thing that does worry me is the performance at altitude: of course it will be even slower, but I'd like to hear a bit more about the reality of driving this rig at altitudes of 3000+ meters. Is it worth retrofitting a HAC to the injection pump? Does the 1HZ require adjustments at these altitudes? Should I just bite the bullet and spend 10k more on a 1HD-T?
Curious to hear your ideas and opinions about this!
New to the forum, so short introduction: I have been doing car based exploration and camping since I have a drivers license, with multiple trips in Europe and Central Asia. I purchased my first dedicated 'Overlanding' rig 3 years ago: a Cherokee XJ, which I built out over the past few years. My girlfriend and I love the overlanding style trips and are planning a trip to Morocco for next year and a 6-12 month trip to South America (Pan American Highway) or possibly Africa for 2023/2024.
I am about to pull the trigger and sell my fully equipped Cherokee XJ for my dream rig: an 80 series Land Cruiser. Current prices are crazy in Europe, with asking prices of about 20-30k for a neat HDJ80 with ~250k km on the odometer. I found quite a good deal on a 1997 HZJ80 with only 240k km on the clock (poverty pack, with barn doors). I don't mind that it's slow (I cruise at 100-110 kph max anyways), and love the simplicity of the 1HZ engine. Also, for South America, or possibly Africa, this seems to be the perfect rig in terms of parts availablity/road side repairs.
One thing that does worry me is the performance at altitude: of course it will be even slower, but I'd like to hear a bit more about the reality of driving this rig at altitudes of 3000+ meters. Is it worth retrofitting a HAC to the injection pump? Does the 1HZ require adjustments at these altitudes? Should I just bite the bullet and spend 10k more on a 1HD-T?
Curious to hear your ideas and opinions about this!