Import a JDM 80 series or 90 series Prado? (1 Viewer)

[JordanLee]

Hey guys,

Looking to join the club as I've recently just sold my WRX wagon to fund a new daily 4x4. Been looking at auction vehicles lately and have been trying to find a clean 95-97 80 series to no avail as of yet. Its nearly impossible to find one with factory lockers as well and or the pictures don't show it haha. Reason I'm partial to the 80 series is the ease of finding body parts and such from a Canadian or US car.

I dropped into ATEB a few weeks ago and was very thankful to talk to John about my prospective truck options. He recommended finding the 95+ just for the 24 valve variant. Sadly that greatly drops my options from the auctions at the moment.

If I step up to a 2000 90 Series Prado TX Limited, it is much easier to source but parts availability is a bit of a concern. Is the D4D 1KD-FTV motor more refined than the 1HD-FT? John warned me about staying away from the 1HD-FTE due to the electronics and I know the D4D is a very computer driven engine.

My use of the truck will mainly be for bombing around town, the dipping of my toes into the offroad-ing world, and road trips. Fuel efficiency is pretty important but from what I gather they get around 9-12 l/100kms for the Prado and maybe 10-14 for the 80 series. Anyone local with their economy ratings? If I got the 80, towing my other car to the track would be a godsend as well. Don't think the 90 series will hold up to towing another vehicle.

Its also funny to note that I found out a member on here lives on the same block as my girlfriend. I was googling ATEB about their power rod mod and the member (whos name escapes me at the moment) has a Green 80 series VX Limited which I stare and ogle over every time I drive by. Would love to meet up and chat with him to see how the car works and ask questions.

Looking forward to potentially meeting some of you guys soon at meets.

Cheers, Jordan.

 

[Glenn-BJ74]

Lots to learn.
https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/thinking-to-buy-my-first-tlc.865408/

If you are worry about fuel economy -- Landcruisers are not for you.

Importing will take 3 - 12 months
http://www.braveautointernational.jp/jdm_vehicles.html

 

[AJAEbj42]

Hi Jordan! Welcome to MUD!!

You should definitely come out to Cruiser Days if you can this Saturday, July 18 at Fraser River Heritage Park in Mission! Free for walk-ins like yourself. There will hopefully be a 100 land cruisers there! (along with every other 4X4 you can think of)

Our club meets at EBI in Coquitlam every 2nd Thursday each month at 8pm except December.

Look forward to meeting you and good luck in your search! (I'm an old school land cruiser guy, so people mention power steering and my eyes glaze over!)

John is an excellent resource at ATEB (and he and Phillip are club members as well)



https://www.facebook.com/groups/155522264478384/

 

[Enigma]

I recall a quote soemwhere here on 'mud where diesel owners always lie about their mileage. I've been charting mine for some time now with an app on my phone and my averages over the last 20 fill ups have ranged from 10 to 15.8l/100. This is "mixed" driving such as a few short trips, highway, low range crawling, all with and without a 1200 pound trailer.
What the app doesn't take into account is factors for my larger tires (315 75r16) which throw off my odometer readings by about 8%.

Perhaps my rig isn't a good example as it's "not quite stock" , lots of extra steel work, roof rack, tires, etc, and not a daily driver.


As for your parts concern; with either option I don't think it's a big deal these days. Everything is available online somewhere these days. Toyota Canada can bring in anything for you for a JDM vehicle if you supply the part number (and if it's still available from them), but their costs are exorbitant. OEM pricing from a lot of USA vendors tends to be cheaper.

 

[gofast]

I spent a lot of time in Australia where the 90 series gets high acclaim. There's many aftermarket products for them. The diesel motor is just a refined as any toyota produces ( exception earlier 70 series prados). They are affectionately called a baby landcruiser but you can get 20 inches of travel out of that IFS suspension

You are buying a forerunner with the 90 series. Thats what the chassis is based on so forerunner parts fit. Body is different of course

 

[gofast]

View attachment 1107273

Dumped my 101 too on whipsaw. where were you?

 

[Enigma]

Hale creek

 

[gofast]

Doesn't take much

 

[MonsterCruiser]

Here's my real world fuel economy:

http://www.fuelly.com/car/toyota/land_cruiser/1994/ryanv/99373

Daily driving from Burnaby to Tsawwassen, so city traffic about 50% highway 50%. Mornings are not heavy, but afternoons are sloooooowww coming home. As per the link averaging 18-19 mpg or 12.5 l/100km (not adjusted for 33" tires).

Better have deep pockets if you want a 95-97 in good condition with lockers and less than 200k kms

 

[MonsterCruiser]

Here's some examples of recent sold prices at auction as well. Sold prices are shown in thousands of JPY. I set the search criteria as grade 3.5 or 4 with 150,000kms or less.

 

[Enigma]

Nifty, some with active vacation packages . Prices are sure up from where they used to be, those prices convert to about 14000 CDN and still have to factor in shipping etc etc etc.

Some 80 history, complete with lounge music...

http://www.toyota-global.com/showroom/vehicle_heritage/landcruiser/collection/model_80_1.html

 

[JordanLee]

Ive been hounding the auctions every day getting a feeler of prices and whats out there. Thanks for the suggestions. Especially that link about what to expect. After reading it it really made me doubt getting an 80 just because everyone in there was trying to tell him its not the best daily. Slightly leaning towards a 90 series now and the pricing on those are much more attractive as well. 8 seats is also great. Finding an 80 with lockers is indeed pretty tough and the pricing looks to be around the 12-14 grand mark.

 

[paul rainone]

Hello

I am trying to import a 1990 LC diesel HDJ80 into canada from the US - all is fine except that the required sticker on the inside of the driver's door - is not present
Canada customs rewuires that apart from the Title (clean) I provide a proof of date of manufacturing by producung a letter from Toyota ,,
Toyota Canada says they cannot proivide this since they do not have the VIN in their records ( the vehicle was imported from germany to the US ) it has a clean NY state title
can you guide me on this I woudl greattly appreciate your help

prain1@gmail.com

thank you

 

[Glenn-BJ74]

How can that be cheaper than buying one in Canada?

 

[BC40]

His question doesn't have anything to do with "what's cheaper", just date of manufacture. Maybe he specifically wants the euro spec not a jdm.

 

[AJAEbj42]

Hmm, do you still require this even though the truck is 25 years old +? (date of manufacture, but maybe that is the issue1? ) There might be an equivalent sticker in the engine bay that will state the year of manufacture either on the front bib area or on the fire-wall. Something that important, there is usually 2 or 3 places for them.

 

[paul rainone]

Well its hard to find a left drive 4.2 diesel in canada - that has not gone through multiple winters - and all rusted up
Anyway - customs canada needs either a door sticker or a letter from Toyota - stating manufacturing date

Has any come across this ?

 

[MonsterCruiser]

Is someone at CBSA telling you this or is it something you are reading? You shouldn't need those things by federal requirements since the vehicle is over 15 years old and therefore does not fall under the RIV requirements. However, I see you are in Quebec...is this a Quebec requirement?

 

[paul rainone]

NO i am not reading this - it is at canada cusutoms - my LC is still in USA waiting resolution - Yes RIV is not applicble to over 15yrs - I am quite aware of this ,, however the sticker of comformity ( found on the driver door sill with a bar code ) is the manner to establish manufacturing date so one must prove the vehicles age - even my customs broker cannot help
I was wondering if anyone here would know how to obtain a Toyota letter - that would vouch for manufacturing date ,, Toyota Canada is not very cooperative ,,they say they did not import the vehicle so it is not in their database.

Can anyone offer advice ??

 

[MonsterCruiser]

however the sticker of comformity ( found on the driver door sill with a bar code ) is the manner to establish manufacturing date so one must prove the vehicles age - even my customs broker cannot help
I was wondering if anyone here would know how to obtain a Toyota letter - that would vouch for manufacturing date ,, Toyota Canada is not very cooperative ,,they say they did not import the vehicle so it is not in their database.

I believe that sticker will only be on vehicles manufactured in North America FOR the North American market. If the vehicle has been imported from somewhere else into the USA (or Canada) it won't have it. Just like you won't find a VIN on the windshield or in the door jamb (look on the firewall and on the frame in the front right wheel well). Importing from Japan all I ever have is an export certificate that has the build date. I guess the previous owner doesn't have any of the paper work from when it was imported from Germany? That could help you, but otherwise you won't find the sticker you are referring to and for sure Toyota Canada (or USA) will not provide you with a letter. They want you to buy their new stuff not their old stuff.

Does the title have the build date on it? Will CBSA accept entering the VIN into toyodiy to show the build date?

I don't have any experience importing from the USA, but I've imported lots from Japan, so I'm just trying to offer suggestions based on my experience on importing from Japan.