JDM Journeys
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Disclaimer: this will be a collection of experiences and some minor mods to a Japanese Domestic Market 100, in Canada. Tech content will be at the more basic level 
In Canada we only got the LX version of the 100, and in fairly limited numbers, so any 100's going around are either Lexus, or US imported. Personally, I've been driving Mitsubishi's for many years, and have had good success with them, in both petrol and (imported) diesel variants. But we live on the edge of the Rocky Mountains, and towing a trailer can be "interesting" at altitude, more so as you head towards BC. And of course I've always appreciated all variants of the mighty Land Cruiser...
A few years ago we decided to get a bigger trailer. Not "big" by today's standards, but bigger than we've had before. We ended up buying a Forest River Wolf Pup - its a vee-nose 18 footer with a large slide out the back. Comes in around 4500# fully laden, but is pretty compact for having a bathroom, dinette, couch, and queen bed that are all usable at the same time. My wife's daily driver, a Japanese market Pajero with 4 cylinder 3.2DiD, would have been up to the challenge, but keeping an eye on EGT's while managing the tongue weight over an independent rear end made me think perhaps it was time to get a few more cylinders?
The first morning I started looking, I found a UZJ100 for sale LOCALLY, about 5 minutes from our house, and immediately went to see it. It had been imported a year earlier, and showed 122k kms on the odo. RHD, yes, but in great shape, really good price, and didn't really need much beyond a windshield and tires. I've brought many JDM rigs into Canada, but buying locally and being able to walk around it first was kinda nice...
Test drive went well, everything checked out...
And suddenly our first Land Cruiser was sitting beside the house...
It did need some tidying up, as far as I was concerned, but the bones were good.
We tucked it in the garage with the two other Mitsu's I still had, sold my wife's 4 door, and got down to business...
In Canada we only got the LX version of the 100, and in fairly limited numbers, so any 100's going around are either Lexus, or US imported. Personally, I've been driving Mitsubishi's for many years, and have had good success with them, in both petrol and (imported) diesel variants. But we live on the edge of the Rocky Mountains, and towing a trailer can be "interesting" at altitude, more so as you head towards BC. And of course I've always appreciated all variants of the mighty Land Cruiser...
A few years ago we decided to get a bigger trailer. Not "big" by today's standards, but bigger than we've had before. We ended up buying a Forest River Wolf Pup - its a vee-nose 18 footer with a large slide out the back. Comes in around 4500# fully laden, but is pretty compact for having a bathroom, dinette, couch, and queen bed that are all usable at the same time. My wife's daily driver, a Japanese market Pajero with 4 cylinder 3.2DiD, would have been up to the challenge, but keeping an eye on EGT's while managing the tongue weight over an independent rear end made me think perhaps it was time to get a few more cylinders?
The first morning I started looking, I found a UZJ100 for sale LOCALLY, about 5 minutes from our house, and immediately went to see it. It had been imported a year earlier, and showed 122k kms on the odo. RHD, yes, but in great shape, really good price, and didn't really need much beyond a windshield and tires. I've brought many JDM rigs into Canada, but buying locally and being able to walk around it first was kinda nice...
Test drive went well, everything checked out...
It did need some tidying up, as far as I was concerned, but the bones were good.
We tucked it in the garage with the two other Mitsu's I still had, sold my wife's 4 door, and got down to business...
) appliques on almost every exterior detail. To top it off, the mirrors were fitted with plastic rhinestones. RHINESTONES.
