looking for advice/opinions from US owned JDM 70's series

[Foxtrot01]

Hello, first time post here. little background : I used to own a FJZ73 1996 back in SA, the Sofasa version. I have to say that I have great memories of that vehicle and for the past couple years I have been looking to capture that old nostalgia by importing a JDM 70s series. I know about the 25 y/o rule, I have gotten into some rabbit holes and even signed up for japancardirect.com (saw it as a suggested contact in Japan for JDM vehicles at auction, I am open to other suggestions as well).
I have several questions since I have been hoping to find a HZJ77 (low mileage, up to 150,000 km, 4 ext /A-B int on the auction sheet, I know, wishful thinking). Some of my questions are for those who own these 70s series in the US, specially those with Diesel engines, but any insights overall are much appreciated.

1. how hard/easy has it been to get repairs done, find mechanics/shops that know how to work on LCs and specially on diesel engines ( I live in South Florida, I believe there is a shop that imports them and works on them but mainly their imports are from SA and not JDM, I think, I could be wrong)
2. what are the most significant repairs to be predicted and at what mileage and average cost. (usually the big ones are transmission, timing chain-I believe these are supposed to last the lifetime of the engine, alternator, starter, etc).
3. repair wise, is it easier/harder, cheaper/expensive to repair a LC 77 series diesel vs gasoline engine?
4. how easy is it to find parts in the US for these 25+ y/o vehicles and how expensive.
5. my FZJ73 was my daily driver back in 1996 and I don't have issues on the rough ride or manual transmission ( I currently drive a manual coupe) will this be a good daily driver that won't break down with regular use? (daily driver for me is a short drive every weekend (30 miles RT) to the grocery store, I work from home so I am not on the road all day). I am not looking for a museum piece but for a reliable vehicle that I don't have to pray it doesn't break down every time I hop in to go to a friend's house or the grocery store.
6. for those who have done the actual import, anything that I should be careful about, any advice or hidden stuff that I should be aware of (fees, taxes). I have registered with japancardirect.com and have exchanged several emails, there customer service has been great, I told them I wasn't ready to engage yet, maybe in the next 6-12 months, I gave them my budget and the build that I was looking for, they also put me in contact with a customs broker who has explained the fees and documentation. Although I have been looking at the auctions japancardirect also let me know that if I find a 77 series in Japan they can help me and contact the dealership that is selling the vehicle. Anything I should ask or be aware of?

Thank you again and my apologies for the lengthy post.

 

[coldtaco]

Lots of us daily our 70 series, even all winter long in the north country

 

[FJ73Texas]

I would skip the HZJ77 and look for the HZJ76 from Japan as those are now becoming importable.

 

[Tanner H]

I can chime in a bit as I have owned a few 80's, 100's and now a 70.


-The biggest problem with maintaining a 70 series is replacement body parts. Interior and exterior. If you smash a fender or your front grille, its not as easy and coming on here and asking anyone if they have a fender in their backyard they want to sell you cheap.

-maintenance and repairs need to be planned far in advance. Aside from oil changes, be prepared to order maintenence or engine parts that will need to be shipped to you, sometimes over seas. Lots of parts are discontinued as well which makes things fun.


I would also suggest buying a 70 thats already here in the states for many reasons:

1. 70 series overseas right now are pretty expensive in my opinion. I personally didnt have the stomach to roll the dice and wait 6 months for something to show up that might have surprises. I would window shop a few of the 70's that are avaialble here on Mud or on Bring a Trailer. A lot of 70 series will sit for sale for a while and eventually they end up going on BAT and end at a pretty affordable price.

I currently drive a kzj78 that I got for 11k here on mud. Its the only 70 series that I know of that comes 12volt which makes life easier. I intercooled it and daily it. Really fun. I'm also currently shoping for an hzj73 or 77 to add to the collection.

 

[Guyute]

Welcome.

A. You can daily drive anything if you try hard enough. That said... Diesel Toyotas aren't the best short mile DDers around! Be sure to give her some long hard miles too. I daily either a HZJ77 or 73 depending on the current state of disrepair/projects. All good. Seems comfortable when compared to the rickety, radio less FJ40 or any of the kidney bustin' 55's I used to drive.

1. I'm on the opposite coast as Florida and supposedly we have a good amount of Cruiser shops compared to other parts of the country. Either way... You are going to need to do many things maintenance and improvement wise yourself. It's part of the game.

III. Agree w/ Tanner about trying to find one already stateside. Save that hassle and it's a lot easier to fly over a few states than the North Pacific to see before you buy.

2b. Parts are out there. You'll get to know the sources but as mentioned body panels and model specific stuff will get harder and harder to come by. Toyota is going to do what they do. Need a sliding window seal... too bad it's NLA. The 1HZ has it's benefits as it's been in production a long time. But also some heavy drawbacks.

. HZJ76 > HZJ77 Yup. Good call, Texas.

IV. If it's shipping across the ocean. Have new batteries installed before it's loaded. Getting yanked around the ports because it won't start is sh1tty.

 

[cruisermatt]

My shop works on HZJ/HDJ Cruisers in Orlando regularly (we have three here this week actually) and keep most common service parts in stock. We have a lot of customers who DD their Cruisers. Happy to help with parts supply or service.

Have you looked at any of the vehicles on this forum's classifieds section?

 

[jblueridge]

I imported my JDM 74 from Canada but I have 2 minitrucks direct from Japan.
The biggest difficulty is finding someone you trust over there.
The mini dump truck I received in June has worse rust in the frame than I was not expecting.
Get lots of high res photos and look them over carefully.

I was thinking if I buy another, I might get the guys of Mayberry Minitrucks to source it for me.
It is a family business with people in Japan and here in NC.
They ship vehicles to Florida and trailer them to NC.
They would probably be able to find a cruiser for you.

 

[Foxtrot01]

Welcome.

A. You can daily drive anything if you try hard enough. That said... Diesel Toyotas aren't the best short mile DDers around! Be sure to give her some long hard miles too. I daily either a HZJ77 or 73 depending on the current state of disrepair/projects. All good. Seems comfortable when compared to the rickety, radio less FJ40 or any of the kidney bustin' 55's I used to drive.

1. I'm on the opposite coast as Florida and supposedly we have a good amount of Cruiser shops compared to other parts of the country. Either way... You are going to need to do many things maintenance and improvement wise yourself. It's part of the game.

III. Agree w/ Tanner about trying to find one already stateside. Save that hassle and it's a lot easier to fly over a few states than the North Pacific to see before you buy.

2b. Parts are out there. You'll get to know the sources but as mentioned body panels and model specific stuff will get harder and harder to come by. Toyota is going to do what they do. Need a sliding window seal... too bad it's NLA. The 1HZ has it's benefits as it's been in production a long time. But also some heavy drawbacks.

. HZJ76 > HZJ77 Yup. Good call, Texas.

IV. If it's shipping across the ocean. Have new batteries installed before it's loaded. Getting yanked around the ports because it won't start is sh1tty.

thank you for the response, regarding the diesel engine, is there an issue getting repairs, I know in the US most cars are gasoline unless you go to big trucks, one friend pointed that out and I wanted to check.
Also, like you mentioned, the 70's series has been around for many years and in some countries still in production, coming from SA I owned a locally assembled 1996 FZ73, will SA be a good source for parts?
The consensus seems that is better to find one that is already in the US as opposed as importing one, and a HZ76 as opposed to a HZ77.
I had an email conversation yesterday with Mike from japancardirect.com (they seem to be great, although I have not talked to @sark, I read his post in ih8mud and it seems he had a good experience with Matthew from japancardirect).
Mike broke down the costs, fees and although I am not ready to pull the trigger I have an idea of the total cost.
One of the reasons I am leaning towards the import route is that I have been looking at HZ70's in the US but they all seem to have excessive mileage (300,000km, 400,000+ km) and I am targeting around 150000km. Based on my budget, although not easy, it is more likely that I will find what I am looking in Japan than locally, you are the experts so I might be completely wrong.

My shop works on HZJ/HDJ Cruisers in Orlando regularly (we have three here this week actually) and keep most common service parts in stock. We have a lot of customers who DD their Cruisers. Happy to help with parts supply or service.

Have you looked at any of the vehicles on this forum's classifieds section?

Hello, thank you for your reply, I have checked the classifieds, a lot of 78's and 73's one thing I have noticed, please correct me if I am wrong, is that the prices for sale are very high (saw a couple in the $40k's, saw a fire truck for $45K - I've seen this start at auction in Japan for 1/4 of that price) and the mileage is high too, granted there seems to be or maybe these vehicles need a lot of work once you bring them to the US, regardless of the mileage, they are still 25+ y/o cars. I have also seen some prices around high $20k's but high mileage.
That is why I am still debating or considering importing one from Japan, for those who have actually done the import themselves(I mean through a company, do you have any tips? I have been in contact with japancardirect.com and they have been very helpful and they seem to have a good reputation, I saw their name on reddit when someone recommended them and another member if this forum wrote he used them as well with a good experience.

 

[coldtaco]

Just heads up about Japan vehicles, they can be rust buckets, look good 10feet away.

 

[Tennessee Jed]

You say JDM - do you just mean Japanese? Is there some reason you want a RHD cruiser from the Japanese market? Mine is from Europe originally and is LHD - they're out there if you look. As for a daily driver, that depends on your situation. I would drive mine to Alaska tomorrow, but I still have a Hyundai to get to work in.

Parts availability depends on what you get - there are hundreds of variations on the 7x platform.

There is a lot of expertise just in the Southeast US, let alone the rest of the country. Getting work done isn't a problem. It's just a truck. Getting someone to open the engine or rebuild the fuel pump is a different matter but any good mechanic can replace your clutch and all the other standard truck stuff.

There is a section here just regarding importation and all that goes with that. Plus there are many similar threads to this one, some of them recent, and you can learn a lot searching back through them. Importing / JDM - https://forum.ih8mud.com/forums/importing-jdm.209/

Definitely try to get a truck that's already here. That being said, no reason not to look for something specific and use a reputable importer to bring in your exact vehicle.

 

[Foxtrot01]

You say JDM - do you just mean Japanese? Is there some reason you want a RHD cruiser from the Japanese market? Mine is from Europe originally and is LHD - they're out there if you look. As for a daily driver, that depends on your situation. I would drive mine to Alaska tomorrow, but I still have a Hyundai to get to work in.

Parts availability depends on what you get - there are hundreds of variations on the 7x platform.

There is a lot of expertise just in the Southeast US, let alone the rest of the country. Getting work done isn't a problem. It's just a truck. Getting someone to open the engine or rebuild the fuel pump is a different matter but any good mechanic can replace your clutch and all the other standard truck stuff.

There is a section here just regarding importation and all that goes with that. Plus there are many similar threads to this one, some of them recent, and you can learn a lot searching back through them. Importing / JDM - https://forum.ih8mud.com/forums/importing-jdm.209/

Definitely try to get a truck that's already here. That being said, no reason not to look for something specific and use a reputable importer to bring in your exact vehicle.

Hello, good question, honestly I first thought about looking in SA, I used to own a 1996 FZJ73 in Colombia and loved that car. But as I was digging for information I started asking why most people focus on the Japanese Domestic Market instead of SA, AUS or even the ME, the answer was that Japanese vehicles, for the most part, are very well maintained, it might be a stereotype, but multiple people in another forum mentioned its a cultural thing. I've been to AUS and saw some good looking LCs at great prices parked and price posted on the side of the road but for the most part these vehicles in AUS and SA are working horses. In the ME you might have a mixed bag, but also weather wise, the ME might be a bit unforgiving. Bottom line, it seems, based on the input from that forum, the Japanese LCs tend to have less mileage and/or be in better shape and better maintained than the average LC in other areas of the world. Again, please correct me if I am wrong.
Thank you for the link on importing, I will chew on the info, I have been punching numbers and it seems, and I still have to confirm these number with the customs broker and the contact in Japan, the approximate cost of importing an LC from an auction (fees in Japan, ins, shipping, customs fees, etc) is about $5500-$7000 on top of what you pay for the car at the auction(without auction fee) if anyone has had this experience before feel free to chime in and correct my numbers.
Again, thank you everyone for all your input, I had heard a lot of great things about this forum and it's members and you guys have not disappointed. Much appreciated.

 

[jblueridge]

My mini dump truck cost $1,800 to ship on a RORO 2 months ago: insurance was included.
I had to pay the 25% tariff since it is classed as a truck.
The port of Norfolk charged me $87.