"Mi Toyota es Fantastico" - Spanish BJ73

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ChuckB

ChuckB

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Joined
May 30, 2003
Threads
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1,357
Location
Asheville, NC
Hello 70 Series group!

I recently acquired a '87 BJ73 here in Spain and I'm very excited to be part of this group.

Long story as short as possible... I have been on 'Mud for a little while and owned several Land Cruisers during this time. However, due to deployments, numerous moves and having 3 children in the span of 20 months (twins!), I have never really been able to develop an intimate relationship with any of them. I'm planning to change that with this BJ73 as well as increase my mechanical skills and just plain enjoy and explore.

I have been is Spain for 11 months almost to the day. I had a plan in my head to acquire a diesel Land Cruiser as soon as I found out I was moving here. Needless to say I had already started searching the classifieds before I even left the states.
This particular Cruiser had caught my eye about 7 months ago. I even knew another guy who was thinking about purchasing it. Well, he decided to buy a Defender, which a lot of people are doing here. It kept reappearing on the classifieds and finally with a little help from my Spanish speaking friend and the approval of my wife I decided to pull the trigger.
My in-laws happen to be arriving the day after I decided to purchase, so I sent the owner a deposit and asked him politely to hold it for 2 weeks until I could come see it. The issue being it was an almost 8 hour drive away.
Finally the day came and my buddy and I left at 0300 in the morning with wishful thinking that the truck would check out and we would return the same day in the Cruiser. Almost 900km later it is now mine and there were no major issues on the drive back.

Special thanks to @Kurt and @beno for their behind the scenes assistance!!

I'll let the pictures do most of the talking at this point.

Classified pics:


image.webp


image.webp


pass front qtr.webp


Driver 45.webp


driver 90.webp
 
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Looks nice. The steering wheel is on the proper side. ;)
 
Thanks guys.

It's approaching 338,000kms.

The wheels... On the to-do list!

I'm getting prepped to baseline all the fluids. I'm also thinking a new clutch might be in my future.

On the drive back I experienced 5th gear popping out of gear a few times. It appeared to only happen off throttle and when hitting a hard bump. I need to investigate this a little more. I also get a somewhat crunchy 1-2 shift which from what read sounds fairly normal with this tranny.

Other than a few minor things to fix I think the overall condition is great.

(Edit - fixing my first post, cont'd)

Getting ready to head home and found this sweet decal on the back window (not the greatest pic).

FANTASTICO.webp


Field Repair of intake hose - We stopped immediately at the Spanish equivalent of Home Depot and bought some duct tape and zip ties. The intake hose was completely severed in half. You can see the blue tape (PO) in the classified ad pics. Pretty much the extent of my mechanical skills ;)

tape 1.webp


A couple of engine pics. As they say here in Spain "motor Japones", not that crappy VM thing :grinpimp:

3B Engine 1.webp


3B engine 3.webp
 
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Very clean engine for 338.000 she must have had meticulous owner.

I'm surprised Charles never advised for some woodchip with the duct tape. :)
 
Tapage said:
Where in Spain are you .. ?
Click to expand...

Rota

ozcrusier said:
Very clean engine for 338.000 she must have had meticulous owner.
Click to expand...
It was essentially a one owner vehicle. The guy I purchased from traded his vehicle for it and only had it for 6-7 months before buying another car. I'm not sure if has been rebuilt or not, but clean regardless and seems to run great!
 
First mod - install car seats. Three wide does just barely fit. For anyone interested these are Britax Frontier Click-tights. I removed the panel covers on the drivers side giving me a few precious inches for the kids dual cup holders seats to fit.

My kids now expect me to pick them up from school in "the Cruiser".

3-wide.webp
 
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Even at that age, the kids understand "cool". :)
 
Hello,

Very nice find.

From my somewhat limited experience with the H55 transmission, it tends to slip out of gear with age. If possible, check that.

Fluids/filters/glow plugs/belts change and radiator leaks check will be a good start.

Your story is similar to my 73's one. One owner, three years in storage, 6-7 months in search for another. And about the same mileage.

Enjoy your Cruiser.







Juan
 
Juan,

Thanks for the advice. I'm in the process of gathering the filters and fluids to change everything out.

I haven't had the gear problem with 5th since the original drive home. But I'm going to keep a close eye on it.

I'm enjoying it very much so far!!
 
Is it a 3b or portugal spec engine ? if its a 3B it just ran in with that kilometers.

Im in Spain also (province Malaga) somehow i can only see the pic with your kids on the backseat but not the other pics ? anyway welcome to the madnes !!
 
It is a 3B and I think its running pretty well. I'm in Cadiz.

I'm having a problem with the pictures as well. I'm going to look into a different host.
 
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