Mr. Khar the Middle East 1998/1999 VZJ95 (3 Viewers)

John Young · Mar 27, 2024

Hi friends. I mentioned in the intro channel a couple of weeks ago bidding on a green V6 95. I was doing this for a good friend of mine @lostmind that I have somehow dragged into this crazy pastime, I am sure very much against his better judgment. Anyways we got it at a reasonable price and it was delivered to a garage in Dubai Investment Park 1, PowerHouse, which we have used quite a lot in the past, including for my shorty Prado VZJ90.

@lostmind went and had his first look at the vehicle a few days ago. "Khar" BTW, means "donkey" where @lostmind grew up.

@lostmind went and had is first look at the vehicle a few days ago.

The Good:

Mr. Khar is all there. All four wheels. No obvious accidents. No apparent material rust issues. V6. We think it has fairly low total mileage at 230k km / 140k miles. The engine bay looked pretty good and unmolested, which is really something we look for in the Middle East when it comes to older vehicles. Decent upholstery and carpets at least at first glance. And it still has the front stone guard under the engine.

The Bad:

The car appears to have sat for a number of years without any attention. The glove box revealed a passed inspection in 2019. We suspect that is the last time it was on the road. Sitting is hard on cars in the Middle East.

The Ugly:

Mr. Khar definitely needs a paint job. On the plus side, the garage now has experience in removing the side cladding from 90 series vehicles and filling up the holes. I have a set of rear wheel arch to rear bumper trim if @lostmind decides to go the way I did with a retro look, deleting the factory side cladding. Oh, and the centre binnacle has the typical badly toasted LCD screens, so either the binnacle gets deleted or we find a donor set of LCDs. The door cards are good with the exception of the drivers door (I have the same problem with my 90's driver door). Seems like a common problem.

There are some mysteries with this vehicle. Someone took the time to put nice covers on the seats in a thick, thick vinyl and then covered that with a protective plastic film, now flaking to bits. But the vinyl looks like it should clean up ok.

The door cards are good with the exception of the drivers door (I have the same problem with my 90's driver door). Seems like a common problem.

Finally, the car also exhibits the very strange 'beaten on' upper suspension wishbone, just like my 90. I REALLY do not get this:

John Young · Mar 27, 2024

So the gameplan here is a rinse-and-repeat of what PowerHouse has done for me several times in the past: Replace EVERY bit of suspension rubber; do the timing belt and water pump, replace all the ball joints and wearing suspension parts, and get the car to the point where it will pass inspection and can be registered. I got the ball rolling while I was in the US by buying several items that are readily available because of Tacos and 4Runners but not so much here, where Prados of this era are not common and Tacos and 4Runners may not have been sold here at that time--at least in any quantity. I had 100 lbs of car parts in my luggage on the way back:

Here is a really nice, all OEM timing belt, water pump, etc. kit from Amazon:

And here are the essential suspension parts, less bushings, which I could not get in time:

You may notice that I doubled up on some of this. This is because our @xkennx, who lives in a neighboring Emirate, has a beautiful 4 cylinder model 95 that he wanted to freshen. (Can't change those upper ball joints often enough.) @xkennx knows an awful lot about this era Prado and we are very glad to have his counsel. Plus it gives us something to shot for, looks wise. It's even green!

John Young · Mar 27, 2024

It is getting late here. I will leave you with another bit of the game plan--a parts car I just picked up:

Can you say 'upper ball joint'?

@lostmind 's truck will mostly get trim from this vehicle. I really bought this to swipe the engine and related gubbins and tranny for my little tan 90.

Have a look at that engine bay!