kenavt
SILVER Star
Welcome to the tales of Yoshi the HDJ81 Land Cruiser!
More about the truck below. For how I ended up with this HDJ81, skip down a few paragraphs.
== about the truck aka the good stuff ==
And so here I am, with Yoshi. A VX-Limited 03/1997 with 226k km (140k miles), some broken items (AC, mirror retracts), in the fun Dark Emerald/silver two-tone that I'm really excited about. Of course, the 1HD-FT (24 valves!) with the A442F, timing belt sticker says last done at 200,423km. Unfortunately she's missing a lot of the fun JDM options (like the center console fridge or tire swingout). She seems to have landed on our shores in good condition (so far I've put 100 miles on during this PNW heatwave weekend with no noticeable leaks or issues, and at 19 MPG!), but still going through and I'm sure there's fun things left to find. Already found a few odd fun Japanese electrical modifications, but largely stock mechanically it seems.
The plan from here is to build out somewhat similar to what I was planning for my 60. Starting with baselining; then a set of gauges and things to tackle EGTs, interior comfort mods, a small lift, bigger tires, eventually a FMIC and Gturbo... but that'll be in the future, I want this to be a slower build while I enjoy the truck along the way (and funds become available
). Also I have had a lot of fun following folks' HDJ81 build threads on here while waiting for the truck to arrive.
I'm planning a cross-country road trip for August, so that's what my initial efforts will be geared around - baselining and useful quick mods for the trip.
== self-indulgent story ==
The full story of how I've ended up with Yoshi is a long one, so this is my attempt at an abbreviated one.
I've had a FJ60 since fall 2019, and have had a lot of fun with it. I've ended up daily-driving that truck on and off in the last three years, and still really enjoy it! That truck has taught me to wrench as much as I have, and I love it dearly and through the blood, sweat, and tears from it.
But I still felt held back and restricted from doing a ton with it, on the 60-series, 2F, H41 platform. Not being able to comfortably do highway speeds, not having AC (mine was not so optioned), not having modern safety features, terrible fuel economy, etc, etc.. the typical old Cruiser complaints you hear. Trying to convince my friends to come along on trips became more difficult as time went on, especially when I blew the original 2F in an August Central Valley CA day. That was probably my fault, but did not do anything for that truck's reputation. Some of those would be fixed with dumping even more money into the truck (a more modern engine especially once I moved out of CA earlier this year, a H55 swap, etc) but it wouldn't solve others.
This then intersected with my long-time dream (over ten years now) of importing a car from Japan. A decade ago when I was a teenager, I pictured a beautiful gunmetal grey or red pearl metallic Skyline GT-R R32 or Montego Blue FD RX-7 rolling into my driveway one day (to the point of scrolling through Japanese dealer auctions even then). That desire has come and gone through the years as I've gotten to own various cars, learn more about what I like, and have not yet given up on the Skyline dream. But when I heard about the HDJ81 and realized that's what I wanted my 60 to be.
So I started looking in earnest in February with some help from other HDJ81 owners; won an auction in April (using Davey Japan as my auction agent); and it was on a boat to Tacoma where it arrived last week (used Sound Brokerage as my customs agent) and it's registered and titled with the WA DOL. Happy to answer more questions about that process but there's also a lot of reading you can do online from loads of sources including here on MUD. I recommend the firms I used and would use them again, and there's plenty good ones out there.
I had a few criteria for the truck:
- HDJ81/1HD
- automatic (my first ever auto... i've owned seven previous manuals)
- Had to have airbags (optional in Japan 1995+)
- as good interior as I could get for my budget
- as low km as I could get for my budget
- nice to have: cool color combo
What does this mean for Cara my 60? I'm dragging my feet but... it really doesn't make sense for me to have two Land Cruisers where I live (parked in inner city Seattle) plus my third non-Cruiser car. Plus a 60 would buy a lot of improvements to a HDJ81 that would not immediately depreciate away. Not ready to sell her yet but... sigh.
== ==
Let the fun begin!
More about the truck below. For how I ended up with this HDJ81, skip down a few paragraphs.
== about the truck aka the good stuff ==
And so here I am, with Yoshi. A VX-Limited 03/1997 with 226k km (140k miles), some broken items (AC, mirror retracts), in the fun Dark Emerald/silver two-tone that I'm really excited about. Of course, the 1HD-FT (24 valves!) with the A442F, timing belt sticker says last done at 200,423km. Unfortunately she's missing a lot of the fun JDM options (like the center console fridge or tire swingout). She seems to have landed on our shores in good condition (so far I've put 100 miles on during this PNW heatwave weekend with no noticeable leaks or issues, and at 19 MPG!), but still going through and I'm sure there's fun things left to find. Already found a few odd fun Japanese electrical modifications, but largely stock mechanically it seems.
The plan from here is to build out somewhat similar to what I was planning for my 60. Starting with baselining; then a set of gauges and things to tackle EGTs, interior comfort mods, a small lift, bigger tires, eventually a FMIC and Gturbo... but that'll be in the future, I want this to be a slower build while I enjoy the truck along the way (and funds become available
). Also I have had a lot of fun following folks' HDJ81 build threads on here while waiting for the truck to arrive.I'm planning a cross-country road trip for August, so that's what my initial efforts will be geared around - baselining and useful quick mods for the trip.
== self-indulgent story ==
The full story of how I've ended up with Yoshi is a long one, so this is my attempt at an abbreviated one.
I've had a FJ60 since fall 2019, and have had a lot of fun with it. I've ended up daily-driving that truck on and off in the last three years, and still really enjoy it! That truck has taught me to wrench as much as I have, and I love it dearly and through the blood, sweat, and tears from it.
But I still felt held back and restricted from doing a ton with it, on the 60-series, 2F, H41 platform. Not being able to comfortably do highway speeds, not having AC (mine was not so optioned), not having modern safety features, terrible fuel economy, etc, etc.. the typical old Cruiser complaints you hear. Trying to convince my friends to come along on trips became more difficult as time went on, especially when I blew the original 2F in an August Central Valley CA day. That was probably my fault, but did not do anything for that truck's reputation. Some of those would be fixed with dumping even more money into the truck (a more modern engine especially once I moved out of CA earlier this year, a H55 swap, etc) but it wouldn't solve others.
This then intersected with my long-time dream (over ten years now) of importing a car from Japan. A decade ago when I was a teenager, I pictured a beautiful gunmetal grey or red pearl metallic Skyline GT-R R32 or Montego Blue FD RX-7 rolling into my driveway one day (to the point of scrolling through Japanese dealer auctions even then). That desire has come and gone through the years as I've gotten to own various cars, learn more about what I like, and have not yet given up on the Skyline dream. But when I heard about the HDJ81 and realized that's what I wanted my 60 to be.
So I started looking in earnest in February with some help from other HDJ81 owners; won an auction in April (using Davey Japan as my auction agent); and it was on a boat to Tacoma where it arrived last week (used Sound Brokerage as my customs agent) and it's registered and titled with the WA DOL. Happy to answer more questions about that process but there's also a lot of reading you can do online from loads of sources including here on MUD. I recommend the firms I used and would use them again, and there's plenty good ones out there.
I had a few criteria for the truck:
- HDJ81/1HD
- automatic (my first ever auto... i've owned seven previous manuals)
- Had to have airbags (optional in Japan 1995+)
- as good interior as I could get for my budget
- as low km as I could get for my budget
- nice to have: cool color combo
What does this mean for Cara my 60? I'm dragging my feet but... it really doesn't make sense for me to have two Land Cruisers where I live (parked in inner city Seattle) plus my third non-Cruiser car. Plus a 60 would buy a lot of improvements to a HDJ81 that would not immediately depreciate away. Not ready to sell her yet but... sigh.
== ==
Let the fun begin!
