Your Thoughts on a BJ 70

[skaha]

Hey Folks

I have been a lurker on the site for about two years and have been looking for an LC for quiet awhile. I have found the following vehicle and have test drove it. I thought I would turn to experts for opinion on price and whether it is worth purchasing.

Details:

Good:

1985 BJ70
NA left hand drive
399,000 on a 3B
Current owner has owned it for 7 years
New radiator
New Master Cylinder
Injectors recently cleaned
Original Suspension
-Does not smoke whatsover and passed aircare with flying colours

Bad:

Rust - holes in both rocker panels
Rear quarter panel rust
Frame seems ok but on patch job
4x4 difficult to disengage at first---needed to go forwards and backwards to get it to disengage


I test drove it on the highway and it feels really tight and ran well.

I have attached some photos of vehicle and rust.

Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

 

[skaha]

more photos

More photos of rear quarter panels and rocker panels

 

[skaha]

more photos

patch on frame--rear drivers side

driver side rocker

 

[crushers]

$2500 max

 

[skaha]

Thanks Wayne

I appreciate your thoughts

 

[arcteryx]

Mine was not that rusty, but the rear quarters are gonna be hard to find. Trust me, I know. You will either have to go with a parts rig and weld it in. You may be able to get one in Canada, but more likely from OZ. Or, you get them new from a non-NA parts catalog. I found 1 chap that did that. That;s assuming you want to fix it up.

I agree with Wayne on the price.

 

[Josie'sLandCruiser]

Hi All:

Unless you are on a really tight budget I'd suggest trying to find a 70 Series with as low amount of KMs on it as possible with a body in as good of shape as possible.

There are many nice JDM imports available on the CDN market - BJ71s, HJ73s, and so on.

Good luck!

Alan

 

[roscoFJ73]

Trail rig only. The cops here would put that off the road with that rust and I suspect your boys in blue may do the same.
It may even be rusting on the inside of the frame.

No such thing as a cheap landcruiser

 

[skaha]

Thanks for your responses Guys

 

[VE6LLZ]

Trail rig only. The cops here would put that off the road with that rust and I suspect your boys in blue may do the same.

Really? If the cops were that picky over here none of us woud be able to even drive our cruisers! Well, exept for the JDM's. Looks like standard issue to me...

 

[roscoFJ73]

Really? If the cops were that picky over here none of us woud be able to even drive our cruisers! Well, exept for the JDM's. Looks like standard issue to me...

Yes really. They are even putting cars off the road for having holes in the outer seat fabric.

 

[skaha]

They would probably still let you run it here in BC. Fellow has been running it in this condition for a few years.

Although I read that the RCMP is doing a "voluntary courtesy inspection " on vehicles this weekend on the Sea to Sky Highway in preparation and anticipation for the 2010 Olympics.....not sure what this means?

 

[Coyote808]

I wouldn't touch that cruiser with a ten yard lamp post. I'd offer him no more than $2000 and see where it goes from there. I know it may sound like ass hattery, but it seems to be in pretty decrepit condition. Trail beater rig yes, but man, I'd still use it as a daily driver because it's in better condition than my 60 series.

They would probably still let you run it here in BC. Fellow has been running it in this condition for a few years.

Although I read that the RCMP is doing a "voluntary courtesy inspection " on vehicles this weekend on the Sea to Sky Highway in preparation and anticipation for the 2010 Olympics.....not sure what this means?

It means Big Brother doesn't want any ugly cars on the road when comes time to open the house to the world for Viewscreenified events that the whole planet will be watching. So this voluntary courtesy inspection will most likely end up with a lot of vehicles being black listed and told they're not street legal even though they probably only have cosmetic defects. But that's me just being paranoid.

 

[seapotato]

I wouldn't touch that cruiser with a ten yard lamp post. I'd offer him no more than $2000 and see where it goes from there. I know it may sound like ass hattery, but it seems to be in pretty decrepit condition. Trail beater rig yes, but man, I'd still use it as a daily driver because it's in better condition than my 60 series.



It means Big Brother doesn't want any ugly cars on the road when comes time to open the house to the world for Viewscreenified events that the whole planet will be watching. So this voluntary courtesy inspection will most likely end up with a lot of vehicles being black listed and told they're not street legal even though they probably only have cosmetic defects. But that's me just being paranoid.

yep. don't get me started on the olympics.....


I've noticed in the last few years , that old cars are getting really scarce on the highways around here, it takes a long time to spot 3 cars from the 70's.
hell, even the 80's cars are getting rarer on the roads.


Never mind the fact that every cop knows old toyota's have frames waiting to collapse.



as for the 70, unfortunately, it looks like yer basic parts truck/$2G LHD conversion kit for a BJ74 to me. mine was a lot better than that when I got it, but still awkward stuff to fix, and it isn't much fun.

course, it'll probably run for another ten years like that if it doesn't break in half...

cheers,
ryan

 

[brownbear]

Yah not worth a lot. But probably would give lots of years of fun still. Then use if for a LHD conversion on a rhd cleaner rig. Or buy a rhd.

 

[Bigfootheli]

BJ70 Search

Have a look at mine for sale in classifieds.Cleanest unit around.

 

[Eric Winkworth]

even if the current owner is still driving it, you'd never get it to pass a legitimate saftey without some serious welding!

It isn't worth 2500 in my eyes knowing what a rig like that needs!

I have a old CDM spec and honestly I love it, but keeping the rust down to a minium is an endless battle, if I could go back in time i'd find a good importer! and get the nicest JDM spec I could find!