1994 80 series with a new heart= 1hdt... Diesel Cruiser

[lostworldexpedition]

WOW, I am not sure what happened to this thread...

I was just showing off a really cool diesel 80. I am not selling it, I am driving it for another week (quite sad about that by the way). It will be for sale after I return it to its owner (Chris) and I mentioned the asking price will probably be 25k, but I assume OBO is standard... I think somewhere between 20 to 25 is a good price for an 80 with front and rear factory lockers, 4x4Labs rear bumper, OME lift/suspension, ARB Snorkel and front bull bar and most importantly a low mileage 1HDT swap from a well respected diesel Cruiserhead.

Ian, the green is not a military enough shade if that is what you mean by not driving it south... I would drive this rig in Central and South America in a heartbeat, and in fact I tried talking Lacey into allowing me to buy it The comfort and power of this thing makes me have terrible thoughts about my 60.

I am flying to Ecuador next week and re-uniting with my FJ60 to continue the slow drive to Argentina so please don't tell my 60 about the infidelity...

 

[shredwagon]

Thats a killer deal! People sometimes forget the cost of turbo's, injection pumps, injectors, LHD wiring harnesses, valve shims, exhausts, etc. It adds up fast!

If you can have someone do it for you at this price, a pro who really knows toyota diesels, you're sooooooo f'n ahead. One would think it's not even worth his time to sell at that price.....

 

[RMP&O]

WOW, I am not sure what happened to this thread...

I was just showing off a really cool diesel 80. I am not selling it, I am driving it for another week (quite sad about that by the way). It will be for sale after I return it to its owner (Chris) and I mentioned the asking price will probably be 25k, but I assume OBO is standard... I think somewhere between 20 to 25 is a good price for an 80 with front and rear factory lockers, 4x4Labs rear bumper, OME lift/suspension, ARB Snorkel and front bull bar and most importantly a low mileage 1HDT swap from a well respected diesel Cruiserhead.

Ian, the green is not a military enough shade if that is what you mean by not driving it south... I would drive this rig in Central and South America in a heartbeat, and in fact I tried talking Lacey into allowing me to buy it The comfort and power of this thing makes me have terrible thoughts about my 60.

I am flying to Ecuador next week and re-uniting with my FJ60 to continue the slow drive to Argentina so please don't tell my 60 about the infidelity...

Well, $20-25k is a different story. That I think is reasonable. $50k or more, I am sorry I just don't think that is reasonable.

And I still think the OD green is not the best choice of color for a south of the border truck. It is just my opinion though, nothing else.

Have fun down there and stay safe!

 

[turbolab]

up here in alberta and BC we can get diesel land cruiser for 12k with low km's (under 200 000) and diesel hilux surfs (4runner) for under 5k, u can find the od wreck too for under 3k, this could be a option for some of u wanting to do conversions the only reason i don't have one is becuse i don't like RHD

 

[esh]

Except for the hassle of the 25 year rule for importing a vehicle into the US? Otherwise, you are looking at a hefty chunk of $$$ for a registered importer process. And then getting a RHD vehicle if it came from Japan, which is where the large majority of diesel Toyota imports into Canada are coming from.

Keep in mind this truck is lifted and armored, and LHD. It isn't a straight motor swap into any old 80 series. That is much easier to do for "cheap," whatever that means.

 

[eleblanc]

$50k or more, I am sorry I just don't think that is reasonable.

I wouldn't let my HDJ100 go for anything lower then that. But i'm not talking about the same truck and engine at all.

That 1HZ 80 now only miss a turbo!

 

[RMP&O]

I wouldn't let my HDJ100 go for anything lower then that. But i'm not talking about the same truck and engine at all.

That 1HZ 80 now only miss a turbo!

well yeah...it is a much newer truck and sure you are talking about the same engine. You just have the newer version of it.

I look at it this way, you can buy a solid 80 series for about $5-6k if you look around. You can buy and import the engine for $10k tops, also if you look around and don't just tell somebody find me the engine. If you just put it all in some other guys court, finding the engine that is of course he is going to make some money on it. Which is another reason why it is cheaper to do yourself. So any ways, $5k for the truck and $10k for the engine still leaves $10k or so for the swap.

Now it is a different story if the 80 series is all kitted out with $15k+ worth of gear from Slee plus has the 1HDT swapped in. But you know what everybody says, you will not recover money you dump on mods. From my experience that is 100% true. Which also goes for motor swaps. If you spent $25k on the engine swap do not expect it to add $25k to the price tag of the truck if you decide to sell it. However, diesel swapped trucks fetch a hefty amount of cash compared to trucks with the stock engine, nothing wrong with that. Thing is there is not a lot of them around, even less with a Toyota diesel swapped in. So it is more of a sellers market than a buyers market which in turn keeps the prices high. I would never pay $50k for a 1HDT 80 series. I would even have a hard time paying $25k for one. Reason being, I can buy an 1HDT 80 series in Central America for $6-12k with 100k or less miles and then just drive it up here to the USA. Import it for the 364 days which is totally legal. Then cut it up and swap the motor into a $5-10K 80 series. All up I would be in it $25k tops and also have had a sweet road trip in the diesel truck before the swap even began. And if the one in a million chance the EPA or DOT came knocking about the imported truck. I would simply tell and show them it is dead and was used for a motor swap. No probs at all with any of this unless your state laws do not allow you to swap in the newer diesel. If you simply found, bught and imported a motor you could probably save $5k off what I just described.

I am simply offering alternatives to paying some body $50k to do all the leg work and install for you. If that is what you want to do and it is worth it to you then by all means go for it, no skin off my back. The thing is a lot of people want a diesel in their truck and do not have $50k to throw at it. I am trying to show them it can be done for way less then $50k.

A good example is this; I see on TradeMe in New Zealand HJ61 Cruisers every other week for sale. I just saw one the other day that is a 1986 (importable) has the 12HT, H55 5spd, high roof, full float rear axle, PTO winch and all the JDM goodies including factory cable lockers. It was bid up to under $4k with the reserve met on the auction. So lets assume I win the auction for $4k. It then costs me another $4k to import the truck. So once it is at my house I am in it about $8k give or take. Now I could sling the truck as is on Ebay and double or triple my money. I could swap everything into a LHD USA 60 series and then sling it plus triple my investment or easily more then triple. I could part it all out and also make a killing. 12HTs seem to sell for $5-10k in the USA, H55s go for $2-5k, FF rear axles sell for $500-2000, PTO winch set up worth a solid $1500, I have seen used cable locking axles selling for $8-12k and selling like hot cakes. So you see if I am in the money making business I can make a killing off the truck. Or I can simply enjoy it and not have spent $50k on everything.

If you found your way to this forum you can find the diesel goodies overseas without ever leaving your home. You can pretty much do everything from your computer in fact. I have done it more then once, importing a truck, importing parts and so forth. And that is all I am trying to point out and prove in this thread.