1986 Toyota Land Cruiser model BJ74 - "Righty"

I've had this Cruiser for a few years now and am just now pending some more quality time with it and finally have some pictures to share. This is a JDM import (Japanese Domestic Market), it was legally imported from Japan in 2011, just as it turned 25 years-old which is the EPA/Customs requirement for import.

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(Stickered up for TCT Magazine, they borrowed it for their magazine debut @ CruiserFest last year)

Basic Specs:
1986 BJ74, Auto, RHD, factory PTO, full-float rear axle & removable top. Powered by a 13BT (3.4L) Turbo-diesel. Stock suspension/drive-train.

My only projects thus far have been some minor maintenance and cleanup. Overall it is very clean particularly for it's age. It has less than 100k miles on it but it's hard to say how it was used, daily driver for a short commute or driven than parked? Either way it runs really well and the diesel just purrs down the highway. It did have a bit of body repair performed before it left Japan, the work looks clean and it was likely a pretty clean truck before they touched up some minor rust and cleaned up the frame. I found out about a bit of the body repair when a tire fell off while driving down the freeway, exactly 17 miles AFTER the safety/IM place had pulled that tire for inspection. Thankfully the damage was very minor and easily repaired and of course nobody was hurt. Shame on me for trusting a quickie safety/IM place but who re-torques their wheels after the process? I do now. :D

Stereo's in JDM rigs are a bit of a crapshoot. Some come with aftermarket stereo's that are workable however if it has a stock Toyota head unit, it is just about worthless here in the US as they operate on a ~76-90 MHz while the US uses more like 88-108 MHz. If you don't mind KRCL all day your set, otherwise time to swap. I installed factory Toyota head unit from a similar vintage US spec Cruiser, the only downside is the controls are opposite as they should be for a RHD vehicle, total non-issue but it would be cool to have a RHD head unit that operated on the US FM band plan. To complicate the matter, this truck is 24V throughout the entire electrical system so I had to use a small 24V->12V converter to knock the power down. My only other repair has been the horn contact in the steering column. I've had it here for 6 months and finally took the wheel off to install while paint was drying on the hubs which kept me from installing the front wheels.

Re-configuring the wiring, note the Kanji labeling the individual wires :D
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It came from Japan with some alloy wheels, I'm sure they were pretty legit wheels for the previous owners taste but I wasn't digging them, particularly the fact they don't have a standard shraeder valve rather some funky fitting that requires a special wrench to pull out. I had some factory 80's era Land Cruiser wagon wheels that had some pretty rough chrome, they took quite a few manhours of love but they are looking quite nice. I wrapped them with some 31x10.50R15 BFG AT's, sourced on the cheap via KSL and RME classifieds. With the wheels mounted and balanced it was time to ditch the JDM alloys.

Wheel Before:
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Wheel After:
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With New Wheels Installed
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(Horrible Night Shot)

The right-hand drive is a bit querky but honestly it takes just a few minutes to get comfortable behind the wheel. Sadly, I've spent zero time in this truck off-road. It's so clean I'm a bit hesitant to get it dirty and the bone stock suspension wouldn't be much fun off-road any how. I do plan to take it on the Retro Ramble (80's vehicle event) this year. :cool:
 

cruiseroutfit

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I'm fairly confident the top has never been off this rig and I'm not sure it will every come off on my watch, but it does look super fun:

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cruiseroutfit

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Plans are not too in depth (for this one ;)). Detail under the hood, get the driver seat bottom cushion cover repaired, light undercoating to clean up the wheel wells and some misc trim cleanup/repaint. From there, drive it :D
 

Spork

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Sweet truck. The left hand drive gets a little more strange if you have a manual transmission to shift. My dad has a left hand drive Suzuki Carry and it always takes me a minute to feel comfortable in it.
 

cruiseroutfit

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Sweet truck. The left hand drive gets a little more strange if you have a manual transmission to shift. My dad has a left hand drive Suzuki Carry and it always takes me a minute to feel comfortable in it.

Assume you mean right-hand-drive but yeah the manual is a bit more to get used to. I have one of each here, Righty which is auto and yet to be named which has the 5-spd. I took 4 people for test drives Saturday in the manual, none had driven a RHD before and I was really amazed just how quickly they picked up on the shifting, all while driving in the bike lane :D
 

Spork

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Assume you mean right-hand-drive but yeah the manual is a bit more to get used to. I have one of each here, Righty which is auto and yet to be named which has the 5-spd. I took 4 people for test drives Saturday in the manual, none had driven a RHD before and I was really amazed just how quickly they picked up on the shifting, all while driving in the bike lane :D

Yea the whole thing confuses me. ;) It's like driving from the passenger side but they haven't mirrored everything you're just sitting on the other side.
 

cruiseroutfit

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Yea the whole thing confuses me. ;) It's like driving from the passenger side but they haven't mirrored everything you're just sitting on the other side.

:D

"Is the shift pattern backwards" is a very common question and your right, having some things mirror (like turn sigs and headlight controls) but not others (like shift and key) is weird.
 

Stephen

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:D

"Is the shift pattern backwards" is a very common question and your right, having some things mirror (like turn sigs and headlight controls) but not others (like shift and key) is weird.

Oh man, the turn signal. I swear I hit the windshield wipers a dozen times in Australia before I finally got it through my head that the signal was on the other side. I also would shift into third rather than first a lot when I would stop at a light. Fun times. "Man this thing is gutless off the line! Oh..."
 

cruiseroutfit

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Took Righty to lunch today and snapped a few more pics en route home.

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The new wheels & tires did so much for the look imo

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Driver seat cushion is the only major flaw with the interior, guessing the previous owner in Japan was short :D

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The dash & US spec stereo. I need to touch up the ash tray (and get the cigar smell out if it) and it will really look near new.
 

cruiseroutfit

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Oh man, the turn signal. I swear I hit the windshield wipers a dozen times in Australia before I finally got it through my head that the signal was on the other side. I also would shift into third rather than first a lot when I would stop at a light. Fun times. "Man this thing is gutless off the line! Oh..."

I've never had issues shifting on the RHD rigs I've spent time in but wipers and turn signals are an absolute confusion for the first bit. With the E7 trucks we had a pink-feather-boa that one would have to wear if you mixed them up. Fine and dandy but for the North America segment I was alternating between a LHD 79 and the RHD 78's, often back and forth in the same day. "There was a bug" was often my excuse :D
 

Stephen

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I've never had issues shifting on the RHD rigs I've spent time in but wipers and turn signals are an absolute confusion for the first bit. With the E7 trucks we had a pink-feather-boa that one would have to wear if you mixed them up. Fine and dandy but for the North America segment I was alternating between a LHD 79 and the RHD 78's, often back and forth in the same day. "There was a bug" was often my excuse :D

After about an hour of city driving, I figured it out. On the highway it was no thing.

There is always a bug...
 

cruiseroutfit

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After about an hour of city driving, I figured it out. On the highway it was no thing.

There is always a bug...

There are plenty of folks out there that call RHD rigs 'dangerous' for those accustomed to LHD rigs, in most cases they have never drive one ;)

Would I put a 16 yr old driver that has a drivers license with wet ink in one? Absolutely not, nor would it be appropriate for some other drivers too. However an insurance company in Canada did a study on RHD (on right side roads) vehicles as JDM's started getting super popular up there 10-15 years ago with sports cars, etc. They actually found that RHD's were involved in less accidents per capita based on lack of complacency for those driving a RHD. I think that combined with more mature drivers and the fact they are rare vehicles so again the complacency dissolves and in fact anyone can get comfortable rocking one around town. As you know Mike B. daily drives his RHD Cruiser (and others too) and the only places it gets weird are drive-thrus and the post office. :D
 
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