I worked a couple of ski seasons with my wife in japan. I wanted to import a rather curio Toyota Publica mini-truck, we got the mini 4x4 that she wanted and i'm rather fond of it.
this is how we left it in Japan at the exporters yard, it did come with a spare set of 16" alloys with summer tyres on, but these weren't allowed to be crammed inside it for the RORO ferry so we had to leave them there, which sucked. Behold the might k6a 3cylinder turbocharged intercooled wholeosomeness. Also narrower axles than uk Sj's/Jimnys and it has coil and shocks. No leafs! Bought ironically from a british lad who married and settled in Japan. He was happy for us to get it for a steal really and bring it to the UK. He had been undersealing it for years as it lived in the snow. did a good job of protecting the rust from underneath.
After the ferry not stopping at Grimsby for 'not starting and having seized wheels', it was dumped in the Netherlands for a bit and eventually put on a sled and dropped in Southampton. Was meant to go to my in laws farm up in yorkshire but this went out the window. Managed to get a guy to collect it short short notice and deliver it to some family in Wiltshire. He said he jumped the battery for maybe a split second, and then it drove straight onto his truck. No jammed wheels.
Had a rear fog light fitted with a toggle swtich, changed the wipers and she flew through the mot. Insured, registered and ready. This was late summer last year and we still haven't seen it since Japan in March. Whilst working away on the superyachts we also remembered it was a bit slow.
We had driven it for about 400 metres in Japan and knew that although it kept up with local traffic fine out there, it was achingly slow and would stand out a bit back here in the UK. Enough convincing from me that it needed a boost gauge, boost controller and a bigger intercooler. The wife had already declared the style of exhaust she wanted so that happened too. Everything has been done in a manner so that it can return to stock, no chopping off of bits anywhere and I have all the original parts stored away. Excpet the exhaust as that was rusted out and binned. We found a garage near our family who were the sort of small independant garage we liked and had good vibes on the phone. They took Kuma (it means bear) and worked some magic.
We also bought 5 steelies from ebay that were delivered via shiply to a powder coater and blasted/sprayed gloss black. We (I!) then found some Yokohama At's with bonus whitewalls that competed the look she wants which is a capable gangster. She also wanted smoked lenses all around and found a lad in a shed in the east end near my folks that sorted that for us.
We racked up over our extended christmas break at home a few thousand miles moving between our northern and southern families, attending weddings through snow and some mild off roading attending shoots and doing the country thing.
She was awesome, makes a large amount of turbo chatter and turns many heads. She was locked up again for the summer a few months ago and put in the barn. Were away working now so won't see here again until autumn I expect. It does need a repaint though, it was originally silver and had black blown over onto the barely keyed paint underneath. Flaking off like goldmember. And there are a couple of rust patches showing on the body that need addressing. Owing to no time or skills this will be outsourced at some point in the future.
Other little job I managed to get sorted was adapt an SJ rear door mount for the spare wheel as the new steelies didn't fit on the old Japanese mount due to width. Also the rear door has a step out in it halfway down so that made it a slightly more involved job for the welder. The bracket will get blasted and coated and thrown on when we get home, one day!
Another thing we need to finish the front end is to source some fog lights to go either side of the number plate, 2 whacking great voids currently that need sorting.
used this forum a lot for info on importing and was very grateful. Thought it was about time now I'm stuck at home to throw up a thread about it.
this is how we left it in Japan at the exporters yard, it did come with a spare set of 16" alloys with summer tyres on, but these weren't allowed to be crammed inside it for the RORO ferry so we had to leave them there, which sucked. Behold the might k6a 3cylinder turbocharged intercooled wholeosomeness. Also narrower axles than uk Sj's/Jimnys and it has coil and shocks. No leafs! Bought ironically from a british lad who married and settled in Japan. He was happy for us to get it for a steal really and bring it to the UK. He had been undersealing it for years as it lived in the snow. did a good job of protecting the rust from underneath.
After the ferry not stopping at Grimsby for 'not starting and having seized wheels', it was dumped in the Netherlands for a bit and eventually put on a sled and dropped in Southampton. Was meant to go to my in laws farm up in yorkshire but this went out the window. Managed to get a guy to collect it short short notice and deliver it to some family in Wiltshire. He said he jumped the battery for maybe a split second, and then it drove straight onto his truck. No jammed wheels.
Had a rear fog light fitted with a toggle swtich, changed the wipers and she flew through the mot. Insured, registered and ready. This was late summer last year and we still haven't seen it since Japan in March. Whilst working away on the superyachts we also remembered it was a bit slow.
We had driven it for about 400 metres in Japan and knew that although it kept up with local traffic fine out there, it was achingly slow and would stand out a bit back here in the UK. Enough convincing from me that it needed a boost gauge, boost controller and a bigger intercooler. The wife had already declared the style of exhaust she wanted so that happened too. Everything has been done in a manner so that it can return to stock, no chopping off of bits anywhere and I have all the original parts stored away. Excpet the exhaust as that was rusted out and binned. We found a garage near our family who were the sort of small independant garage we liked and had good vibes on the phone. They took Kuma (it means bear) and worked some magic.
We also bought 5 steelies from ebay that were delivered via shiply to a powder coater and blasted/sprayed gloss black. We (I!) then found some Yokohama At's with bonus whitewalls that competed the look she wants which is a capable gangster. She also wanted smoked lenses all around and found a lad in a shed in the east end near my folks that sorted that for us.
We racked up over our extended christmas break at home a few thousand miles moving between our northern and southern families, attending weddings through snow and some mild off roading attending shoots and doing the country thing.
She was awesome, makes a large amount of turbo chatter and turns many heads. She was locked up again for the summer a few months ago and put in the barn. Were away working now so won't see here again until autumn I expect. It does need a repaint though, it was originally silver and had black blown over onto the barely keyed paint underneath. Flaking off like goldmember. And there are a couple of rust patches showing on the body that need addressing. Owing to no time or skills this will be outsourced at some point in the future.
Other little job I managed to get sorted was adapt an SJ rear door mount for the spare wheel as the new steelies didn't fit on the old Japanese mount due to width. Also the rear door has a step out in it halfway down so that made it a slightly more involved job for the welder. The bracket will get blasted and coated and thrown on when we get home, one day!
Another thing we need to finish the front end is to source some fog lights to go either side of the number plate, 2 whacking great voids currently that need sorting.
used this forum a lot for info on importing and was very grateful. Thought it was about time now I'm stuck at home to throw up a thread about it.
