looking at buying an 89 swb paj, are they any good?

[Andrew81]

I have a 60 series land cruiser at the moment. I only go on trips a few times a year (usually just dune and beach) and i'm looking for something smaller and not so much like a truck to drive around town.
What sort of fuel economy do these get? (2.6 petrol)
Are they reliable and cheap for parts?
What are they like in sand dunes and on the beach?

It's done 200k with a recon engine 12 months ago, looks to be in great condition. Can get it for about $3500 is this a good price? Any problems or anything to look out for on these?

Any info would be greatly aprecited

Andrew

[sascot]

mate, thats a lot of weight to pull around on a little engine. Go for the v6 or at least tubo'd dsl. There's lots of threads in here on wot ever your question.
I run the NF v6, bit thirsty but also been very comfy and somewot realiable. Body lifts are a DIY and 33's are a cinch with a small slice on the plastic of the front bumper, undo fuel filler ...
Same as most on here, love the paj, but want more artic.

[Andrew81]

Thanks sascot. I realise it's a bit of weight for a 4cyl (not sure exactly what they weigh) but can get the 89 with 200k, recent rebuilt motor for just over $3k. A 93 v6 is $11k up for one under 200 000km.

Any gen 1 owners here that could give me fuel figures?

With how cheap they are i wouldn't mind if i had to get extractors etc maybe efi conversion to get a bit more power out of it.

Another good thing about a cheapie is that you don't have to cringe when hearing sticks and stuff scraping the paintwork

[-Scott-]

Andrew, I wouldn't worry too much about the "little" engine. The 2.6 was originally a light truck motor, designed to produce torque down low, which is what it does. A 2.6l 4 cylinder is not that much smaller than a 3.0l V6 - consider that one cylinder on the 2.6 is larger than one cylinder on the 3.0...

The engines are difficult to kill - you need to either cook it to crack the head, or fill the radiator with straight tap water and corrode the head. Other than that they rarely stop, which is why you see so many old Sigmas, Magnas and Pajeros blowing thick clouds of blue smoke.

A 4 cylinder is cheaper to register (in most states?) and economy in the shorty won't be that much different.

Buy the 2.6 and spend the money you saved on extractors, exhaust and a Magna EFI conversion and you'll make a stock V6 look slow and thirsty.

Cheers,

Scott

[Sammyboy]

Hey mate, I reckon the 4cyl petrol would be ok for you with extractors and larger exhaust. I know that these SWB cars are more than capable of driving over dunes as mine has done so many times in various coastal and outback locations. I'm not sure on the fuel figures for a petrol engine, but my 83 TD SWB gets 9.4 l/100km city drving and on a good trip it gets around 8 l/100km. My car's not that well at the moment but I am working to get my fuel figures to below 8l/100km like they were once upon a time!

[Andrew81]

Thanks for the reply. That's great economy, never heard of that low in a 4x4! I was thinking about going diesel a few years ago but a couple of friends that had diesels ended up paying much more than what they saved on economy in repairs. Still have nothing against diesel, for towing and off road work they're great, but for my needs i think petrol is the go. Pajero TD is probably much cheaper to repair and replece than toyota though. Repair and used parts availability and prices is my main reason for looking at paj.
Do you know how much a swb weighs? Do you have many problems off road with ground clearance and the ifs? How wide are your tyres?
Cheers
Andrew

[awbeattie381]

I had a 1987 ND LWB 2.6L prior to my current 1989 NG V6.

It was crap on sand, get used to revving it along the dunes. I needed a gear between second and third - obviously this depends on the sand, the V6 engines are better for sand.

I get similar fuel consumption now as i did with my 2.6L. I used to get around 12.5-13L/100km on the highway and that would go up to around 15L/100km around town. My 3.0L V6 is about the same.

These engines love shell optimax, it normally gave me 600km out of a tank whereas normal unleaded would give me between 500km and 550km out of a tank (92L tank in LWB).

Landcruiser rims are an easy fit for these cars (gives you more options on the second hand market), Im running 31x10.5 R15 on chrome 15x7 landcruiser rims - brilliant.