MWB: BJ-73 or BJ-74

[matt g]

Hi All,

Bizarre, after fruitless searching a pair of local factory turbo MWBs come up on the same weekend.

Both are white 1986 models (the colour I'm after).

One is a BJ-73, the body is in reasonable condition, little bit of rust in the windscreen surrounds. They've recently replaced the injectors, and it's got what I think are OME Nitro Chargers with a 2" lift, as well as an OME "stabiliser" (swaybar?) hydraulic thing that runs across the front near the axle (it's bright yellow like the shocks). The aircon needs to be re-gassed, though it's been converted to modern standard. They're throwing in a highlift jack and an ARB air compressor. It's got a manual transmission, and they say they've got all the receipts for it, and it's always been serviced at ARB.

They won't accept less than $14k for it.

On the other hand there's a BJ-74 I can get, who's owner insists it's a local model (and according to redbook they were sold here after march 86), again with a little rust near the windscreen. I haven't seen the condition or driven it yet, but it's an automatic. They're asking $10.8k negotiable.

The first sounds overpriced to me, but I'm really not sure what the quality of the auto transmission is for the 74, and if it's a hideous thing expense wise to fix if something goes wrong. the 73 owner told me they spent $2800 on the injectors, and some other large sum reconditioning the gearbox.

Any suggestions as to how to proceed? The 73 runs out of rego in 2 months, and I get the feeling once I clean it up and transfer / reregister it , re-gas the aircon (how much?) and add a towbar I'll have ended up dropping $16k on a 19 year old vehicle.

The vehicle will mostly be used for running around in suburbia, though I plan to do some touring / interstate driving / towing in the near future. I generally prefer manual, but am happy to live with an auto (for road driving - not sure about the pros / cons offroad), though I've heard it said that auto can be better for keeping the engine in the rev range the turbo likes - is that true?

Thanks.
Matt

[runnin4life]

the only thing i know with auto's offroad is they tend to "run away" wen going down hill but ive also been told by changing the tourque(spelling) converter can fix most of that

[MQ080]

the only thing i know with auto's offroad is they tend to "run away" wen going down hill but ive also been told by changing the tourque(spelling) converter can fix most of that

Speak to anyone with auto offroad, it IS the way to go. You don't change the torque converter as a whole, on a few of its guts and you have engine braking just like a manual. For further details PM me.

[beanz2]

A BJ73 is a naturally aspirated model that has a 3B engine, was the turbo added or was a factory turbo 13BT swapped into it? The BJ74 is a factory turbo, OTOH.

The way to tell if a vehicle was sold as an Aus. market vehicle is by the ID plate in the engine compartment. If it says BJ74R-....Q it is a local market vehicle. If it says BJ74-... with no "Q" at the end, it was a Japanese market vehicle. As RHD is the default in Japan, there is no "R" or "L" after the base model designation. Other markets such as Europe, Middle East, etc. will say BJ74R-... or BJ74L-... with different last letters depending on the market.

Dave

[MQ080]

What are the 74 shape with coil front ends called?

[beanz2]

As far as the MWB goes, the lighter duty is called the LJ73, RJ73, or KZJ73 depending on the engine (a.k.a. the Land Cruiser II in Europe). The front coil sprung heavy duty series which came in 2000 is called the FZJ74 or HZJ74, depending on the fuel.

Dave

[MQ080]

thanks