Has anyone had any experience with the import process from Canadian importers. It is very attractive sounding to buy a diesel from canada versus a conversion. It also seems less costly. Also, what's up with the 14 year rule? All the cars imported must be
14 years old or older.Any ideas would be great.
Chris.
The way the price of gasoline (petrol for Australians) is going I suggest that everyone convert their Toyotas to diesel as they are more:
fuel efficient higher torque waterproof simpler reliable safer can idle all day long less overheat episodes can burn bio diesel or vegetable oil (without glycerin)
Well to help everyone dismiss the myth that Toyota diesel pickups & SUV's are rare in USA & Canada I have included below a list of very resourcefull links that contain places to buy diesel engines/parts and complete rigs.
Toyota diesel engines models: 2L's, 2L-T's, 3L's and 5L 's for sale in the greater Los Angeles area:
Engine Trend Inc George
4515 S.Soto Street Los Angeles,CA 90058 USA Ph:1-800-939-3295 Ph:(323) 589-2844Reseda Engines in Northridge Danny
8644 Darby Ave Northridge,CA 91325 USA Ph:(818) 349-7472Jarco USA
194 Gateway Dr Canton,Georgia 30115 USA Ph:(770) 479-4942 Fax:(770) 479-4948 Operator:James StettlerWindows Media
51.3mb - 20mins 28secs running time
Getting a complete diesel car is the only way to go - there are so many differences between a gasoline and diesel car that if you try an engine swap you'll spend hundreds of hours and/or thousands of dollars sorting them out. And if you don't have a matching model donor car to strip all the Diesel parts from, you'll spend a fortune.
A master mechanic can do it with sufficient time and patience, first timers can spend years and never finish.
It affects almost every system on the car - fuel systems are radically different, electrical and controls, exhaust, throttle linkage, Heat and AC, even the brakes - you can't run a standard vacuum brake booster with no gas-engine manifold vacuum available. You either need a Hydrovac hydraulic booster system running off the power steering pump, or a vacuum pump and reservoir system.
I'll bet the '14-Year Rule' is the time limit to get around the vehicle not meeting the USA safety and emissions rules.
Grey-market importing a new or nearly new car is a ball-buster. To do it right you have to add all the safety gear and emissions gear to the vehicle that the US requires for that model year car. DRL's, seatbelts and airbags, safety glass all around, put side intrusion reinforcement beams inside the doors, roof reinforcements for rollover, upgrade the bumpers, unleaded nozzle restrictor in the fuel filler, etc. And there is a time limit to do the work and pass the inspections, or re-export the car back out of the country. Or they seize the half-converted car and crush it so it can't end up on the road.
Which is why the guy in Malibu who recently broke a $1-Million Ferrari Dino in half by ramming it sideways through a power pole at
160+ MPH (and walked away...) is getting in deeper and deeper trouble.Seems the car was illegally imported from Europe - the VIN on what's left of the chassis doesn't match the one on the title and registration paperwork. He bought another Ferrari and swapped the plates, or did something else irregular to get plates on it.
We'll ignore the part for now where the owner realizes he's drunk and allegedly allows a mystery German he knows only as "Gunter" (no last name) to drive his $1M car home with him in the passenger seat - and then "Gunter" allegedly ran away from the crash scene and got a ride before the cops arrived. (The story doesn't cover how the alleged passenger's blood from a bloody nose got on the Drivers air bag, and the passenger side bag was clean.)
But it makes a much better story than admitting the truth - which IMHO is most likely something closer to "Gee, I was driving drunk at triple the speed limit, and lost control when the car went airborne going over a rise in the road."
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Damn Sidney. This is Awesome! I am all for buying an OEM diesel, but finding one has been a problem. I have found quite a few FJ40's and such on Ebay, but I'm looking for a newer 100 wagon style if possible. I will go through your posting and spit out some more questions.
Thank you for the repsonse. Chris.
Specter Offroad (Marv and Kay and company) are good folks, and if there's a good diesel car available for sale they'll know about it. You might consider a 60 or 62 series wagon as well as the 100 series, they'll be hitting that magic 14 years.
They also have the motors and parts available to do your own conversion, but again I caution you that converting a gasoline car to diesel using the "One Piece At A Time" method is NOT for the faint of heart.
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All -
One of the links above is to a site that sells 1/2 vehicles. In escence, an undriveable engine, transmission, front axle, dash board, steering, etc. Any thoughts on that? If I were to do it myself, and I'm not committing to that :-) that sounds like the way to go, that way all the systems would be in place.
With regard to the 100 series, I really like the HDJ 81's that are canadian. They seem pretty prevelant, but still need the paperwork hassle.
Chris.
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