New guy looking for help

[JC Cubitt]

Hi guys im new to the forum and new to the land cruiser world. I have a 1978 fj45 lwb that i am going to start building up now and want some advice on place to find and buy parts? I have been looking a while but only found places overseas mostly Australia ! Where are places in south africa that handle with land cruisers and old fj45 parts and so forth

Any kind of help would be greatly appreciated

[Jonathan Tee]

Welcome JC let us know what parts and we will share what we know, the fact is there is no "one place" that can help with everything.

[Theo Marx]

Welcome JC, where in South Africa are you located ?

[Jonathan Tee]

Cape Town 

[JC Cubitt]

Im located in cape town im looking mostly for interior trim and stuff but any parts and spares would be appreciated but as i said mostly trim

[Keith Richardson]

Where is this placed called Cape Town    Ive never heard of it - but Have heard of SLAAPSTAD 

Do you know why the call Cape Town the "Mother City"?




Because it takes nine months for ANYTHING to happen

[Grahame Burchell]

Welcome JC,

Well you ask a big question. As south Africa is very small on the world scale as far as the 40 series cruisers are concerned, it's quite difficult to get spares. Like Australia and USA there are thousands of cruisers and suppliers of spares, parts and re-manufactured parts. I think any rebuild here in SA will require importation of at least some parts. However, try N1 4x4 in Pretoria, http://www.n14x4.co.za/Contact_us.html that's probably the best. let us know how that goes and we will try help you further. Be a bit more specific with exactly what you need, I'm sure we will point you in the right direction.

[Adolf Hüster]

90% of my parts are imported, most from USA!

[Jonathan Tee]

Some of the trim parts can still be had from Toyota SA, a few of us have imported aftermarket carpet sets from Aus, and local trimmers have managed to restore door cards, seats etc for others.

[JC Cubitt]

Whats the biggest tyre a person can use on thestandard 16 inch split tim? I really want to keep the look of the original wheel but want a big tyre as well

[Jonathan Tee]

The problem with the splitties is you need to run a tube which is not ideal if you intend to offroad it much.  Most common size seems to be 7.6 16's  but you can also fit 255/85 R16's

[Adolf Hüster]

Keep splitties as is for show and rather have a second set with proper rims and tyres. I have
8x16 with 265/75/16 on my FJ45 and two sets of splitties for my J's, just in case.

[JC Cubitt]

Thanks for the feedback guys i like the idea of a second set of rims think i might go with that idea!

[JC Cubitt]

What do you guys think of the idea of using a 3l d4d engine and manual gearbox in a fj45 longwheel base pick up? A friend of mine ran the idea past me today and i really like it?

[Jonathan Tee]

Sounds like a plan, if you can find one at a reasonable price