Thread to discuss and share knowledge between members who have interests in the Classic Car Community

Off-Topic
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I heard something I thought I’d never hear the other day…

My mate is a very knowledgeable 4×4 mechanic working at a local specialist Landcruiser resto business… when I told him about my niece’s recent Hilux purchase he said she should have bought a Mitsu Triton, which he reckons are just as good, and spent the money saved on accessories.

Surprised the shit out of me… Have Tritons improved and become good? I always held the belief that they were pretty a pretty trashy and cheaper option, certainly not up there with a Hilux for quality. :man_shrugging:

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I think it’s more of a price to performance standpoint. I have also heard that they’ve greatly improved, but I think Covid pricing on Toyotas has made people try new avenues.
The brand new V6 Amarok is also one I’ve been told holds a candle to the hilux.

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Your mechanic mate is absolutely correct about the new Tritons, with a good reputation in the industry and a Manufacturer that actually looks after their customers on parts and warranties :+1:

TOYOTA is definitely going down the plug hole, which is the cry from everyone involved in the automotive industry, where they are relying solely on reputation to sell their overpriced products despite the continuous decline in strength and reliability, whereas Mitsubishi has spent the same amount of time improving their vehicles instead :+1:

@The_General I’ve had the displeasure to work on a few friends AMAROK’s for them.
They really ain’t too bad of a vehicle, but the engineering does let them down, and have to look quite deep into their spec sheets to find out that they aren’t all they are cracked up to be…but hey, what modern vehicle is these days :roll_eyes:

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That’s the other surprising thing @Wombat, that the aftermarket Nissan Spare Parts are actually Made In Japan and not China/Korea/Phillipines like pretty much all other car companies.

You can see and feel the quality of the parts are top notch engineered OEM materials and tolerances, not cheap alternatives that “should” fit and hopefully do the job for only a year if lucky :roll_eyes:

Last couple of parts for the Kettle was the rubber gear shift dust boot on top of the gearbox selector plate, where I also replaced the original gearshift selector bushes and steel pins.

Each part wrapped in WAX PAPER!
When was the last time you ever seen that :joy: Bushes were actually machined Nylon, not 3D printed ABS plastics of the cheaper Chinese eBay specials, and the pins were hardened chrome steel, not punched out dog food tin parts like the China parts… and yet the difference between these OEM and the cheapest eBay specials was only around $30 all up!

Rather be rattling along the Canning Stock Route with ridgy didge OEM parts than saving a few dollars and being stranded out on a track somewhere with no gear selector…as I’m sure that ABS Plastic soaked in gearbox oil at 80 odd degrees would be smashed into pieces pretty quickly :roll_eyes:

EDIT: Just found a picture of the old worn out gear selector parts and seals… definitely looking all of their 36 years old :rofl:

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Think it depends what vehicle and model it is for parts. I can get near everything brand new for the old FJ45 and cheap price, but Dad’s later Landcruiser is exxy on parts I’ve found.

Yes @DocBob Dad is running a flashlube upper cylinder lube kit. Funny, one day I was following him down the dirt road and it started chalking out white smoke, I thought uh oh she’s a blown. Ended up being the adjuster rattled loose and dumped the bottle in :rofl:

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Yeah there’s a big scene with the old model Cruisers and Nissan’s thanks to all the keen interest in the old clunkers as being such more simple and ruggedly built than the modern equivalents.

This fuels the aftermarket parts scene for those classic models available from manufacturers and specialist businesses.

Those old 45 series is a booming industry, but not so much for modern models past the 1990’s.

Can’t remember if I told you about my mate with the old Landrover who had the jets rattle out of the carby on the corrugated roads heading out to the Finke races… that was something I’d certainly never heard of before! :hushed:

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That’s a new one, must have been rough!

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Yeah he learnt pretty quickly that the old 12 ply military tyres don’t deform when you let the tyre pressure out of them :hushed:

Tall stiff sidewalls under a lightweight Aluminium vehicle on massively corrugated roads caused him lots of weird damage that I’ve never heard of before myself.

On top of having the insides of the carby rattle to pieces, it also snapped a couple of steering box bolts in the chassis, and he went through about half a dozen flat tyres with busted tubes!

With the tyre pressures low, but the solid tyres not deforming, the rear drive tyres kept spinning on the rims over the corrugations, which in turn kept snapping the valves out of the tubes as they spun :hushed:

He kept swapping rims front and rear and buying every single tube he could lay his hands on every time they hit a small town.

Pumping the tyres back up didn’t seem to help prevent this either, simply because the tyres were too stiff and not grabbing on the beads like they should.

He’s just ordered a new set of softer modern 4WD tyres to replace the original Army style, which takes away from its authenticity, but it’s no good off-road trying to run the originals :confused:

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Hey @Deadsquid , a good little video to check out to give you some more options :+1:

Ignore the advice from the idiot at the start, he’s obviously just looking at sale price tags, never owned one, had to work with those models, or had to pay to maintain or run one🙄

The Pajero’s are another good option as a wagon that I forgot to mention, but check out the video and see if there’s anything that tickles your fancy :sunglasses:

Still got a laugh that the fella with two Toyota’s sitting behind him saying there’s some good 60 series Cruisers available, but still recommending “I’d be going a GQ hands down” if you want a good 4WD for the rough stuff :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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I watch 4wd 24 regulary for shits and gigs. Some of the places they go touring especially. The rest is just a big commercial for shit people can’t afford :laughing:

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Totally agree mate, just a bunch of clowns who’s opinions are based on whatever their sponsors tell them to say :roll_eyes:

Us old bastards that have been there and done that in the real world with vehicles, remote camping and 4WDriving laugh at these poser “experts” :rofl:

I only watch similar channels for the same thing mate, just to keep up to date with how different tracks and route conditions are before heading out there! :+1:

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Watching this. Nuts. How many of them they going to sell… 5 :person_shrugging:

$150 grand, you gotta be kidding. Buy a prime mover for less.

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WOW :flushed:
Nearly 10 metres long and wide AF, with that butt ugly USA inspired slab of a grill, obviously trying to cash in on the little dick blokes looking for an alternative to the big Dodge Ram and Ford F Series monsters.

Was thinking WALKINSHAW as soon as I heard about these having to be converted to LHD, as they are obviously US market trucks from the factory and WALKINSHAW are the go-to business for all LHD swaps in Australia.

Good to see the car industry hasn’t changed much since 1948, using Immigrant labour to train up for individual production line tasks and pay them peanuts :confused:

Was not expecting to see that in this video, where they spent quite some time showing their “apprentice training” section of the factory.

At the end of the day, that’s a LOT of coin to spend on a huge underpowered pig that’s fitted with the hand grenading twin turbo V6 that’s already blowing up regularly in much smaller and lighter new Toyota’s :fearful:

I hope that any new buyers don’t hope to ever be able to go off-road, tow a caravan, travel the outback, Park in the street or underground, go through a drive-thru, Park in a shopping centre, fit into any normal size garage/shed/carport/driveway, drive in the city, school carparks, park at the beach, visit granny at the Nursing Home or pretty much try and drive the big useless hunk of metal anywhere except large freeways and Park on football/cricket ovals to have enough space to actually turn the vehicle around!

But little dick people with more money than brains won’t consider any of these limitations, as long as they think they are looking like King Poobah cruising down the highway with an exhaust note like a VN Commonwhore :joy:

Not for long though, because those engines have been all failing around the
30 000km mark, so they should all disappear off our roads pretty quickly :grin:

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Japanese made vehicles seem to be on the decline. Most of the Jap bikes are overpriced and not updating with some more Euro bikes coming in to Australia these days and cheaper than a Jap bike with build quality to boot with modern features. Seems the tables have turned. :person_shrugging:

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Seems like the Japs always won the war in my family, probably due to the old man owing Kwakas most of his life, last one being the mighty 1100 4 Cylinder back in the late 80’s.

My sister has a Kwaka 250 V-Twin Cruiser, pre EFI, mate just brought a Kwaka 650 Cruiser brand new 2025 model, BIL has a Kwaka 900 Road Bike… whereas my other mate, being a Pom, has his shed full of Beezas, Indians, Royal Enfields and a newish Norton Thruxton :joy:

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This is what Toyotas are best at :rofl:

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Yes, the Middle East would be at Peace if it wasn’t for those damned Cruisers fuelling conflicts in every country! :hushed::stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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Hey @Deadsquid
Don’t know how much content you follow on YouTube regarding 4WDriving, but just wanted to share this from a fellow West Aussie that I’ve met a few times and gives great advice… and I’m still in the process of organising a proper one on one meeting with Ronny to pass on some more information that he doesn’t know about from my experience long before he was born :rofl:

He’s very down to earth and realistic, with much better content than the bulk of the yeehaw young content creators out there tearing up our bush and promoting whatever their Sponsors tell them to :roll_eyes:

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This one is very important when it comes to setting up your 4WD :ok_hand:

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If you want a big ass American car the only way to go is boats.

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