My previous Hilux Surf had the dreaded head crack problem so I spent about £1000 on a new head and repair. Shortly after this the engine siezed with a suspected broken crankshaft. At this point I decided to cut my losses and buy a newer 3 litre model.

After a lot of looking around I could not find anything suitable nearby, they were either already sold, not quite right, miles away or more often much too much money for what they were.

I finally found one that was more or less exactly what I was after for around the right price. Unfortunately it was 100 miles away but I made the trip anyway and bought it.

No real major problems, only thing bad was it had never been undersealed so the underside was fairly rusty but nothing to really worry about, only surface rust.

The first thing I did was to get a valet done as the previous owners were smokers and the interior smelt bad. This is why it looks so shiny in the photos, I doubt it will ever look as good again!

I also bought a new set of Kumho Mud Terrain tyres becuase I wanted some mud tyres for off roading.

This pic also shows another issue that needs sorting - the rear is visibly sagging. A 2" lift kit is planned.

Then I spent a couple of weekends transfering bits across from my old Surf, like the cargo box, reciever hitch etc.

Now it's ready for my planned mods and nearly ready for a bit of off-road action...