Chris' Toyota Mark ii JZX110

[hoodedreeper]

Apologies for the long read

My R34 GTT was up for sale at the beginning of spring due to a few repairs creeping up. The strut tops needed replacing, roof and bonnet (hood) painting (yay for 3 stage pearl) and the underside stripped and treated. I sold the car which allowed me to be in a much better place financially.

Leading up to the sale I was already thinking about the replacement. In an ideal world it needed to be a good all-rounder. Something I can mess around with, modify, do track days, do the school run, go on long drives etc. 

Options included but not limited to... Laurel C35, Evo 8/9, Civic FD2, Impreza Hawkeye, Aristo and even an Audi S4 Avant (I've already got the Mazda 6 wagon). But there was always one car at the top of the list

The Toyota Mark ii JZX110

I found an advert on a Facebook group for an example in Japan, from a seller called Jon at Rising Sun Exports. A few messages back and forth and Jon calls me from Yokohama one morning (or afternoon in his case). He briefly explained the import process, the costs involved and a repeat of the advert. After much deliberation, the price was agreed and the sale was locked in.

I've never imported a vehicle so I jumped into the unknown head first. The money transfer was completed through wise.com (fees apply), very easy to use and the money was with him within a day or two. 

The car suspension was raised for the vessel and the car dropped off at the port. It was 7 weeks later when the bill of lading was received and the freight invoice sent to me, followed by the export certificate a couple of days after (both digital copies)

In the mean time the port had been in contact. I needed an agent to deal with the NOVA (notification of vehicle arrival) along with the tax/duty invoice, this was £75.00. The port also had a fee of £100, I'm guessing to cover the cost of the 10 day 'free storage' and for moving the car off the boat etc. They need a copy of the vehicle invoice, freight invoice and export certificate to allow the vehicle to pass through customs. The vessel arrived on Tuesday 5th August, the tax/duty invoice was generated and sent over. This is generally tax 20% and duty 10% of the vehicle value. Although the invoice came in at a higher amount than I had calculated. Once HMRC had received the payment the vehicle could be released from customs.

I thought once the tax/duty was paid you could collect at any point, that's not the case. Your agent will need to book a collection slot, I requested Thursday 7th which was accepted, with a 9:00am slot allocated.

It was a 5:00am start from Norfolk heading to Southampton. We eventually found the compound, upon presenting the bill of lading and some ID they released the car (they drove it out of the compound to the front ready for us to load up). The email from the port stated each slot had a 10 minute window, which seemed abit farfetched but the staff said it's not a strict rule. We were there for approx. 30-40 mins in total.

A week prior to collecting I contacted my garage and explained the situation, I was able to get an inspection slot that afternoon. For the registration, DVLA require the car to be insured, for this I used a company called Adrian Flux who can insure the vehicle using the VIN number. 

[hoodedreeper]

Welcome to my 2004 Toyota Mark ii IR-V Fortuna (series 2)

With a 1JZ-GTE powerplant under the bonnet (hood) it'll give me plenty of scope for power upgrades. For those who aren't familiar with imports, the 1JZ-GTE is a 2.5L 6 cylinder VVTi engine with a single turbocharger. This has the factory R154 5 speed gearbox, along with a aftermarket 2 way LSD differential (brand unknown).

Under the arches are a set of CST Zero 1 alloys, 18x9 +30 225/40 up front and 18x9.5 +15 265/35 on the rear. The car was quite low in Japan and there's evidence of the wheels catching the rolled arches/fenders. The tyre's aren't great so I'm in two minds whether to replace both or just the tyres and put up with the wider wheels on the rear. The car still uses stock brakes with the addition of some braided hoses.

The exterior is stock with the exception of a BN Sports front bumper and a replacement Fortuna grill 

Moving to the interior, the steering wheel has been replaced with a dished MOMO steering wheel (which will get swapped for my Momo Tuner for the time being)

Defi Link Gauges are mounted above the climate controls and on the A pillar, the Oil Temp,Oil Pressure,Water Temp and Boost gauges should help with spirited and track driving 

The stock seats have been replaced with some retrimmed Recaro bucket seats. Being a larger build these are a little snug, unfortunately the orange isn't for me so I'll look into replacing these down the line.

Other modifications include a twin plate clutch, Blitz intercooler, Evolve alloy radiator, a stainless exhaust with decat, HKS EVC-S boost controller and coil overs

[hoodedreeper]

I was able to get some underside photos while the car was on the ramp

The suspension is all Altezza/IS200/IS300 so getting part's will hopefully be less of a headache

[hoodedreeper]

My experience with Rising Sun Exports

Before agreeing to the sale I tried to do as much research as I could (obviously), his Facebook reviews are 98% and he goes Live at least once or twice a week. I contacted 2 people in the UK who had used him for their imports, both had positive feedback.

His explanation and talk through of the import process was thorough, answering any query no matter how stupid it was.

It felt as soon as the money was sent, communication dropped off. I asked for shipping updates every 2 weeks or so, not wanting to pester him, he never had any updates. I wasn't informed the car had been dropped off at the port, I only found out by his Facebook story.

I asked for the photos taken at the port, knowing he would need some for insurance purposes. I received a few 5 second clips and that's it. When asked again, he said his staff had them. Weeks later I asked again, he tells me he doesn't have any, but does have 50 photos from the original advert. I never received them.

I eventually got the documents sent via WhatsApp after I mentioned the port was requesting them.

I purchased a CarVX report, to find out the vehicle is a Grade R with recorded accident damage, first recorded in 2017 when it was first auctioned. He never told me the grade, then again I didn't ask. His response was "Grade R means nothing, it wasn't chassis damage". Still, I would have liked to have been informed about it.

Jon prides himself on being open and honest when it comes to inspecting cars, it's his main job doing so at the auctions for customers. When the vehicle arrived in the UK I noticed a few little cosmetic issues. It's a 21 year old car so it wasn't going to be mint condition. The side skirts are cracked on each corner and the sealant is failing. The front grill on the bonnet/hood isn't secured very well, mounting studs are missing. Both minor things, but again, it would have been nice to be told.

During a Facebook Live walk around video of the vehicle, he mentioned it has a front Whiteline anti roll bar/sway bar. While on the inspection ramp, I noticed the stock item has been installed. When first questioned, his response was "the ARB? Switched? Since when, it never had them". Since sending video and photo evidence I've not received a response.

I'm probably being over critical of the overall condition of an old car, but all I wanted was honesty (which he claims to have). I'm aware I wasn't his only customer, he's busy doing XYZ but other reviews praise him for great communication with regular updates and photos, I felt I didn't receive the same treatment. 

[Duncan]

Well, all the best with the new camry

It was interesting to hear about the UK process, it is generally a lot more streamlined here with a shipping agent looking after all the import side (noting the exact final price can still be a surprise.....) and I've used a few different brokers on the japan (or US) side, and never had any trouble with any of them....luck of the draw I guess.

You mentioned you didn't get the auction sheet (understandable since you bought it from a dealer, not auction), but I always try and get hold of that because they are pretty thorough. I've imported 2x R grade vehicles over the years and both were fine, repairs in Japan are pretty thorough compared to here in Oz.

[PranK]

This looks great! Awesome to have the 5 speed with an LSD in this.

The Recaro's look like SR2's or SR3's. It's a shame they've been retrimmed as they would have looked sweet in their original colours.

I think I'd want my agent to be a little more up front and informative too. I've never imported but I reckon it would make me a little nervous, so the more info the better.

[GTSBoy]

I don't care for these at all, but at least the underside looks straight and not rusty. A good basis for a long life. Many cars from Japan have been lifted with forklifts and f**ked almost irrepairably.

[MBS206]

I'm a fan of the JZX110, and the Aristo. Big cruiser cars, and with the factory cars, super comfortable and feel like you're driving an armchair! And the JZ motors are a pretty nice engine too, especially with some basic mods.

 

The import process, and the need to be able to trust people, and the fact there's so many scammers around is what ever puts me off wanting to go through that ordeal!

[Rezz]

Seems like a decent result for a modded JZX110. They are bulky in comparison to the 100 and 90 models (which I'd prefer myself) but they are getting very few and far between here in JP these days. Thanks for the detailed review and the import process into the UK. I also have a car which I'm hoping to export from Japan at some stage so it's good to know if someone from the UK was interested in it.

By the way the corrosion underneath is par for the course for cars which were located in/near the mountains or along the Japan sea coastline. They get huge amounts of snow every winter and the sodium chloride is used on the roads. Many cars have some kind of rubber like treatment underneath but they tend to limit it to the wheel arches underbody and fuel tank. Suspension arms and sub-frames will have similar corrosion to your JZX110 which is a common sight. See it all the time and car dealers here generally don't even mention it unless asked.

[hoodedreeper]

It was picked up on the MOT/Inspection that the offside front wheel bearing had excessive play along with the ball joint. It made sense to do both sides so I sourced a pair of spare IS200 hubs to do the swap. Unfortunately I don't have any photos of the strip down but here's a quick run down.

On the back of the hub is a large circular dust cover, using a flat head screw driver and a mallet I prised it off. Underneath will reveal a 32mm hub nut (impact gun recommended). With the hub nut removed the ABS ring can be removed (I ended up using a magnetic pick up tool to help). Next up is to remove the stub axle, this was a little trickier due to limited tools. I tried a 3 leg puller but the gap between the hub and stub axle wasn't enough for the legs to get in and under. Next option was a lump hammer and someone pulling the stub axle at the same time. After a few heavy hits it released. The lower bearing race had seized itself onto the stub axle, which was fine because I was replacing them anyway. With the upper bearing race removed and the grease cleaned off they looked like this

The left one looked pristine inside but gave us the most trouble. The right one had some surface rust but came apart in a single hit, figure that out?!

I got a local garage to press the new wheel bearings in, reassemble was the opposite and didn't take long at all.

Removing the hub itself was simple. Starting with removing the brake caliper, 2x 14mm bolts for the caliper slider and 2x 19mm? for the carrier > hub bolts. I used a cable tie to secure the caliper to the upper arm so it was out of the way, there's a 10mm bolt securing the ABS sensor on. With the brake disc removed from the hub next are the three castle nuts for the upper and lower ball joints and track rod end. Two of these had their own R clip and one split pin. A few hits with the hammer and they're released (I left the castle nuts on by a couple of turns), the track rod ends gave me the most grief and I may have nipped the boots (oops).

Fitting is the reversal and is very quick and easy to do. The lower ball joints are held onto the hub by 2x 17mm bolts. The castle nut did increase in socket size to 22mm from memory (this may vary from supplier)

The two front tyres weren't in great condition, so I had those replaced with some budget tyres for the time being. I'll be replacing the wheels and tyres in the future, this was to get me on the road without the worry of the police hassling me.

[hoodedreeper]

Next on the to-do list was an oil and filter change. Nothing exciting to add here except the oil filter is in a really stupid place (facing the engine mount/subframe/steering rack). GReddy do a relocation kit which puts it towards the gearbox, I would have preferred towards the front but there's obviously a lot more stuff there. Something I'll have to look at for the next service perhaps.

First time using Valvoline oil, although I can't see it being any different to most other brands

Nice...

The oil filter location...

At least the subframe wont rust any time soon

I picked up a genuine fuel filter, this is part of the fuel pump assembly inside the fuel tank. Access can be found underneath the rear seat, you'll see this triangular cover

Remove the 3x plastic 10mm nuts and lift the cover up, pushing the rubber grommet through

The yellow fuel line clips push out in opposite directions, remove these completely.

The two moulded fuel lines can now pull upwards to disconnect, along with the wire electrical plug. There's 8x 8mm bolts that secure the black retaining ring.

The fuel pump assembly is now ready to lift out. Be mindful of the fuel hose on the side, the hose clamp on mine was catching the hose preventing it from lifting up

The fuel pump/filter has an upper and lower section held on by 4 pressure clips. These did take a little bit of force, it sounded like the plastic tabs were going to break but they didn't (don't worry!)

The lower section helps mount the fuel pump, there's a circular rubber gasket/grommet/seal thing on the bottom where the sock is. Undo the hose clip on the short fuel hose on the side to disconnect it from the 3 way distribution pipe to be able to lift the upper half away. Don't forget to unplug the fuel pump too!

There's a few rubber O rings that will need transferring to the new filter housing, I show these in the video at the bottom of this write up. Reassembly is the reverse

Here's a photo of the new filter installed, you'll be able to see where the tabs are more clearing against the yellow OEM plastic

Once the assembly is re-installed, I turned the engine over a few times to help build up fuel pressure. I did panic when the car stopped turning over but I could hear the fuel pump making a noise. It eventually started and has been fine since.

Found my 'lucky' coin underneath the rear seat too

The Youtube video can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLJ65pmQt44&t=6s