86 Ninety Diesel

[lightfall]

Forgive me, my knowledge of off-road vehicles is really limited to the FJ-40 but I was thinking of getting into a 1986 Ninety with the diesel motor. I was wondering if anyone could tell me "what I was getting myself into"? Assuming there is no rust on the frame, bulkhead, outriggers, etc. that is terribly troubling, that there are no gross mechanical issues, what should I expect in terms of reliability and cost to maintain on a vehicle with 150,000 miles? Would I be significantly better off just picking up a clean Discovery Series 2, or is this manageable? Does anyone know if the deisel can be tweaked to work well in wisconsin weather? And are there common areas of aluminum corrosion behind the rear wheels and on the hood wings that would necessitate the use of diamond plate panels?

[Adz]

The early diesel 2.5 without a turbo is going to be slow... very slow. It will drive up the face of a dam, but it'll do about 65 max on the highway and it'll sound like a tractor is trying to pass you.

In terms of reliability they're fine. No electrical components on the engine other than glow plugs. Service it and that's about it.

Rust of the chassis (ignore the rear crossmember and outriggers, they're replaceable without tearing it to bits) and the bulkhead are the two main killers for a Ninety.

Axles, engines, gearboxes, diffs etc are all pretty bulletproof provided they're maintained and not abused.

How much is he asking for it? I only ask as a friend of mine here in the UK has an 84 Ninety with a turbo diesel lump in it that he's considering exporting to the USA, provided he can find a buyer of course.

Cheers,

Adam.