My name is Dana, I live in the San Fernando Valley (northern part of the city of Los Angeles). I've been into wheeling for about 14 years, I used to drive a heavily modified Jeep Cherokee.
I became interested in LandCruisers about 12 years ago, (after fixing my Jeep once too many times) and I've owned almost every model except an FJ55. I currently have two cruisers, (actually more, but I digress). One is a 1983 BJ42, kind of a rare model. It looks exactly like the FJ40, but it's a factory 4-cylinder diesel. I don't drive it much anymore, since I bought my current wheeler, a 1991 FJ80 that was converted to a diesel. That's the one I usually drive now, when I go wheeling. It's a pretty faithful toyota conversion, with the Toyota 1HD-T engine, and has all the Toyota bits, except for gas and air filters.
I really like the diesels for offroad use. Great torque, and great fuel range offroad.
I also have a 1997 FZJ80 with a bad motor sitting in my driveway, and a 1996 JDM "half-cut" HDJ-80. This has the next-generation diesel, the 24 Valve 1HD-FT engine. When I get brave enough (or foolish enough) to begin, I'll do the conversion. I'm trying to gather more info on the electronics. When done, that should be a sweet rig.
I was a member of the LCML WAY back, but when I sold my last FJ40, I migrated away and joined other forums including several 80-series boards, and of course the ubiquitous "MUD" board.
I'm an amateur radio licensee, I don't use the hobby much except for offroad comms. I have a couple of Yaesu 2M mobile radios, and a Kenwood tri-band HT. I also do have a CB unit that I bring if I have to.
I'm not really into the Johnson-Valley-Style rockcrawling, rather I enjoy expedition-style exploratory runs. I love to explore and can spend all day going around the "next corner" to see what's there. I guess I've got wanderlust in my veins!
Other stuff: I love to car camp, married for a long time to a wonderful lady, 3 adult kids, frustrated musician, and used to be an extreme hiker until I wore my knees out hiking too much!
Lots more, of course, but gotta leave something for the campfire!
This looks like a great resource, looking forward to meeting some of you folks soon.
Dana
