The Toyota Bundera came into our lives back in 2000, it was originally purchased for Danielle (our daughter) and was to become her second 4WD. Her first 4WD being a 1985 Suzuki Sierra, this little Suzi was very capable in all respects bar comfort.

After owning the Sierra for some time Danielle felt that some improvements were required in the following areas:

1.    Steering: Power steering required for easier off road drivability.

2.    Power: More power for on road cruising, (to help keep up with the mob).

3.    Cool Air: Air conditioning for improved all round comfort in the summer.

4.    Ride comfort: Coil springs for a better ride.

Based on the above requests, we thought that a Toyota Bundera (Bundy) would be a perfect solution. I spotted a cheap one in the trading post that wasn't far from home. All that it needed was a little tender loving care (TLC) and an engine upgrade.

However Danielle took one look at the tired little Bundy and said, "you've got to be joking," so from that point on it became my toy.

The Bundy had air conditioning but no power steering, no problem with that, a mate of mine had a power steering box out of an 80 series, and it bolted straight in.

The Bundy getting a V6 VP Commodore engine fitted:

These photo's were taken shortly after the Bundy had its first engine transplant, replacing the original 2.4ltr 22R petrol engine with a V6. The Bundy loves to get a little air.

In the sand dunes Robe SA.

During the return trip the old G52 gearbox decided to loose a few teeth on the input shaft and lay shaft cluster. After returning to Melbourne on the back of a truck, the gearbox was replaced with a much stronger Bundera diesel R151 gearbox. Some over heating problems were also experienced while playing in the dunes. To overcome this problem an engine driven fan kit and a fan shroud were manufactured, and fitted in place of the electric fans.

"Can I borrow the Bundy dad"?

"Yeah sure any time" I said.

Broken rear axle, could this be an indication of Danielle's driving technique?

Getting a suspension upgrade.

Extra ground clearance was required so 35" tyres were the order of the day. To fit them a 2" body lift was required and a little trim here and a little trim there.

After a couple of hard years use, the body developed a new squeaking noise. After some investigation we found that the rear body mount had cracked. To fix the problem the cracks were welded,  ground back and the body was then reinforced by welding a 75mm diameter 3mm thick washer over the welded area. After this problem was encountered and solved, we decided to add the washers to all of our body lift kits. 

The Bundy has taken Denny (my wife) and I quite a few places over the last few years, including a four week trip to Perth, with bush camping most of the time. Other jaunts included a run up to Brisbane and back down the coast via Stradbroke Island, along with many shorter bush trips into the Victorian High Country.

A super charged engine was fitted after the VP engine developed a miss. Giving the Bundy a cool 180kw of power under the bonnet which made all the difference when passing and maintaining the speed limit in hilly country.

While participating in a NAV RUN near Gaffney's Creek in the Victorian High Country we managed to break the rear diff. This paved the way for an earlier idea to fit Land Cruiser 80 series diffs. The Bundy was patched up enough to allow it to be driven on the road for a few months until time permitted this major mod. The project started when a friend, Anthony Kilner (alias Ant, 4WD Monthly's Victorian Correspondent) said he would give me a hand to fit the diffs. I'm sure to this day he still wishes he didn't, it took a few months two nights a week with a few Saturdays thrown in to get the job done (a big thank you to Ant's partner Jane for her patients). An excellent article was written by Ant and published in 4WD Monthly magazine.

Denny and friend Joanna came first place in an introductory NAV RUN organised by Richard (Joanna's partner) and myself, the girls were pretty pleased with themselves.