Questions on '88 Patrol

Sam,
Its like picking up a book to read, You wont know until you read it. If they r genuine miles on clock then from ur description it sounds like its had a very abusive life. Rust to me indicates salt water spashing add to that the fact that u mentioned it has lots of rust underneath.
That tappet noise may be an injector too, remember..its a diesel, they r kinda noisy ;-).

Then again, it all comes down to what u can affort and what u want. The way i see it mate, I look at cosmetics first before mechanical, if body is in poor condition it tells me the vehicle has had a hard life..i would walk away form it there and then, but again, its what u can affort.
Good luck with it.
Ange.

Im assuming its unregistered at the moment.

HI there hey_im_sam, personally I wouldn't touch it,I don't own a patrol but you say it has a lot of surface rust under the body, has it been drowned in salt water ??,How much of it's life has been sitting on the beach fishing?? My mate has exactly the same model and not a sign of rust. HINT, maybe that's why he's selling it cheaply, maybe he knows that in 12 months time you'l be driving it around like the flinstones. You don't say the price,but that means nothing if in 12 months time you have no floor left in it. Motor wise these things are pretty well bullet proof. The turbo would not be an issue unless at some stage he's boosted it up too high and has only turned it down to sell. Does it have a vdo guage showing boost pressure?? My mate's is turbo and has had no trouble, he was told that the motors are designed to handle a turbo cause when they were manufactured in japan they were designed for a turbo to be fitted but they never did till the later models. Don't know how true this statement is but there is heaps of blokes/woman who own and are on this forum reguarly I'm sure they will set you straight. Personally I wouldn't touch it if it has as much surface rust under body as you say. Be carefull. Take care Vitara

Thanks for the responses guys - after this thread and speaking to a few other people, I'm looking elsewhere ;)
Definately a low budget, which is why I was even considering it, but looks like I'd do well to hold out a little longer. Will let you know how I go :)
-Sam