Hi, my first post on HU. Have you considered looking at things the other way round, i.e. importing a vehicle into the UK from Oz? I'm a Kiwi who generally lives in Sydney but at the moment we're in Europe in our 79 Series in which, next year, we're planning to drive to Vladivostok via the Stans & Mongolia. We had the 79 shipped from Sydney to Felixstowe for AUD2,800 (around GBP1,500). If you do it that way you'll (a) get an Oz spec vehicle and (b) have a lot less trouble with the importation. If you bring it into the UK as a temporary import you can use it for 6 months without having to pay VAT or go through UK registration bureaucracy.
Take a look at Used Cars - New Cars - Search New & Used Cars For Sale - carsales.com.au and you'll get an idea of what AUD36k could buy. From experience, I'd go for a HZJ105 although the FZJ105 (petrol) is likely to be cheaper. For that money you should find a decent one with a few offroad mods. As an example, see 2001 Toyota Landcruiser HZJ105R GXL. Re the gearbox, yes, the 105 manual gearbox is weaker than the 100, but since the 100 puts out around 150kw as against the 96 of the 105, in reality it's not a problem unless you turbocharge it, which is NOT recommended.
Anyway just some thoughts for you. Happy to give you any further advice from my own experience which includes fitting the 1HD-FTE (24v turbo from the 100) into a 105.
Lawrence
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