[Coyote808]

Ah, so it should be no problem for a smaller bloke like me to fit in it then. And as Rosco has pointed out, looks like it was made for the 70 series. Just like that misty morning dawning on you out there looks like the 70 was made for that. It seems to be coming together nicely. Any thoughts on storage solutions for the back of your troopy? There's a tonne of space to utilize back there that seems un-used. Full length drawers aside, there's still plenty of storage space along the inside of the panels, have you gotten some lids made for them so you can pack even more supplies in there? Maybe even something along the roof on the inside like drop down storage overhead. There's just so many options with troopies, which is why I find them "attractive", but not for aesthetics.

[gilghana]

Further inside storage;
well, I have the marine hatches but they are not fitted yet - still to cut one down and see if it is even doable. As far as other storage goes I have a big aluminium box that will probably fit in front of the fridge (in past trips I have used it for foodstuffs and kitchen stuff as it is dustproof) and I will probably get a couple of large plastic ammo box type things for other stuff. Clothes will be a couple of large soft bags. Overhead storage will not be required but in the front I am considering an overhead net type arrangement for maps, guide books. In front of the cargo barrier and behind the front seats I will try to source a long, narrow box for cameras, first aid kit etc.

So, couple of evenings last week I tackled the cargo barrier. This was a bit of a heart in the mouth moment as it almost looked like I wasn't going to get it in unless the drawers were removed and that was going to be a PITA. However with a bit of grunt I got it in and turned around. Then there was a bit of a bonus! The very strong old seat mounts from the side benches (as used in drawer securing) looked like they would work for the bottom barrier mounts - and they did! Okay it means the barrier is say 2" further forward than planned, but that is better than faffing around with the floor and a 22mm hole saw!

The Milford barrier mounts consists of drilling a 22mm hole and two 9mm holes each side. A metal plate is then inserted through the 22mm hole and it is bolted through the two side holes. This leaves the large hole with the threaded plate behind - into which the barrier mounts are screwed. As you can imagine there is a fair bit of fiddling, swearing etc.

However the barrier once in is solid, rattle free and looks like it does what it should. Also provides a convenient place to mount my rear speakers and the battery monitor. A super cheap inside/outside thermometer will also go up with the bat monitor for seeing what the fridge is doing. Eventually I will also use some thin carpet type stuff to make a drop down barrier that I will be able to unroll down the cargo barrier. This will effectively divide the vehicle and reduce the workload for the air-con, as well as a bit more sound damping.

[gilghana]

Strangely when I see these pics it looks like the barrier is in front of the side window - which it is not, anyway...

So after the barrier fitting we got some plywood and covered with grey carpet to make up a box for the batteries. Glued down the carpet. The idea is basically a hinged box over the batteries so the top can be lifted to get access to wiring and two circuit breakers that will isolate the batteries from all the stuff in the back.

Here it is offered up just to see how it will fit and look - now I will mount it in and fit hinges etc.



Oh, and I forgot to mention that I bought (on ebay Australia) some grey heavy canvas seat covers which are great! Very heavy and a bit better in the tropics than the vinyl. A lot cheaper than some of the fancy South African ones - more a working cover which suits the car just fine...



So, now I have a wheel dilema - so some opinions are desired guys! My BFG MTs will not stand up to our planned extended trip. Unfortunately they are over 5 years old and showing signs of cracks and age. So they will go on the 105 and I will try and wear them out before we leave

The troopy is currently running steel wheels of a std 105 (6.5" IIRC) I am thinking the easiest is just to stick my (like new) 8" GX 105 rims and General AT2 on.

So as coyote has been mentioning aesthetics what do you prefer - firstly Std 105 series as is on at the moment:



And then the GX rims:



Tyres will definately be AT2s, so the choice is only the rims... where the 8" rims really make more sense (265/75r16 tyres) Oh and I much prefer black wheels so will be getting out some sandpaper and some spray cans of black in the near future.

Thanks for watching!

[soenke]

Hey,
if you go with 265/75 the 6,5" rims will be fine, and better then 8" when driving with reduced air.
I have heard about many HZJ 79 with heavy cabin in the back getting airleaks using the 8" rims....

Don´t bother with the marine hatches, we just cut an opening of ~18 x 35cm in the upper end of each side panel for accsses to the storage space behind the panels, did the job ...

The pics are on another laptop I gave to a friend though, hope I can show them to you soon.

[Coyote808]

The GX rims look better, but I'm thinking functionality here, the 6.5 would probably be better for overall fit and finish, easier to find new rubber to stick on it and such. Hopefully you find something.

[gilghana]

Thanks guys - will probably stick with the 6.5 for the reasons you mention - the 6.5 rims do tuck the sidewalls in more with 265 tyres, as Soenke points out this is better when aired down. Luckily we have a tyre mounting machine in the workshop... I will get our tyre fitters on it soon.

Today I finished off the battery box, bolting it in.





Then time for more wiring. I put my viair compressor on the side of the drawers, and the 12v outlet is for the tent light as well as the charger for a maglight (with LED conversion - a much better torch now):



The cargo barrier is proving really useful for mounting things - so I mounted the indoor/outdoor thermometer so we know what is going on in the fridge. I then mounted a 2nd 12v outlet which is primarily for a small inverter for charging laptop and camera etc. Tested it out with my mac - managed to get wifi signal from the house and browse MUD in the troopy!



I then re-routed wiring for the amp so that basically everything now runs from the aux batteries. Then testing time...
- Fridge compressor running
- LED table light on
- Compressor inflating a tyre
- stereo on loud
- laptop charging from inverter

Total of 16.3 amps. Going to have to put in a larger circuit breaker (only a 10 amp rated one at the moment) as it would trip after a while. Shutting down fridge, inverter, stereo and lights let it run a bit longer but still tripping.



Still got a fair bit of wiring to go: sub tank pump switch (and a tell tale light as I always forget to switch it off), rear work light, gps hardwire, solar panel, etc.

[gilghana]

Oh yeah, and very important - a bottle opener that Footloose 4x4 in the UK kindly sent me when I bought a speedo converter from them.

[Coyote808]

Looking good, gil. Any interesting tidbits you can tell us about any quirks you've had with your build up so far? I'm finding it interesting how the cargo barrier gave you a little bit of trouble.

[Phil in BC]

Sweet rig there Gil. Looking good!

[gilghana]

Originally Posted by Coyote808

Looking good, gil. Any interesting tidbits you can tell us about any quirks you've had with your build up so far? I'm finding it interesting how the cargo barrier gave you a little bit of trouble.

Thanks for the interest Coyote & Phil,
well tricky parts:
- fitting the turbo: getting the sump off was a bit of a swine due to the silicone instant gasket, and the boost compensator fitting was a bit fiddly.
- The IEF rear bumper was not particularly accurately built and needed serious bending with jacks and 2x4.
- The longranger rear sub tank I stupidly did in the garden and not on a hoist... And it comes with a sender fitment and blanking plate if you are not fitting a sender - the plate was very badly machined and needed replacing and this turned into a bit of a time consuming task (on and off about 5 times) which could have been so easily done right first time by the supplier.
- The cargo barrier was only difficult because I fitted the drawers first - so getting it in and over the drawers needed brute force.
Other stuff is just time consuming but really enjoyable - this is the second expo type vehicle I have done (first was a Defender ). This time around the budget was a lot higher, but the Defender was in need of a lot of mechanical TLC so included gearbox and transfer box overhauls, axles, diffs and fitting a long block engine. Stuff that I did home made in the Defender (storage system and extra fuel tank, roof rack) we bought for the troopy. With the Defender sourcing was easy - back home in the UK Landrover parts are so easy to find. With the Troopy I sourced parts from Germany, Holland, UK, Australia, France, South Africa. The big ticket stuff in the build up is largely over and what remains is a lot of finishing and tidying up of cables, hoses, wiring etc. I am however considering a air-water intercooler set up and various ways of better airflow under the bonnet - 70s are bad for this... Locking Diffs are something that I cannot really decide on. My Defender I had a truetrac front diff and detroit locker in the rear. Traction was awesome! If I do decide this then it would be selectable lockers as I did find that the rover ate halfshaft and driving member splines in the rear (wore very quickly). I am tempted to go down the ARB route, probably not required on our trip but without a winch the benefits of lockers are not to be dismissed, and I intend to keep the vehicle a long long time so would be better doing it now while we have the facilities etc. Oh and I will be adding a lot of underbody sealer and cavity wax as the tropical spec vehicles don't have much - current game plan is to end up back in Europe so the vehicle has to cope with the dreaded salt... And I am still kicking around ideas of heavy duty side step replacements - something jackable and robust. I am not a welder at all, but we have a guy that is fantastic and a lot of various bits of steam piping and other steel lying around.
So, a fair bit more to come actually now I read this

[gilghana]

No activity for a couple of weeks - Last weekend we took the troopy down to the coast and met up with some friends - staying in a very cool little beach resort.



No camping but fires on the beach and plenty beers and chilling out in a super nice calm sea. Drive is not much fun as the road down (220kms) takes almost four hours now as the road is breaking up BADLY. HD Konis absorbed some brutal knocks well

Last couple of days I have been running around in this as I lent the 105 to a colleague to travel:

Great truck - really enjoying scooting around with a pickup again!


So wheels...
well yesterday I got our tyre fitters to swap rubber - so the troopy has the 6.5" rims off a std 105 cruiser fitted with General AT2s that only have a couple of hundred kms on them. So this afternoon I got out some sand paper and started the prep. I got one helper in the form of a retired chainsaw operator to help out with the sanding. I must say Amuzu did a pretty good job:



Used the onboard shower to wash down the sanding dust:



Then masked off and sprayed with multiple coats from rattle cans. Paint is a bit glossy but beggars can't be choosers out here!



Must say I was quite pleased with the result. I didn't bother with clear coat - will make future touch ups easy.



And the final result (well, still got the spares to do):



Now last week a long awaited vehicle arrived (I ordered in October) for our company hospital which is also a district hospital. It is a fully ambulance equipped new 78! Must say we had some laughs driving around as the siren has a loudhailer function. Anyway this one (got to get some pictures) has rear mudflaps, (which mine doesn't) so I made a deal with our Doc... a couple of ratchet straps (to lock down the oxygen cylinder) in exchange for the rear flaps They even say "LandCruiser" on 'em.





So folks, I leave you with a few more shots of the 79 and some home made rear bumpers we made for it. Cheers, Gil.

[roscoFJ73]

Nice work ,this troopy gets better by the day.
How do the locals view your enthusiasm for all things Landcruiser? Do they see it as a sickness?

Any inside ambulance pics?

[Coyote808]

Looks like you guys are enjoying your time out there. Wish I had the opportunity to go see far away lands and be able to enjoy the scenery.

[JAC83]

How about some pics of the 78 ambulance? that would be interesting.

Do you plan to get a bullbar for your 78?

[gilghana]

So, it seems there is some interest in the HZJ78 Ambulance! Well this morning we handed it over to the hospital and did some basic training of how to deal with the stretcher and so on!
So here goes... Troopy arriving at the hospital:





Our Hospital Lab tech sitting inside:



Some stretcher practice:





Cloth interior - most that we see tend to be vinyl:






And finally our BRILLIANT and highly talented Dr. with myself - we are all quite pleased with ourselves as formerly we had a 15 year old Nissan Urvan that cannot leave the area... we try to manage with various LCs in emergency, but finally after we lost a young girl I insisted to our Board of Directors that we need a decent vehicle... and as the choice is mine, well you know what it was gonna be
Our little hospital is very basic, but we do have x-ray and a lab with decent analysis equipment but some of the cases are frightening... most fatalities are untreated malaria (mostly kids). Scores of water related illness and so so many preventable cases. Charles (the MD) is a highly talented Ob Gyn guy and the only way we retain him (so many job offers in US and EU!) is that he relishes the challenge and we let him do a lot of extra courses and studies oveseas. I have seen him save a young girl (accidental ingestion of insecticide) by jumping in his car (nice Prado BTW) and gunning down to the town, buying a handfull of charcoal and forcing her to eat... result! I have also had my share of stuff out here when I have been glad to have an MD I know and trust implicitly.

I KNOW this troopy will be saving lives in the near future!

The mods are as follows:
- collapsable stretcher with locking mechanism in the vehicle
- Stainless steel ramp
- 4 overhead fluoro lamps
- Oxygen set
- Siren and light set (Damn loud)
- heavy duty flooring in the rear
- Privacy glass on rear windows
- Typical stickers

We still have to put in a good first aid kit, put on some better/wider tyres and maybe an HF radio.

Cheers for the interest,
Gil

[Hltoppr]

It's good to see the hospital has someone who knows what will serve their needs for years and years to come!

Very Cool! Hats off to you!

-H-

[gilghana]

Thanks Hltoppr !

Stupidly decided to do some work this evening... Forgot that in the dry season when we get a bit of rain we get flying ants
Now I mentioned earlier that my EGT was not much cop. I got a unit from Oz, and never changed the probe stupidly. Sure enough last weekend the unit started showing probe failure and going mental. So decided to fit the much better probe, but this meant drilling and taping as the compression fitting size was different. This meant a bit of dismantling, lying under the troopy and getting bitten to hell - when these things land they shed their wings and attack!



A few more friends joined the fun



Anyway got it sorted eventually - check the difference in probes:



Much better installation - think the last one cooked itself under the heat shield - don't by SAGA gauges from Taiwan, they are junk!

[gilghana]

Originally Posted by JAC83

How about some pics of the 78 ambulance? that would be interesting.

Do you plan to get a bullbar for your 78?

We have an old 75 running around with a home made one which is pretty solid... very well made actually. So I will probably get it cleaned up and painted and fit it. I might well modify the bullbar and fit my winch that is on the company car.

[JuanJ]

Hello Gil,

Congratulations for your efforts on helping others. That ambulance can make a difference.

On the other hand, you have done a great job on educating us on how to modify a Cruiser in a Third World country and what to expect when doing it.

It looks like sourcing parts and waiting for them to arrive takes a lot of patience. It may seem complitcated but in the end it is possible.

Putting it all together can result in both fun and frustration, from what you tell us, but I think it is worth the effort. And the result is great!

Keep up the good work.







JuanJ

[JAC83]

Very nice, it's always a treat to see a LC serving a noble cause such as your hospital, I'm sure it will last many years, definitely the right vehicle for the job .

Do you plan to do any modifications to the suspension to handle the weight/make it a bit more comfortable?

[roscoFJ73]

That insect thing looks fake,like its made out of wood or something

[Coyote808]

Wonderful seeing those cruiser do such amazing work. Out here, the Civil Defense Agency (only one left in the USA) has a set of four 1991 FJ80s they use in emergency situations and about a dozen more for road works when they are going through the mountains and agriculture zones. Toyota claims they have no commercial users of their vehicles in the USA. Well, the State of Hawai`i and the Hawai`i Civil Defense seem to think that no other vehicle will suffice for them that is currently available on the market. So the continue to rebuild their heavily worked FJ80s.

[Kroll]

Originally Posted by gilghana

I KNOW this troopy will be saving lives in the near future!

The mods are as follows:
- collapsable stretcher with locking mechanism in the vehicle
- Stainless steel ramp
- 4 overhead fluoro lamps
- Oxygen set
- Siren and light set (Damn loud)
- heavy duty flooring in the rear
- Privacy glass on rear windows
- Typical stickers

We still have to put in a good first aid kit, put on some better/wider tyres and maybe an HF radio.

Cheers for the interest,
Gil

I was curious if you purchased the ambulance truck from Gibraltar ?
Nice build by the way. I am always impressed by the troopy.

Once I'm done nursing, hopefully I can live in interesting land like you do.

[gilghana]

Hey thanks for all the comments and interest folks. So to answer some of the questions:
1) No we didn't buy it from Toyota Stockholdings in Gibralter - we bought from a company in Belgium called Demimpex who we have bought a lot of Toyotas from.
2) For the ambulance we have no plans to modify the suspension. We will leave it completely stock as hopefully it gets minimal use.
3) Locals and toyotas...
well my fellow managers are all pretty astonished at what has gone into the vehicle in terms of parts and time. A couple of guys in our Workshop (CAT diesel techs) appreciate the engineering side of things, and bearing in mind most ex-pats here know nothing about our world (of Toyota mods and fanatacism for all things 4x4) things like the shower and fridge just blow them away as they have never seen or imagined them... There is a fair amount of interest in trips that I have made to Mali etc, as many ex-pats here come and work and really do not get to know much beyond their little bubble of work - I always try to encourage them to get out a bit more. The Ghanaian nationals are likewise pretty amazed by shower and fridge type things - very amazed! I always remember after fitting the detroit lockers and winch to my Defender I took our best vehicle mechanic for a play - he was totally blown away by it's capabilities and still talks about it 5 years later... that type of thing is great, and in general Ghanaians are very enthusiastic about new experiences.
4) The milipede type insect thing is certainly real

[lulo]

Originally Posted by gilghana

So, it seems there is some interest in the HZJ78 Ambulance! Well this morning we handed it over to the hospital and did some basic training of how to deal with the stretcher and so on!
So here goes... Troopy arriving at the hospital:





Our Hospital Lab tech sitting inside:



Some stretcher practice:





Cloth interior - most that we see tend to be vinyl:






And finally our BRILLIANT and highly talented Dr. with myself - we are all quite pleased with ourselves as formerly we had a 15 year old Nissan Urvan that cannot leave the area... we try to manage with various LCs in emergency, but finally after we lost a young girl I insisted to our Board of Directors that we need a decent vehicle... and as the choice is mine, well you know what it was gonna be
Our little hospital is very basic, but we do have x-ray and a lab with decent analysis equipment but some of the cases are frightening... most fatalities are untreated malaria (mostly kids). Scores of water related illness and so so many preventable cases. Charles (the MD) is a highly talented Ob Gyn guy and the only way we retain him (so many job offers in US and EU!) is that he relishes the challenge and we let him do a lot of extra courses and studies oveseas. I have seen him save a young girl (accidental ingestion of insecticide) by jumping in his car (nice Prado BTW) and gunning down to the town, buying a handfull of charcoal and forcing her to eat... result! I have also had my share of stuff out here when I have been glad to have an MD I know and trust implicitly.

I KNOW this troopy will be saving lives in the near future!

The mods are as follows:
- collapsable stretcher with locking mechanism in the vehicle
- Stainless steel ramp
- 4 overhead fluoro lamps
- Oxygen set
- Siren and light set (Damn loud)
- heavy duty flooring in the rear
- Privacy glass on rear windows
- Typical stickers

We still have to put in a good first aid kit, put on some better/wider tyres and maybe an HF radio.

Cheers for the interest,
Gil

Excellent pics

Thanks Gil

[gilghana]

So I decided to do the bullbar this afternoon. The one on the old 75 series (used as a runabout by electricians) was made up years ago and has taken a beating in the bush, so I reckon it's battle proven. The uprights are damn thick, the bumper likewise and the tube work too. Here it is on the old 75:



Now I wanted to get all the fitting checked but first here is a shot of it behind. It has bolt holes on the side and a large vertical bolt, but no bottom strap for the bolt to go through (I will weld one on so the bar is firmly clamped top AND bottom - this will in effect make it a 4 sided pocket that fully fits over the chassis members). IMHO it is strong enough, but may as well be very sure.



So here it is mounted - the small cannister plugged into the onboard water system is a general ecology water filter so that I can also draw drinking water from the tank with no worries - works nicely!



So it needs a bit of cleaning up! But considering the price of them I am quite happy - a few hours with wire brushing and sanding and a bit of paint and it will be fine. It weighs (guestimate) about 40 kgs, so is no lightweight. Whether the winch goes on or not is open at this stage. I will hang back with the painting for a while as I have some wurth stoneguard stuff on the way which I might try...

The lightforce 170s protrude a bit, but they are tough lights, and I dont want any airflow restrictions that I can avoid - it gets hot enough under there!

Cheers,
Gil

[Coyote808]

That is a nice 75 and bumper. However, you sure have small centipedes there. =P Need to see ones that are about 18 inches (about 40 cm.) long or so before you start calling those big. If I had a point of reference in that picture, would be nice.

EDIT: 18 inches is about 45 centimetres in length. I need to start using a calculator more often.

[gilghana]

Hey, I never said it was big - only real The tap gives some scale - it's a totty wee milipede type thing of only a few cm. At 40cm we have nothing like that! Jeez. However the snakes can be large - don't want to find this guy under the troopy (well actually he wouldn't bother me 'cause he didn't survive the 2x4 but his brother or sister would be alarming!):

[gilghana]

Back on topic.
Well I couldn't hold off with the painting I also made some modifications to the bar as I was not entirely happy with the sides. So I got hold of some old steam pipes (3mm wall) and also strengthened the mounts and welded some channel underneath which are supposed to stop the hi-lift jack slipping... Okay I say "I" but I am not that good a welder, so I got someone to do all the cutting, bending, sanding, grinding, priming, painting and clear coat. Cost me $20

So tomorrow afternoon is sorted out.

[gilghana]

Well yesterday I mounted up the modified and painted bullbar. In it's previous form I did not like the wings that wrapped around lights - the tubes were quite bent and I really wanted something more unobtrusive and simple. I also decided to try mounting the hilift on it - works pretty well, and I had seen this mounting on a few other vehicles, but will put some sort of wire lock to stop it wandering...

Of course in the process of strengthening the mounting points and tidying up some of the welds things have got a bit out of alignment, so a few hours of drilling, grinding and filing will be needed today to get some of the mounting bolts sorted properly.

At the same time I plan to change the green water hoses to some black hyd hose I blagged, so a bit of playing around there is also to be done.

I also did the axle breather extensions - routed them up to the bulkhead near the bonnet. However the gearbox breather eludes me so far... Pretty difficult to access? I must say that LR had the whole breather thing sorted better that Toyota. But the worst I have seen is some "Extreme Duty" Renault Kerax trucks we bought last year - the axle breather is just a open section of hose hanging down behind the diff, no check valve and probably the worst breather mounting imaginable!