I first want to start off by blaming @Timbo FJ45 and @koxfarm for this crazy project that I got myself into and heading down this long dark road of rebuiding a Troopy, LOL. After seeing the Beautiful work both of them have done on their Troopys I was hooked and decided to follow suit in a little different direction but trying to get it as close to their beautiful work as possible. Cheers to both of you. I decided to build mine in between the both of them as to not stock but not a fully drivetrain transformed vehicle. So here goes with a little background:
I started looking at Troopys about 5 years ago thinking they were great looking vehicles and liked the extra room they had for Overlanding. They reminded me of being on Safari driving through the bush and setting up camp in the middle of Ngorongoro Crater or Uluru in the Outback.
I started looking on Gumtree Australia and found a 1983 FJ45 Green Troopy, luckily I have a friend from Australia who contacted a mate of his back home to take a look at it for me. Everything checked out and I found a transportation company specializing in transporting to and from Australia, I contacted Phil @AUStoUSA and couldn't have been happier. He took care of all of the paperwork, transporting, and stored in his warehouse in Charlotte until I could pick it up. He did a bang up job and I appreciate his patience for all of the questions and calls he answered. I flew up to Charlotte to pick it up and met Mike from @AUSto USA who checked it over before I got there and gave me a few things to help in the drive just in case. I drove it back from Charlotte to Orlando detouring threw the Northwest Mountains of North Carolina and North Georgia. I stopped and had all of the oils changed for the trip back and found out I needed a crossover hose between the trans and transfer case, the seal was definitely leaking in between. The guy at the oil change place was surprised with one having twice as much fluid as the other. The drive back was an adventure and a blast especially through the winding mountain roads, and cruising down the highway with people looking for the driver on the left side of the vehicle but not seeing one until they looked at the right side. I enjoyed taking my dog for rides with her sitting in the left seat and watching peoples expressions looking at her in that seat, a German Sheppard-Border Collie mix.
After driving this Troopy for a while, no PS, no AC, I saw another Troopy on Gumtree, an Arkana with a raised roof, custom third door, PS, A/C, and dual fuel, Gas and LP, this is the one I had to have, so again I rang up Phil and talked to him about going out to inspect it and let me know. Not only did he have it inspected he got the asking price down for me. I cannot say enough about Phil and his company @AUStoUSA for his honesty and reliability for purchasing and transporting a vehicle like this. So now it was time to say goodbye to Old Greenie which went to a good home in Colorado.
So here we go with pictures of the 3 door when it got here and will be following up with teardown pictures later. It is going to be taken down to the bare bones, stripped, powdercoated, zinc coated, rebuilt, remanufactured, and anything else I can think of for the completion of this beast for the Expedition vehicle I have in my mind. I know it is a scary thing right. Also is is a great pleasure being on mud and associated with all of the great people on here, I have learned a lot and appreciated dealing with a bunch of you.
Cheers, Geoff.
I started looking at Troopys about 5 years ago thinking they were great looking vehicles and liked the extra room they had for Overlanding. They reminded me of being on Safari driving through the bush and setting up camp in the middle of Ngorongoro Crater or Uluru in the Outback.
I started looking on Gumtree Australia and found a 1983 FJ45 Green Troopy, luckily I have a friend from Australia who contacted a mate of his back home to take a look at it for me. Everything checked out and I found a transportation company specializing in transporting to and from Australia, I contacted Phil @AUStoUSA and couldn't have been happier. He took care of all of the paperwork, transporting, and stored in his warehouse in Charlotte until I could pick it up. He did a bang up job and I appreciate his patience for all of the questions and calls he answered. I flew up to Charlotte to pick it up and met Mike from @AUSto USA who checked it over before I got there and gave me a few things to help in the drive just in case. I drove it back from Charlotte to Orlando detouring threw the Northwest Mountains of North Carolina and North Georgia. I stopped and had all of the oils changed for the trip back and found out I needed a crossover hose between the trans and transfer case, the seal was definitely leaking in between. The guy at the oil change place was surprised with one having twice as much fluid as the other. The drive back was an adventure and a blast especially through the winding mountain roads, and cruising down the highway with people looking for the driver on the left side of the vehicle but not seeing one until they looked at the right side. I enjoyed taking my dog for rides with her sitting in the left seat and watching peoples expressions looking at her in that seat, a German Sheppard-Border Collie mix.
After driving this Troopy for a while, no PS, no AC, I saw another Troopy on Gumtree, an Arkana with a raised roof, custom third door, PS, A/C, and dual fuel, Gas and LP, this is the one I had to have, so again I rang up Phil and talked to him about going out to inspect it and let me know. Not only did he have it inspected he got the asking price down for me. I cannot say enough about Phil and his company @AUStoUSA for his honesty and reliability for purchasing and transporting a vehicle like this. So now it was time to say goodbye to Old Greenie which went to a good home in Colorado.
So here we go with pictures of the 3 door when it got here and will be following up with teardown pictures later. It is going to be taken down to the bare bones, stripped, powdercoated, zinc coated, rebuilt, remanufactured, and anything else I can think of for the completion of this beast for the Expedition vehicle I have in my mind. I know it is a scary thing right. Also is is a great pleasure being on mud and associated with all of the great people on here, I have learned a lot and appreciated dealing with a bunch of you.
Cheers, Geoff.
