For the longest time I've been watching this forum with the hope that one day I'd have a reason to actually jump in, and at long last, it happened!
Bit of back story, ever since before I bought my 80-series I was in love with the idea of getting a troopy but the unfortunate reality of living in beautiful Southern California is the good friends at CARB do not want to be part of that game without some expensive swaps. Now in the last few months, a few interesting things happened and with family moving to other states with some friendlier rules I began to see a few ways to get one of these things registered and good to go. Then with the always helpful Fit Garage (thanks @Willis) reposting a 94 FZJ75 for sale in Texas, it all started to line up! Many phone calls, way too much internet searching, a trip to the bank, all the anxiety of unknown car purchases, and one quickly scheduled flight later I was meeting a troopy for the first time in person, so I promptly bought it.
Now funnily enough I actually bought my 80 from @cruiserdan at the Heritage museum (it's been perfect, so thanks again for that Dan), also sight unseen. So the whole buy a Land Cruiser having no idea what you're getting into and proceed to drive it across the U.S. seemed not too daunting being round 2 (especially since this one had much newer tires!) Nevertheless, the first 3 hours in the dark with lots of wind and hilariously out of position headlights definitely had me a bit on edge. After a good night's sleep though we were back on the road in some light and the background noises of the troopy started to all make sense. Made pretty good time from McAllen back to SoCal with a beautiful stop in White Sands as a detour. I did have a laugh at the fact that the weather was totally nuts on the way back with all kinds of rain, massive winds, and some decent hail but none of it slowed us down. After all that was done, I am the way too excited owner of this troopy, its everything you could hope for and more.
So fun first adventure aside, a few questions that resulted:
1) Rainstorms plus many hours in the car were quite helpful to find all the leaks. The lower right corner of the windshield has the slightest trickle, it makes sense to me to have the windshield fully pulled and resealed (check for any cancer) but I found some posts talking about just slamming some sealant in there, this seems like it'd work but not the best solution, is my inkling correct and I should just redo the whole thing?
2) Apart from water, the wind showed that the door seals need a bit of a hand. Is this something I should be being OEM weather stripping or just an aftermarket kit?
3) More random but I get a ridiculous howl (sounds like a giant blowing across the top of a coke bottle) when in serious side winds, anyone dealt with this? Not sure if something is not sealed right or I'm missing something. Almost sounds like it's coming from the fuel door? Haven't been able to pinpoint it.
4) Speaking of the fuel door, I was getting some excess pressure in the fuel tank after long stretches. As I undid the cap a pretty decent hiss for 3-5 seconds as all the pressure releases. I know for the 80s this is typically your charcoal canister is toast, but I do not see said canister (I could very likely be missing something, or am just stupid). Has anyone dealt with this? It seems to me like the 1FZ is a bit less common of a setup around here.
5) The locks and ignition cylinder are toast, so I want to replace all of it. I saw in @WarDamnEagle 's thread it was 69005-6B493 for the set but that's a truck, not a troopy so I know that's not right. I am trying to understand partsouq but is 69005-60401 what I am looking for? (or again I could very likely be missing something, or am just stupid)
6) Sound-deadening seems like a must for these trucks (though really I thought it'd be worse). Any strong opinions on the method? The sprays seem neat, but also there is a host of well-reviewed amazon products that may be time intensive but seem well-liked. If you were doing it again, what would you do wise sages?
Well, that's enough questions for now, here are some glamour shots, expect many more questions and some shots of details I'm trying to figure out. Please call out if something seems off! Thanks all.
Bit of back story, ever since before I bought my 80-series I was in love with the idea of getting a troopy but the unfortunate reality of living in beautiful Southern California is the good friends at CARB do not want to be part of that game without some expensive swaps. Now in the last few months, a few interesting things happened and with family moving to other states with some friendlier rules I began to see a few ways to get one of these things registered and good to go. Then with the always helpful Fit Garage (thanks @Willis) reposting a 94 FZJ75 for sale in Texas, it all started to line up! Many phone calls, way too much internet searching, a trip to the bank, all the anxiety of unknown car purchases, and one quickly scheduled flight later I was meeting a troopy for the first time in person, so I promptly bought it.
Now funnily enough I actually bought my 80 from @cruiserdan at the Heritage museum (it's been perfect, so thanks again for that Dan), also sight unseen. So the whole buy a Land Cruiser having no idea what you're getting into and proceed to drive it across the U.S. seemed not too daunting being round 2 (especially since this one had much newer tires!) Nevertheless, the first 3 hours in the dark with lots of wind and hilariously out of position headlights definitely had me a bit on edge. After a good night's sleep though we were back on the road in some light and the background noises of the troopy started to all make sense. Made pretty good time from McAllen back to SoCal with a beautiful stop in White Sands as a detour. I did have a laugh at the fact that the weather was totally nuts on the way back with all kinds of rain, massive winds, and some decent hail but none of it slowed us down. After all that was done, I am the way too excited owner of this troopy, its everything you could hope for and more.
So fun first adventure aside, a few questions that resulted:
1) Rainstorms plus many hours in the car were quite helpful to find all the leaks. The lower right corner of the windshield has the slightest trickle, it makes sense to me to have the windshield fully pulled and resealed (check for any cancer) but I found some posts talking about just slamming some sealant in there, this seems like it'd work but not the best solution, is my inkling correct and I should just redo the whole thing?
2) Apart from water, the wind showed that the door seals need a bit of a hand. Is this something I should be being OEM weather stripping or just an aftermarket kit?
3) More random but I get a ridiculous howl (sounds like a giant blowing across the top of a coke bottle) when in serious side winds, anyone dealt with this? Not sure if something is not sealed right or I'm missing something. Almost sounds like it's coming from the fuel door? Haven't been able to pinpoint it.
4) Speaking of the fuel door, I was getting some excess pressure in the fuel tank after long stretches. As I undid the cap a pretty decent hiss for 3-5 seconds as all the pressure releases. I know for the 80s this is typically your charcoal canister is toast, but I do not see said canister (I could very likely be missing something, or am just stupid). Has anyone dealt with this? It seems to me like the 1FZ is a bit less common of a setup around here.
5) The locks and ignition cylinder are toast, so I want to replace all of it. I saw in @WarDamnEagle 's thread it was 69005-6B493 for the set but that's a truck, not a troopy so I know that's not right. I am trying to understand partsouq but is 69005-60401 what I am looking for? (or again I could very likely be missing something, or am just stupid)
6) Sound-deadening seems like a must for these trucks (though really I thought it'd be worse). Any strong opinions on the method? The sprays seem neat, but also there is a host of well-reviewed amazon products that may be time intensive but seem well-liked. If you were doing it again, what would you do wise sages?
Well, that's enough questions for now, here are some glamour shots, expect many more questions and some shots of details I'm trying to figure out. Please call out if something seems off! Thanks all.