My traveling HJ47 :) (1 Viewer)

[Wootan]

Hi there!

Have been reading here for a while and finally registered as well. I am originally from Germany but have been in Australia for almost 2 years now. Fell in love with the 40s cruisers here and own the most reliable travel companion, my '84 HJ47 Troopy.
The plan is to ship it in January back home to Germany and start rebuilding it a bit when it arrives in March. It will always be an expedition/travel build so I will get everything out of the rear and fit a new home made setup. Right now it has a rear bench that slides out to a double bed, storage at the right, an old but perfectly working Engel fridge and a stove. On top of the camping build it has an auxiliary fuel tank, water tank, dual battery and a solar panel for the roof rack.
My mechanical knowledge is limited but I am trying to teach myself everything I can and will hopefully learn a lot during the small rebuild.
Lets start with some pictures:

our camp

and just started with a work mate on some little rust repairs for the rear door

Further plans are to take the chassis of the frame and repair any rust I can find. There is not much but you never know where it is hiding. This weekend I will fit a Hiclone. Thats a steel part for the air intake that increases the air flow and gives you a better fuel economy. Its supposed to work best on old engines so I will give it a shot and let you know if it is any good.
Let me know if you are interested in any more pictures etc.

Cheers
Fabian

 

[a.greenspan]

Let me know if you are interested in any more pictures etc.

Cheers
Fabian

Would be nice to see more pics and welcome on Mud
Cheers
Peter

 

[herbs]

Gee, nice troopy, any interior pics?

 

[dingbatt]

Hell yes! That troopy is very fine indeed.

Interior pics would be great, I'm really interested to see how that sliding bench seat / double bed arrangement works.

Welcome to Mud !!

Cheers,

Matt

 

[Wootan]

Thanks fellas!

Took some quick pictures of the inside for you. The timber and the mattress are not in the best condition anymore due to the regular use. But as I wrote before, all that will be replaced mainly because I am quiet tall (~6.3 foot) and my feet are hanging way over the bed plus I can't take my drivers seat all the way back because of the fridge behind it.
The view from the back, fridge is usually behind drivers seat and 2 burner stove behind the rear left door as a little kitchen construction, might take it out of the storage and get some pictures as well if interest is there. By the way, I am not a big fan of this granny design of the floor.

Here the bed construction:

So as you can see one part slides out and also gives access to the spare parts and tools underneath and the other part just folds down. Pretty simple and quick solution.

from the front

no 3 seater but a central glove box instead with drink holders

little shelves in the back, turned out to be very useful

the UHF radio, so far never in use

the water tap under the left rear door is perfect for quick dish washing

and the inside front view

with a little aftermarket aircon

...and under the bonnet

Didn't get time to get a hiclone yet. Started to think about dual alternator now as I am planning to take it fairly easy with the distances and just like to stay for a longer time at one place when ever I feel like it. Anyone experience with that or other suggestions?

Thanks for reading and happy cruising!

 

[Johnny_boy_1984]

Hi Wootan,

Do you allready have an idea about the new interior?
I am also busy with a new interior, but its difficult becauso of the low roof height and i can't find a lot of examples.

Greetings

 

[stainless 40/45]

Just a quick heads up,when yu ship it to Germany make sure theres antifreeze in it....especially if you ship in cold weather.....I had some problems with this that's how I know......I don't think they use it much in OZ..

James

 

[Wootan]

Thanks for the tip stainless! Was just thinking about that again today because I didn't put any antifreeze in yet.

For the interior I am planning to put in one bench on either side (just timber probably) with lids so I can store personal and camping stuff underneath. That would provide either 4 seats or 2 seats to keep it quiet comfortable. Then I definitely wanna be able to put a timber in the center so the whole rear of the car can be turned into a bed. Would make wild camping a bit easier in crowded areas or if it is just too cold to sleep on the roof. But really have to get into planning a little table construction for the center that has to be easily set up and dismantled.

Was also thinking about a lifting camper top or lifting the complete roof a couple of inches. First think would be quiet expensive if I don't manage myself and the second would make container and even ro/ro shipping complicated and more expensive. And I have to say I really don't wanna get rid of my roof rack, just too useful.

 

[Johnny_boy_1984]

Hi Wootan,

Here are some pics of my interrior:

I have plenty of storage room because of the boxes that can be placed under the shelves. And some bigger equipment can be mounted on the sides. Also nice is that i can take out the complete framework.
The disadvantage is that there is not so much roofspace and sleeping on an airbed on top of the shelves is not very comfortable.
A few months ago I bought a RTT and if we like sleeping in it i will rebuild my interior, but i still want to be able to sleep inside the car.

Last picture is a bit of a mess, because of a wild drive in Spain


Greetings

 

[herbs]

Very nice, that aircon isn't aftermarket, it's genuine Toyota, my '84 HJ 47 troopy has exactly the same system, actually works pretty well too. The switch actually looks the same as that on a new VDJ 76/78/79 Landcruiser, wouldn't be surprised if they were exactly the same. As for the floor covering in the rear, haha, funny stuff.

 

[Wootan]

Pretty nice build you have there Johnny_boy. I agree with the idea of being able to take the whole camping setup out without much hassle. Especially because at least in Germany you are not very likely to get oldtimer number plates with a camping build.
How stable is your construction? Is it moving at all when you have the weight of a mattress and lets say two people on it?

I didn't know that the 47s where built with a factory aircon, thought just some swbs would have it. But good to know that it is genuine. It's a very strong unit in my case. Just don't use it too often as the engine is thirsty enough already. Do you have any figures of how much more fuel you use when the a/c is switched on, herbs? Would save me the maths.

 

[a.greenspan]

Especially because at least in Germany you are not very likely to get oldtimer number plates with a camping build.

A camping equipment in an old truck isn`t a barrier to get a historic registration.
The car /truck must be 30 years old to get this registration
Your truck is build in 1984 so you have to wait til 2014 for the H- plate
Barrier for any registration of your truck is your roo bar, you will never get a registration (TÜV) with the roo bar on your Troopie.
Think it would be better to sell the bar in Australia before shipping the truck to Germany.
Cheers
Peter

 

[herbs]

1. Hiclones are crap, please don't waste your money.
2. You won't need an extra alternator, ask an auto electrician to swap your standard 35 amp alternator for the 70 amp internally regulated alternator from a HJ 75. A proper dual battery management system helps too.

 

[Wootan]

A camping equipment in an old truck isn`t a barrier to get a historic registration.
The car /truck must be 30 years old to get this registration
Your truck is build in 1984 so you have to wait til 2014 for the H- plate
Barrier for any registration of your truck is your roo bar, you will never get a registration (TÜV) with the roo bar on your Troopie.
Think it would be better to sell the bar in Australia before shipping the truck to Germany.
Cheers
Peter

You are right about the camping build. Looked it up again and its just for trucks with an enclosed container on the back. Thanks. Gotta wait anyway but as I am not even considering to get rid of it at some stage it makes sense to think about h number plates already.

The roo bar will stay on an be replaced with a bumper in Germany. If I make it at some point e.g. to Africa then I can just put it back on. Won't keep it registered for this time anyway.

Heard that Hiclones are crap for all the newer cars, thought would give it a shot with the older 2H but if you tried that out before I will save up the bucks for something else.
The idea with the HJ75 alternator sounds good and should be fairly easy to get it repaired or replaced in case.

Figured my camping build out now, might draw it up later. Its pretty simple but should be quiet effective.

Thanks for the comments and ideas.

 

[a.greenspan]

Just an example: Old VW buses with side windows and camping equipment have H-plates... but german TÜV and the regsitration procedure is a special story, so it`s better to be quiet
Found this HZJ 78 maybe it helps
***/ Buschtaxi HZJ78 : Innenausbau 1 /***

***/ Buschtaxi HZJ78 : Innenausbau 2 /***

Cheers
Peter

 

[Johnny_boy_1984]

Pretty nice build you have there Johnny_boy. I agree with the idea of being able to take the whole camping setup out without much hassle. Especially because at least in Germany you are not very likely to get oldtimer number plates with a camping build.
How stable is your construction? Is it moving at all when you have the weight of a mattress and lets say two people on it?

I didn't know that the 47s where built with a factory aircon, thought just some swbs would have it. But good to know that it is genuine. It's a very strong unit in my case. Just don't use it too often as the engine is thirsty enough already. Do you have any figures of how much more fuel you use when the a/c is switched on, herbs? Would save me the maths.

Thanks,
The structure is very stable, a little bit overkill for just two people sleeping on it, but now i am still able to transport something when i am not camping

 

[Wootan]

Just an example: Old VW buses with side windows and camping equipment have H-plates... but german TÜV and the regsitration procedure is a special story, so it`s better to be quiet
Found this HZJ 78 maybe it helps
***/ Buschtaxi HZJ78 : Innenausbau 1 /***

***/ Buschtaxi HZJ78 : Innenausbau 2 /***

Cheers
Peter

Thanks for the links! Very interesting build but i personally would like to have to whole length and width of the back as a convertible bed. It is all pretty tight and not the best amount of storage space but I will most probably set the bed height at 30cm what leaves me 90cm to the roof as a comfortable sitting space.
Table will either go on one side with more narrow benches or just on one side.
Just ordered a load of spares of the wreckers for 1000Au$. They are taking a HJ45 in almost perfect condition with barely any rust apart here in Australia just because it has a blown engine.

With the H plates its apparently a lot depending on the actual guy who is making the decision. Just gotta be lucky i guess.
Btw. a snorkel would be too much of a modification for that, right?

 

[a.greenspan]

a)
Just ordered a load of spares of the wreckers for 1000Au$. They are taking a HJ45 in almost perfect condition with barely any rust apart here in Australia just because it has a blown engine.

b)
Btw. a snorkel would be too much of a modification for that, right?

a) Would be nice if you can find two of these grey door secure knobs, unscrew them at the rear door of a troopie

at a wrecker for me and a hurnbutton with a chromring for such an old steeringwheel, mine have no chromring.

If you find them put it in your 45 before you ship your truck to Germany / I pay you the costs for the parts and pm you my adress in spring when you are back in Germany .
b) don`t think that the snorkel is a problem for a H plate.
Cheers
Peter

 

[Wootan]

Ui, haven't seen those knobs before. Never had them on mine, almost thought there is nothing but the little steel thing. I will have a look around at the wreckers for you. Could you maybe post a closer picture of that steering wheel?
They are just occasionally getting 40s in here but I might be lucky and find it.

 

[a.greenspan]

Ui, haven't seen those knobs before. Never had them on mine, almost thought there is nothing but the little steel thing. I will have a look around at the wreckers for you. Could you maybe post a closer picture of that steering wheel?
They are just occasionally getting 40s in here but I might be lucky and find it.

The old 40`s ( build before 1974 I think) have the same steering wheel
one more pic.

and thanks for your efforts.
Cheers
Peter