Project Tetanus RENAMED The Land-Bulance - 1987 BJ75 Troopy Build Thread (1 Viewer)

[torqueluvr]

Alright gents, I've been a member of this forum for over 10 years, years back I had a BJ74. Now I have a 92 HDJ81 and I may put up a thread about that later, but this one is about my new baby - a 1987 FJ75 Ex-ambulance Troopy from Iran - that's all I know. It was imported years ago, original 3F and auto, got a 3B and H55F swap, and has been sitting for at least 8 years. I know this because I've driven past it every day for 8 years, finally scooped it up and tore into it. It needs some serious work, so stay tuned.

I haven't posted on here for years, so i'm hoping to get this all correct.

So here it is. She ugly, she smokey, but she's mine.


Today we replace the clutch master and slave cylinder, so now the clutch works. Bites good. Very responsive. Before the pedal hit the floor and you had to pump it two or three times to engage/disengage. Swapped out the slave, still no good. Swapped out the master, fixed!

We also replaced the brake master and the front two calipers - check out the one rotor, it looks like the wheel fell off and it was grinded down. The left caliper was seized. Brakes are still super mushy, so i'm thinking theres still air in the lines - will try again tomorrow, had to go out and trick or treat. Also have new rotors and pads, but won't be doing them until I blow the front axle apart and rebuild that - soon!

Also, tires are dated 2006 and garbage. Came with the 15x5 stock rims - as seen on rear left pic, but theres 15x7 aluminum rims on - super light!. Seems it came with 2 styles of lugnuts, both of which are incorrect and the PO just ugga-dugga'd them in. Almost all of them were siezed, luckily I didn't break any studs. Had to grind down a spark plug socket to get the sidewall thin enough. Hoping I can scoop up some of the flat lugnuts and the rims still usable. Did I mention how lightweight the rims are?!?!

Stay tuned for more updates. This will be a long project.

 

[torqueluvr]

Here some interior and engine pics. Ya, she's a project! Broke a brake line - easy $4 repair from lordco.

 

[torqueluvr]

Has an old school oil bath air filter filter system, had never heard of this. The air filter is clogged, collapsing the intake tube so I may rip it out and put in a normal 70 series housing and filter.

New oil filter, oil change and fuel filter. Tank has 8 year old diesel in it, but it seems to run fine. I may drain the drank and fill with nice new diesel, or just run it, adding a few bottles of cleaner in there, purge it, then replace the fuel filter again.

 

[theglobb]

Can't wait to see what you do with this in the years to come. Man, that thing is NASTY right now!

 

[Honger]

8 years... you're a patient man. Keep going!

 

[The Jade Bean]

Gonna be a wild ride! Congrats!

 

[onemanarmy]

following....

 

[phoenix60]

I love that you started this thread on Halloween, not sure, is it a trick or treat? Can't wait to see what you do with it!

 

[janyyc]

I’d be very interested to see the VIN plate on that!! Iran is a rather unusual origin… and came with automatic??

 

[torqueluvr]

Ok, so a lot has happened since the last time I posted, hopefully I got it all here. First off, I found a good deal on some newer 33x10.5x15 KO2s, and scooped up a KILLER DEAL on an IRONMAN 4x4 Lift Kit, so here's what it looked like before I did all the major surgery to it. And just for kicks, parked it in front of an XJ as a size comparison - she big! Found a good used front bumper, so put that one on to replace my dented rusted one.

Next, I rebuilt the front axle. Standard rebuild kit with new seals, bearings. Added new 555 tie rod ends and drag links.

I have sourced all the parts I need for the major rust repair - new oem fenders, floor pans from australia (ebay) oem rockers (ebay), and then I got @David*BJ70 to fab me up some quarter panels. He has never done quarters for a Troopy, so this is somewhat of an experiment. But these will be installed at a later date. Picture of the quarters below.

 

[torqueluvr]

Now on to the juicey stuff. I had a big roadtrip planned for this past weekend, and I had 3 weeks to get it all ready. Items to do in order of importance:

1. Veg Oil two tank conversion
2. Turbo the 3B.
3. Intercool the 3B.
4. Test and tune for 3000km road trip.



1. Veg Oil two tank conversion.
I sourced a 140L heated aluminum fuel tank on fb marketplace, mounted it on the right side of the rear cargo area - the story I was given was the RH side troopy seat was removed to make room for the hospital gurney - plumbed it in with coolant supply and return lines off the heater core lines, and a fuel supply line to the injection pump. Added a heated fuel filter right off the tank which went to a 3way hydraforce valve, then a heated vegtherm element before hitting the IP. Wrapped all 3 lines in "hose on hose" configuration with 6ft pipe foam insulation sections to keep the veg warm when its running from the fuel tank to the 3way valve. I ran the stock diesel fuel line and the veg line to the valve, and then one line to heater veg therm, used the ambulance switches to control the vegtherm. "Spotlight" = vegtherm, "Beacon Lamp" - my daughter thought it said Bacon Lamp so I felt it was fitting - for veg. With the switch off, it pull diesel from the factory tank.

 

[torqueluvr]

2. Turbo the 3B.
3. Intercool
I used my stock CT26 turbo off my old HDJ81, along with an exhaust manifold from Steve at EBI, and a CT26 turbo oil water kit from ebay. Put on a manual boost controller before the wastegate. Used the oil supply plug rail and ran a stainless line to the turbo. Welded a bung in the oil pan for turbo return. Also tee'd into the previously used heater core/veg heater lines for coolant for the turbo (dont have a picture of that). She runs perfect at 10psi with the fuel screw turned out 1.75x from factory spec. Also added a pyro in the manifold pre turbo, and a boost gauge. This is a whole new truck now! MO POWA BABY.

Used leftover 2.5" intercooler piping parts from my HDJ81 to make an intercooler system, ordered some long 90 silicone elbows and clamps off amazon. Used a cheapo intercooler off fb marketplace. Didnt have time to move the rad back, and my ac is in the way, so I mounted it super JDM style under the bumper. Oh, also got a freind to fab up a downpipe off a ct26 flange off ebay and a quick winch bumper, added a winch. Bought a 2.5" exhaust kit off amazon for $250, only used 3 of the 25 pipes, but robbed a couple to finish the IC piping. $40 walker bottle muffler, she sounds nice.

 

[torqueluvr]

4. Test and tune. IT WORKS.

On the test and tune I found 10psi and fuel screw out 1.75 turns was perfect. Could hold 110km/hr with EGT's at 750-800 on the flats. Would spike up to 1000F on long hill climbs.

Also found out that my suspect radiator was definitely toast. Sourced a good used rad and shroud (I never had a shroud to begin with) from Clinton at Mekanix Works. Turns out I still had the 3F rad, which had the rad cap on the rad. 3B rads have no rad cap, it is found on the upper tstat housing. So I sourced upper tsat housing and upper and lower rad hoses - finally have all the proper cooling items. And she runs great! Needs stays at the 1/4 mark. Cool as a cucumber!

Ran into a problem though, when I mounted the IC piping, the rad cap was on the rad. Now, the cap is under the IC piping and the piping vibrations managed to work the rad cap off, it couldnt build pressure, or cool properly, so I adjusted the pipes with some zipties.

Did a 2000km roadtrip (we had tickets to Oakland supercross, but they postponed it due to flooding, so me and my bud cannonballed down to Oregon instead and rented 700cc Raptors and ripped on the sand dunes. What a trip! Veg did great - carried 400L with me for the original 3000km trip, averaged about 14L/100km. Turbo did great. Intercooler did great. Roof top tent was awesome!

Also, it had more power as the trip went on, and yes, I thought it could be because we were burning fuel and getting lighter, but I also thinking maybe the heated veg oil could have cleaned all the injectors that were sitting for 8 years? Either way, it runs 200f cooler and has more get up and go than it did when we left last week.

Was able to add a roof top tent (got it in partial trade when I sold the HDJ81). The Troopy is now (for now) mechanically complete! Next up, sheet metal and body work.

Also, I renamed it the Land-Bulance.

 

[torqueluvr]

Picture of old rad set up, and new (to me). Previous owner who did the 3B swap did not mount the engine properly, so the shroud doesn't fit for now. I will add some sheetmetal later to close up that gap.

 

[torqueluvr]

Fun times in Oregon! Other than a slight bumper-delete mod that was unexpected, it was smooth sailing.

Turns out tack welds aren't very strong....

Made a small oil transfer pump with a SBC oil pump and a drill.

 

[torqueluvr]

Video of Boosty stuff.

Video of 'completed' engine bay

 

[LDRF]

Nice Troopy. I'm looking forward to seeing posts and pics of your bodywork. I need to do similar work on mine, but I'm putting it off until next winter.