1984 HJ47 Troopy Restoration Build - A Retrospective

[HJ47]

Here's a couple of the front cab post paint. New Real Steel front floor pans and they also added one extra bolt attachment hole needed to mount OEM 79+ buckets as an option to the factory split bench. Hey, why not?

Notice the now restored stock dash. Check out all those toggle switches on the dash in the before pic. Did I mention the PO was a pilot?

 

[HJ47]

Flashback - Here are a few of the before pics with the simple camper setup. The upper windows were painted black. The rear of the bed platform had the pictured pullout drawer and the front of the platform had the dual battery setup (no batteries in the engine bay). The whole cargo area behind the front seats was spray painted that 'hammered' finish black.

Of course, any self respecting Aussie troopy has the homemade overhead console with radio and CB. Giant rear mounted speakers on the high roof. Front and rear tub interior corners have the steel bar reinforcement rods to reduce tub flex. This is the way.

 

[HJ47]

First winter storage. I'm in Minnesota and they salt the roads here - no bueno for cruiser steel. I store it from around Thanksgiving to early April, depending on the spring weather.

This is right after my father-in-law and I put it up on jack stands. Not pictured is where it almost tipped over when the very old Hi Lift jack slipped side ways on the rear end after the front was already on jack stands.

The custom side rails the PO added show pretty well here. 2" square and welded to the frame (now removed). I wasn't worried about door dings in parking lots. Notice the custom rear step I made with a drop down hitch and a bit of diamond tread. The rig again was 7' 8" tall and the rear cross member is waist high. That drop step really helped the kids get in and out without having to put a step stool everytime.

At this point I've removed the cooler basket side of the 4Plus carrier. With it on, I had to get out and open the swing out to the kids out of the back. With it off, they could let themselves out.

The rear windows came 20% tinted (since removed). Those four rear troopy/LX sliding windows are a really nice feature.

 

[HJ47]

Fall 2012 - Full safari mode. This is before I started making many changes/updates.

 

[HJ47]

I think I measured 23' long with the bikes included. Donaldson air cleaner removed. Cowl arch step removed. Bull bar headlight reduction mesh removed. Blackout paint on the raised roof window glass scraped off.

Still rocking the 80's white wagon wheels.

Note: Troopies did not come with the rear side marker lights like other 40 models did. PO added those. Troopies also did not windshield fold down hooks on the hood, PO swapped hoods with a 40 model that did have the hooks.

 

[HJ47]

Roof rack removed. Massive bull bar and side rails up to the running boards removed. A two person job I unsafely did by myself.

 

[HJ47]

Speaking of unsafe by yourself jobs - roof removal! That was one heavy roof. I like how there must have been eight tubes on silicone on that roof seal and that sucker still leaked in the rain.

Looks like I even installed an @Awl_TEQ sexy aluminum snorkel and @lcwizard 4Plus front bumper the same day.

Side mirrors changed to FJ40 OEM Euro spec models (from maybe a 60 series mirror - whatever it was PO had to drill an extra hole to mount it.

 

[HJ47]

Rolling with the HJ47 Ute vibe. Just noticed I have my LED headlights installed now.

 

[HJ47]

The Monstaliner phase. Under all that black spray and rollout paint was hiding a rusty bed. Like an idiot/madman I sanded and scraped for days. I'm tired thinking about it now.

 

[HJ47]

After sanding and degreaser wipe down, used some sort of rust converter primer. I forget which, whatever people on MUD were recommending at the time.

 

[HJ47]

Monstaliner Desert Sand tinted primer - pretty damn close to Toyota 464 beige

 

[HJ47]

My Monstaliner application went beautifully. That coat laid down soooooo well. Did I quit while I was ahead? Of course not. I still had some material left to mix up. If one coat is great, why wouldn't a SECOND coat be even better!

Through a comedy of errors, the fates were against me. I mixed up the remaining batch. Hmm, the tint color didn't quite match as I didn't quite have enough tint as before. No big deal, who is going to see the bottom layer anyway. I finish up just before dark. (Now I should mention my driveway is being replaced and I'm doing all the prep and application in the street as I can't use the garage.) 30 minutes later there is a torrential downpour. I rush to tarp the truck but the bed full of water. After tarping, I'm trying to carefully towel dry the water out of the bed (in the dark with a headlamp on) without pressing too hard as the second coat is still fresh and I don't want towel fuzz in the finish.

It didn't work. That second coat never cured correctly with the rain and in the months and years to follow would flake off in bits or come off in sheets, depending on the area of the tub. That first coat was rock solid and I never had in issue.

The morning after and my ill fated second coat.

Side note, do you see the Hi Lift jack in the above picture? That jack is there because the auxiliary fuel tank was spilling gas from the filler neck due the truck angling slight toward the curb side and the filler neck being several inches lower than the OEM filler neck. I noticed and fixed it (jacked the truck level) within 10 minutes. During that 10 minutes ALL paint down to bare metal bubbled off body in the spill area. That's the sign of a professional paint job...not.

 

[HJ47]

Upgrade to old school OEM 15" rims with hub caps.

Oh, got new 33x10.5x15 tires too. Why? Because the previous tires 'with only 6,000 miles on them' when I bought it happened to be 12 or 13 years old. I did not even think check the tire age when I bought the truck.

The tire shop only works on tires 10 year old or newer. Now could I have someone else put on the all tires? Yes. Do I want to drive my family around town in a lifted roof-less 36 year old cruiser on 33" old tires? No.

Looks like that OEM B-pillar soft top bow is signaling my never will be achieved soft-top phase...

 

[HJ47]

The PO's rear heater set up was a FJ40 heater on a 30 ft loop of radiator hose. There was no shut off or bypass, so I had 30 ft of 200 degree hose lying on my floor when driving more than a few minutes. Not a great summer time setup for heat management.

My ill-conceived solution was not to bypass the rear heater loop and have the engine run a normal short coolant loop. I actually closed the entire loop at the firewall, stopping coolant from circulating!

I thought I was sooooooo clever for the rest of the summer 'solving' my excess cab heat issue. I think I may have even posted in 'what did you do to your land cruiser this week' thread I was so proud. Luckily I only drove it short trips around town before it dawned on me (months later) that I actually crippled the coolant system.

 

[HJ47]

Death Wobble saga

Speaking of my poor problem solving skills... Early on my troopy ownership, I began to have issues with the truck shaking violently after going over big bumps (think rail road tracks) around town. Driving along at 35mph, go over some tracks, the front shakes so violently and I had to pull over. As I slowed down past 15mph, the shaking just went away. Hmm. No issues a highway speeds. Just local roads after the big bumps.

Onto the MUD search. Violent shaking, death wobble, etc. Most posts said to check the steering components. Mine looked pretty good to my untrained eye. I didn't have a steering stabilizer - maybe that was it. I bought the ubiquitous OME yellow stabilizer. Didn't make any difference. Brought it two different shops, but they couldn't reproduce the intermittent violent shaking issue.

At wits end, I decide to make a MUD post about my issue and troubleshooting steps I had gone through. One week later, no responses to my post. I bump the post a couple of times over the next week with some 'please help' pleas.

Finally, someone replies: Check motor mounts?

I rush outside and throw open the hood. What do I find? My 575lb 5.7 Vortec engine was secured by a single bolt on the driver's side mount. The other side was just resting on the opposite engine mount. Wow...

 

[HJ47]

Ideal spot to house the fuel pump relay and fuses in the engine bay? I bet no one answered "in a plastic food container bolted and siliconed to the inside fender, right next to the header. But don't worry, just put aluminum foil over the plastic lid and you're good to go".

There were three such Tupperware 'electrical boxes'. The other two housed the auxiliary HID light relays and fuses.

 

[HJ47]

Traditional headlight switch? No! More dash holes, more toggles!

 

[HJ47]

Sound deadener phase

The top has been off a year. I'm happy to fit the truck in the garage, but the family is complaining about the road noise (ya think?). What if I put down sound deadener? Maybe some butyl rubber foil backed mats? Maybe some heavy foam over that in the tub? What if I put down some butyl and heat insulation on the inside fire wall and the hood? Maybe do it all, it's my rig!

Did the project deaden the sound? Yes! Was it the best idea in a rig with no roof? No! Did I get caught in the rain and water pool everywhere? Yes? Did I later fear trapping rust and remove all the deadener over dozens of hours of sweat and tears? Yes! Nothing like removing butyl rubber and razor foil from inside doors and a baked on hood. The only thing that saved me a tiny bit of grief was my ill fated second layer of Monstaliner in the tub - it would peel off in sheets in certain areas of the tub (I had applied the dampening mats to the entire tub floor). But the hood and inside of the doors...those alone took a full two days.

 

[HJ47]

Maybe I'll put the roof back on phase. How bad would it be to 'convert' my rusty high rood to a 'normal' height roof? Narrator: Worse then you ever imagined.

 

[HJ47]

At least I recovered the door headers.

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