Builds A simple Troopy build thread.... (1 Viewer)

[c2dfj45]

As my wife has said about my Troopy... pampered retirement in comparison to it's old life.

Ha....pampered is right. I waxed the truck.......again......the other day. It was probably never waxed once, let alone twice, in its life.

 

[Bogan]

Ditto!

 

[Bing173rd]

When you took out the dash how did you take off the two bolts above the steering column? I am definitely not smart enough to pull the steering column apart.

 

[WarDamnEagle]

You don't have to pull the steering column. There are two largish nuts that hold the steering column on either side of those bolts. If you remove those nuts
then the steering column will drop a few inches allowing you access to those bolts. Easy, peasy.

 

[Bing173rd]

You don't have to pull the steering column. There are two largish nuts that hold the steering column on either side of those bolts. If you remove those nuts
then the steering column will drop a few inches allowing you access to those bolts. Easy, peasy.

View attachment 2419455

Awesome, I was too wimpy to mess with the steering column without parental supervision.

 

[John Young]

The inside of that dash look sooooo... nice! No corrosion on the fasteners even. Amazing.

 

[c2dfj45]

I sure wish mine looked that good. I can't stop looking at that pic.

 

[WarDamnEagle]

The inside of that dash look sooooo... nice! No corrosion on the fasteners even. Amazing.

I sure wish mine looked that good. I can't stop looking at that pic.

Thanks guys. It's in pretty good shape for sure.

 

[Bazz]

On the hunt for some matching colors for the interior. Back in this post, you refer to Jacob Bus Gray. I was unable to find this color in their aerosols list. I did find 15413 Thomas Bus Gray .. any chance you typed the wrong name? My local supplier has two cans of this so I was gonna go pick one up and see how it matches.

I painted the brown instrument cluster today....painted it with SEM Presidio first but it seemed light....realized that I use the Jacob Bus Grey for the 70s....so repainted it with a light coat. A little darker with a little more blue. Very good match.

Presidio

View attachment 2235484
View attachment 2235485

Jacob Bus Grey

View attachment 2235486View attachment 2235487

 

[c2dfj45]

On the hunt for some matching colors for the interior. Back in this post, you refer to Jacob Bus Gray. I was unable to find this color in their aerosols list. I did find 15413 Thomas Bus Gray .. any chance you typed the wrong name? My local supplier has two cans of this so I was gonna go pick one up and see how it matches.

Lol....yes.....Thomas Bus Grey. I'll blame that Jacob on auto correct I should go back and correct that.

 

[Bazz]

Haha you had me very confused there for a minute. I’ll continue to call it Jacob in your honor.

 

[Bing173rd]

First thing, you saved me a bunch of money so thanks. The vinyl paint worked awesomely, saved me a bunch of money on little parts that I could just repaint instead of replacing. And second, you seem to have all the same details covered so I am curious to know if you replaced the back door lock control link on the rear door? If you did do you still have the part number?

 

[c2dfj45]

First thing, you saved me a bunch of money so thanks. The vinyl paint worked awesomely, saved me a bunch of money on little parts that I could just repaint instead of replacing. And second, you seem to have all the same details covered so I am curious to know if you replaced the back door lock control link on the rear door? If you did do you still have the part number?

One of the few parts we did not replace. It's fairly easy to find part numbers on any of the Partsouq, Megazip or Toyodiy sites.

 

[FJ73Texas]

I swapped over the KM/MPH speedo face from a cluster I had to this one.....it was KMH only. I wanted to use the other gauge cluster so I could get all the gauges but that would have taken too much work. We might do a small aux gauge panel IN the gauge cluster....to keep an eye on some engine vitals.

I managed to buy an used cluster with the KMH/MPH face. I am also planning to remove the face from it and install it into my cluster in the HZJ77. Did you perform the face swap yourself or did you take it in? While I have removed the needle itself before (still not one of my favorite things to do), removing the face itself will be new to me.

I will have to remove the whole gauge cluster soon anyways when I find time. I bought a new speedometer cable to eliminate the noisy one in there now and need to get it installed.

Perhaps I should just find a local professional to do the cluster face swap.

 

[coldtaco]

I managed to buy an used cluster with the KMH/MPH face. I am also planning to remove the face from it and install it into my cluster in the HZJ77. Did you perform the face swap yourself or did you take it in? While I have removed the needle itself before (still not one of my favorite things to do), removing the face itself will be new to me.

I will have to remove the whole gauge cluster soon anyways when I find time. I bought a new speedometer cable to eliminate the noisy one in there now and need to get it installed.

Perhaps I should just find a local professional to do the cluster face swap.

A hint to remove the speedo needle; take two tea spoons and place opposite each other and pry up evenly under the mount point.

 

[FJ73Texas]

A hint to remove the speedo needle; take two tea spoons and place opposite each other and pry up evenly under the mount point.

Thank you @coldtaco I have removed the needle before. It is the MPH/KMH fascia I am wondering about.

 

[c2dfj45]

I managed to buy an used cluster with the KMH/MPH face. I am also planning to remove the face from it and install it into my cluster in the HZJ77. Did you perform the face swap yourself or did you take it in? While I have removed the needle itself before (still not one of my favorite things to do), removing the face itself will be new to me.

I will have to remove the whole gauge cluster soon anyways when I find time. I bought a new speedometer cable to eliminate the noisy one in there now and need to get it installed.

Perhaps I should just find a local professional to do the cluster face swap.

The gauge face should be stuck on with membrane tape.....it should just peel off really easily. Some of them are cut around the peg that stops the needle so they lift off over it. Some need to be removed but that's rare I think. If you can get the needle off, you've got the toughest part done. Try to wear gloves...watch those finger prints. New face should just drop on....there are usually alignment pegs. Sometimes the gauge faces are screwed on....obviously easy to see.

I used to do a lot of gauge face swaps on Porsches....I could do those things in like 10 minutes. Must have done 100s. Everyone wanted silver gauge faces in the early 2000s apparently.

We had to do something I have never done on the #2 truck when we setup the speedo. I had pulled the needle off to paint it and lost its reference. It was way off. We removed the needle, disconnected the speedo from the trans and used a drill to turn the speedo cable to get it to 30mph.....then we stuck the needle on at the 30mph mark. That was the recommendation our gauge guy on how to do it. My tech used to drive the car down the street and stick it on. Ha. It was easy to get it to 30mph because I have a gauge on the truck that displays MPH.....so when it read 30(uses same reference as the speedo drive), we stuck the needle on.

 

[c2dfj45]

I managed to buy an used cluster with the KMH/MPH face. I am also planning to remove the face from it and install it into my cluster in the HZJ77. Did you perform the face swap yourself or did you take it in? While I have removed the needle itself before (still not one of my favorite things to do), removing the face itself will be new to me.

I will have to remove the whole gauge cluster soon anyways when I find time. I bought a new speedometer cable to eliminate the noisy one in there now and need to get it installed.

Perhaps I should just find a local professional to do the cluster face swap.

I had to have our gauge guy do the Troopy face swap because the needle was stuck.....I got worried about breaking it.

 

[c2dfj45]

Wow...long time no updates. I post a lot on our IG for the Cruisers (Login • Instagram) and forget to post here. Plus we've been focused on other projects in the shop and I've kind of been just enjoying the Troopy. I would have never thought I would find myself driving this truck as much as I do. I love it. It's the perfect truck in my mind....comfortable, roomy, smooth and simple. Perfect. If only we had open deserts or those beautiful parks out West to roam around in this thing.

Playing around with some old PIAA lights I had laying around. Eventually it will get the Baja Designs like on @Bogan has on his Troopy. Super cool light. Still need to spool the winch.

Love the interior in this truck.

 

[c2dfj45]

I roam the areas around the shop that the airport has bought up