Builds Ozzi, 2000 HZJ78 in Canada - travel/maintenance/build (6 Viewers)

[janyyc]

After fitting the HZJ78 into the garage (yay!) we celebrated and came up with the name... Aussie misspelled as Ozzi. Troopy just sounds too... silly? (Sorry, not trying to get a TROOPY plate - though I have a feeling it is probably already taken - HZJ78 was (!))

The next day, went to the supermarket and Canadian Tire to get a light bulb for the dome light (burnt out) and the relay for the DRLs. Luckily the garage is 8" and I had a co-pilot to enter/exit the garage.

Then I went about setting up the out-of-province exam... I had arranged insurance beforehand, all sorts of other things, but neglected to consider how busy garages are. Luckily the specialist shop here made it possible to do the Out of Province exam (OOP) on Monday.

Project for the evening was to remove the tinting from the front windows... I don't like tinting at all, and it's also something that would cause automatic failure on the exam. It was quite easy to remove - clothes steamer and exacto knife - a bit of patience and voila. Then a little more time with Goo-Gone and window cleaning solutions to get them nice and clean. What a beautiful sight - windows super clear (and what a huge difference!).

The next day, I replaced the dome light. Again, a small thing but a nice feeling of accomplishment.

 

[janyyc]

Also went for a drive around our neighbourhood in the sunset hours...

Found a resto-mod Defender 90 pick-up to pose it with, too...

Back "home" (oh, the garage was re-painted in the meantime too! Pardon the mess...)

Nice wheel poking out...

 

[janyyc]

On Sunday evening, had some friends over and I was the designated driver to get them home... first passenger in the "paramedic" seat (which, mind you, is quite comfortable). Not going to be many trips with that seat in (it's coming out - and it seems to be easy to remove, too) so that was cool. Saw (what looked like a daily driver) 60 series on the way home - had a friendly wave. Welcome to the club

It was again sunset hours, and the windscreen was dirty from the 1000 km drive - alas the windshield washer container had been filled with water . We had noticed this early on but there was also gunk inside, so we decided to wait until we could adequately remove the debris/water from the container. Well, the drive made this change-over a priority, so it was done that night.
Not wanting to change over the shop vac filter from dry to wet, I just took a turkey baster from the kitchen - with a little pumping, everything came out.

At work by flashlight.

Yuck.

The rear access is a bit challenging... luckily (from what I could see) it looked clean and when I pulled out a wee bit of liquid with said turkey baster it was soapy... a bit too soapy - but better than water. Diluted that with the windshield washer and it was good to go...

 

[janyyc]

Wiring will be a whole other subject. At least (I'm hoping) it was professionally done, considering the history as an ambulance... and not an Omani "fesh fesh" mish-mash as with @c2dfj45's Troopy...

Still, in the front there's a row of switches, some of which illuminate when the lights are on (cool) but none of which actually do anything (yet). In any case, these are coming out so I can put in a double-DIN head unit - but I'd still like to know what they do/did.

There's also an external plug, a fuse box mounted inside, and two Australian sockets. Along with (what appears to be) an AC/DC converter (it's mounted under one of the old ambulance consoles and I haven't had access to it just yet) and various odds and ends:

- Hella chart light in the front (doesn't work)
- two Hella fluorescent bulbs in the back (don't work)
- a panel with a labeled "suction" button (works and makes a hell of a lot of noise)
- a cable dangling from the headliner next to the non-OEM door
- another cable (looks like antenna) on the floor
- the two fog-light-like lights in front don't work - not sure if connected to other battery, dead bulbs, or who knows what else (replacing these anyways) - one of them has a blue-ish tint so it was probably an emergency light of some sort. The other one is a Hella.

The car came with only two keys (another priority is to get another set...) - one operates all the "standard" locks (ignition, doors, fuel, glovebox) and the other one is for the non-OEM third door. One has the plastic bit on top and the other doesn't, so luckily it isn't hard to tell them apart.

There was also a fob, which we thought could be an immobilizer or alarm, but we didn't dare playing with it until we were home. When we got home, we had the courage to fiddle with it, and it did nothing... battery dead, most likely. Cracked it open, one of those strange LR23A batteries.

Luckily we had one left over from our old garage door opener (long gone). Popped it in, go back to Ozzi... Click. Two flashes. Hmmm. Open door, nothing happens. Press the other button. *CLICK*. Huh. I guess we have power locks... working... and in every door, including the non-OEM. I guess that explains the wire inside that door...

I'll be posting more pictures of the wiring later, but for now, this is what waits for me (or somebody I delegate the job to... ) when you open the hood.

 

[aussie75series]

Find a label somewhere , probably inside door sill and see if after market manufacturer name is there. If so I may be able to get wiring details. i work out of those trucks. I will be running 4x4 training all next week teaching Paramedics to drive, beats fixing broken people. The 240volt inlet is for battery charger. Should be a master switch for most accessories and duel battery switch with solenoid to start off second battery. put up pics of switches and wiring, I should be able to help. A lot of it will be handy unless you want complete factory

 

[janyyc]

Sorry for the lack of updates this week... it was quite busy and successful!

——
Monday we dropped Ozzi off at the local import/LC specialist for the inspection.

Got a call midday about some “failures” on the inspection. I predicted two (DRLs and reflectors) and semi-hoped to skip/ignore one (third brake light). Some I didn’t expect - front sealed beams were not DOT stamped (though they were Koito), the parking indicators in the bull bar had no stamp, and the two front emergency/fog lights were not working (all lights have to work for the inspection). This would all take some time so the car would be ready only on Tuesday, the last day of our “In Transit” permit.

Tuesday morning we got the call that it was ready to pick up - with a slightly eye-popping bill considering this was all “inspection” work. Luckily we got a pass on concern I had with the non OEM door...

The mechanic confirmed what we already knew (or at least suspected) - the car was in excellent shape (including the “extra” door) - he commented on the original Toyota coolant and windshield washer fluid (the latter being our doing) and all that’s suggested is a fluids & filters change, which we planned on doing anyways.

Third brake light in the best possible position (and no holes drilled):

Next stop was a locksmith to get some extra keys (only one set was included) and he commented that we should simply re-key the extra door lock (which had a different key...). So we only made copies of the principle key, and went to get it registered. Finally! All done!

At home we unscrewed our “Warranty” vanity plate and put on the new one...

 

[janyyc]

At home we set about removing the door panel on that extra door...

Removed the lock.

A tiny bit of rust on the bottom - mainly on a strengthening bar. Open to suggestions for what to apply against rust in that area!

 

[janyyc]

The next priority was to replace the parking lights (the new DRLs) into which the shop had put LEDs (not my look on the Troopy!). In the process we found the thread on the housing is stripped (again - suggestions? Or just replace the housing?)

Then I started removing the ambulance interior... first step - anything screwed in.

 

[janyyc]

Found the battery charger...

Apparently it’s quite expensive... Battery Charger Truecharge 20 Amp 12 Volt

Not sure why. If anybody needs a 220V charger, PM me.

Next, got to the compressor...

 

[janyyc]

Behind this panel I found a lot of electrical stuff...

Not sure what I’ll do with this yet... love the ground!!

 

[janyyc]

Success!

 

[janyyc]

Here’s the interior plate and the switches...

Hands free vintage...

“Emergency start” - not sure how this works? Press and then crank?

Weak link of this ambulance build - switches...

 

[janyyc]

Tested the winch - working.

Started working on the rivets (more of a test run really...). There are a LOT LOT LOT of rivets to work on...

Switches lit up at night (note: this was before I hooked up aux battery - now all of them illuminate to some degree)

 

[janyyc]

Thursday.

Hooked up aux battery. Went to get some diesel.

Sub tank:

Main tank:

Figured out that one of the switches controlled the siren and made the headlights flash... hah.

Still no interior lighting though.

Went to Lordco as well - in the process of putting back the re-keyed lock back on we lost the e clip... argh. Also wanted to get a few odds and ends (belts, hood support rod clip, etc.). Don’t know what happened but when we were there we forgot about what we wanted to buy and left with only the belts...

 

[janyyc]

Friday.

Trip day! Went to the Highwood Pass (highest paved point in Canada).

 

[janyyc]

Then we took the AB940 and AB532.

 

[janyyc]

On the trip we decided the paramedics seat was utterly pointless anyways. Very uncomfortable. Out it goes...

The box it was sitting on... this was a PITA to get out. It was bolted in... but I didn’t know where the bottom nuts were. We used a pry bar to pry it up while unscrewing. Once we had the front two out I figured out the nuts went through the body... in fact, I heard the nut and washer falling onto something underneath. So I found the other two mounting points - right above the sub tank and to the side. Very inconvenient spot but after spotting it I could find it by feel and we managed to unscrew this.

The hole is channeled but it’s straight through... in fact there are 12 of these now that I know how to identify them. Not sure what I’ll do... thinking of putting some gorilla tape underneath and then silicon fill all above. Any ideas/tips? Obviously rust prevention #1, but I don’t want to take out the plywood base (since I need one anyways) and putting a new one in would equate to more holes. (BTW no rust yet. Not even around those holes. Clean white paint).

Then, more rivets......

 

[janyyc]

Taking out the fibreglass on Thursday had been a huge project. Sawzall, fibreglass dust, breaking it. By chance on Friday we found that it was screwed into the floor under the vinyl - that helped immensely.

Keeping some details - might come in handy...

Done for the day (night)

 

[janyyc]

As you can see above, some adhesive was left on the panels and (of more concern) on the body itself. Today, considering my experience removing the tinting using the steamer and reading @c2dfj45’s experience using the hot pressure washer I decided to give it a go using the steamer. Lo and behold - it worked.

Just hold it really close and wait to see condensation...

Then use some plastic tool to scrape it off. In the hope of getting more efficient I used a ski scraper... which turned out to be a bit too sharp. Took off some paint!

Then back to rivets... removing the panels.

 

[janyyc]

That allowed the vents to finally be uncovered. I haven’t decided yet whether to re-use the panels or get some new ones CNC cut. These are solid steel...

rear rockers don’t have rust. It all looks very clean... IIRC @SNLC was suggesting a drain hole in these? There might be a touch of surface rust... suggestions to clean and seal it welcome.

nearly had a disaster removing the RH panel - forgot the washer fluid tank was there. Luckily just scraped the surface.

Removed something from the rear of the bench seats (more rivets). In order to pop them out without further damage we took the back of the seat out... surprise!

Gonna have to clean that out and seal it. Probably with whatever you guys recommend for the rest of it...

and that brings us up to date. more pics tomorrow.