Builds Ozzi, 2000 HZJ78 in Canada - travel/maintenance/build (1 Viewer)

[janyyc]

OK, that brought us to mid-November, when I returned home. Poring over my photos, I sorted the parts that had arrived in my absence (you've seen most of that above already), as well as the filters.

This could be interesting to some who also have HZJ78's in North America - I cross-referenced part numbers across various websites, and ordered those filters that were highest-rated.

First off, the air filter:

Fuel filter:

Oil filter:

 

[janyyc]

Baldwin fuel filter (local equipment store) vs. Bosch fuel filter (very cheap with free shipping from UK on eBay):

Baldwin (made in Mexico):

Bosch (made in Tunisia):

Bosch has about half of the filter as empty space.

Also, inspected the other set of front indicator lamps that arrived from China (@coldtaco )

 

[janyyc]

Finally, the fuel pre-filter, which is standard on the Australian trucks. Finding this guy was quite the challenge (super expensive or unavailable). I found one NOS in Cyprus (Topco, made in Japan) and then put another one into my cart when ordering all my parts from Japan.

Topco left, Toyota right.

Other than an "old" smell from the Topco one (like an old book) they are quite similar. I have a feeling this isn't super important here in North America, with decent-quality fuels, and considering it's one of two fuel filters.

 

[janyyc]

And with that, I was off again - lucky enough to make one very enjoyable trip to Dubai at the very end of November/early December.

@John Young very generously lent me his LX470, which I returned intact, save for one pesky speeding ticket (damned cameras at every corner).

Of course, I went to visit his cars at the garage. Who could resist the opportunity to see them in the flesh?!

Troopy here: Acquiring a 1995/96 Omani Model 75 Troopy - have I gone mad? - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/acquiring-a-1995-96-omani-model-75-troopy-have-i-gone-mad.1149809/post-13624874

"Iota" here: I broke my own rule again with a 1994 petrol pickup "Iota" - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/i-broke-my-own-rule-again-with-a-1994-petrol-pickup-iota.1224635/post-13624881

And here is probably my favourite picture from my trip:

It's not a super common sight, but there surely are some 70 series out there!

 

[John Young]

Very cool Janyyc. If I can get the turbo diesel 80 series past inspection I will sell the LX back to the guy who sold it to me and wants it back. Then I will use the 80 as a daily driver.

I'm glad you enjoyed the LX. It is a nice car on the highway. I've never been able to get the adjustable ride height to work the way I would like.

 

[janyyc]

I switched hotels four times during my stay (intentionally), and waking up one morning I see this:

Why yes, that's a 79!

Ummmmmm...

 

[janyyc]

To be honest, I think it was some sort of excursion or promo car... but maybe I'm wrong.

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At the recommendation of @John Young I also visited some Sharjah scrap yards... Wow. I have been to Dubai and environs plenty of times but have never seen this part of it. Eye-opening and really, really cool.

70-series parts in Sharjah scrap yards

I was going to post this in my build thread, but I have so many pictures, and I think you'd like to see them. ;) At the recommendation of @John Young I visited some Sharjah scrap yards he had scouted out. They are truly amazing. Most 70-series parts seem to come from Australia, with some cars...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[janyyc]

An update to this thread is long overdue, a delay caused mainly by procrastination and the "interesting" ups and downs of our present world situation.

I'll quickly go through some of the updates made to Ozzi over the past year.

January 1 is one of the two days a year that Costco has a tire sale, so an order for KO2's was placed. Bad winter conditions, however, prevented us from installing immediately, so the tires remained as ornaments in the garage for a while.

I fixed the "extra door"lock, which was slightly loose; pictured here are a few donor locks from the junkyard.

The Front Runner drop down table arrived - simple choice, really. A super easy installation, good looking and functional.

Unfortunately the wood is completely untreated and quite coarse, so a few layers of clear Osmo were applied in the basement.

 

[janyyc]

Then, we had a wonderful snow day, which called for Ozzi's first embrace of the white powder.

A quick blow-dry before going back into hibernation...

 

[janyyc]

We had spent late December (2020) in Arizona, and rented a Sequoia. In the glove box there were still the delivery items, and I may or may not have nicked the hitch cover insert...

I also thought to inspect what appeared to be more drill holes (remnants of the ambulance install) and noted them down for further cleaning come warm weather.

A bit of Australian dirt and rocks...

 

[janyyc]

This brings us to February 2021, I left for Europe to work and ended up being "stranded" there for five months, unable to come home due to Canada's excessively strict quarantine laws. Hopefully that's permanently behind us now. Luckily my dad kept me entertained by sending pictures of the bits and pieces I ordered in my absence.

Firstly, fire extinguishers:

Full installation of the Front Runner table:

A bit of touch-up paint and some nylon washers on this door card:

I was still home in January for the delivery of a few boxes from Front Runner in California... Nearly broke some bones running out to the UPS truck when I forgot it had rained and frozen into a fine layer of ice overnight... Roof rack, awning, and bits and bobs. My dad started putting the roof rack together in early spring. The garage was due for (yet another) refit after last years' project didn't really turn out the way we had expected, and we wanted to make sure that Ozzi would fit - with roof rack - into the garage.

 

[janyyc]

Test fitting pieces to see what work needed to be done:

In the meantime, the One Stone armrests came back into stock and arrived at our doorstep:

At work hauling loads...

 

[janyyc]

continued...

Roof rack on!

Awning - I really wanted a rear-mounted awning, because that's the most practical - both for Canadian campsites, the barn doors and table, our setup, etc. Very happy with this choice, and I'm not entirely sure why it isn't more popular.

Super happy with the product - high quality, svelte, not intrusive.

 

[janyyc]

These quick release mountings for the awning are a godsend - they make it so easy to remove the awning for casual driving around town - this way we don't look like all the city overlanders with full kit permanently attached.

In full view with the roof rack.

Dad going for the first camping trip of the year - testing out the hitch-mounted bike rack, the roof rack, the awning - everything and anything.

Arrived for camping...

 

[janyyc]

First use of the awning:

Campspot 2:

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In the meantime, after a journey of over four months (!), the window shades I ordered in Japan arrived. They (like many Japanese companies) do not ship abroad, so I took advantage of some friends who forwarded them to me.

Test fitting:

This is a perfect fit, the hump is the dash cam, for which I will make a little cutout eventually.

 

[janyyc]

On the outside, they also look very nice - a black reflective layer, not the traditional silver. (Perhaps if we lived in Arizona the reflective properties would be more important than looks, but in Canada it's not quite that important yet).

They even made a custom-sized version for the paramedic door!

The only problem was that I was missing all of the rear shades. Perhaps in the confusion about the custom window, they neglected to send everything for the back. This, after many months of waiting!! Luckily, by now Japan Post was once again sending parcels by air and I was able to get the shades in a matter of a few weeks. Luckily, being Japanese, they didn't give me any troubles, and instead apologized profusely.

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I went ahead and ordered a Doug's Tub, since that was something I thought would vastly improve the experience of opening the glovebox. Truly, a game-changer for that space.

 

[JDM Journeys]

So good to see an update, Jan! Judging by the time you posted, are you back overseas again?

Doug's tub is a game changer for sure! Thanks again for making that happen!

Which awning brand/size did you end up getting? Now that my rear is built out, I'm thinking I need a rear awning as well. Already have a side awning, so can't justify a 270, cost and weight wise...

Would love to get together with you and your Dad again, next time you're in town...

 

[janyyc]

Being "stranded" in Europe did allow me to travel to other places, though. One of those being the UAE, where @John Young hooked me up with beautiful, new take-off OEM rims. It was this close to not being able to pick them up (hurry up and wait is the GCC speciality) but it almost worked out - except they took one wrong rim from the stack and there were four proper steelies and one split. I abandoned the split and took the four steelies to a packing place to get them packed (this was all the day of departure of my flight).

 

[janyyc]

In the meantime, I filled my idle time in Europe by looking for things that I wanted, and chanced upon the engine and chassis manuals in Poland, out of all places. They were still rather expensive (something like 100 EUR for both) but considering the prices they can go for, I am satisfied.

Inspecting the UAE dust on the rims...

And finally, at the end of July, back to Canada at last.

 

[janyyc]

Finally back at home, I set about installing some things I had already lined up.

And quickly started making use of the time to go camping.