Hzj 78 Expedition (1 Viewer)

[renago]

Hi all

I am new in this community , but followed you reading many builds since some years.

I would like to share my build and set up .

my the previous truck was a land rover 90 TD , small ,slow , fragile , but very good in off road.
i wanted a much more spacious truck , faster , more comfortable , and above all RELIABLE .
the choice was between Mercedes G , and Toyota HZJ 78 .
I went for Toyota because my main trips were towards Africa .
as all you know Toyota has a very good distribution in africa , with spare parts , and every one can fix the car if something goes wrong .
so i bought a brand new toyota HZJ 78 , motor HZ1

now I had to set up the car for my vacation trips .
as I said above , at that time my trips were only in the Sahara desert , Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia , Egypt, Mauritania, niger , Chad.
I wanted a car as simple as possible , but with all the necessary things , no gadgets.
it had to be as light as possible , and very reliable .

I put in a Turbo kit , before it made 1 mt out of the dealer .
then I needed some extra fuel tanks . it came standard with 2 tanks , 90L +90L
scraped the exsaust pipe, scraped the rear 90L tank , and build a nice set of 2 extra tanks .
now i have 400 L of fuel !!!
pls be aware that I travel always with my wife and myself in the desert.
no friends, no guides .
the tanks are in SS 2mm , so no rust I can use the standard pipes .
they are all under the car , so weight and balance is very good .
Then I had to do the water tank , but didn't want to have a tank in the car that would disturb and take space .
I decided to put the tanks in SS in the side panels !
it was rather a pian to make them , but ended out fine , now I have 36 L each side .
I can fill them up with a hose or with a suction pump, in case we take the water from wells .
all is connected to the pump that drives the water on both sides of the car , for showers ecc.

here are some pic ,
the rest of set up in the next post .

Bye Renago

 

[Gun Runner 5]

Keep the photos coming......

 

[MANUCHAO]

Awesomeness !!!
Yeah more pics !!!

 

[bigbrown]

What a great rig. More pictures please. Any pictures of the water tanks/shower setup?

 

[BreckenridgeCruiser]

Thread watched

 

[renago]

The above pic have been made in the GSS, great sand sea ,desert in Egypt.
WE went over to search some nice Silica glass , which we found .

back to the set up .
I personally do not like cars that have lots of show off gadgets ,
my goal is to have a very understatement look .
minimal look ,minimal weight , max performance , and most of all max reliability .
here some pic of the water system .

the tubes are coming from the water tanks in the side panels .
I can choose which one to use , or both , or in long range trips , add a third tank inside a box .
all tubes go to a pump , that will distribute the water on left or right side .
you can see that I have a tap on the left door , which is very pratical for washing dcc
on the right side ,I generally use it for the shower.

the system is made with a 3 way valve , so that I can reverse the flow of the pump.
this will allow me to suck the water from a bucket ,or a well , a river ,lake or an external tank if needed .
in some cases this turned out to be very pratical

some more pic in the next days .

bye

 

[BreckenridgeCruiser]

When you get time, I'd love to hear more about the parts you used to build that water management system. Great work!

 

[renago]

very simple , the parts you need are :
tank, as many as you need .
tube , I have used the rislan tubes for compressed air , because all the fittings are easy , plug in /out ,water tight even under high pressure.
diameter 12mm , or bigger if you need more.
3 valve 3 way each, in order to invert the flow of the pump.
2 blocks 4 way each in order to attach the tubes from various direction -sides .
28 tube fittings 12 mm .
6 tube fittings 6 mm for tank venting
1 shurflo pump 12V
1 delivery 4 way tube from Gardenia , it is intended for garden hose , but works fine .
butif I would have to remake it today I would use a gas 3-4 way line instead, smaller but 100% water tight .
1 electric switch , to shut off independently the pump for the main line .
1 tap
2 quick release fittings for water hose,auto sealing when you disconnect the hose. not 100% water sealing but good enough .
some mts of rislan tubes .
only for the door I have used soft rislan tube .all other are standard stiff ones .

the system worked fine for many years , very clean and reliable.
today if I had to remake it , I would change some small parts , but in general will do it the same .
If you want to pump only water , without the sucking feature , the system can be made much more simple .

this is how it looks with the small door closed

hope this can help some one

bya Renago

 

[renago]

some extra switches on the dash board
GEN , is for cutting off any electric device from main supply , traveling this is always ON .
COMP , is to activate the compressor , which is in the motor van with an external attach
SERB, is to transfer 120 L of the central tank to the rear tank.
on the right side , the is a switch for front lights . Normally they are not on the car , they are stored in a box , and I can attach them with a magnetic plate to the hood.I use them very seldom. very easy to put on and take them off .
then there is a 7-8 " touch screen , that is connected to a panasonic tough book for navigation,
I Irun on Ozi explorer with many maps and satellite pic, this is another thing that I use very seldom , even in the desert .
It's so nice to get lost !!!

 

[peteinjp]

I like your approach to building. Well thought out and rather than easy well engineered. In addition to more info about your equipment I'd love to see more of your travels as I can only dream of such travels.

Best,

Pete

 

[renago]

thanks for the nice comments .
traveling in North Africa was easy till some years ago .
till year 2000 it was really fantastic , you had a very very big territory to explore and discover .
unfortunately today it has become very dangerous and in some areas it is forbidden due to war or local crime .
here under is a picture of the car at the basis of Gilf Kebir plateau .
If you remember the movie " The English patient" and the cave where they surveyed , the story is true , and we went till that cave .
of course the movie was not shot on site !

the second pic is a detail " cave of the swimmers"

3-4-5 pic is about a secret airport made by the British in WW2 in the middle of the desert , it is called 8 Bells !
in order to find the right vally were to land they designed on the ground a viand arrow , and 8 BELLS ,
the sign was made with the emplty tins of gasoline , from Shell !

netxt post I will go forward on the set up of the car .

by Renago

 

[BreckenridgeCruiser]

Awesome pics and history!

 

[Corbet]

Great thread. Many of us over in the sates wish we could buy that truck new.

 

[thelal]

water setup looks really good. Nice ideas. 400L of fuel is huge - what is your range? Does the car feel heavy with full fuel + water. Is there any 'sloshing' when 4x4ing. Upgraded rear suspension?

 

[renago]

Hi Thelal
400 L of diesel fuel looks a lot , but some times you need it .
well at least when we were travelling in the Sahara region .
to be fair , you don't really need it , 400 L can give you over 3000 km of range , the max stretch we did was 2000 km without supply .
But what they give you is a huge safety feel , and safety factor .
yes ,You feel the full load when all is full .
but it's not unpleasant .
rear and front suspension have been improved for the extra weight , and also stock shocks have been changed in favour of double damping shocks.
no sloshing at all when driving .
consider that I have 3 tanks under the car .
90 L , standard , in front
120 in the middle of the car , which I can send to the rear tank with a pump .
190 in the back .
the I have aprox 70 L of water in the car panels , 35 left , 35 right .
My plan was to have all fluids out of the way .
so the car is free to load as I prefer .

bye Renago

 

[Dork]

Hi Thelal
400 L of diesel fuel looks a lot , but some times you need it .
well at least when we were travelling in the Sahara region .
to be fair , you don't really need it , 400 L can give you over 3000 km of range , the max stretch we did was 2000 km without supply .
But what they give you is a huge safety feel , and safety factor .
yes ,You feel the full load when all is full .
but it's not unpleasant .
rear and front suspension have been improved for the extra weight , and also stock shocks have been changed in favour of double damping shocks.
no sloshing at all when driving .
consider that I have 3 tanks under the car .
90 L , standard , in front
120 in the middle of the car , which I can send to the rear tank with a pump .
190 in the back .
the I have aprox 70 L of water in the car panels , 35 left , 35 right .
My plan was to have all fluids out of the way .
so the car is free to load as I prefer .

bye Renago

Around here they post signs if there won't be fuel for 100km. A 2000km stretch is a long-ass ways.

Impressive build and cool adventures.

 

[renago]

We did the 2000 km tour during a trip in Egypt , starting from the oasis of Siwa , all trough the GSS ( great sand sea), then zig zag in search of silica glass , On the Guilf El Kebir , in and out of some nice dry river beds , and finally out on tarmac at Dakla .
Something like From Whitehorse to Calgary .
We had also some fuel left over

Bye Renago

 

[cruiserpilot]

Cool, I'm doing Vancouver to Whitehorse in August, but no sand dunes...LOL.
Sounds like a good trip. The truck gave you no issues? All worked out okay?

 

[Hiace4wd]

Hi Renago,

Do you have pictures of the watertanks in the sidepanels? Not from all the plumbing, but what watertanks you used.
And how deep the sidewalls are.

Thanks

 

[renago]

I must look in the photo archive .
But I' m not so sure.
These tanks are not on the market.
I had to design and make them.
There are 3 tanks per each side, they are connected together so they are like 1 tank per side.
The depth is 12 cm .
The shape depends from the location .
They are all different in order to fit the car frame and body.
Material SS.
They are not easy to make , but once all is running well , you forget to have them.

Bye Renago