Builds Introducing FZJ 80 "Dingo" (1 Viewer)

[shermantank55]

Final pix part II

Additional shots of the adventure: Leading the pack on the old Pony Express trail from Ft. Churchill toward Highway 95; washing the underside in a creek north of Bodie; getting a drink outside of Walker, NV on the way home. The super siphon is an awesome piece of gear. The snorkel was also invaluable as I was the only vehicle without at least 3/4" of dust in my air filter.

 

[shermantank55]

Couple More

Pix: 1. Exploring Belmont; 2. Again leading the pack across the desert. I have attached the Google Earth KMZ file if you are interested in the route. Excellent 8 day adventure with reasonably modified vehicles. The 80 was arguably the most comfortable and reliable vehicle on the trip. At least that's my argument . Four passengers; lots of gear and extra parts and no issues on the trail. (Vehicles: 2 FZJ-80s; 1 FJ Cruiser; 1 Disco II; 1 4Runner; 1 Defender 110; 1 Wrangler). I will try to do a trip report and post in right forum when I get a chance. Cheers.

 

[Schwaz80]

Just brilliant.

 

[StucknKS]

WOW! Very inspiring.

Good thing my wife doesn't look on this forum or she would know where all the extra money will be going too!

Great job on your cruiser!

 

[AK101]

Great thread.

I am going to do this myself, so I have to ask, what method did you use to prep the surface to that ash grey look? Al's liner nylon brush? It also appears you primed it, what exactly did you use?

Thank you

 

[shermantank55]

Prep for Al's

I used a nylon cup brush and automotive sand paper. Al's recommends 180 grit to rough up clear coat or current paint surface. The primer comes with the Al's kit and is an adhesion promoter for the liner.
Good luck.
Greg

 

[TYM4FUN]

love the build and your adventure pics! Very nice........

 

[dontblink]

Amazing. I love this build.

 

[temple]

Do you have the waypoint coordinates for this trip that you can post? Great pics, and readings. Thanks

 

[1morebike]

i sooooo want to paint mine the same its black and im grinding and treating the rust and love the color but i don't know if i can commit to it or not

 

[shermantank55]

Do you have the waypoint coordinates for this trip that you can post? Great pics, and readings. Thanks

Thanks for the comments. I have attached an edited Google Earth file with the route.

 

[shermantank55]

New RTT for Dingo

Thanks to Evan at Tepui. He came in on a day off to answer questions and meet with us. Great product and great guy! We now have an Autana RTT. Going to test it out in the backyard. It will timeshare between Dingo and the trailer we are building. First two on Dingo. last on the trailer.
Cheers,
Greg

 

[lugueto]

Shermantank, where do you find those tents? Im guessing theyre made in the usa?? seeing as the name is Tepui, and the model is Autana, there is no doubt the owners are Venezuelan. Seems like a nice product, there are some top notch tent manufacturers down here and I think it would be a good bet that those are of excellent quality.

Awesome 80. Fun fact, the model name for the 80 series here in Venezuela (which we got all the way up to 2007) is Autana, the same name as your tent, which comes from the name of one of the largest Tepuy mountains in Venezuela.

Cheers!

Luis.

 

[shermantank55]

Tepui Tents

Awesome to hear the 80 is the Autana.
www.tepuitents.com
The company is in Santa Cruz, CA. The owners, Evan and his wife, originally were going to import the Anaconda tents. I believe his wife is from Venezuela. Due to difficulties they didn't import them to the US. Instead they developed their own brand.
They are made in China, like most of the RTTs, but are great quality and we are very happy with it.
Cheers,
Greg

 

[neal0124]

Do you still have room to mount your jerry cans on the rack in front of the tent? What did you have them mounted in? A wood box/base?

 

[shermantank55]

Fuel cans

Plenty of room in front for mounting fuel cans. the carrier you see in my earlier posts is a two can box made of 16 ga. sheet metal. I now plan to carry three cans on the rear swingout and fabricated a rack from unistrut and angle that mounts on the ARB one can rack. Shown here is the same concept I built for a 100 series.

 

[hachirokufan]

I was thinking about your process and wondered, did you put the snorkel before or after the liner? Did the liner make things difficult for the snorkel?

 

[wearsabrowncoat]

Having taken a snorkel on/off more times than I would like to deal with a leaky window, I would say cut and drill holes immediately before lining your rig. Then test fit but don't attach snorkel until after the liner is done. There is enough extra length/ minor play on the snorkel and bolts that the linear will not prevent normal attachment.

 

[elbowleg]

...I just had to say that is one nice looking rig!...I really like the bed liner and color that you chose! It looks to me to have just the right texture!....I have been wondering, is that stuff easy to keep clean or is it more work!

 

[shermantank55]

snorkel, etc

I cut all the holes before lining, then installed the snorkel afterwards. The liner is easy to clean, i use a nylon scrub brush.
Cheers