I've got my hash pipe..... (1 Viewer)

[buckroseau]

Shrink wrap, love it

It was moved almost 8 years ago, when our family made a major move about 300 miles south. Everything was packed in it, shrink wrapped and loaded into a moving van, then unloaded in its current location. What you see is how it looked like 8 years ago.

 

[Honger]

It's trippy to get so many notifications on this build all of the sudden. Glad to see this is still on the shelf...

 

[Hogan]

Current situation…….

View attachment 2856747

View attachment 2856748

Glad you still have it, thought you had sold it. Hopefully you'll get time to build it.

 

[tlaporte]

Great to see you back on the forum, Matt.

 

[buckroseau]

Unpacked parts the last couple days. Few pics from tonight. Mounted glove box door. Seats mounted. Passenger seat was the original bucket seat on the right hand side. Left side was the bucket out of the old 79 fj40. Had a phone call with aqualu today and Rene’, few emails back and forth trying to get some things squared away, very helpful. Few pics of some body mounts, I think I bought that black uhmw for mounts??

All I have for now. Matt.

 

[buckroseau]

Nothing to special tonight, had a few minutes. Pulled the hardtop and installed rivnuts in the tub rail itself. Aqualu had pre drilled with a smaller drill bit so nothing to difficult. Drilling to 25/64, setting up the rivnut tool and installing. Pre tested on a scrap piece of steel.

Hoping to get the hardtop bolted down solid and start working on fitting doors.

Matt

 

[buckroseau]

Question. Pic attached is of the running board supports. Can someone tell me which one is left and right? Is the mounting tab towards the front or back?

Matt

 

[buckroseau]

Few random pics from today. Started off with getting the hard top bolted down the tub with the weatherstripping and all. Then spent several hours fitting the rear doors. Getting everything marked, drilled and tapped in the aluminum. Turned out pretty decent, not oem so lots of massaging needed to get gaps to line up. Got the doors ready to go but I’m missing the roof to windshield gasket. Ordered one of those today and until I get that I can’t finish fitting the hardtop to the windshield frame and until that happens I don’t want to attempt to fit the front doors.

Looking at the dash, getting my head wrapped around that. Had the original heater and fan assembly from Australia in a tote. Also had the left hand drive version that I had gutted out of the the 79 fj40 11 years ago in a tote. Notice how the vents were labeled.

Troopy’s didn’t have spare tire carriers but I’m going to mount one off a fj40 on, just think it looks cool. I may have to dig out my 78 fj45 lwb and park it next to the troopy before I start cutting into the firewall. Something to reference and take a few measurements. All for now.

Matt.

 

[tlaporte]

Question. Pic attached is of the running board supports. Can someone tell me which one is left and right? Is the mounting tab towards the front or back?

Matt

View attachment 2862341

I will have to go take a look underneath my truck to confirm, but I’m pretty sure those would be (L to R) passenger’s side, driver’s side for and RHD vehicle. Rotate each one 90 degrees towards the center and they would be in their natural orientation as they would sit on the vehicle.

 

[buckroseau]

Got a couple hours in last night. Fit up the original running boards. Aqualu sent aluminum ones, but using the oem ones as a template to drill holes. Bolted up the stock fender hole. Then mark the tub holes using the stock running board. Also started fitting up the doors. LOT of screwing around with this. Fits ok, lot of small movements trying the find the lesser evil in the door gaps. I think I’m 95% dialed in, once I’m happy start mounting the front hinge points and rear striker

Spending the day over in Wisconsin with my boy. Has a new husqvarna TC85 and we’re trying it out.

That is all for now. Matt

 

[buckroseau]

Not really a lot to report, got a couple hours in today, although it doesn’t look like it. Lots of drilling and tapping holes in things after getting the doors dialed in. Pulled the windshield, drilled and tapped the two holes for the hard top. Then continued to drill, tap and bolt holes for door. At least no more vice grips holding the hardtop down and the door hinges on.

Need to finish drilling holes for the running boards in the tub. Then moving onto getting the strikers mounted. The aqualu tub does not have the recess built into the B puller for the striker so about an 1/8” plate needs to be made to relive the area behind the striker, I’ll take pics when done.

Also, another nice surprise. 2 years ago I sold the 79 parts rig to a guy near me, hadn’t talked to him in a while but still had his info. Reached out to him because I was looking for the sheet metal on the dash that holds the dash pad on. He had a few parts rigs that may work, I stopped over at his place today and he had a rusted out cowl off a 79. While I think the dash sheet metal is to far gone he’s letting me borrow it for a reference for drilling holes. After the snow melts off it I’m good to throw it up on a stand. It’s going to be extremely helpful when it comes to drilling holes in the firewall, hours will be saved!!

That’s it for now. Matt.

 

[troopie]

Nice! Good to see some progress.

Mark

 

[buckroseau]

Had most of the day to myself today, able to get several hours in. This is the first of 2 posts today. Doesn’t look like a lot, but lot of fitting and labor intensive stuff.

Marked the holes in the tub for the running boards, drilled holes and bolted those up. Cut and drilled the holes and openings for the door limiters in the A pillar. After a fair amount of marking and measuring bolted the strikers up to the B pillar. Aqualu suggests making a plate with welded nuts behind the striker so you are able to adjust it. I think I will probably do that, but thought if I could drill and tap the bolts into the B pillar I would know how large to make the holes for adjustment. The strikers are pretty much in the perfect position right now, doors close fairly well. I used a few washers in each side to space it out about 3/16”. I assumed I would have to do this because there isn’t a recess for the back of the striker in the B pillar like the stock pillar. I will fab up a spacer at some point that looks like the striker.

1 of 2

Matt.

 

[buckroseau]

2 of 2

Did a little tweaking in the rear door to get the gaps slightly better. Removed the rear lower right hinge. Had a slight wow to it that pushed in the door about a 1/16” on the bottom. By flattening the hinge plate in flushed up the door with the tub, very happy with it now. Started mounting up the firewall heater, duct and blower. Everything marked, probably cut the firewall out tomorrow for the blower. Threw the 79 firewall up on the stand, taking some measurements off it. Stole a pic of the net of a right hand drive firewall. Main wiring harness came thru the left side of the firewall, so the wiring harness is short. You can see on the 79 firewall it’s exactly opposite. Not sure exactly what I’m going to do yet, but I think I need to come thru on the right side, so the harness ia going to need to be longer.

Matt.

 

[buckroseau]

1 of 2

Managed to get a few hours in today after the wife and kids opened all their presents.

Working on the firewall all day, this is a fairly slow miserable job, not the same as working with steel. Drilled holes with a 1” hole saw in all 4 corners. Then used an air saw to connect the dots. Then lots of die grinding with a 1/4” bit. Then finish the edges with a flat file and an air grinder with 1” drum sander, and a touch of 80 grit sandpaper. Drilled and tapped holes for the heater, mounted that up.

Drilled a hole for the heater tubes. Then robbed the heater valve off the 79 firewall for reference and drilled and tapped holes for that.

Doesn’t look like much but very time consuming.

 

[buckroseau]

2 of 2

Dug out the throttle cable assembly. Pics of the stock right drive set up and the left hand drive set up I got from my Netherlands connection over 10 years ago. The rhd set up was shorter and a solid cable housing. The pedal assembly was different as well.

Pic of the LHD pedal on the firewall. Holes pre drilled from aqualu are perfect for the cable mount from the Netherlands. I was hoping someone had a pic of this style pedal mounted up, just to make sure I’ve got it right and mount it correctly. So, if you have a LHD drive with this style cable and pedal, please take a pic and post. Thanks!

Hoping to maybe carve out a hole on the dash for the Speedo head tomorrow. I might also cut the clutch bracket off the 79 firewall and the work it so I can bolt it to the aluminum firewall.

Matt

 

[tucker74]

Looking good man, a million little steps and then you’re done right? That pedal looks like when I retrofitted a 3FE cable into my ‘76, don’t have a stock pic however (but it worked fine).



Tucker

 

[buckroseau]

1 of 2

Managed to get a few hours in today. Doesn’t look like much, cutting and grinding aluminum takes time. Probably doesn’t help I go fairly slow because I don’t own or know how to TIG weld aluminum, although I have been looking at TIG welders in case I need to learn and use one.

Aqualu had an out line etched into the dash for the Speedo head. I took a pencil and outlined it so i could see it better. Drilled holes in some corner spots, then connected the dots with the air saw. Then more die grinding,

 

[buckroseau]

2 of 2

Had a little back and forth with my troopy Netherlands connection on the Facebook this afternoon. He was able to take a pic of his accelerator pedal on his factory left hand drive unit. His steering flange thru the firewall is different than mine, but the concept is the same. I don’t think there really is a wrong answer here. If I mount the cable thru the firewall and attach it to the accelerator pedal, holes have to be drilled where it lands.

Spent some time looking at the center console piece. 10 plus years ago I made some templates of the holes that were on the dash before I sent it to aqualu. I think my scribbled notes make sense. With the left hand drive console every thing will be reversed. It should be fairly straightforward since the console mounts the bottom of the dash and then I marked the bolt holes. Once those are marked I should be able to work everything off if that. I need to figure out if there was any structure in the dash for the ash tray and radio, I do t remember???

Wiring. I looked at this for a while today. I’m pretty sure I can reverse everything and it should work for the most part. The turn singles will be backwards when activated, I think? But once installed and i determine which 2 wires are hot when the signals are on, I can reverse them in the plug itself. I’m guessing that’s how Toyota did when they manufactured them.

All for now. I may be getting an 82 troopy in a few weeks from another mud member. He will gone for the winter and has offered to let me borrow it for a few months for reference. Having another troopy to reference is going to be invaluable. The generosity of fellow land cruiser enthusiasts never ceases to amaze me.

Matt.

 

[buckroseau]

Didn’t really have time to do anything tonight, but had a few minutes to look.

Blue firewall pics I stole off the internet, RHD troopy. Tan firewall pics were taken of a LHD troopy, from my buddy in the Netherlands. Main difference is the location of the main wiring harness where it enters the firewall. Obviously it’s different from side to side, but the main difference is the height. The LHD troopy is the same as a fj40, right above the clutch Mc The RHD hole is lower. Once inside the firewall the fuse block mount is facing the seat vs a LHD model it’s not n the same plain as the side of the tub. Seems odd? I may have to wait to see the other troopy in a week or 2. Maybe I’m over thinking it. I think most everything behind the dash is going to line up perfect. Definitely going to have to lengthen some wires in the engine compartment!

Just thinking out loud.

Matt