Builds My 1981 HJ45 Troopy build (1 Viewer)

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classic, Had a similar experience in Baja with our 80 series. group of Mexicans came wondering through our camp looking for a 4x4 to pull their truck out of a ditch.

Too bad your trips over! Sounded epic, what was it like trying to pass cars driving on the right side?
 
RufusTheDufus said:
I can't FTP photos to my web server from where I am but you can view some in my Facebook profile here
Click to expand...

Almost makes it worth joining Facebook to see the photos... nah, I'll just have to imagine.:D

Josh
 
just went through all the photos, AGAIN! bitchen, scorpion bay is one of my buddies favorite surf spots, haven't been myself, but dieing to go and sample the long rights. post MORE pics!
 
had a thought, I'd like to see more interior shots of your HJ, hows your interior set up? Saw the build of the drawer/storage you made would love to see how it is installed. Where are you now? I'd buy you and your girl a cerveza (and the dogs a bottle of water) if your passing through so-cal.
 
I'm back in Maine now trying to deal with the 3 ft of snow in the driveway. It was 5ft at one point and it's all nicely packed into layers of snow and ice now. Fun stuff after a month in Baja. :(

I'll post more photos later. I put that drawer system together in 2 days and was in a hurry to get on the road. I plan to pull the AGM batteries out for use at our cabin so I'll snap some photos then.
 
don't clean the troopy too nice before the pics, I wanna see the tornado storm of gear and dogs in the back!
 
Dogs, but no gear

I didn't have too much gear in the back of the Troopy. We gave up on sleeping in a tent early in the trip. Too much wind for too many days. So the Troopy was our sleeping area. It was surprisingly comfortable. You can see the foam I laid down on top of the 5/8" plywood. That's a sound proofing foam I had leftover from a server room project a few years back. We also used two Stoic MDWT sleeping pads on top of the foam. These two pads fit perfectly next to each other in the Troopy like they were designed to fit there. Then blankets, pillow, sleeping bags, etc. Really quite comfy for car camping. I cut one section of the foam out for easy access to the straps to tie down the Engel fridge.

sleeping-platform-3.jpg


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The Caddy CTS seats fit nicely and are comfortable. They do sit you up much higher than the stock seating position which my wife liked.

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I mounted the solar charge controller to the front face of the sleeping platform between the seats. All of my 'house' 12v loads were powered through this controller. I'd run a cord through the side window to the two 32watt folding solar panels I'd toss on the roof. These two panels were more than enough to keep up with the Engel and charging our various gadgets.

sleeping-platform-1.jpg

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Here's how the drawers turned out. They are 3 ft. long with full-extension slides rated for 150 lbs each. I cut some 1/4" plywood to act as a table/counter top.

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I met a guy from Switzerland driving his 70 series camper near Cabo Pulmo. He said he plans to try to sell this in the U.S. or Canada in about a year when he's done traveling. He's been on the road for almost 3 years at this point.
two-cruisers.jpg


I'll try to snap some photos of the storage compartments under the platform later today.
 
thats killer, real nice to see how you had things set up in the back. I had a stint with a RTT for a bit, but like you and your regular tent when the wind picks up it can get aggravating (plus being higher off the ground with the RTT and wind was borderline scary).

I'm going to work out a drawer system for mine too, not as involved I want to try and keep as much floor space as possible.

thanks for posting, keep em coming
 
Some more drawer/platform photos

Here's a few more photos of the drawer system.

This is what it looks like without the sound proofing foam in place. The plywood is divided into four sections. Two sit side-by-side behind the front seats and provide access to the storage compartments. I fit all my tools and most of the spare parts in these two areas. I also fabricated a metal box to house the on-board air pump under the rear wheel well you can see at the right of these photos. That box holds the pump and locker solenoids. The 2 gallon air tank is located in the same area under the other rear fender and has a fitting to attach an air line.

sleeping-platform-9.jpg


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The middle section under the plywood is for the Lifeline AGM batteries and the Promariner battery charger. The Lifeline batteries are non-spillable so they can be mounted on their sides. These are the the GPL-30HT model. They are heavy at 96 lbs each. They should provide enough juice to run the Engel fridge for 4 to 6 days without any charging.

sleeping-platform-12.jpg


sleeping-platform-13.jpg
 
Looks like I'll be swapping the H out of the truck in favor of a turbo 3B soon. I can't keep a head gasket in it and am completely sick of working on it. I think I have a cracked block. Most likely will have a bunch of H parts available soon including a custom stainless turbo exhaust manifold.
 
Sorry to hear about yout problems with the H. Turbo 3B... very cool. Any thoughts on seeking a 13BT? That is the ultimate engine in my opinon.

What's happened with your HJ47 from Adelaide?

JOsh
 
Oh yes, that's what I thought. Good. I'm glad that's still happening. I can't wait to see that project all done and dusted.

There is a magazine here with a writer up in Qld. who put a 13bt in his troopy and does lots of stories about it. He raves about the setup but for some reason he kept the 4 speed. It really does not matter here because the speed limit is so slow (and they just announced they are lowering it further here in South Australia), but I still think the 5 speed would make that setup perfect.

Josh
 
The H is coming out shortly after Thanksgiving. I plan to part the engine out. If you have requests for H parts send me a PM. I'll post a big list of parts off of it after it is out of the truck.

Some things off of the top of my head that people might want:
  1. Rebuilt injection pump with about 25k miles.
  2. two sets of injection lines
  3. modified oil filter mount to accept common PH8A style filters instead of the stock canister
  4. complete, new engine rebuild kit from Australia with new pistons and liners.
  5. new, never installed clutch and pressure plate
  6. etc.
 
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I finally yanked the old, stinky H out of the Troopy tonight. If you wrote to me about parts I'll get in touch with you to see if you're still interested.

I'll start up a parts for sale thread in the classifieds section.
 
So a couple things should be noted....I think the unsung hero of your journey was your wife! She must be a special kind of woman for putting up with engine issues, scraping the inside of the windows and enduring a loud vehicle. So cool.....second thing.....where's do we find the 13bt swap pictures! That's so cool
 
My wife has been bugging me to get my but in gear and get the Troopy functional again. I think she enjoys the places it takes us so the headaches along the way are minor compared with the "luxury" of being camped on a beach with our dogs and no one around.

The 13BT is being sold. I'm going to put a 3B turbo in. I have the 3B and I can really use the $$ for the BT. I keep telling myself it's just easier parts and maintenance wise to have the same engine (3B) in my various Cruisers.
 
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