My Troopy & Scenes From New Zealand (V8 Turbo Diesel VDJ78) (1 Viewer)

[WildSouth]

My Troopy Overland Build (V8 Turbo Diesel VDJ78)
​

For me, 70 Series Series Land Cruiser family is one of the best looking vehicles ever built; and in my opinion, at the pinnacle of that is the Troopy. It is fair to say I have had a soft spot for them, having owned a couple now, but mostly finding that 99.9% of them have been used commercially (ie mining, forestry. government agencies, fleet vehicles etc) . Over the past few years I have been keeping my eye out for a tidy Troopy (preferably a VDJ V8 Turbo Diesel as opposed as the older 1HZ straight 6 non-turbo), here in New Zealand. Finding a tidy example thought is a very tough ask...

Roll on November 2020, and I stumbled across this: 2010 VDJ78R Troopy V8...wait for it....privately owned, and was a farmlet-to-town commuter vehicle, so she has had a VERY easy life. It has been very well looked after by the previous owner, with full service history. Luckily I spotted this rig only 10 minutes after it was listed, so was first on the list. I only had to take once glance in person, and drive her for all of 20 seconds, before I knew she was an absolute gem. As a bonus, all of our Troopies over here come with factory front and rear lockers!

My plans for this truck are to be my daily driver and adventure rig - cruising the back roads of our beautiful country, which is fill of rivers, mountains, snow, desert, and everything in between. So it's fair to say it will have to be a versatile rig, which can be a tough ask of a 2 door Cruiser! Let's see....

Planned Mod/Accessory List:

• ARB Deluxe winch bar
• 2" EFS lift (constant load 300kg rear springs, 60-100kg load front coils)
• BFGoodrich KO2 285/75r16's
• 16x8 Dynamic black steel wheels (front pair are 0p offset, rears are -50p offset, to correct the track difference from factory)
• Flat roof platform (with attachments for awning, Quickfists for shovel, recovery tracks etc)
• 2m x 2.5m RMR side awning
• MCC rear bar with one swing away tyre carrier, and the other a jerry can holder
• Weathershield set
• 3" exhaust (muffler delete, but I want to keep the cat and resonator)
• Safari Armax snorkel/raised air intake
• Camper setup in back
• ARB twin compressor
• Dual battery system

Here are a few pics from the day of viewing:

 

[Gun Runner 5]

Great looking Cruiser and I now know what a “trundler“ is.

 

[WildSouth]

Great looking Cruiser and I now know what a “trundler“ is.

Even I was surprised at that name...I hadn't heard of it here either! Haha

 

[renago]

super nice car .
lucky you
as I understand from the different accessories that you would like to put on the beauty , it will become a camping car .
accessories are strictly personal , but ......if I may say my word ,
will skip on the issues of difference front and rear track difference , in the 70-80 many heavy and luxury cars had a wider front track , to improve stability in curves .
Citroen DS ,mercedes 500 .
if you ca put the extra fuel under the car , much more stability in off road and road . and the fuel is out of the way for life time .
Snorkel , best would be to have the toyota top on the safari 1 piece body .
just my 2 cents

 

[nonstopbike]

Epic find, can't wait to see the build out unfold.

 

[WildSouth]

New Shoes (and the fist of the goodies!)
​

It's a been a hectic summer down in this part of the world, so the aim of the next few posts is to paraphrase the last three or so months.

New shoes for the Troopy! I don't want a sluggish, loud rig - this is my daily driver. In addition, the nature of a lot of the South Island travel we will do will be arid, high altitude, riverbed, travel, so my desire for chunky mud-tyres was lacking. After a lot of research, and having never tried them before, I was lured into giving BFG KO2's a go, in a 285/75r16 size.

New steel wheels were on the cards too. I wanted to correct the factory rear diff being narrower than the front, so I opted for the common/easiest/cheapest fix of running staggered offsets. 16x8 Dynamic Wheel Co's all round, with 0p offset on the front, and -50's on the back.

Look what also showed up in the mail! A Safari Armax snorkel....exciting times ahead!

We also spent a couple of hours making our way through the interior of the rig, getting rid of any dust/debris/dirt build up over the first 10 years of the Troopy's life.

 

[WildSouth]

Some More Goodies! ​

Today was exciting: a new roof platform arrived. It's alloy, so nice and light, has plenty of strength with dual cross-bars, sits relatively low, and best of all is about 1/3 of the price of a FrontRunner or Rhino Rack. (One day I would love one of the latter!)

Fitting was actually harder than I though. The Troopy is already a tall rig, so it just took a bit more time than usual. This particular rack was also right on the verge of not fitting. The legs were fully extended width-ways to reach the gutters. There is a larger size (135cm across, but it was going to be a 6 month + wait due C**vid19. Now it's on I think it looks great anyway!

 

[WildSouth]

Awning Time + Recovery Tracks Mounted​

Latest addition is a 2.5x2m awning, by RMR. I had one of these on a previous truck and it had been brilliant, so I had no hesitation buying again. Fitment was super easy with the supplied kit, and I just feel overall it looks in proportion.

In the future I will be changing up for a 270 Degree version, but again, due C*ovid19 I was out of luck and one of those was 6 months + away. So I opted with this for the time being!

I also simply attached my recovery tracks to the roof platform with some extra heavy duty bungee cords. These are made of a very tough (almost no stretch) rubber, so perfect for this application. Took them for a drive at 100km/h and over corrugations on a local road and they haven't moved a dime.

 

[FJBen]

What a sweet troopy!

 

[renago]

I would dump the troopy, and keep the blondie

 

[JuanJ]

I would dump the troopy, and keep the blondie

Hello,

I would keep them both.

You are doubly lucky.

Keep up the good work.





Juan

 

[WildSouth]

Rear Bar Fitted​

I've never been a fan of rattles. Who is? The classic 70 Series barn door squeak/rattle was something that I HAD to avoid on my Troopy. I also wanted something that would handle the weight of a water can, spare tyre, and a bike rack etc.

I started digging around at our lack of rear bars available here in NZ. There were two options: import a Kaymar bar from Aussie, at a cost of $6500 NZD (yep, you read that right) and a wait time of up to 12 months, or an MCC bar that was in stock for $1500 NZD (~$950 USD). The latter is Chinese and can be know for it's average quality.

I bit the bullet and opted for the MCC. Sure enough, bits were missing when it arrived, it didn't line up properly, and all the rest....after some frustrating days of fitting and waiting for new parts, she's on (albeit the tyre and jerry can holders are both still enroute).

 

[Venom]

Troopy is looking good mate. Love the build thread. I would have suggested you would have waited for the kaymar. There is a reason for the delay. The last. No matter how you mistreat them. Issues Fitting the MCC is nothing compared to breaking when you are on a trip and need it the most. They wobble a lot too.

 

[WildSouth]

Some pics of the rear bar:

Troopy is looking good mate. Love the build thread. I would have suggested you would have waited for the kaymar. There is a reason for the delay. The last. No matter how you mistreat them. Issues Fitting the MCC is nothing compared to breaking when you are on a trip and need it the most. They wobble a lot too.

Thanks mate.

Yeah, I hear you about the Kaymar bar....it's still on the wishlist when supply chains reply to normal

 

[WildSouth]

A couple of shots of the rear bar (jerry can holder still to come)

 

[WildSouth]

Enjoying some warmer days...sitting having a cold beer and thinking my god these 285's (32.8") tires look small on a Troopy!

 

[WildSouth]

Well, after a busy few weeks, I’m headed on a two week holiday! Much needed time off, and the joys of packing Snoopy the Troopy is such a great feeling. Second photos is the Lindis Pass, enroute to Queenstown area.

You may note some additions on the Troopcarrier: FRP flares were added, as well as some recover points.

Here’s to two weeks of adventure and exploring!

 

[WildSouth]

Here are a few shots from a few weeks back….

 

[WildSouth]

The Troopy as she sits. A 6 hour drive, and now to park up and have a few cold drinks with family

 

[WildSouth]

A quiet day easing into holiday season, catching up with family and friends. The afternoon arrived and I figured I would go for a local drive to Moke Lake.

So far I’m super impressed with the Troopy. I haven’t had it out on any technical trails yet, but that’s not what I’ve built it for. Ive built it as a roomy tourer, and that is what it’s excelling at thus far.