Builds Owyhee J.A. BJ75 Troopy Journal

[Owyhee Jackass]

Cool. Good to know. I need to get a clock. I just have a weird shallow cubby there.

FYI, you can get that piece around the radio from partsouq pretty inexpensive. First one I got came in a Fedex envelope, broken right where yours is, but they sent me another one free of charge.

 

[AirheadNut]

If you have a single-din head unit with cubby like @FJBen it is very easy to mount one of the single Auber units there. On my first Prado I just used some adhesive backed velcro to stick it down and drilled a small hole at the back of the cubby for the wires to go through.

 

[svsisu]

If you have a single-din head unit with cubby like @FJBen it is very easy to mount one of the single Auber units there. On my first Prado I just used some adhesive backed velcro to stick it down and drilled a small hole at the back of the cubby for the wires to go through.
View attachment 2432879

That's what I did too, but I cut the back off of the single din cubby for clearance of the gauges and fabbed a face plate out of 1/8" ABS to mount 2 of them. There is room for one more. Currently have EGT and Coolant Temp in place and planning to add boost. I find them unobtrusive and very easy to see. And like others have said they appear period correct.

 

[Owyhee Jackass]

One of my Costco Interstate batteries s*** the bed...had some slow starts over the past few weeks. Started monitoring it and it gave up a few days ago at 10.5 V. Right at 36 months, right at they're rated warranty.

Bought a Duralast from Autozone, Group 27, I've had one of these in my 45 for a few years with no issues. The other Costco battery will probably die this winter, but I'm running it until it dies. Cleaned up terminals, and pulled old wiring out from my old converter too.

I was debating on getting a jumper solenoid so I can jump start myself from my house battery, or by one of the new fancy lithium jump packs, I'll most likely end up with both eventually. I can see having the jump pack, but not having it in the vehicle I need it in...Murphy's Law.

Edit, other battery died a few weeks later...27F on looker's left, 27 on looker's right.

 

[Owyhee Jackass]

Wow, that's a pretty s***ty picture...I'll see if I can get a better phot up tomorrow.

 

[tucker74]

Grab a little Noco battery jumper, they work great and have got me out of a bind several times.

Tucker

 

[Honger]

Well the old-girl made it to Canyonlands and back, I was a bit worried after the incident in Oregon a few weeks ago, but she did fine on this trip.
Averaged 18 mpg on the way down (not in a hurry, about 68 mph on the freeway, no headwind) Got about 15 mpg for the 5 days in 4-low in The Maze, filled up in Green River, drove about 210 miles, probably 100+ in 4wd, 50 or 60 in 4-lo. Came out at Hite with a bit above a half tank. Had a hellacious headwind on the way back and drove a bit faster (75 mph, 2700 rpm) and got 16 mpg back to Boise. About 1500 miles total for the trip.

Refrigerator was awesome and the two guys I went with are now researching car-fridges.

Buddy's Lexus did fine, his first time 4xing, same with his friend and his new Rubicon, neither had any experience 'off-roading' and both did great, good times had by all. Beautiful scenery down there, and pretty quiet considering it was Labor Day weekend. Wife has most of the action shots on her phone. I only took a few pics of the cruiser at camp.

Here's a poser shot on the way out.View attachment 2432138

Cocktail hour at camp-3.

View attachment 2432150

Dolls at the Doll-house

View attachment 2432151

Swimming in the Colorado after a bit of a hike; smoke rolled in on us on Monday, kind of a bummer, but it cut the heat of the sun a bit.

View attachment 2432152

Wife just shared this photo with me; Camping on Dune, the Desert Planet...

View attachment 2432476

Awesome, I can’t wait to get away with the family and Troopy to

If you have a single-din head unit with cubby like @FJBen it is very easy to mount one of the single Auber units there. On my first Prado I just used some adhesive backed velcro to stick it down and drilled a small hole at the back of the cubby for the wires to go through.
View attachment 2432879

Is that the OEM gauge pod with a DIY insert?

 

[AirheadNut]

Awesome, I can’t wait to get away with the family and Troopy to



Is that the OEM gauge pod with a DIY insert?

Yep, it's just a piece of aluminum that I bent into shape to fit where the altimeter/thermometer went. Builds - 1990 LJ78 in Montana

 

[Owyhee Jackass]

Got an external coolant heater for Xmas. I didn't think there was room to put a heater in the lower radiator hose, and wasn't comfortable knocking out a freeze plug. The 14BT had a hose/fitting coming off the block drain and it returned back to the water pump. Not sure what its original purpose was, maybe the vehicle the engine came out of had an external heater in it as well? Anyway, I decided to put this heater in that loop.

'Schematic' of the loop. The heater has 5/8" hose nipples on it and came with a 'Y' to Y into the heater line, but an alternate method is to go into the water pump. I just had to adapt from the stock 3/8" (10mm?) line up do 5/8" to go into the heater and then adapt back down to 3/8" to go back into the water pump.

 

[Owyhee Jackass]

Mounted the unit on the frame, under the starter, it needs to be lower than the drain (operates with natural convection), heats the coolant and circulates back to the top of the loop at the water pump.

Block drain fitting:

And water pump return:

 

[Owyhee Jackass]

It was pretty mild last night, not even freezing (33F) but I plugged it in anyway at 0400. I started it at 0630 and it didn't need glow plugs, no smoke and idled smooth. Was blowing warmish air out of the defrost almost immediately.

 

[Owyhee Jackass]

Put in a set of new Hella 24v trumpet horns. The factory horns sounded tinny and weak, these are a bit better, not as good as the old 'elephant' horns in my other cruisers, but I couldn't find any in 24v. Thought about putting in some step-down resistors and using 12v horns, but these were an easy addition.

 

[Owyhee Jackass]

I smacked my wiper blade on the windshield to remove the ice built up on it at the ski hill the other evening and the plastic clip that attaches the blade to the arm exploded. Luckily it was the passenger's side.

Went down to NAPA the next morning with my wiper arm and old wipers, turns out the old wipers were the wrong type (probably why they never fit too will and came off once before) Got a replacement blade that screws onto the arm. I didn't notice it at the store, but the guy grabbed 18" long blades and they're just a tad too long, 17" would fit better, next time I'll get the 6-017-3

 

[FJBen]

I had the same issue trying to find the bayonet blades setup. I ended up at Napa and they had all the parts/screws there to get some new "old school" wipers. They work good.

My mist/spray function sort of sucks and my wipers HATE dry windshield and cold, but it's getting better.

 

[Owyhee Jackass]

Yeah, the parts guy said he had some 'classic car' type blades in the back, they don't keep them on the shelf with the 'modern' blades.

Never thought an '89 would be consider a classic. I just ordered some VW blades for my '65 FJ45, which I do think is a classic, but don't put it in the same category as the BJ75.

 

[Owyhee Jackass]

Got new interior lights from Odd Iron Offroad. Old lights were hashed.

Before:

After:

 

[Owyhee Jackass]

Got a new lens and LED light for the front one.

Before:

Installing LED:

And done:

 

[toascii]

That's pretty nice! 24v?

 

[Owyhee Jackass]

Couple more, to show how well they light it up inside:

 

[Owyhee Jackass]

That's pretty nice! 24v?

I sure hope so...

I'm pretty sure the LED will run on 24V, the rear light seems to be working on 24V as well although it looks like a normal bulb is in the light housing. The website says 'Applicable to both 12 volt and 24 volt.'

STORE

www.oddironoffroad.com