Seeking advice...troopy build (1 Viewer)

[FJ40|RUNNER]

So I started pulling things apart to put belts with retractors in (will update when I have success info on gray belts, @Honger was a big help here with his thread), and it spiraled downhill from there (in a good way!):

Background is that I recently picked up a 91 FJ75 troopy from Kuwait, have been enjoying it on short adventures with the dog and GF:

Plan is to build something better than the '40 for SW trips, occasional journeys to CO/ID/MO/WY. I'm thinking in the short term I want the legs to do ~2 week trips, but plan on doing a pop top for longer travels when time allows. Now that I'm relatively torn down, I'm looking for insights from those who have built rigs and have some learnings. Things like coatings for interior, headliner, etc. that I don't want to fuss with a few years down the road when I reconfigure for longer travels.

I have minimal rust repair to do that I am currently planning on dealing with with some cleanup and por15. Headliner I might do a bedliner type solution, still undecided. Beyond that I am basically purchasing the partsouq catalog trying to get it to base vehicle state. For those of you who have built rigs for travel, what things would you have done differently?

Cheers for any thoughts,

Chase

 

[FJ40|RUNNER]

Tl;dr don't buy an 80 or 100 <-lol, buy a 70 cause it is easy to do now in the US.

Would like to add some value to the forum as it has helped massively and I think info for those who aren't in the business of imports is fairly limited. I got my truck from @edmond4822 , it was a very good deal. Would 100% do business with him again. This truck was somewhat of a wrong place wrong time thing...I stumbled upon it on 'mud and drove alone from PHX to LA to ensure I wouldn't drive home with it. I loved it so much I paid cash, left my benz with Edmond, and drove the troopy home. It is a great driver. I would 100% be money ahead if I bought a clean low mileage rig, but I didn't want to put the $$ up front bc it is serving as a tool and I couldn't bring myself to buy a $$ rig. If you aren't as picky about steering wheel appearance and door seals, this rig is ready to rock.

I have quickly gotten deep into the realms of partsouq, it is a massive resource (there are others, look up on here or google part numbers). Weekly I order parts and they come in from the Middle East within a week. I literally bought the rig and was like "s***, did I make a massive mistake?" (it doesn't fit in the garage in a relatively snooty part of Scottsdale area FYI)...no mistake. It's been a very fun trip, and I'm continually impressed by the availability of parts. Worst case dig a little deeper in new rigs (HZJ78 is a good start).

 

[edmond4822]

Hello Chase.

Would it be a good idea if you spray bedliner on the floor? Since you have all the seats out, do the whole inside floor of the car. It will keep it clean and you can really abuse it with no harm to the floors.. Do not use bedliner sprays that sell at auto stores, take it to a professional shop who specialize in bedliners and have them spray the thick material.

Partsouq is great. They have not disappointed me yet.

Enjoy your trips..

Cheers.

 

[WarDamnEagle]

Nice Troopy. I would spray a sound deadener in the cavities and a sound deadener and heat reducer on the inside roof. Lizard Skin makes both but other products are available.

I’m not a big fan of bed liners inside vehicles. Too rough for my taste but lots of people use them.

 

[Honger]

So I started pulling things apart to put belts with retractors in (will update when I have success info on gray belts, @Honger was a big help here with his thread), and it spiraled downhill from there (in a good way!):

View attachment 2127687

Background is that I recently picked up a 91 FJ75 troopy from Kuwait, have been enjoying it on short adventures with the dog and GF:

View attachment 2127688

Plan is to build something better than the '40 for SW trips, occasional journeys to CO/ID/MO/WY. I'm thinking in the short term I want the legs to do ~2 week trips, but plan on doing a pop top for longer travels when time allows. Now that I'm relatively torn down, I'm looking for insights from those who have built rigs and have some learnings. Things like coatings for interior, headliner, etc. that I don't want to fuss with a few years down the road when I reconfigure for longer travels.

I have minimal rust repair to do that I am currently planning on dealing with with some cleanup and por15. Headliner I might do a bedliner type solution, still undecided. Beyond that I am basically purchasing the partsouq catalog trying to get it to base vehicle state. For those of you who have built rigs for travel, what things would you have done differently?

Cheers for any thoughts,

Chase

Very cool truck man. Excited to see what you do with it.

Middle East Troopies are a great starting point... albeit rough in spots.

Most of your rear floor has been replaced at some point. If you look at the smaller ribs on the sides near your panels... and compare to the thicker, wider spaced ribs in the middle you can see what’s been replaced. Actually a better situation than me. Ha! Mine is original but Swiss-cheesed with rivet holes from the previous diamond plating.

I’d only spray bedliner if it’s your final solution. You’re not gonna want to remove it.

I too am wondering what to do with my roof. My headliner needs to be pulled down at some point but I want to know what I’m going to replace it with.

 

[FJBen]

I agree on making spray liner your last effort. That stuff is awful to remove.

On the headliner I would use some sort of dyna-mat for insulation, then see if you can get the headliner over that. You could also dyna-mat over the rear floor and that area then get some thicker rubber mats/vinyl and some track work to lay down for securing things. That way you can always remove it if you want to easily later on.

 

[TonyP]

Agree with above. The floor has definitely been replaced. The ribs are different. Here's what a Troopy floor usually looks like:

 

[c2dfj45]

This is really simple. Roof needs sound deadening and thermal insulation. I've used Lizard Skin and I've used Second Skin Spectrum. I prefer the Spectrum. It's one coating that does both insulate and deaden sound. You can roll it on, brush it on, spray it on. Very easy to deal with. IF you think you need more sound deadening on the roof, add some of Second Skin's Damplifier Pro sheets FIRST. Then coat over them. Prep is imperative. You have to make sure that roof is clean as can be. Do NOT use cheap sound deadening products....the last thing you want is for it to fall off. We did an old hot rod I had with Fat Mat or something and most all of it on the doors and roof came off once it was in the sun. Just didn't have enough grip. My troopy, like my 79, will get a layer of double sided foil jute on the sound deadener. We use contact adhesive to put that up. I think my Troopy will get a stretchy grey trunk fabric on the roof for it's headliner. My goal is to have it quiet but most importantly, insulated so that Troopy cools off in the hot FL sun when the AC is on. Combined with heat rejection film on the windows, good floor insulation and the roof being done, it will give it a good shot at being cool. Big truck with a lot of glass to cool down in FL in the summer.

Lizard Skin is nice stuff but I feel like it's way overpriced. My LV has Lizard Skin(both products) on the roof and it does pretty well. The cab of my 79 #1 is a fully Lizard Skinned cab(entire cab). Also has 3M Crystalline on the windows. That cab gets so cold I can't run the AC on full. It's great but it's also very small(2 door). But I think it could be better on sound control had I added the foil backed jute under the headliner and some other products to the floors. I learned a lot on that cab. 79 #2 will be miles better I think.

Floors. Everyone will have a differing opinion. All depends on what you are doing on the truck. I did my LV with Lizard Skin layers...then Raptor spray in bedliner. It's a little bit textured but that's OK. The floor was textured to start(texture being a nice word for pitted from rust). Master Series Chassis Saver first, then sound deadening, then Raptor. It's solid as a rock. But I'm not sure I would want to load things in on it and constantly work it. Adding the layers of sound deadener makes everything a bit thicker....easier to gouge I feel. It's very quiet in that truck.

For the Troopy, we're going to do Spectrum on the front floors and under the front seats. We'll sand that Spectrum down once we get it to the thickness we want(if you allow the spray in sound deadeners to have texture, they will end up exaggerating the texture when you do your spray in bedliner). So we knock it down enough to smooth it out without taking off material and lessening its effectiveness. I will not be using any sound deadener sheets on that floor. We will prep and prep and prep the rear. Any surface rust will get Chassis Saver. Then we will spray in Raptor....most likely color matched on this truck to the exterior....right on the floors. No sound deadener. This truck is going to be a shop truck so it will get loaded up with stuff....it needs to be tough back there. I will most likely run factory vinyl mats though on top of the bedliner though...but if I want to run it with them, I can. Part of the reason I like bedliner is it helps seal that floor up...and it looks good. Key for making it look good is to have a good gun to spray with. We are using Raptor's adjustable Pro gun. I can get a SUPER fine texture. That's what we will use on the Troopy. The fine texture finish looks as good as anything sprayed at LineX and if you do your prep right, it's exceptionally durable. Especially in a Troopy. Not like it's going to see loads of gravel or bricks thrown in it.

All my build threads have pretty good write-ups on this stuff.....have a look if you're interested.

 

[umpqua]

Good luck with the build and let it be fun. I don't have any skills or time so I've hired most all of my work done. The build thread is Portland Troopy Build. Might give you an idea or two. Keep posting....interested in seeing how it turns out.

 

[OGBeno]

Agree with above. The floor has definitely been replaced. The ribs are different. Here's what a Troopy floor usually looks like:

View attachment 2128052

There are different floor pans for different market/seat specifications.

 

[Honger]

There are different floor pans for different market/seat specifications.

I'd think those differences would be related to the seat appurtenances in the floor not so much the stamping. My floor has the ribs/stampings arranged so that it could be built out for any of the market/seat applications. The spots for the rear transverse bench anchors are in the floor pan... but covered over with a sheet of metal rather than the pocket and anchor nuts. There are also unused captured nuts on the bottom that I'm assuming suit different specifications. This would at least make sense from a production standpoint... the tooling for that large stamped sheet of metal is expensive! The little items to suit it to a specific market are cheap in comparison.

But I'm no expert.

FWIW, my floor looks exactly like the one Tony posted.

 

[Honger]

This is really simple. Roof needs sound deadening and thermal insulation. I've used Lizard Skin and I've used Second Skin Spectrum. I prefer the Spectrum. It's one coating that does both insulate and deaden sound. You can roll it on, brush it on, spray it on. Very easy to deal with. IF you think you need more sound deadening on the roof, add some of Second Skin's Damplifier Pro sheets FIRST. Then coat over them. Prep is imperative. You have to make sure that roof is clean as can be. Do NOT use cheap sound deadening products....the last thing you want is for it to fall off. We did an old hot rod I had with Fat Mat or something and most all of it on the doors and roof came off once it was in the sun. Just didn't have enough grip. My troopy, like my 79, will get a layer of double sided foil jute on the sound deadener. We use contact adhesive to put that up. I think my Troopy will get a stretchy grey trunk fabric on the roof for it's headliner. My goal is to have it quiet but most importantly, insulated so that Troopy cools off in the hot FL sun when the AC is on. Combined with heat rejection film on the windows, good floor insulation and the roof being done, it will give it a good shot at being cool. Big truck with a lot of glass to cool down in FL in the summer.

Lizard Skin is nice stuff but I feel like it's way overpriced. My LV has Lizard Skin(both products) on the roof and it does pretty well. The cab of my 79 #1 is a fully Lizard Skinned cab(entire cab). Also has 3M Crystalline on the windows. That cab gets so cold I can't run the AC on full. It's great but it's also very small(2 door). But I think it could be better on sound control had I added the foil backed jute under the headliner and some other products to the floors. I learned a lot on that cab. 79 #2 will be miles better I think.

Floors. Everyone will have a differing opinion. All depends on what you are doing on the truck. I did my LV with Lizard Skin layers...then Raptor spray in bedliner. It's a little bit textured but that's OK. The floor was textured to start(texture being a nice word for pitted from rust). Master Series Chassis Saver first, then sound deadening, then Raptor. It's solid as a rock. But I'm not sure I would want to load things in on it and constantly work it. Adding the layers of sound deadener makes everything a bit thicker....easier to gouge I feel. It's very quiet in that truck.

For the Troopy, we're going to do Spectrum on the front floors and under the front seats. We'll sand that Spectrum down once we get it to the thickness we want(if you allow the spray in sound deadeners to have texture, they will end up exaggerating the texture when you do your spray in bedliner). So we knock it down enough to smooth it out without taking off material and lessening its effectiveness. I will not be using any sound deadener sheets on that floor. We will prep and prep and prep the rear. Any surface rust will get Chassis Saver. Then we will spray in Raptor....most likely color matched on this truck to the exterior....right on the floors. No sound deadener. This truck is going to be a shop truck so it will get loaded up with stuff....it needs to be tough back there. I will most likely run factory vinyl mats though on top of the bedliner though...but if I want to run it with them, I can. Part of the reason I like bedliner is it helps seal that floor up...and it looks good. Key for making it look good is to have a good gun to spray with. We are using Raptor's adjustable Pro gun. I can get a SUPER fine texture. That's what we will use on the Troopy. The fine texture finish looks as good as anything sprayed at LineX and if you do your prep right, it's exceptionally durable. Especially in a Troopy. Not like it's going to see loads of gravel or bricks thrown in it.

All my build threads have pretty good write-ups on this stuff.....have a look if you're interested.

This was a great post summarizing a lot of what you've previously covered in bits and pieces in your build thread. Solid gold. Thanks!

One question... when you refer to Master Series... you mean this stuff, right?

MasterSeries Silver Primer/Sealer-1 Quart-$37.00 - MasterSeries Coatings

Not the "Chassis Saver" line of paints...

Paint Over Rust to Stop Rust Permanently With Chassis Saver Truck & Auto Underbody Coating

Underbody Rust Protection High Performance Specialty Paints Coatings industrial maintenance automotive fleet equipment refinish tractors refinish protection

magnetpaints.com

 

[c2dfj45]

This was a great post summarizing a lot of what you've previously covered in bits and pieces in your build thread. Solid gold. Thanks!

One question... when you refer to Master Series... you mean this stuff, right?

MasterSeries Silver Primer/Sealer-1 Quart-$37.00 - MasterSeries Coatings

Not the "Chassis Saver" line of paints...

Paint Over Rust to Stop Rust Permanently With Chassis Saver Truck & Auto Underbody Coating

Underbody Rust Protection High Performance Specialty Paints Coatings industrial maintenance automotive fleet equipment refinish tractors refinish protection

magnetpaints.com

Master Series.....that's the one. I have no idea why I added Chassis Saver to it. That stuff is a tremendous product. It's interesting because if I'm not mistaken, it was actually what POR15 used to be....but it's silver....not so good in the restoration world for frames and all those kind of things you would put it on. So they changed the formula to black....and according to some, it lessened the effectiveness of it. Can't remember where I read that. It's neat stuff. Flows really well. Sandable. We do 2-3 coats. When we have pinholes, we add in a little fiberglass fiber to it...fills the holes right in and then as you topcoat, it just builds it up.

 

[FJ40|RUNNER]

This was a great post summarizing a lot of what you've previously covered in bits and pieces in your build thread. Solid gold. Thanks!

+1 to this, thanks for all of the help @c2dfj45 ! Will keep everyone posted as things progress.

The center of the rear floor has been replaced with non stock sheet metal, the ribs are a hand fabbed attempt at replicating. No real plan to fix this, although the ribs are unfortunately taller.