Builds spinning the roulette wheel (twice) on a 1996 Middle East HDJ81 at auction

[lp2k]

Yes you will be fine with gates green stripe. Keep those clamps as those are the “constant torque” and superior

here is a pic from Joey website, green and blue is typically just a straight hose cut to length

 

[Broski]

These rubber hoses are pretty hard and have to go.
View attachment 2692319
So do these.
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The only issue I saw was that the truck had been jacked up on the body rather than on the hard points and it has bent the body itself a little. Nothing serious and I'm inclined to let it be. I think the repair would be hard. You can't really see it when the car is on the ground. I wish it had not happened but it is heavy truck and it has been through a lot by now.
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It just looks like you've been rock Crawling, Really that's a shame that happened and you're correct it would be really hard to fix that.
It not going to help resale value in the future either.

 

[Honger]

The only issue I saw was that the truck had been jacked up on the body rather than on the hard points and it has bent the body itself a little. Nothing serious and I'm inclined to let it be. I think the repair would be hard. You can't really see it when the car is on the ground. I wish it had not happened but it is heavy truck and it has been through a lot by now.
View attachment 2692321View attachment 2692315

This is a pretty freakin' big deal John. I'd be pissed. And I'd let the foreman know you're pissed. This, on top of the guys not doing sealant after you told them to.

Being pretty familiar with getting work done in the region, if you aren't firm and don't insist on what you want, you are gonna get the half-assed work you're getting out of these guys. For example, you can't just suggest they clean up the underside while they have it open... tell them to. If they don't get something right, you make them redo it. They have to feel the pain of not doing what you ask... or you're gonna get run over.

It took me a long time, as a generally amiable westerner, to learn that if you aren't a bit grumpy and pushy with work being done for you... you get hosed. The cultural paradigm there is "If he isn't upset with me then he must be happy with what I'm doing". It's not what we are used to, but it is this way for them.

 

[John Young]

I made it up to the warehouse today (focusing on the 70 series), but I did stop in and see how things were looking. The guys have been working on the body mostly. Putting on some fresh undercoat while everything is open. This is the patch where at some point in the past the truck was converted from RHD to LHD. This is on the passenger side firewall just below the aircon pass-through.

View attachment 2695207

As you can see, they have not done anything about the damage from improper lifting. The owner said he will make it right. I will give them time.

 

[John Young]

Finally, here are a couple of photos of what greeted me when I opened up the warehouse today. I thought it was pretty cool.

This is the first time both rolling chassis have been side by side.

That's the Omani diesel 80 in the back there. I got some German non-RTV sealant that I'm going to try on the windshield rubber when I have a buddy there to help with an extra pair of hands.

One thing I did notice on the body was that the rubber grommet for the wiring harness was out or damaged or something.

Fortunately the donor truck has an intact grommet that seems flexible and in good shape.

Maybe I can split it and then glue it in with the fancy German non-RTV adhesive sealant....

 

[John Young]

I suppose I could have seen it if I had looked, but the motor mounts are in different places on the 1991 petrol frame vs the later turbo diesel frame. The guys have dismounted the engine and tranny from the old frame and had to address the motor mount issue.

Cutting the old off:

And the new ones welded on

 

[John Young]

More photos:

And this is where the old ones came off the new (91) frame:

 

[John Young]

So, ok, we've made some more incremental progress. They test fit the engine onto the new frame:

I went ahead and got new motor and trans mount rubber bit. The old ones were fine, but I figured, why not do this now.

Then the next day after the test fit they moved the chassis back over under the body.

I continue to see little things as this job progresses that I probably never would have noticed before. Like this area just below the windshield where they must have cut something out during the RHD to LHD conversion but never properly fixed.

That's the wiper arm shaft at the bottom there.

It will be interesting to see how this all works out in the end. I had to turn in the license plates and the plastic ownership card to the Roads and Transport Authority this week because this truck was badly overdue for re-registration. I could not re-register any of the other vehicles--including my daily driver LX which comes up next month. I'd like to think that we are approaching the top of the hill on this thing.

 

[John Young]

Progress has slowed a bit on the turbo diesel and I decided to focus again on the Omani diesel. Been going up the warehouse daily fiddling with this and that. I was told that the inspectors might ding it if the windshield washer was not working so I focused on that for a bit. The pumps were working but I pulled the reservoir and cleaned everything up under it. Pretty grimy there next to the diesel injection pump. The problem seemed to be in the jets on the hood, so I could have just cleaned them, but I had intended to replace the hood anyways with one I had picked up in Sharjah a couple of weeks ago and decided to swap the hood on now:

The last thing on the list was a non-working horn. I checked the fuse and swapped in a known-good relay and neither of those were the problem. I was getting exhausted in the heat (we still have no electricity) and I asked the foreman to send an electrician over to lend a hand. Benu came by and within 10 minutes had identified the problem: the wiper for the horn ring had worn down to the point where it no longer contacted the ring. Fortunately I had a spare from the parts truck.

You can see that the head is about half the size it should be. I never would have thought a contact would wear like that. And I certainly think it would have taken me a long time to find this. Benu just knew rightaway.

There is a Roads and Transport Authority testing office only two roundabouts away from the warehouse. I could have driven over but I'd heard tails of 2000 AED fines for driving without proper plates. With Oman export plates you are allowed to drive for 30 days I believe but because of COVID this truck had sat since June 2020, so I decided not to chance it and flatbeded it to the RTA.

This RTA testing center is amazingly empty and the staff are very friendly.

And I'm pleased to share that, somewhat surprisingly to me, the darned truck passed inspection! I've sorted out the insurance for it today and will be getting plates this evening.

I need to come up with a name for this truck. The inside is pretty tatty. Cracked dash, door cards trashed, rear barn door a bit dented, but the basics are all there. I think this is going to be a great truck. I'm planning to swap out the seats for something a bit more comfortable. And maybe even get an aftermarket cruise control for the old beast.

 

[John Young]

It amused me to look at the details of the inspection passing report:

If only it had 261hp! Wikipedia says my 1HZ has 129hp and 4.2 liters displacement, not to mention two less cylinders. To RTA's credit they did try to correct.

This also appeared in the inspection report.

 

[Honger]

Fantastic news! A big relief to have one off the import plates I bet.

 

[John Young]

It really was, Honger. You are only meant to have the plates for 30 days so I was concerned that I would end up with problems trying to register. The delay was all about the windshield in combination with my being out of the country and some uncertainty as to whether my power of attorney to the shipping company would work.

Now I'm starting to assess what needs to be done with the truck. I really want to sell off my LX but I need a daily driver. I want to try the Omani diesel out in that role but it needs some TLC before that is possible. Things like door cards, AC service, steering wheel recovering, crack remediation in the dash. That kind of thing. (I don't think I can find a clean dash pad, but I have not really tried yet.) I also want to make some brackets to move the seat up and back about 40cm as others have done. Fortunately there is a metalworking business just two doors down from the warehouse. I'm going to try to design something simple and have them make it. The truck obviously needs painting but that could wait.

 

[John Young]

I got the new plates on the Omani truck last night. Still no electrics in the warehouse. Kind of gloomy working in the heat and dark. Certainly uncomfortable. After a couple hours my vision actually starts blurring and for an hour or more after I get out of the heat everything has a fuzzy halo around it. I am certainly looking forward to having fans and a big evaporative cooler.

 

[Vitek]

This is one my favourite builds on mud. All these rare bits and pieces from the Gulf countries, attention to detail and something new always.
So the Omani diesel is a gx-r? Did not know until now that there was such a trim level, its like a poverty pack with a touch of vx-r features?

 

[John Young]

Hi Vitek, according to a website I read, the EXR is the base trim, GXR is mid-range, and VXR is the top end. I never really thought about it until you mentioned it. The Omani truck has power windows and pretty much everything you'd want. It does not have a sunroof but I did not want one of those anyways.

I have a replacement rear door for the Omani truck but I have not looked to see what trim level it might have. I will take a look tonight.

 

[John Young]

So it turns out that the replacement rear door is also a GX, but a GXM.

My friend Zane thinks the M might be from a Saudi dealership. I've never seen it before.

Got to love the stickers:

We also took the diesel out for a spin on some soft sand near the warehouse.

Zane took his carbureted 80, also white, and we swapped and drove each other's trucks. Very different experience. The diesel, as most of you know, has a lot less 'pep' but it feels like it is on rails and like it could go forever. I really like this truck. 2nd gear synchro may be going, however. Fortunately I have a spare transmission from the donor truck.

 

[John Young]

Here is what the dash looks like in detail:

I think what I am going to do is pull the dash, fill the cracks with perhaps silicone sealant and then cover just the upper part with brown or black camel leather. I have a bunch on-hand. Maybe just to be different I will use some camel leather with the fur still on it. That would be different and very resistant to the sun.

Vitek, you asked about this trim level. Here is one of the main differences from US models and really big plus from my perspective:

I love the simple AC controls. So easy to deal with. And so foolproof!

And it has the little fridge between the front seats too.

As you can see everything is very grubby. Cleaning is high on the agenda.

 

[lp2k]

hey there @John Young, great thread and build to date. Could you ask around and see if you can bring a spare high and low pressure line back for the center fridge?

 

[Honger]

Here is what the dash looks like in detail:
View attachment 2711002
View attachment 2711005
I think what I am going to do is pull the dash, fill the cracks with perhaps silicone sealant and then cover just the upper part with brown or black camel leather. I have a bunch on-hand. Maybe just to be different I will use some camel leather with the fur still on it. That would be different and very resistant to the sun.

Vitek, you asked about this trim level. Here is one of the main differences from US models and really big plus from my perspective:
View attachment 2711008
I love the simple AC controls. So easy to deal with. And so foolproof!

And it has the little fridge between the front seats too.
View attachment 2711023
As you can see everything is very grubby. Cleaning is high on the agenda.

Does your fridge still have the ice trays?

I really miss my GCC Spec 80-series.

 

[John Young]

Does your fridge still have the ice trays?

No. I've never actually seen even what they look like. Also, honestly, I have my doubts as to whether that fridge would make ice. Our 80 in Florida does cool drinks, but freeze ice? Not so sure. And the AC works well in the truck.