Builds The "Red Rocket" Troopy (2 Viewers)

[theglobb]

The switch looks OEM . I know several European spec BJ45 , with 24 volts that have a similar switch .

Oops, I think I worded what I said wrong, by the switch I meant this switch in my dad's 1993 KZJ78's console that controlled the fog lights before I took them out

It looks very OEM to me which is what led me to think the Bosch fog lights might have been OEM as well. As for the chrome switch in my Troopy, we are using that right now as an on and off switch for the power converter.

In my humble opinion , a 24v-12v converter is not a good decision . It will cause a charge imbalance to both your batteries in a relatively short amount of time , and you will have to buy both of them .

Really? Does this still apply for when the power converter is turned off with the switch I mentioned above? Either way thanks for the info, I'll happily hear anything that will save me from damaging my car or causing me to waste money that I'm unaware of.

 

[Owyhee Jackass]

The converter won't kill your batteries. It's just another 24V load on your electrical system. Pulls 24v and converts to a 12v output.

 

[Bogan]

No way! First @Bogan who grew up here and now you who have ties back to Wilmington. Small world. I'm a senior at Hanover right now, but my mom went to Hoggard and graduated in 1985. Maybe they knew each other, it's a small smallllll world.

Laney here. Class of 1999.

 

[theglobb]

Did scheduled maintenance as usual: oil, transmission, transfer case, etc. I regularly grease any grease fittings on the troopy, minus the driveshaft U-joints. I have no clue if it's just a coincidence, but after greasing my front and rear driveshafts the popping in my steering is gone... for now. I have no clue how this would significantly change anything in my steering to make it pop but I'm CERTAINLY not complaining. That being said my steering box was leaking alotttttt when I first got the troopy and I couldn't see any fluid in it, it's probably not in the best shape and there is some definite free play. My steering has just never felt solid and it isn't helped by my steering wheels vinyl (or whatever material it is) separating from the metal inside it giving the illusion that there's something majorly wrong with the steering. However, I'm not going to put funds into that right now as they are all being saved up for a turbo, unless something major fails.
Anyways I was pleased with how well the oil in the transmission and t-case looked

Also found some photos of an oil change in July where I was impatient to change it so I didn't let the oil cool at all... and I had just switched to synthetic. It FLEW out from the engine all over me haha, I was stained black for a couple days and was surprised I didn't even have any traces of burns at all. IT WAS HOTTTTT

 

[Gun Runner 5]

That builds character once the burning sensation stops.

 

[theglobb]

Also as for additives: I put 1/4's of a Mountain Dew bottle full of Diesel Kleen every fill-up, I use 1qt of Lucas Oil Stabilizer in every oil change, 1 bottle of Engine Restore every 4 oil changes, and AT-502 Re-Seal once every two oil changes.
I also put some Lucas Oil Stabilizer & AT-502 Re-Seal in my transmission and transfer case. There's a lot of snake oil out there that does nothing but there are loads of videos and write-ups out there with the success of these products. I had a massive power steering leak in my 62, I'd top it off in the morning and it would be gone by the end of the day. I put some 502 Re-Seal in there and almost instantly it stopped leaking entirely. So anything I can do to prolong the rear main seal, that seal between the t-case and transmission, and just the overall life of any component in my car, I'll put in. Just read a bit online about them and watch a couple of youtube videos if you aren't sold. Also if anyone uses any other additives that they swear by, I'll be glad to hear about them!

This video by Project Farm sold me on engine restore, he has many other great videos too.

 

[theglobb]

A photographer with a local clothing company wanted to cover my dad and I's Land Cruiser obsession in their blog. (no clue why a clothing company has a blog) Anyways, I told him to stop on by while I was doing regular maintenance and the photos came out pretty great! It's odd not to be the one behind the camera for once but it's pretty cool to have nice photos of me working on my car for once I get older to look back on.

A bit of oil on the fingers never hurt

Messing with the oil filter...

Pouring some liquid gold into my Diet Pepsi funnel

And here's my favorite shot with the 55 in the back

Honestly, the filter he used to edit the pics isn't my favorite, I think he was trying to give it a film look? Either way, I still really like them

 

[theglobb]

A few more pics that don't include the Red Rocket...

This might be my 2nd favorite one

Like I said, a little bit of oil never hurt

My dad and I in front of our very professional $100 Harbor Freight tent setup

There lies the 1970 something Chevy 350 that, in combination with extreme abuse, has blown up the 3-Speed twice now...

And finally, my dad's greenhouse where he produces 100% natural sea salt. PM me if you want any! It's VERY salty.

 

[Gun Runner 5]

Do you at least get some free clothes?

 

[theglobb]

Do you at least get some free clothes?

Yep! One free whatever I want on their website, it's all just vineyard vines ripoff kinda so not really my type of clothing to wear lol

 

[theglobb]

My friend's 1987 4Runner got a fresh coat of paint, so to celebrate we went out for a sunset beach cruise The popping noise from somewhere in my suspension has been gone for 2 weeks now ever since I greased the driveshaft, soooooooo I guess that was the problem... I hope.

 

[theglobb]

Well I opened up my door yesterday after it had been raining, looked down, and saw that the Red Rocket has now become a submarine.

A solid 3/4 in. of water was just chilling under my floormats. Now I have to chase down this leak before it starts to give the inside of the troopy a bunch of cancer, or accelerates it...

The good news though is that I got that pyrometer installed and I'm quite pleased with my 400-600f around town, and have only been able to hit a max of 750f on the beach. I have it where my water temp gauge was but that broke 2 months ago, (around 8 months after install) I was kinda upset because I have heard some pretty good things about Autometer, I guess Jamie (PO) was unlucky and ended up getting a lemon installed.

There it lies next to the water temp gauge and my PA, I need to find a place to mount the PA but for now I can still use it for its intended purpose (verbally harassing squatted truck drivers)

 

[theglobb]

Now for the pretty, I took it out on a beach drive with my dad in his KZJ78 and got some pretty good shots of it all. It still doesn't fully register with me sometimes that I'm lucky enough to be driving 2 beautiful imported Land Cruisers around in America. Gotta love it!

 

[nuclearbeef]

I had the same leak. Water in both floorboards every time it rained.

I took some clear silicone caulk and lifted up the outside edge of the windshield gasket and put a small bead underneath.
When the gasket laid back down it squished a bit of the caulk out, so I ran a finger over it to improve the seal and remove the excess.
It hasn't leaked since and that's been over a year ago.

I plan on a more permanent fix later that involves rust repair, a paint job and a new windshield gasket.

 

[theglobb]

I had the same leak. Water in both floorboards every time it rained.

I took some clear silicone caulk and lifted up the outside edge of the windshield gasket and put a small bead underneath.
When the gasket laid back down it squished a bit of the caulk out, so I ran a finger over it to improve the seal and remove the excess.
It hasn't leaked since and that's been over a year ago.

I plan on a more permanent fix later that involves rust repair, a paint job and a new windshield gasket.

We had done the same thing to it around 3 months ago, it did something but definitely not much of an improvement. We were able to track the leak down to the hood latch scoops.

It would practically pour into the cab when we put water directly on or in them...

I'm guessing after the 30+ years of water going into there, something we can't see on each side has rusted out, leading it to pour into the cab. So instead of spending days taking apart the dash and everything with that just trying to get a clear line to the firewall on each side, we just decided to pump it full of caulk as you can see below

Now obviously this isn't a lifetime fix or the "correct" way to do it but hey, it works. The only problem is that we totally blanked on looking at the radar and it has rained for about a week and a half straight the day after we applied it, so it never got to cure, so it has now become a weird melted mess and there's a hole in the bottom again. All we will have to do is re-caulk it once everything dries up. HOPEFULLY, this will stop the leak entirely once we can get everything solid again.

 

[theglobb]

And as usual, here's some more pics of the past 2 weeks with the Red Rocket (the only 2 days it wasn't pouring down rain) It's coming up on its first year of ownership with me next month, time really does fly.

It rides like a Mercedes with all this weight in the back!

 

[theglobb]

Well the water is too cold to go tubing, but it had been so nice out recently that my friends and I figured we would just go sand tubing instead haha. Here’s a short video since the photos don’t do it justice (gasmask is to prevent the sand being flung up from blinding us)

 

[FJBen]

I think I'm more amazed you got the 3B going that fast on the sand!



Seriously though, that is exactly the same stuff my younger self and friends still used to do.

 

[theglobb]

I think I'm more amazed you got the 3B going that fast on the sand!



Seriously though, that is exactly the same stuff my younger self and friends still used to do.

Oh trust me I was too, the EGT’s were as high as I’ve ever been able to get them at 900f for a bit of time, totally worth it though. I’m so glad we have the opportunity to do this though, very lucky.

 

[theglobb]

Decided to play around in the mud some more... well it was actually just clay, with the consistency of peanut butter. This caused the KO2's to become drag slicks, even more so than how they usually are in mud. The only complaint I see with them online is that they just aren't good in mud, and I can very much confirm that again. However, getting stuck and the recovery is half the fun for us. And they still did do a decent job in the rest of the mud, just not the clay haha.

I'm also definitely adding a "Lunchbox Locker" to the list of wants for the troopy as a cheap way to have a locking differential, would've been so helpful to have locking diffs haha. We also found a fully inflated spare tire on the track and decided to use that to raise my recovery point angle, since the one on my bullbar was so high that it was just digging the Red Rocket further into the clay, and it actually worked!

Prior to the tire it wouldn't budge haha.