Builds The "Red Rocket" Troopy (6 Viewers)

[bcsteel]

1989 Toyota Landcruiser BJ74 13BT - cars & trucks - by owner

1989 Toyota Landcruiser BJ74 13BT RHD Japanese import, original owner since import in 2007. Mileage 184,000 KMs The good: Factory front and rear cable diff locks. Manual Hubs 5 Speed manual...

vancouver.craigslist.org

How about a rusty bj74 with cable lockers. Take what you want and part the rest out. Pretty far, not convenient and expensive. Also maybe not the right engine choice. But there it is.

 

[nuclearbeef]

I tend to agree with this. I’ve had both driving experiences with different 3B’s in apparently good condition. . I think your 3B in non-turbo form was one of the doggies. My 3B troopy was slow uphill, but nothing like what you’ve described for yours. Mine would easily pull an 8% grade in 3rd at 40-45mph. That’s steeper than you’ll find on any Interstate hiway. A 5-6% grade was easy in 4th at 50-55mph. Not lightning speed, of course, but it always got me where I was going. The 3BII that was in the troopy @umpqua has maybe even drove a little stronger.

My $.02: if the 3B offered above is in a car you can drive, try it out. It might surprise you. It’ll never be a 1HD-FTE, but it might be good enough. All normal due diligence applies: get a compression test, maybe pull the pan and inspect, check service records, etc. if it checks out, drop it in. It should get you through your trip and it’s a
super easy swap—you’re on the road in a weekend.

Later, if you decide you can’t stand the slow lane anymore, you can always sell it and buy something else. A good running 3B will always be a good swap into somebody’s 40, and, as you’ve seen, it’s not too difficult to pull.

Just some bored thoughts at work this morning.

I can't really tell much difference in my 3B Pig with the turbo and my N/A 3B Troopy, performance wise.
Even though I suspect the Troopy to be heavier than the Pig.

 

[robmobile73]

3b in Memphis sounds like the best way to be able to enjoy your troopy this summer. Perhaps you could take your pit crew to pull it and make a mini trip to Memphis.

Congrats on that head gasket seal I really wish I would have known about that stuff when I own my Subaru.

I had a 2f with three speed in my fj40. Plenty of power and reliability even at interstate speeds. I had 33x12.50s on my 40 I had up to 85 mph once. I got as much as 16 on the highway driving conservatively but that was when gasoline was gasoline only...... That old 2f if it's been sitting for a long time might start leaking everywhere once you try to start driving it or it might not flip a coin. You might find other problems or you might not. If you get creative you can make that swap relatively quickly, but many things you do in the imperfect solution will fail at some point. I don't think you'll get it all straight enough fast enough to make your trip if you go that route. I do think you could do it in time to go back to school.

P.m. sent

 

[nuclearbeef]

Reality check from the hive mind, please...

I've offered to sell @theglobb the 3B out of my '87 Troopy and I want to make sure I'm giving him a good deal because:

1) Cruiser Karma
b) I'm making him come pull it himself
III) I want to see the Red Rocket back on the road so I can live vicariously through this thread

What I know:

24v Euro 3B Troopy.
Odometer says 390k kms.
Seems to run good, though I've only driven it about 20 miles.
No major leaks. (none bad enough to drip onto the driveway)
No water in oil or oil in water.
Tried to do a compression test, but my Harbor Freight tester quit after 2 cylinders.

I gave him a price of $1500.
What do you think?

 

[theglobb]

Reality check from the hive mind, please...

I've offered to sell @theglobb the 3B out of my '87 Troopy and I want to make sure I'm giving him a good deal because:

1) Cruiser Karma
b) I'm making him come pull it himself
III) I want to see the Red Rocket back on the road so I can live vicariously through this thread

What I know:

24v Euro 3B Troopy.
Odometer says 390k kms.
Seems to run good, though I've only driven it about 20 miles.
No major leaks. (none bad enough to drip onto the driveway)
No water in oil or oil in water.
Tried to do a compression test, but my Harbor Freight tester quit after 2 cylinders.

I gave him a price of $1500.
What do you think?

View attachment 3036857View attachment 3036858

I’m thinking to go this route. I’m thinking while I have this engine out to replace the rear main seal, upgraded head gasket, and swap over my injectors, water pump, and injection pump as these were all replaced on my 3B within the past 2 years/60,000 miles. Any other seals/gaskets I should replace while I have the engine out that I’m forgetting? I also think $1500 is a pretty good deal. Literally half as much as the next cheapest 3B I’ve been offered. I’ll be $1900-2000 into it with gas put into it all. VS 3K plus shipping/gas prices included. Love being open about pretty much everything on this thread when it comes to the cruisers.

 

[SNLC]

I had them look at my 74 when I still lived in Maryland. They seem smart but gave me an "inspection" found some minor things which I figured. I was giving them the benefit of the doubt. I had read all the reviews. The owners rebuttal etc... Tried to line up having them do a little work but could never get them to get back to me. Right there they lost my business. I'd tried to contact them a few times too. Shop was nice. Working on some cool rigs. Couldn't quite figure out he didn't want to help someone local with money to spend.

Not defending LCH.

We can’t take on more work in my shop. Had you asked us I would have said no for that reason alone.

Cheers

 

[OGBeno]

Super fair. Very fair.

Giddy up.

 

[cruiserdan]

Super fair. Very fair.

Giddy up.

Agreed...to a point.
ANY money you spend on ANYTHING other than a proper permanent re-power is money flushed directly down the toilet. I'd much rather fix it right once than multiple times half-assed.

One old man's biased opinion. Please disregard as necessary.

 

[cahill]

Not too bad of an option when you think it through....it would be hard to find another vehicle for $2000 while waiting to get a better engine transplant. Granted you could probably sell the other vehicle easier than selling the 3B when you finally can get the engine you want, but who knows how long that will be before you have the funds and find the engine. You already know your vehicle as well and while you don't know the engine you are buying, you are familiar already with the 3B. Ideally you would be able to put the 2000 towards the engine you want like @cruiserdan suggests but you are down an engine and need something to get around. It is an unfortunate loss but this option seems like a viable one. You know your situation best and have a lot of good advice and support from the guys here.

 

[lacalvette]

I’m thinking to go this route. I’m thinking while I have this engine out to replace the rear main seal, upgraded head gasket, and swap over my injectors, water pump, and injection pump as these were all replaced on my 3B within the past 2 years/60,000 miles. Any other seals/gaskets I should replace while I have the engine out that I’m forgetting? I also think $1500 is a pretty good deal. Literally half as much as the next cheapest 3B I’ve been offered. I’ll be $1900-2000 into it with gas put into it all. VS 3K plus shipping/gas prices included. Love being open about pretty much everything on this thread when it comes to the cruisers.

If you remove the head, inspect it carefully. The precups will probably shows cracks. They are pièces subject to fail if they are not changed after a while. Some says 100km intervals.

May find cracks between valves.

When valve lash are not adjusted, some rockers arms wear. The tip which came in contact with valve stem are locally hardened.you can sand it a little bit to retrieve a smooth surface (I used a die grinder with sand paper). A good time to change the valve seal too.
You can poor diesel on the valvés side to see if the valve seat tight.

Rear main seal is easy, h55f input shaft seal too. 3B front crank seal not too easy, if the cover is not full of gunk, should be fine.

 

[JuanJ]

Agreed...to a point.
ANY money you spend on ANYTHING other than a proper permanent re-power is money flushed directly down the toilet. I'd much rather fix it right once than multiple times half-assed.

One old man's biased opinion. Please disregard as necessary.

Hello,

I agree.

Today's apparent savings always become tomorrow's heavy spending.






Juan

 

[robmobile73]

If it runs and drives with no obvious major issue that's a good fair deal. You and your buddies doing it yourselves can get it back in fairly quick. The Toyota head gaskets come in 2 different part numbers, I think one is a bit thicker. Don't buy the cheap head gaskets. On my Toyota head gasket there is steel over the pre-cup except the hole so that will hold it in unless it cracks into really small pieces. Lapping in valves is very easy if your not sealing well. Cordless drill, valve compound, and get the spring compressor as a loaner tool from O'Reilly auto parts. 30 minute job tops if your head is already off for inspection.

 

[theglobb]

Agreed...to a point.
ANY money you spend on ANYTHING other than a proper permanent re-power is money flushed directly down the toilet. I'd much rather fix it right once than multiple times half-assed.

One old man's biased opinion. Please disregard as necessary.

I fully agree with this. You are correct. I'm just really not in the place financially to go with anything that would be a more permanent swap. I'm getting this engine for 1/6 of the price that a 1HDft swap would be, or 1/4 of the price a decent 13BT swap would be... I'm already used to how SLOW my troopy was and hey, apparently mine was a pretty poor example of a 3B, this one could be better. Obviously, I'm not expecting a major performance difference but @gilmorneau was able to go up mountain passes in his troopy in 3rd to 4th gear at 5,000ft while I was stuck doing the same grade hills in 2nd and sometimes 1st gear. This 3B is also in a troopy currently, I'll be able to drive it, see how it does, and then pull it out after.

Not too bad of an option when you think it through....it would be hard to find another vehicle for $2000 while waiting to get a better engine transplant. Granted you could probably sell the other vehicle easier than selling the 3B when you finally can get the engine you want, but who knows how long that will be before you have the funds and find the engine. You already know your vehicle as well and while you don't know the engine you are buying, you are familiar already with the 3B. Ideally you would be able to put the 2000 towards the engine you want like @cruiserdan suggests but you are down an engine and need something to get around. It is an unfortunate loss but this option seems like a viable one. You know your situation best and have a lot of good advice and support from the guys here.

Yea, I'm worried any vehicle I get for 2k or a bit more right now would need more work in the next week or months to come, thus making it 3k or even 4k, who knows. I might be able to get 1K back between parting out both of the 3B's I'd own at this point.

If you remove the head, inspect it carefully. The precups will probably shows cracks. They are pièces subject to fail if they are not changed after a while. Some says 100km intervals.

May find cracks between valves.

When valve lash are not adjusted, some rockers arms wear. The tip which came in contact with valve stem are locally hardened.you can sand it a little bit to retrieve a smooth surface (I used a die grinder with sand paper). A good time to change the valve seal too.
You can poor diesel on the valvés side to see if the valve seat tight.

Rear main seal is easy, h55f input shaft seal too. 3B front crank seal not too easy, if the cover is not full of gunk, should be fine.

Yea, planning on replacing precups as well. If anything is majorly wrong, I might have the opportunity to swap over bits from my old 3B's head/upper end as it was replaced 60k miles ago. Thanks for all the advice/info.

If it runs and drives with no obvious major issue that's a good fair deal. You and your buddies doing it yourselves can get it back in fairly quick. The Toyota head gaskets come in 2 different part numbers, I think one is a bit thicker. Don't buy the cheap head gaskets. On my Toyota head gasket there is steel over the pre-cup except the hole so that will hold it in unless it cracks into really small pieces. Lapping in valves is very easy if your not sealing well. Cordless drill, valve compound, and get the spring compressor as a loaner tool from O'Reilly auto parts. 30 minute job tops if your head is already off for inspection.

I won't cheap out on the HG, or anything else relatively. I'll PM you for more advice/tips on valve stuff if they are looking like they need it.


Basically, I just don't want every bit of my income, as a full-time student and a half-time job, for the next 12 months of my life to go to putting in a forever engine. I planned on tackling that later down the road when I was a bit more financially stable. For 1/4 or 1/6 of the price of a really really nice engine going in there, before the Montana road trip possibly and in time for me to take to college is just a good deal. My other part-time gig at college relies on the troopy as an Uber that I can make up to $500 in 10 hours of driving, per weekend. The amount of college kids I can cram in the back is 2-3x as much as most other cars. This all being said, I love seeing all points of view people have on it, please keep them coming.

@LuckyDevil was kind enough to offer his CEMENT garage to use to put the engine back into, such a major help. Trying to move that engine hoist around in the dirt was such a pain, would have never been able to put it back in in the dirt without a lot of struggle.

 

[gilmorneau]

For only $30 or so, you could get another Harbor Freight compression tester and do the other two cylinders before you take it all apart. It would be good to know.

If you don't already have a FSM, you'll probably want to get one to do everything "by the book".

Get your cooling system in top shape.

Get proper gauges for oil pressure and coolant temp. if you don't already have them.

Maybe don't turbo the new motor? Just sayin'

I think done right, you should be able to get a few years out of it. At the price, it's a cheap few years.

PM me with your address and I'll mail you one ea. 90363-12002 pilot bearing, 17172-56012 intake gasket, and 16343-56023 water outlet gasket. All for free, you don't even have to pay postage. It's not much, but you'll probably need all three and I don't have any 3B's in my immediate future. It's pretty much all I've got that's 3B related.

 

[OGBeno]

Dude. Buy the 3B, install it, limp it along for another few years till you are a gainfully employed denizen of the capitalist economy and then when you make your money, before you have kids and all of that other bull****, you can do an engine swap to a better engine.

Teeth to the wind.

 

[theglobb]

Dude. Buy the 3B, install it, limp it along for another few years till you are a gainfully employed denizen of the capitalist economy and then when you make your money, before you have kids and all of that other bulls***, you can do an engine swap to a better engine.

Teeth to the wind.

That's the plan! Leaving Tuesday morning, getting there that night, pulling the engine in a day and hopefully will be back Thursday night.

Maybe don't turbo the new motor? Just sayin'

I think done right, you should be able to get a few years out of it. At the price, it's a cheap few years.

PM me with your address and I'll mail you one ea. 90363-12002 pilot bearing, 17172-56012 intake gasket, and 16343-56023 water outlet gasket. All for free, you don't even have to pay postage. It's not much, but you'll probably need all three and I don't have any 3B's in my immediate future. It's pretty much all I've got that's 3B related.

I'm gonna see how much better this troopy drives, if its a dog just like mine then I will probably end up turboing it, maybe just for the trip. and if it surprisingly has some get up and go compared to my old engine then I'll be MORE than happy to not turbo it. Thank you man, this is why I love this community. So many people have offered help to me in the past week alone in so many different ways, so to everyone out there, thank y'all truly.

 

[iliketrucks]

Im running stock fueling with a 5 psi boost wastegate spring on my 2B. There's a particular hill that I used to slowly lose speed on, and now I can slowly gain speed! It aint much, but if you're worried about it like I am you can always take it easy while still getting some gains.

 

[robmobile73]

Take a few hours to see memphis if you can. I hope all works out well. If something breaks down or you need help near florence SC, I'm about 1:15 away. Good luck.

 

[LuckyDevil]

Not defending LCH.

We can’t take on more work in my shop. Had you asked us I would have said no for that reason alone.

Cheers

I'm definitely not saying land cruiser heaven is bad. But at least telling me no is better than no response or communication at all. Then I get a few texts, probably auto generated thanking me for their business and if I ever need anything to contact them.
Back to the red rocket Happy birthday theglobb!!! My garage is totally open for you when/if you get the 3b. Plenty of room for you and your friends to do the install. It'd be honored!!! I have a compression tester you can borrow as well.

 

[Rigster]

I am enjoying this thread simply to see the cruiser family come together to help out 'the globb' and his troopy. Nice to see, and I am sure the globb appreciates it too! Glad to see you have made a decision and are working to a solution. For the price, I would likely do the same in your shoes. I say this to myself as much as to you, but try to enjoy the journey, arduous as it is.