Builds The "Red Rocket" Troopy

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COOL! more battle scars
now its definitely yours 🤣
The old self clearancing oil pan trick
 
Well about 4 days ago I used up around the last of my luck I believe. Was driving down the beach to go have a fire with all my friends before we parted ways back to all our different colleges. I drove down this beach 2 days prior and there was nothing there prior. Well I'm cruising down the beach at about 20mph, pitch black, I see a little lump in front of me but didn't think much of it cause there are lumps all down the beach.

WELL turns out it wasn't little!!! a 4-5ft cliff had formed somehow, never see anything like it on this beach before. Well the tires didnt make contact from the moment they left the edge of the cliff to the sand below for a whole 10ft!!! A massive amount of air. Got launched into my ceiling so hard that my head hit, then bent out of the way and my shoulder hit it. Immediately got out and looked underneath and was absolutely amazed it wasn't pissing oil out from the pan. Then I saw the DENT

a nicely sized differential sized chunk has now been imprinted into my oil pan
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I think I am too... like you said, not the worst thing. I don't know if anyone would buy this thing now lol, body damage, a roof riddled with rust... well pretty much the whole body, a very crude engine swap. Definitely the most "South American" troopy that isn't actually from south america. Yet it's known all across America, it has and will continue to connect me to great people I wouldn't know otherwise. It's amazing how many opportunities have opened up for me just cause of a car. Glad you and everyone else have enjoyed it, without this thread and the community behind it I would have had nowhere near the drive to have been able to finish the swap, let alone all the wisdom and knowledge offered to me


Very true! Something that I doubt has been done by anyone our age and with this kinda vehicle and something that will probably never be done again due to the 3B becoming more and more obsolete every passing day... also what other group of fresh highschool graduates had a 3B powered troopy at their disposal to travel across America with? haha Appreciate all the kind words. It still has so much more work until it's where I want it, but slowly every day its getting closer

Now that's COOL!

An entirely different time, all I hear just makes me more and more jealous of having a diesel pup

So you mean your LC 70 series survived the abuse of falling into this hole in the dark with little to any damage that leaves you stranded?................I think that is the difference between 70 series LC and all other SUV's. They are built heavy enough to withstand some abuse/mishaps without breaking.
 
Eligible to wear the 'Takes you there and brings you back' T-Shirt now. 😆
Apparently you were lucky and it hit the pan only, not the sealing edge or engine block?
There might be little metal left, so better get a new pan or thisone welded up.
You also might want to check your engine- and gearbox-mounts and battery.
Cheers Ralf
 
Back home for a month for winter break. Hope to do some welding on the troopy, rockers and floor need repair. Then in the future the roof and windshield will go under major surgery...
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COOL! more battle scars
now its definitely yours 🤣
The old self clearancing oil pan trick
You could definitely call it a battle scar.... every time I go to start it I look and see if for some reason its started leaking, 2 weeks later now I think I'm in the clear
So you mean your LC 70 series survived the abuse of falling into this hole in the dark with little to any damage that leaves you stranded?................I think that is the difference between 70 series LC and all other SUV's. They are built heavy enough to withstand some abuse/mishaps without breaking.
Yup 100%, I mean the drivetrain, axles, everything withstood a MASSIVE jump and I can't tell a difference, steering wheel is still straight, no funky new vibrations or anything. It maxxed out the suspension on the front passenger side so much that my tire self clearance the inner wheel well!!!
Eligible to wear the 'Takes you there and brings you back' T-Shirt now. 😆
Apparently you were lucky and it hit the pan only, not the sealing edge or engine block?
There might be little metal left, so better get a new pan or thisone welded up.
You also might want to check your engine- and gearbox-mounts and battery.
Cheers Ralf
The engine block got skewered some right where it mates to the pan... Like I said hopefully I don't have to ever drop that pan. Don't even want to start to try and weld cast iron, or covered a 6in radius in everything with RTV praying it won't leak. Checked all mounts, bolts, suspension components and everything was tight luckily and still is. Appreciate the advice

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Back in Boone its getting COLDDDDD. Something that has never happened in the past but has started this year is my handbrake freezes overnight now. If I leave it pulled it wont release in the morning and I cant drive anywhere, and if I leave it off I cant engage it till the outside temps heat up. Any idea what I can do or oil to prevent this? I also thought my transmission blew up 3 morning ago on the way to my welding final exam...

Turns out it was coming from my speedometer cable! I'm assuming it had frozen aswell cause as it warmed up it went away. Anyone dealt with this or know how to fix that? Take the cable off and shoot oil down into it?

and a little cold start video for y'all
 
My handbrake also freezes. I recently refurbished painted greased the bell cranks, where the brake cables end. They also have new rubber boots. I am hoping the problem will be solved. I’ll know more once I get new batteries so I can start the damned thing.
 
My ebrake froze a couple of times as well. Slushy snow gets on and melting. Then freezes overnight…stuck brake cable.

I’m guessing some sort of oil/water displacement would solve that. It’s only happened twice in 5 years so Ive successfully done nothing about it.

As for the speedometer, I believe you can take the actual cable out of the sheath and
Clean it. It might just be some old cold grease at the back of the cluster housing connection.

As for the oil pan, good thing is you can always buy another used or new. They have like 4 different styles of oil pan for the 4bd1t.

Photos are awesome. I did a little filter fun.


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And of course being a child of the 80s/90s I couldn’t resist.

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Slushy snow gets on and melting. Then freezes overnight…stuck brake cable.
This. I’ve learned not to use the parking brake if I’ve driven through slushy snow and I know the temperatures will drop overnight.
As for the speedometer
Might be the driven gear in the instrument cluster instead of the cable. Same idea though. Cold dirty grease doesn’t lubricate very well.
 
My handbrake cable froze up badly back in October when we had a week of single digit temperatures. When it finally thawed out I soaked the end of the cable in WD40 (where the cable exits the housing on the axle). It hasn’t happened since. I think water got up into the cable housing and froze, the WD40 has done what it is supposed to and kept water out.

Speedometer cable would be my guess, mine kicked up an awful racket last winter and I tried getting both graphite powder and light machine oil down it to no effect. It finally broke and I replaced the cable.
 
If you can get the speedometer cable new, I feel it easiest to replace it than try to lubricate the old one.

Mine was screeching shortly after I got the HZJ77 and ended up replacing it. I don’t think it can even be serviced to be honest.
 
If you can get the speedometer cable new, I feel it easiest to replace it than try to lubricate the old one.

Mine was screeching shortly after I got the HZJ77 and ended up replacing it. I don’t think it can even be serviced to be honest.
Speedo cable screeching sounds horrible. My BJ73 did this on the way back from uwharrie once . Shortly after needle started bouncing and it broke....I ended up with a cheap GPS speedo for simplicity/expedience.

Good job on lubing the brake cables. Explore that futher in combination with 1. don't engage the Ebrake if you aren't on a hill, aren't parked with the engine running, don't park you truck with small kids climbing around inside. 2. Get a chock block for many situations. ..................If you use the brake all the time it will stretch the cable and won't work when you need it.
 
Back home for a month for winter break. Hope to do some welding on the troopy, rockers and floor need repair. Then in the future the roof and windshield will go under major surgery...
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You could definitely call it a battle scar.... every time I go to start it I look and see if for some reason its started leaking, 2 weeks later now I think I'm in the clear

Yup 100%, I mean the drivetrain, axles, everything withstood a MASSIVE jump and I can't tell a difference, steering wheel is still straight, no funky new vibrations or anything. It maxxed out the suspension on the front passenger side so much that my tire self clearance the inner wheel well!!!

The engine block got skewered some right where it mates to the pan... Like I said hopefully I don't have to ever drop that pan. Don't even want to start to try and weld cast iron, or covered a 6in radius in everything with RTV praying it won't leak. Checked all mounts, bolts, suspension components and everything was tight luckily and still is. Appreciate the advice

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Back in Boone its getting COLDDDDD. Something that has never happened in the past but has started this year is my handbrake freezes overnight now. If I leave it pulled it wont release in the morning and I cant drive anywhere, and if I leave it off I cant engage it till the outside temps heat up. Any idea what I can do or oil to prevent this? I also thought my transmission blew up 3 morning ago on the way to my welding final exam...

Turns out it was coming from my speedometer cable! I'm assuming it had frozen aswell cause as it warmed up it went away. Anyone dealt with this or know how to fix that? Take the cable off and shoot oil down into it?

and a little cold start video for y'all

Yup, that's exactly what my speedometer cable sounds like too! :D On my list this winter while the cruiser is hibernating.
 
my handbrake freezes overnight now. If I leave it pulled it wont release in the morning and I cant drive anywhere, and if I leave it off I cant engage it till the outside temps heat up. Any idea what I can do or oil to prevent this?
I should have added that I bought a new brake cable but that did not fix the freeze. Pounding the bell cranks with a plastic mallet helped some, psychologically and automotively.
 
Thank you everyone for the advice! I've been using my trip meter and fill up every 400kms, if that breaks then I'm kinda screwed. Guess I'll get a partsouq order together and replace my sending unit and speedo cable at the same time. I'll lube up the brake cables

Buddy of mine picked up a very mint VW Rabbit with a 1.6 diesel. He's knowledgeable when it comes to cars but has never owned a diesel. Gave him a run down and he loves it
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Thank you everyone for the advice! I've been using my trip meter and fill up every 400kms, if that breaks then I'm kinda screwed. Guess I'll get a partsouq order together and replace my sending unit and speedo cable at the same time. I'll lube up the brake cables

Buddy of mine picked up a very mint VW Rabbit with a 1.6 diesel. He's knowledgeable when it comes to cars but has never owned a diesel. Gave him a run down and he loves it
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Oh, he got a fancy one, Rabbit LS, mines just an L.
 
Thank you everyone for the advice! I've been using my trip meter and fill up every 400kms, if that breaks then I'm kinda screwed. Guess I'll get a partsouq order together and replace my sending unit and speedo cable at the same time. I'll lube up the brake cables

Buddy of mine picked up a very mint VW Rabbit with a 1.6 diesel. He's knowledgeable when it comes to cars but has never owned a diesel. Gave him a run down and he loves it
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I had a rabbit like that and blew up my engine due to excessive sludge in the pan/motor that caused the dipstick to read full even though the oil was low. Mine was in really nice shape and got 53mpg prior to locking up. Paid $1500 for it drove it about 6 months and had a guy drive all the way from Pennsylvania to NC with a trailer to pick it up for $800 with a locked up engine..............Serious motor flush and be worried if the oil light and dipstick conflict.
 
Thank you everyone for the advice! I've been using my trip meter and fill up every 400kms, if that breaks then I'm kinda screwed. Guess I'll get a partsouq order together and replace my sending unit and speedo cable at the same time. I'll lube up the brake cables

Buddy of mine picked up a very mint VW Rabbit with a 1.6 diesel. He's knowledgeable when it comes to cars but has never owned a diesel. Gave him a run down and he loves it
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Make it green and that was my first car. I wish I still had it, but Hurricane Hugo wanted it more and filled it up the door handles with salt water. There was a fish on the passenger seat after the storm and pluff mud covered the interior. I bought it back from the insurance company after it was totaled and the thing started right up; ran for about a year with no issues then decided it had enough of going through Charleston tide.
 

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