Builds The "Red Rocket" Troopy (4 Viewers)

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How much shaft play is on that turbo?

If I had to venture a guess, it would probably be an exhaust gasket, either on the turbo or the manifold to block gasket.
Not too much from what I understand, here's a video from a month ago. Might get a bunch of exhaust gasket maker, take everything apart, and just smear it over everything to see if the noise goes away.
 
hopefully you just have an exhaust or intake leak somewhere.
if you find you have shaft play and blades are wobbling and collide with the turbo housing,.....Turbo rebuild kit for tdo4 is about $40 on either eBay or Amazon. I've done it twice now on two different turbos. Takes about 15 minutes once you get the turbo off. ..... A better route is to spend about $120 on eBay for a new tdo4
 
hopefully you just have an exhaust or intake leak somewhere.
if you find you have shaft play and blades are wobbling and collide with the turbo housing,.....Turbo rebuild kit for tdo4 is about $40 on either eBay or Amazon. I've done it twice now on two different turbos. Takes about 15 minutes once you get the turbo off. ..... A better route is to spend about $120 on eBay for a new tdo4
already got a turbo rebuild kit to be prepared whenever the turbo decided to off itself. Hoping its not but worst scenario I have to rebuild it and then get a shop to balance it.
 
Not too much from what I understand, here's a video from a month ago. Might get a bunch of exhaust gasket maker, take everything apart, and just smear it over everything to see if the noise goes away.



Doesn't look too bad, as long as it's not touching. The tea kettle whistle is usually a leak, most likely exhaust. maybe the exhaust manifold isn't square or the gasket isnt good.
 
Doesn't look too bad, as long as it's not touching. The tea kettle whistle is usually a leak, most likely exhaust. maybe the exhaust manifold isn't square or the gasket isnt good.
already got a turbo rebuild kit to be prepared whenever the turbo decided to off itself. Hoping its not but worst scenario I have to rebuild it and then get a shop to balance it.
If you put it back together indexed the same way you took it apart you don't need to get it rebalanced. Sorry I don't remember exactly how I did this it might have been machines so that it can only go back the other one way or maybe there was a Mark I can't remember.

On your exhaust manifold not being square possibly causing a leak, that is very likely but I don't know if that's the source of your noise. If you've never put tubular welded exhaust headers on a Chevy V8 they come with a very thick gasket with metal in the middle of it. Off in the headers will have a bead welded around each exhaust port to dig into this gasket when you bolt it down. You can get a piece of that gasket material from O'Reilly Auto parts for about 25 bucks and then make your own gasket using the Toyota gasket as a template. You have to retighten it down after a few days of driving. It is thick enough to make up for imperfections in your manifold if they're not too bad. I highly doubt the factory metal exhaust gasket is going to handle a manifold that's not flat. "Engineered for imperfection" may be what you need.

When you welded your manifold did you put numerous small welds around the perimeter to hold it flat before you welded the rectangular to to the plate? Looking at your work I assume that you could do this. If you don't tack it down good all around before running a good hot bead along the edge completely you will warp it.

A 7-inch hook and loop sanding pad on a harbor freight angle grinder/buffer can help you make it flat just hit it with some spray paint to find the high spots as you go..... You can also go the cheap exhaust header method and weld a bead around each exhaust Port so that you have an indention that will dig in to that thick exhaust gasket.
 
Took a turbo test/surf trip to the Outer Banks this past weekend. I believe I have a horrible exhaust leak, very small somewhere. Whenever I make any amount of boost it sounds like a horrible belt squeal mixed with a tea kettle going off. I thought that it may have been the turbo internals and figured it would blow up within 50 miles of leaving home if it was that but it made it 500 miles and performed perfectly, just sounds horrible. Other than that the trip went great. Met up with @svsisu but sadly couldn't see his troopy since #6 piston crapped itself. Still great to meet up with him and he even gave me a magnetic overlay for my speedo that reads in KPH and MPH! Need to figure out this leak but I've tightened everything... maybe the wastegate is opened just a tiny bit causing it to leak??? I'll figure it out later. Onto the pics

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Looking good at Bodie Island Light. Nice to meet you guys and looks like you found some fun ones up the beach. You'll have to bring the Red Rocket back after the trans-continental trip. I'll hopefully be back running by then.
 
If you put it back together indexed the same way you took it apart you don't need to get it rebalanced. Sorry I don't remember exactly how I did this it might have been machines so that it can only go back the other one way or maybe there was a Mark I can't remember.

On your exhaust manifold not being square possibly causing a leak, that is very likely but I don't know if that's the source of your noise. If you've never put tubular welded exhaust headers on a Chevy V8 they come with a very thick gasket with metal in the middle of it. Off in the headers will have a bead welded around each exhaust port to dig into this gasket when you bolt it down. You can get a piece of that gasket material from O'Reilly Auto parts for about 25 bucks and then make your own gasket using the Toyota gasket as a template. You have to retighten it down after a few days of driving. It is thick enough to make up for imperfections in your manifold if they're not too bad. I highly doubt the factory metal exhaust gasket is going to handle a manifold that's not flat. "Engineered for imperfection" may be what you need.

When you welded your manifold did you put numerous small welds around the perimeter to hold it flat before you welded the rectangular to to the plate? Looking at your work I assume that you could do this. If you don't tack it down good all around before running a good hot bead along the edge completely you will warp it.

A 7-inch hook and loop sanding pad on a harbor freight angle grinder/buffer can help you make it flat just hit it with some spray paint to find the high spots as you go..... You can also go the
cheap exhaust header method and weld a bead around each exhaust Port so that you have an indention that will dig in to that thick exhaust gasket.
That's what I've figured, had no clue about that gasket material you can cut, will definitely check it out. Tacked the manifold in spots all around it and then kept swapping sides when a bit was welded to try and disperse heat and prevent warping. While I have it off I might as well sand it down as well as make my own manifold gasket, do anything and everything I can to make it as flat as possible. Appreciate all of the advice, would've never thought of any of the small stuff to do like painting it to see and all.
Looking good at Bodie Island Light. Nice to meet you guys and looks like you found some fun ones up the beach. You'll have to bring the Red Rocket back after the trans-continental trip. I'll hopefully be back running by then.
Yup! Got some pretty good waves in between Nags Head and Avon, just pulled off on the side of the road and went for it. The surf was so good in fact that we want to do another surf trip down there sometime later this summer so let's hope yours is back and running by then so we can get some epic pictures.


Also unrelated but I was checking out a 1988 Isuzu Trooper for sale for my buddy and all the sudden a pristine BJ-74 just pulled right up next to the troopy!
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Gave me a piece of paper with his info, shot him an email but has not gotten back to me yet. No one on mud goes by "Littletrees13" or "LuckyNord" if that's what that says. If anyone knows about this rig and his username let me know for sure I'd love to get back in contact with him! Made my day regardless 😄

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That's what I've figured, had no clue about that gasket material you can cut, will definitely check it out. Tacked the manifold in spots all around it and then kept swapping sides when a bit was welded to try and disperse heat and prevent warping. While I have it off I might as well sand it down as well as make my own manifold gasket, do anything and everything I can to make it as flat as possible. Appreciate all of the advice, would've never thought of any of the small stuff to do like painting it to see and all.

Yup! Got some pretty good waves in between Nags Head and Avon, just pulled off on the side of the road and went for it. The surf was so good in fact that we want to do another surf trip down there sometime later this summer so let's hope yours is back and running by then so we can get some epic pictures.


Also unrelated but I was checking out a 1988 Isuzu Trooper for sale for my buddy and all the sudden a pristine BJ-74 just pulled right up next to the troopy!
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Gave me a piece of paper with his info, shot him an email but has not gotten back to me yet. No one on mud goes by "Littletrees13" or "LuckyNord" if that's what that says. If anyone knows about this rig and his username let me know for sure I'd love to get back in contact with him! Made my day regardless 😄

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i know everything about that BJ74....it was mine. Sold it to a great new owner who, i believe, has an organic farm. I have his cell number but i dont remember his handle on here or if he found me on EP. PM me if you want his cell. seems like a good guy and im very happy with where my truck ended up!
 
the only LHD BJ74 I ever saw was the one @LukisStyles had for sale a while back. It was originally a RHD truck that had been swapped to LHD. Maybe he knows?
They exist original in LHD but they are kind of unicorns... I think for France we got 20 of them (for competition) versus a good 1000 of BJ71. Maybe Italy had a few more.
 
Gave me a piece of paper with his info, shot him an email but has not gotten back to me yet. No one on mud goes by "Littletrees13" or "LuckyNord" if that's what that says. If anyone knows about this rig and his username let me know for sure I'd love to get back in contact with him! Made my day regardless 😄

The littletrees13 name points towards an instagram account when you do a google search. That account shows the truck and an ih8mud name, one that I am unaware of.
 
from my understanding is that they dont exist but @Onur would know or @cruiserdan
They do exist bu are rarer then hens teeth , I think Toyota made some to enter Paris Dakar and you had to sell x amount to the public to be allowed to enter. There was a large dismantler in Belgium that had several ex PD cruisers in his possesion all being parted out in those days and I saw one in there in the mid nineties. I have never seen one on the road and am sure they where not available in Belgium,Netherlands or Germany afaik only in France .
 
They exist original in LHD but they are kind of unicorns... I think for France we got 20 of them (for competition) versus a good 1000 of BJ71. Maybe Italy had a few more.

from my understanding is that they dont exist but @Onur would know or @cruiserdan

If there were and factory-assembled left-hand drive BJ74s they were "off the books". The only official export market I have in the archives was Australia.
 
If there were and factory-assembled left-hand drive BJ74s they were "off the books". The only official export market I have in the archives was Australia.
This is possible, SIDAT (the private importer that preceded Toyota France) imported them to participate to the Dakar and Pharaon rallys and they were sold to private parties after.
Same thing with the FJ73, never officially sold in Europe but ~20 were imported for competition.

Almost all of them are prepared for rally, double shocks, big roll bar, composite body parts, sometime fuel cell inside in the back, etc.
Some have been restored back to original but that can be a lot of work. That make them not really good buys for casual use because they are not practical and not confortable without throwing a lot of money in them.

In some French 4x4 forums you can find a good bit of discussions about the BJ74, seems that 15-20 years ago it was not that rare to see one for sell in France.
 
This is possible, SIDAT (the private importer that preceded Toyota France) imported them to participate to the Dakar and Pharaon rallys and they were sold to private parties after.
Same thing with the FJ73, never officially sold in Europe but ~20 were imported for competition.

Almost all of them are prepared for rally, double shocks, big roll bar, composite body parts, sometime fuel cell inside in the back, etc.
Some have been restored back to original but that can be a lot of work. That make them not really good buys for casual use because they are not practical and not confortable without throwing a lot of money in them.

In some French 4x4 forums you can find a good bit of discussions about the BJ74, seems that 15-20 years ago it was not that rare to see one for sell in France.

I'd love to see a VIN off one of them. My guess is BJ73s that were re-powered. But, I could be wrong.
 
I'd love to see a VIN off one of them. My guess is BJ73s that were re-powered. But, I could be wrong.
I saw this thread on ih8mud were it seems the vin was provided at least in mp : Sale BJ74 LHD in France - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/sale-bj74-lhd-in-france.793880/


A conversion from RHD to LHD seems more probable that re-powering them if really they had to hack them. In France you can't swap engines and drive legally on the road and they would not have BJ74 on their title.

Few pictures I found :
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(French article on an owner in TLCmag)

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(Dakar 2006)


And this one for sell : TOYOTA BJ74 - https://m.marche.fr/petite_annonce_auto-occasion-achat-vente-toyota-toyota-bj74-ref43710171.html
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Unfortunately that VIN was missing a digit and the last 3 were x'ed out. Inconclusive.


I'm not saying it couldn't happen, but if they really factory-built 20 in LHD that would be one of the rarest variants ever.
 
That's what I've figured, had no clue about that gasket material you can cut, will definitely check it out. Tacked the manifold in spots all around it and then kept swapping sides when a bit was welded to try and disperse heat and prevent warping. While I have it off I might as well sand it down as well as make my own manifold gasket, do anything and everything I can to make it as flat as possible. Appreciate all of the advice, would've never thought of any of the small stuff to do like painting it to see and all.

Yup! Got some pretty good waves in between Nags Head and Avon, just pulled off on the side of the road and went for it. The surf was so good in fact that we want to do another surf trip down there sometime later this summer so let's hope yours is back and running by then so we can get some epic pictures.


Also unrelated but I was checking out a 1988 Isuzu Trooper for sale for my buddy and all the sudden a pristine BJ-74 just pulled right up next to the troopy!
View attachment 2685160View attachment 2685163View attachment 2685161View attachment 2685162
Gave me a piece of paper with his info, shot him an email but has not gotten back to me yet. No one on mud goes by "Littletrees13" or "LuckyNord" if that's what that says. If anyone knows about this rig and his username let me know for sure I'd love to get back in contact with him! Made my day regardless 😄

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That looks like the one Roger converted to LHD about 7 years ago.

 

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