Builds The "Red Rocket" Troopy (5 Viewers)

[theglobb]

Not something that really worries me but just interested if anyone has a clue as to why it happens and possibly how to remedy it. For the first 30 seconds after a cold start, only when I barley give it throttle downhill but not engine braking the engine blows white smoke and misfires. Once I do any sort of pull in it it doesn't act up again. Idles fine with no smoke right after startup, if I give it any sort of decent throttle it doesn't act up, only does it when giving it say 20% throttle on a downhill, weird...

Girl our age with a 40? Hey, give her my number.

You know I totally would, but the one issue here is that I'm around 85% sure she's gay lol. If I find out otherwise you'll be the first to know.

You heat with wood? You're gonna need a bigger Cruiser...

Yea... been stockpiling since last year before I even lived at this house. Still need a lot more to come and the dead trees are becoming harder and harder to come by

 

[FJBen]

Not something that really worries me but just interested if anyone has a clue as to why it happens and possibly how to remedy it. For the first 30 seconds after a cold start, only when I barley give it throttle downhill but not engine braking the engine blows white smoke and misfires. Once I do any sort of pull in it it doesn't act up again. Idles fine with no smoke right after startup, if I give it any sort of decent throttle it doesn't act up, only does it when giving it say 20% throttle on a downhill, weird...




You know I totally would, but the one issue here is that I'm around 85% sure she's gay lol. If I find out otherwise you'll be the first to know.

Yea... been stockpiling since last year before I even lived at this house. Still need a lot more to come and the dead trees are becoming harder and harder to come by

Pretty standard on the white smoke in cooler mornings and downhill until she heats up. Mine does the same.

Downhill the engine loads up on fuel and there isn’t a load on the engine or good heat to burn it off.

As soon as you give it throttle it starts loading the engine and starting a good burn.

 

[theglobb]

Clutch slave cylinder just killed itself, real fun floating gears with a car full of people going uphill on a dirt road.
May god curse the 8 year old Chinese kid who installed a seal wrong or something when making my slave cylinder. It’s a shame u can’t even trust Napa anymore… the shop I work at uses all Napa parts and I can’t tell you how many alternators and starters come back just faulty from the factory. Regardless I have ordered a Japanese made slave cylinder, hope this one won’t fail after 1 month of use.

Pretty standard on the white smoke in cooler mornings and downhill until she heats up. Mine does the same.

Downhill the engine loads up on fuel and there isn’t a load on the engine or good heat to burn it off.

As soon as you give it throttle it starts loading the engine and starting a good burn.

Alright this is kinda in the realm as to what I was thinking was happening. Glad to get confirmation from someone else more knowledgeable on it. I don’t even have glow plugs hooked up so this would only increase this more I imagine.

 

[AirheadNut]

Bummer about your clutch slave. Can't say I'm surprised about Napa quality, I pretty much never buy any parts from the parts store chains any more.

 

[Tennessee Jed]

Oh, but you have a free replacement warranty so that makes everything okey dokey...didn't you know that?

Glad no one was hurt, could have been..."interesting".

 

[FJBen]

Bummer about your clutch slave. Can't say I'm surprised about Napa quality, I pretty much never buy any parts from the parts store chains any more.

You are Probabaly OK with brake pads/rotors but master cylinders/slave and the like, a big nope from me.

Hit one of the vendors up on mud and be good for another 30 years.

Clutch slave cylinder just killed itself, real fun floating gears with a car full of people going uphill on a dirt road.
May god curse the 8 year old Chinese kid who installed a seal wrong or something when making my slave cylinder. It’s a shame u can’t even trust Napa anymore… the shop I work at uses all Napa parts and I can’t tell you how many alternators and starters come back just faulty from the factory. Regardless I have ordered a Japanese made slave cylinder, hope this one won’t fail after 1 month of use.


Alright this is kinda in the realm as to what I was thinking was happening. Glad to get confirmation from someone else more knowledgeable on it. I don’t even have glow plugs hooked up so this would only increase this more I imagine.

When I was in college I had a clutch slave blow about 200 miles and 2 mountain passes from home. Every stoplight had to shut it off then start in gear. Looked like my first time with a clutch.


Have you replaced the master? Usually when one goes, the other goes soon after. Just trying to save you some hassle.

 

[theglobb]

The 70 Series Meet & Greet was a blast this past weekend. Being able to drive the troopy home after thisweekend has made it truly feel like I've broken the swap in. Yea of course its gonna break at some point but before I've been just driving it every day waiting for something to kill itself. Now I don't have that feeling, I know its coming at some point but I have trust in it now. These are about the only photos I got of the troopy there, too busy driving and covering photos of everyone else.

Me and @nuclearbeef, was a pleasant surprise to see him show up unannounced. Last time we'd met I was ripping the 2nd 3B out of his troopcarrier in Memphis lol.

anddddd if you look closely in this photo you will see some trail damage that I'll highlight in the slides to come.

 

[theglobb]

You know you had a good weekend if your boots and drivetrain look like this after

Had to do some repairs, luckily most everything failed off of the trail or could be limped back. Myself along with a couple of others replaced a 100 series radiator that had the entire bottom tank blow off all at once... pretty spectacular failure. Something I've never seen before. My buddy absolutely destroyed one of his CV's on a trail but we were able to limp it back and change it there. AND that 100 series had an alternator that failed aswell that I didn't do any work on since I was busy with the CV but many of the kind attendees helped him out and they had it fixed by the end of the night.

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Some videos, entertainment at lunchtime


and another 100 that rolled over, pretty gnarly damage

 

[Tennessee Jed]

Holy cow, did it just blow the bottom off the radiator? Never saw that before.

It was all I could do to keep up with @nuclearbeef on the road - don't know what he's got under the hood but it works.

 

[nuclearbeef]

Holy cow, did it just blow the bottom off the radiator? Never saw that before.

It was all I could do to keep up with @nuclearbeef on the road - don't know what he's got under the hood but it works.

Believe it or not, its a naturally aspirated 3-B.
I think there's something wrong with it.
75 mph on the interstate. Even pulling the 5% grade up onto the Cumberland Plateau, it never slowed below 55. With the A/C on!!

 

[nuclearbeef]

 

[Pura Vida]

There is simply no way lol. How is it so smooth and passing people on the interstate? These things are like tractor motors lol

 

[FJBen]

3B-tec kicked in yo!

Seriously, everyone will be pulling 1hdfts out and putting NA 3bs in now.

 

[gilmorneau]

Hey, if everything's working as it should, a 3B isn't as terrible as people make them out to be. The one in my Troopy drove just like this one--70+mph on the highway no problem, 50-55+mph climbing most Interstate highway grades no problem. Mine only had about 40,000 miles on it from new and had been dealer maintained, so I'm pretty sure it was all as Toyota intended. The problems with these motors start when guys want more power than they're getting and instead of first checking that the compression, injectors, timing, valve clearances, and fueling, etc. is all correct and to spec, they turn up the fuel or bolt on a turbo. Maybe you could do that, but check the basics first.

The 3B in the "Red Rocket" was running strong when I had it, but the P.O. (the guy between me and @theglobb ) became convinced that the motor needed to be torn down (no fault of his--he was relying on outside sources for info). That was the beginning of the end for it. Of course, even running strong, a 3B won't match where the Red Rocket is now, so it all worked out.

 

[theglobb]

ok now for the troopy's damage... I had a scare on the first day where I thought I had punctured a hole in the oil pan. The guy in front of me had been stuck on a rock pile for 45 minutes, took quite a while to get him off, and over it. So when it was my turn to hit it next I didn't want to end up in the same situation, especially with a longer wheel base so I hit it, troopy got some air lol.



I pulled up the trailhead a quarter mile and parked. Got out and saw the troopy was pissing a lot of oil out of it leaving a trail all the way up to it. My heart sunk as I thought my stupidity of hitting that line with a bit too much skinny pedal had caused me to rip a hole in the pan. I was searching and feeling around for a minute but there was no hole. Looked for another minute up top and couldn't find anything. Turns out my dipstick had popped out of the side of my block! how RELIEVING. Cleaned it up, stuck it back in and went on my way. I had it ziptied to the brake master for support, my guess is when the troopy caught some air the engine moved more than it ever has before all at once and just popped it out.

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2 weeks before the first 3B exploded I redid my front axle and put an auto locker in the front. Really never got to do anything or see its effects until now and MAN. Wow. I highly underestimated how difficult it would be to turn the wheel with a front locker and no power steering. Next to impossible. Spent most my time wheeling in 2WD and whenever I actually needed 4WD I'd pop it in real quick. The trail was a medium on paper but stuff at windrock can change so fast that this ended up being almost a difficult... definitely the hardest trail I'd tackled yet, troopy's arent meant for rock crawling yet there I was, unknowingly a bit over my head. We got to one spot that about half our group (all of the longer wheelbases) ended up taking body damage on, it wasn't documented but basically it was a massive rut that'd been dug out by side-by-side's and rain that wasn't there prior. No way to turn around so we had to hit it and the troopy almost escaped but got caught at the end of a rock on the opposite wall. If I was in a 73 or 70 it would have been fine.

I find it pretty hilarious that the taillight is totally fine, undisturbed. My plan is to do the deflated football trick, shove it in the inside, inflate the ball, pop out the panel, and then weld the hole that's been punched through the body. As much as this sucks I don't feel defeated by it, I'm not upset or mad with myself. Some of the guys with pristine examples of 70's or even just nice ones were pretty upset/shaken about it, understandably so. Luckily for me there is no more "pristine" or "OEM" factor to this troopy. Theres already 2 dents right above this one from the previous ownership, rockers are rusty, the body is far from perfect. I think my football trick, a bit of welding, and some paint will be just fine.

 

[FJBen]

@theglobb looks like you had a blast.


I can tell you I had my fj55, 35s and manual steering. I had ARBs F/R and only locked the front on hard stuff that I didn’t have to turn. It was hard as hell to turn full locked. I can imagine not being able to turn off a front locker…especially in snow/ice.

 

[robmobile73]

ok now for the troopy's damage... I had a scare on the first day where I thought I had punctured a hole in the oil pan. The guy in front of me had been stuck on a rock pile for 45 minutes, took quite a while to get him off, and over it. So when it was my turn to hit it next I didn't want to end up in the same situation, especially with a longer wheel base so I hit it, troopy got some air lol.



I pulled up the trailhead a quarter mile and parked. Got out and saw the troopy was pissing a lot of oil out of it leaving a trail all the way up to it. My heart sunk as I thought my stupidity of hitting that line with a bit too much skinny pedal had caused me to rip a hole in the pan. I was searching and feeling around for a minute but there was no hole. Looked for another minute up top and couldn't find anything. Turns out my dipstick had popped out of the side of my block! how RELIEVING. Cleaned it up, stuck it back in and went on my way. I had it ziptied to the brake master for support, my guess is when the troopy caught some air the engine moved more than it ever has before all at once and just popped it out.

--------------------------------------------------------

2 weeks before the first 3B exploded I redid my front axle and put an auto locker in the front. Really never got to do anything or see its effects until now and MAN. Wow. I highly underestimated how difficult it would be to turn the wheel with a front locker and no power steering. Next to impossible. Spent most my time wheeling in 2WD and whenever I actually needed 4WD I'd pop it in real quick. The trail was a medium on paper but stuff at windrock can change so fast that this ended up being almost a difficult... definitely the hardest trail I'd tackled yet, troopy's arent meant for rock crawling yet there I was, unknowingly a bit over my head. We got to one spot that about half our group (all of the longer wheelbases) ended up taking body damage on, it wasn't documented but basically it was a massive rut that'd been dug out by side-by-side's and rain that wasn't there prior. No way to turn around so we had to hit it and the troopy almost escaped but got caught at the end of a rock on the opposite wall. If I was in a 73 or 70 it would have been fine.

View attachment 3440733View attachment 3440734View attachment 3440735

I find it pretty hilarious that the taillight is totally fine, undisturbed. My plan is to do the deflated football trick, shove it in the inside, inflate the ball, pop out the panel, and then weld the hole that's been punched through the body. As much as this sucks I don't feel defeated by it, I'm not upset or mad with myself. Some of the guys with pristine examples of 70's or even just nice ones were pretty upset/shaken about it, understandably so. Luckily for me there is no more "pristine" or "OEM" factor to this troopy. Theres already 2 dents right above this one from the previous ownership, rockers are rusty, the body is far from perfect. I think my football trick, a bit of welding, and some paint will be just fine.

I missed wind rock this year. I let a slew of other things get in the way. Getting all the camping gear ready and driving 400 highway miles in the BJ73 was just too much on the plate. Wheeling fast on rocks is a method, but normally its bigger tires longer travel suspension guys who do it or bigger tired sawzall modified off roaders. The underpinnings of the 70 series is fairly stout and will take some abuse, but slow and steady with lockers and tires aired down to 12psi normally works well for me.

What brand locker did you put in the front end? I used "spartan lockers" in mine and they are not as smooth as my "lock rite" brand even though they are the same type of locker and very much the same. Mine gives me some trouble if I ride in 2 wheel but with the front end locked on pavement. The clearances in the carrier being slightly tight is what I think causes this but not sure. One trick you might try if it's too much for you steering is to unlock 1 front hub and wheel in "3 wheel" drive until it gets really difficult.

That long water hole looks very much like the one I went through 2 years ago. It was up to the windshield in some spots. That's the one that made my starter solonoid stick. Had to disconnect the starter cable to disengage the starter after starting. I drove out of the trails and 400 miles home without turning off the engine......One of the cool things about off roading at wind rock is that it is private land and not "over regulated". My observation of public land in the Carolinas is that they have hired alot of environmentalists/tree hugger types to manage things. Alot of environmentalists view off roading/and off road trails as damaging to land that would be better in it's natural state. Trail off shoots, side mudholes, and minor 3 acre play track areas that aren't officially part of the trail get signed/barricaded off by do-gooders that come along to police the trails. Cycle/atv trails in the Franciss Marion are like this. Things were wide open and fun in the 1980's. Now they have signs, mudholes and power line right of ways are fenced off, the hilly play areas are fenced off, and they close the trail ever time it rains over "worries about erosion".. I get it when you're in hilly country and red clay runoff pollutes streams interfering with trout, but in South carolina lowcountry there is no runoff to anywhere. Wind rock being private land they will hire the people and manage it as they see fit. It's also really cool that local communities appreciate the park and the off road tourists and law enforcment cooperates and doesn't ticket dirt bike/ATV/UTV riders on public roads around the park. In the national forests they put up signs telling people "no unlicensed vehicles beyond this point". We all used to coexist.......Horse riders, hikers, and mountain bikers seem to be viewed more positively by the tree hugger/hippie crowd.

 

[theglobb]

Holy cow, did it just blow the bottom off the radiator? Never saw that before.

It was all I could do to keep up with @nuclearbeef on the road - don't know what he's got under the hood but it works.

Yep, the guy didnt have a coolant gauge. Went through a mud pit that clogged the fins on his radiator. The rad failing like that very well likely saved the engine, erupted with a MASSIVE cloud of smoke.

Believe it or not, its a naturally aspirated 3-B.
I think there's something wrong with it.
75 mph on the interstate. Even pulling the 5% grade up onto the Cumberland Plateau, it never slowed below 55. With the A/C on!!

This is something truly amazing, something I could never even fathom. Even with the turbo, it was a max of 65 across the country usually 60.

Hey, if everything's working as it should, a 3B isn't as terrible as people make them out to be. The one in my Troopy drove just like this one--70+mph on the highway no problem, 50-55+mph climbing most Interstate highway grades no problem. Mine only had about 40,000 miles on it from new and had been dealer maintained, so I'm pretty sure it was all as Toyota intended. The problems with these motors start when guys want more power than they're getting and instead of first checking that the compression, injectors, timing, valve clearances, and fueling, etc. is all correct and to spec, they turn up the fuel or bolt on a turbo. Maybe you could do that, but check the basics first.

The 3B in the "Red Rocket" was running strong when I had it, but the P.O. (the guy between me and @theglobb ) became convinced that the motor needed to be torn down (no fault of his--he was relying on outside sources for info). That was the beginning of the end for it. Of course, even running strong, a 3B won't match where the Red Rocket is now, so it all worked out.

Yep, all in the end it worked out. Just still always felt like there was something not quite right with my engine ever since I got it. I opened up the valve cover after a month of ownership with the troopy and there were multiple broken washers in my valve cover and they were all shot MAJORLY out of spec. This is from the shop who did the previous work right before my ownership with the troopy, was not pleased to say the least. Injectors were new, compression was good, timing was correct, fuel filters all replaced etc yet it was just SLOWWWWWW. At sea level on a flat plane it did 0-60mph in 1 minute 22 seconds. Whatever, its not my problem anymore I don't have to worry about it lol.

@theglobb looks like you had a blast.


I can tell you I had my fj55, 35s and manual steering. I had ARBs F/R and only locked the front on hard stuff that I didn’t have to turn. It was hard as hell to turn full locked. I can imagine not being able to turn off a front locker…especially in snow/ice.

It was so much fun, even with the damage totally worth it. Yea it was a whole event. Luckily with my front hubs locked yet with my transfercase in 2WD it doesn't effect my front steering, the moment I slide it into 4 or 4 LO then I cant turn so I got real good at just sliding it right over into 4 LO and right back out after the obstacle. Snow and Ice is something I was worried about aswell... I have no experience about wheeling in the snow with a front locker, read the same about rear auto lockers that it was pretty sketchy at times.

I missed wind rock this year. I let a slew of other things get in the way. Getting all the camping gear ready and driving 400 highway miles in the BJ73 was just too much on the plate. Wheeling fast on rocks is a method, but normally its bigger tires longer travel suspension guys who do it or bigger tired sawzall modified off roaders. The underpinnings of the 70 series is fairly stout and will take some abuse, but slow and steady with lockers and tires aired down to 12psi normally works well for me.

What brand locker did you put in the front end? I used "spartan lockers" in mine and they are not as smooth as my "lock rite" brand even though they are the same type of locker and very much the same. Mine gives me some trouble if I ride in 2 wheel but with the front end locked on pavement. The clearances in the carrier being slightly tight is what I think causes this but not sure. One trick you might try if it's too much for you steering is to unlock 1 front hub and wheel in "3 wheel" drive until it gets really difficult.

That long water hole looks very much like the one I went through 2 years ago. It was up to the windshield in some spots. That's the one that made my starter solonoid stick. Had to disconnect the starter cable to disengage the starter after starting. I drove out of the trails and 400 miles home without turning off the engine......One of the cool things about off roading at wind rock is that it is private land and not "over regulated". My observation of public land in the Carolinas is that they have hired alot of environmentalists/tree hugger types to manage things. Alot of environmentalists view off roading/and off road trails as damaging to land that would be better in it's natural state. Trail off shoots, side mudholes, and minor 3 acre play track areas that aren't officially part of the trail get signed/barricaded off by do-gooders that come along to police the trails. Cycle/atv trails in the Franciss Marion are like this. Things were wide open and fun in the 1980's. Now they have signs, mudholes and power line right of ways are fenced off, the hilly play areas are fenced off, and they close the trail ever time it rains over "worries about erosion".. I get it when you're in hilly country and red clay runoff pollutes streams interfering with trout, but in South carolina lowcountry there is no runoff to anywhere. Wind rock being private land they will hire the people and manage it as they see fit. It's also really cool that local communities appreciate the park and the off road tourists and law enforcment cooperates and doesn't ticket dirt bike/ATV/UTV riders on public roads around the park. In the national forests they put up signs telling people "no unlicensed vehicles beyond this point". We all used to coexist.......Horse riders, hikers, and mountain bikers seem to be viewed more positively by the tree hugger/hippie crowd.

I put an "Aussie Lokka" in. Can't comment as to how it preforms but it never once unlocked... I'm guessing cause I don't have the strength to turn it enough to let it unlock. I bet the waterhole is the same one too, I remember it being much deeper in the videos you posted. It went over the hood, you slammed it in reverse and was somehow able to get out, then to turn your car on I think you just touched the terminal and disconnected it all the way home. Fun stuff. Thanks for the advice, every other obstable I did was slow and steady, I was at 13psi, and the troopy just crawled right up anything. The locker is a blessing as the troopy is so much more capable now but I cant turn...

 

[theglobb]

I took the troopy to an exhaust shop 2 weeks ago to have a downpipe made and a straightpipe to the rear. Both shops up here said they couldn't touch it and making the downpipe would be too much work... Well I'm glad I ended up having to do it cause they would have just charged $$$$$$$$$$, I have a ton of spare pipe laying around from when I sawzall'd it off of the Mercedes wagon. Cleaned it up, found which bends would be best, cut them kinda right and boom it works. Got an ancient stick welder for $60 at an estate sale the other day, on the lowest setting with a bit of finness I was able to not blow through, not a beautiful weld but it holds.

Also if yall remember, @prwillard2 offered to send me a bunch of free stuff to complete my cheap 24v Warn Winch. This included brand new cable, would I have gone with synthetic? Sure but this is free and will be just fine. I haven't hooked up the solenoid box as I don't have a place to mount it, gonna have to fab up some sort of mount, just don't know where yet. So using jumper cables I hotwired it and it works GREAT! Got all the wire installed and then tried winching a CRV lol.

 

[prwillard2]

I took the troopy to an exhaust shop 2 weeks ago to have a downpipe made and a straightpipe to the rear. Both shops up here said they couldn't touch it and making the downpipe would be too much work... Well I'm glad I ended up having to do it cause they would have just charged $$$$$$$$$$, I have a ton of spare pipe laying around from when I sawzall'd it off of the Mercedes wagon. Cleaned it up, found which bends would be best, cut them kinda right and boom it works. Got an ancient stick welder for $60 at an estate sale the other day, on the lowest setting with a bit of finness I was able to not blow through, not a beautiful weld but it holds.


View attachment 3441410View attachment 3441409View attachment 3441408

Also if yall remember, @prwillard2 offered to send me a bunch of free stuff to complete my cheap 24v Warn Winch. This included brand new cable, would I have gone with synthetic? Sure but this is free and will be just fine. I haven't hooked up the solenoid box as I don't have a place to mount it, gonna have to fab up some sort of mount, just don't know where yet. So using jumper cables I hotwired it and it works GREAT! Got all the wire installed and then tried winching a CRV lol.

View attachment 3441406

This is awesome! Glad it's working out for you.

On another note, I love the decal on your hood!