Builds Troopie build (2 Viewers)

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the aluminum panels on the inside and rear doors are 3/8" and the front door panels (don't tell the owner) are 1/8"
 
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Wayne,

What are the dimensions of the intercooler core?
Are you planning on selling reproductions of this?
 
i can get the dimensions but no, not at this time, i just don't have time to do the research to find out if this design will fit the different engine bays the engine came in.

i can get some more of the intake to intercooler adapters made up if there is enough interest ...
 
gday crushers/61MK+

as a fellow troopy lover this has been a thoroughly good read. I applaud the effort to document it all.

I noticed the speakers in the front roof console that faced down towards the dashboard... I realise it's still getting built, but I was wondering if have you tested the sound on the speakers in that position at any point whilst driving?

I considered that once on my first troopy to get them clear of water, so I put a couple of low quality box speakers i had up in that position to compare the sound with that from the door position... drove around, windows up/down, changed the angle a little, rock/tecno, lol etc. The door position seemed much better from the drivers seat as you get sound from both speakers, whilst up top was fairly in your face and heavily biased towards the one... in your face. Thus I didn't take the idea further.

Now I'm thinking (hoping) they were pretty cheap speakers I used for the test, and it was over 15 years ago now, so maybe it can actually work, so I'm eager to hear if it sounds good, as I would still love to have speakers up out of the danger zone whilst enjoying good sound.

Cheers,
 
thanks for the compliment, it has been a treat to build this unit ... and ... a true challenge.

there are speakers facing down and ones facing back, since he is doing the trip mostly by himself he can fine tune the fader and the balance to what he likes.

he also has the option to add an additional speakers in the door and in the rear upper console to give the full bodied sound.

we did try the system installed, but sitting still in the shop, and the sound was real nice.

once the speakers and deck is installed in the BJ70 refurbishing build ( https://forum.ih8mud.com/70-series-tech/556189-1985-bj70-cnd-refubishing-modifications.html ) then i will transfer it to my removable hard top 70 to test it on the highway and will report back.

cheers
 
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Any ideas you have from your troopie experiences i'd be glad to chew on.

Cheers, 61Mk+

Gday 61Mk+,

It seems like you’ve thought of everything… it took me a large number of hours to get through the post just looking at the pictures and a bit of text so I haven’t read absolutely every detail. The only thing I can think of that I didn’t see was reinforcing of the chassis and body mounts, and an engine-run hot water shower, the latter my missus absolutely adores, and well I’d be a liar if I didn’t say it’s also grown on me… nothing like sitting by the fire with a beer and steak after a steaming hot shower! You probably got this in mind though, but you’ll need to plan a space and weld up a mount. Mine goes behind the front left headlight.

But about the reinforcing, while the 70 series are tough, fully loaded at well over 3 tons is another story. For example, my troopy gets loaded to the gills and already has about same amount of perimeter steelwork as yours. Whilst recently driving around in dunes fully loaded at low speed, I went straight over a blind drop on what was visibly on either side an easy 1.2m slope at 45 degrees. Hitting straight on the only vehicle-width spot with a 1m straight drop in 3rd low, the steel bullbar hit ground first, she bounced up and on and I destroyed one of the rear tyres on the rim as they came over (were at 12psi). Bear in mind I have extra heavy duty 2” TJM suspension all around which was unscathed. At first I thought I’d twisted the chassis, but in fact what happened was the cabin section (with all the weight) lurched forward on its body mounts (by about 2”), hitting the front panel section at the bottom of the windscreen, putting a massive fold in the top-middle of the mudguard panel beside the hood, as well as taking bark of all the panel joints and prohibiting me opening the passenger side door. There was obviously a deal of chassis flex in there over the length of the long wheelbase on the first impact contributing to the collision of body sections at an angle, but these had returned to normal when measured at the panel shop.

Now I give my troopy a good run for her money, but I’m definitely not an overly aggressive driver and I don’t consider my misfortune to have been particularly extreme at all, and I can imagine much more forceful offroad situations by anyone slightly more aggressive than myself. So with tons of weight onboard and the intention of not being kind and gentle as you say, I would definitely think about doing some reinforcing here and there to make her more robust at 3.5-4 tons (to be able to resist say getting slightly airborne), as they definitely aren’t built like the 40 series. Don’t ask me how to do it, I’m no engineer and I haven’t done it myself, but after my recent experience I would go all out if I ever stripped her naked. Anyone who’s prepared a TLC for racing would know what to do.

Look forward to seeing how you deck out the inside... that's where you can really start to get pedantic!

Cheers,
 
i respect what damienperu is sayin though i know the build is being done WAY overkill and the body mounts i would think knowing the builder,,,,are more than acceptable...... (i know this for a fact) i am looking forward too the feedback from 61mk....
 
i respect what damienperu is sayin though i know the build is being done WAY overkill and the body mounts i would think knowing the builder,,,,are more than acceptable...... (i know this for a fact) i am looking forward too the feedback from 61mk....

yeah i hope i didn't come across as being critical... this is probably the most amazing troopy build i've seen published online! usually only racers reinforce chassis, so i'm sure what's been done is more than adequate, but its seems 61MK+ wants the most extreme troopy in every aspect and the beefing the chassis is one of the few things left he can do to it that occurred to me! i don't think the work is deficient by any means! and all that tank protection will stiffen her up to some extent.

With that said however, my recent experience profoundly changed my perception of an overloaded troopy's capabilities. we overload them by 500 - 600kg over the gross limit for touring, we change the suspension, brakes, even motor accordingly, but is the chassis really over-designed sufficiently to not have to worry about it? i don't know. My little nose dive certainly was enough to force a few profanities from my mouth whilst behind the wheel, but I was absolutely shocked by the damage it caused.

cheers,
 
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a few questions first:
you have the stock body mounts still under the troopie?
no "hockey puck" lift?
no neoprene lift?
just the original 1" rubber with the factory steel inserts?

if that is the case then how did you move the body ahead 2" without ripping the bolts through the floor or the mounts off the body? there will be more damage than just a shifting of the body.

MK61, when we talked i was talking the frame itself and reinforcement, not the frame to body.
i have hummed and hawed over the 1.5" lift and the possible movement that it would allow. this is one of the reasons i used new full length rubber body mounts instead of the usual 1.5" inserts making for another area for flex. i am also installing the SS longer bolt sleeves , similar to factory , between the factory over sized steel retainers. short of welding the body to the frame this is the best i could come up with.

decades ago i built what was dubbed "the idiot mobile", it was a 74 German Capri body mounted to a 73 bobtailed bronco frame and drivetrain. one hell of a ride.
but
i experienced the body float since we used 6 hockey pucks and threaded rod to connect the body to the frame. i was 25 at the time and new nothing about wheeling, building vehicles or 4wd, it was my first vehicle after driving muscle cars for 10 years. out wheeling the body seemed to have a float to it, especially heading up and down the mountain ranges in Alberta. we welded reinforcements to the frame to the body which really reduced the movement. a 6" lift vrs a 1.5" lift.

the advice is a good and i will look into how to reinforce the rubber body mounts further before i reinstall the body. sadly, no matter what you do, the body end of the mount is tin and will rip off under severe stress loads. maybe a stabilizer pin assembly on the four corners or at least at the front might help ...

thinking ...

cheers
 
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Honestly I don't think your going to have to worry about body mounts or a body lift of that size. You should be just fine.

Wayne how is the shop doing on the truck? Is there an ETA?
Reassembly, wiring and a series of tests left?
I am pumped to see the final result.
 
the body work is amazing, the attention to detail is second to none ... so far.
fully stripped of paint, any rust cut out with new metal welded in, they are finding tiny holes in the gutter that result from the AC being run with no fresh air to dry out the cabin. hence rust around the edges from the inside.
head liner stripped out, front clip stripped to seperate pieces ... i have my white ragtop that i want redone, i know who will be doing the work. not cheap at all but then if you want excellent work ... pull out your wallet and shut up and let the pros do their job.

but

like everything, it will be done when it gets done.
i am thinking 4-6 weeks still.
reassembly about a month of work
series of tests over a week to 2 weeks.

then the delivery either to the rail yard or by float ... either way i will be there when the owner gets to see it first hand, first time.
 
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a few questions first:
you have the stock body mounts still under the troopie?
no "hockey puck" lift?
no neoprene lift?
just the original 1" rubber with the factory steel inserts?

if that is the case then how did you move the body ahead 2" without ripping the bolts through the floor or the mounts off the body? there will be more damage than just a shifting of the body.

hey guys, mine's stock standard in that respect but i carry a lot of weight inside, i think what happened when she nose dived was the chassis flexed like a banana briefly. she went in to the bodyshop the next morning so i don't have a photo, but i'll try to explain... go to the bottom corners of the windscreen, where the top-back corner of the fender panel and top-front corner of the front door meet. at this point the fender panel was pushed against and up the column alongside the windscreen, the paint was removed a few cm upwards. the evidence of contact between the fender and door decreased from top to bottom, nothing by 3/5 of the way down. middle of the right fender panel remained heavily creased in the middle-top indicating further movement, and the right door was jammed shut. the chassis apparently measured up ok afterwards to my astonishment. It's all a bit weird and all I really know for sure at this stage is that i've lost my blinkered faith in the troopies indestructiveness. I get her back this week hopefully and hope to be a little more enlightened.

oh 61MK+, please don't get me wrong when i mentioned something about resisting getting airbourne, i didn't for a second think you were thinking of doing jumps, i can't imagine anyone in a troopy tourer with that sort of mindset, myself included, my mishap just taught me you can get slightly airbourne - albeit in a downwards motion - without the slightest urge!

man, no AC!... that's my no. 1 protection for anything in the vehicle against the fesh-fesh :)

cheers,
 
for a moment lets compare the 70 frame with the 40 frame.
many people feel the newer frame is weaker than the older 40 frame, this is a myth.
the old frame was rivited together 2 'C' channels with single open 'C' channel over the back wheels from just behind the solid rear spring pin mount all the way to the rear cross member. the front was single 'C' for the last foot or so where the shackle mounted, winch pulled on ... a true piss poor design.
what was great about the 40 series frame was the ability to flex, you can get serious flex from the frame which made off roading an adventure

the 70 series frame does not flex anything like the old 40, the 70 series frame is 2 'C' channel full length of the unit, there is very little single 'C'. Toyota also changed to full weld the full length of the frame making the frame a true box frame. Toyota also redesigned the unit so there is no foot long frame sticking out the front.

the one spot on the 70 troopie frame that i feel is a bit weak for my application of rear bumper was how the small section before the rear cross member is a slide in with a small single weld. with all the stress that will be on the ass of the troopie i decided to reinforce that spot while the body was off.

in reality the 70 frame is much stronger than the 40.
 
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