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Another Troopy!

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gilghana
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 12, 2009 13:56    Post subject: Another Troopy! Reply with quote

So, inspired by Lawrence's pictures I thought I would share my troopy too!  The thread is cut and paste from IH8MUD, so please excuse references to other posts which are meaningless here Confused The build up dates from late October last year when it was decided to kit it out as a "no going back" tourer for long range African travel.  However some stuff was done over the year and a half previously.  The emphasis is on durable load carrying and comforts that aid living out of a vehicle.  Here goes:



never done a thread like this - always tended to be more a Q&A type. Anyway, I am currently in the process of a total interior re-modeling of my troopy so thought I would start with what has been done to the vehicle so far, and then document the interior stuff which is being done over the next weeks as I build it and as parts arrive in from South Africa - which could take a while.

Firstly the interior on the day I got it (getting on two years now)


Living in Africa good driving lights were first on the list, in fact I bought them in Europe in readiness of getting the car. Output is fantastic, seem pretty damn tough. Only thing is the beams are a bit narrow which a filter on one will cure.



As the vehicle was going to be carrying some weight the next thing was some firestone airbags for the rear - nice easy solution pending heavier springs. Dead easy to inflate. Fitting was not the easiest, ended up cutting the exhaust out as a side exit pipe was in the near future. Around the same time a longranger (from Oz) 180L rear tank was fitted which was located where the spare used to hang. Fitting was fine although blanking plug for the sender took a bit of messing around



and so it goes... The spare had to be relocated so I got IEF Engineering (South Africa) to supply a double spare bumper replacement - very solidly made, but measurements were a bit off and it took a bit of bending and shimming. Routed the valves for the airbags to the bumper and recently installed a 12v CAT flood light for camp set up



I was lucky enough that we had 6 steel wheels from 105 series cruisers lying around - vehicle originally came with splits and sand tyres, so 4 MTs and 2 Dunlops (OEM 105 series) as spares. CAT worklight has outstanding brilliance!



Then came a need for power! The 1HZ is a sweet motor as you all know, but for relaxed travel a turbo was really wanted. Got it from All American Imports in Holland who really know their stuff - all genuine toyota stuff too. Fitted a boost compensator and pyro/boost gauges at the same time.



I had experimented with a home made side exit exhaust, but to be honest the noise was too much - GF couldn't open her window any more on boost! I had planned a side exit so as to fit a water tank in all the wasted space, so Tourfactory of Germany supplied a beautiful SS piece which sounds JUST right and seemed to make it pull even harder!



It's not cheap, but Helmut from Tourfactory makes some really great kit for 78/79s



At the same time I got him to supply a 100L SS water tank - really his version of another fuel tank. Not such a clear picture but you can see how it makes use of all the dead space where the huge muffler was and under the prop shaft. Only thing is I now need a 79 handbrake cable as the 78 one is too short with the tank.

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gilghana
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 12, 2009 14:04    Post subject: Reply with quote

To fill and draw water from the tank I fitted a glind (again Oz) shower heat exchanger and flojet pump - fantastic! Hot water on demand, and with the help of two ball valves and by using push fittings on the bumper (which you can see on the lightforce snap) I can either draw from the tank, fill the tank or just shower from a bucket. Contemplating making it so that I could also recirculate water while driving and heat the tank - why not! Will probably get a General Ecology Filter so as I have no problems with the water being completely potable. The heat exchanger hose routing was not entirely finished when this one was taken:



Then the cheap SAGA EGT gauge packed in, so Thermoguard from Oz shipped a digital EGT which just happens to fit exactly under the radio in the spare DIN slot. Below the dash you can see another temp gauge which is going to probably check the water tank temp, but is currently bolted to the head. Again an Oz device designed to protect against overheating. On one of the blanks above and to the left of the temp gauge you can just see an LED warning light, which is a low water alarm plumbed into the radiator top hose. This I fitted after a head gasket failure on my old Defender 300Tdi, and because I wanted to be safe rather than sorry after cooling system modifications... If coolant level drops the LED comes on and a LOUD buzzer. These Ozzies really think about this stuff! The headunit I replaced with a Blaupunkt plus amp, speakers and sub. The factory unit has to be probably the worst OEM sound system fitted to a modern production vehicle!

At first my thinking was that the interior I would do so that everything could be put back to 13 seater standard. National Luna SS fridge I got from a mate in South Africa and it is the biz! To run it and various accessories I installed a home made battery box with a CAT 100ah calcium cranker connected to a Sterling Battery to Battery Charger (very clever device) and a Clipper Battery monitor. These all work very well, but is not really space saving:

The battery monitor is great - designed for boats, big backlit display showing current battery voltage and charge as a bargraph at the side, as well as A/hrs used and time remaining on the battery at current use. Would really recommend this.

Anyway, space is at a premium as we don't really do this packing lightly thing:


And I never intend to be putting the vehicle back to 13 seats. Right now we only need two seats and maybe later a small bench behind the front seats. So everything came out and the interior lining was ripped out. Amazing how much space is in these panels:

The beginning is to replace the panels with 8mm custom pressed marine plywood (Mahogany) with the Battery stuff, amp, subwoofer, compressor and some hatches for recovery gear etc. Here's last night cutting up the custom ply (there are a few advantages to working in timber...). The wood stuff I leave to Julia as she is way better with power tools than me!

The plan now is to semi finish the panels, fit all the stuff behind them and a milford cargo barrier, then wait (impatiently) for the African outback drawers that are in a container as of tonight in Durban. Ghana customs permiting there should be a set of Dobinsons heavy duty rears and lighter duty fronts (no bar and no winch and no intention of fitting) in our store this weekend.
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gilghana
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 12, 2009 14:10    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, like so many things it often takes longer than planned, and I don't have much spare time, 12hr days and half days Sat&Sun doesn't leave much time for Toyota stuff... However I got the first two panels done with everything placed behind. The right hand one has the amp (sticking out for cooling) and the subwoofer behind a lot of holes. Sounds great and I am really happy to get all this stuff tucked away:



Behind the left hand one is the Sterling battery to battery charger and the serious duty wiring prepared and ready for the second battery(s). The next left hand panel will have the shunt and battery monitor plus a couple of 12v sockets, the fridge connection and my compressor. There will still be space for the jack, wheel brace, air hose. On the right hand side I will leave it free for a few lesser used tools, ropes and straps.



I will need to wait for the African outback drawers to arrive so I can be sure of final second battery location and then the cargo barrier. Speaking of batteries, some advice would be good...

Okay, I have a CAT cranker and a Deltec deep cycle on the way. The CAT cranker I bought as a second battery simply because there was no locally available deep cycles. Looking at the Deltec battery BushPower - Products it looks even like the same casing as the CAT (both are same A/hrs). Now if I wire them both in then it gives me a pretty serious power supply. I also "found" (in the store, gathering dust.....liberated!) a couple of solar panels. But back to batteries: I am a bit concerned that the fact that the batteries are not completely identical might have an adverse effect over time? The sterlings charge program matches both batteries (sealed lead acid) so I can't imagine too big an issue?

Dobinsons heavy duty springs, shackles and bushings arrived over the weekend as well, Koni shocks are in an airfreight consignment tomorrow, so I have plenty to be getting on with for a good while! Funnily enough I couldn't see the Dobinsons leafs 'handed' in any way like stamping etc. Compared them side by side though and one is higher, so marked it ready for the drivers side. Heavy bloody things. Happy to have some lifts and willing helpers in our workshop for those!

Well not going as fast as planned (of course)! We were away for three days at the coast - Ghana has some great beaches, so the battery and fridge got thrown in again and tied down. Then got back and had a dose of malaria (like flu here....). Anyway, back to business!!!

Well obviously with all this not much got done to the troopy. However all sorts of goodies arrived over the last two weeks. Firstly the Dobinsons stuff:





Will get cracking on it tomorrow afternoon. I will use the workshop and a couple of our mechanics.

But the real PORN is the Koni Heavy Track "Raid" shock absorbers.... These arrived today What can I say. They are bigger than the shocks on our trucks
When I saw them I just had to whip off a front wheel and take a picture



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gilghana
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 12, 2009 14:17    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well today things went a LOT faster. I asked a couple of our mechanics (Vincent and Simon) if they wanted to help out so we got cracking in the workshop. These guys are doing leaf springs every day, but I was surprised at their speed... Believe me they don't work like this when it is company stuff! We met at 2pm.

First we basically stuffed a 2 post lift (it is pretty much on the way out, but we didn't help) bolts are coming out of the floor! But we managed to get it high enough to pack it safely and get full droop and more...






Vincent was pretty pleased with getting pictures taken of his work - first time! It's not often a camera is seen in the workshop




So these are the rears before:



We had to drop the 180L rear tank slightly to get the old shackles off. When fitting the tank Longranger recomend turning the shackles so the pins can be withdrawn from the outside in the case of future suspension upgrades. Glad I didn't bother as it is way less hassle to drop the tank a bit then turning the shackle!



And that was us done by 5pm. I was pretty happy at 3 hours for complete suspension change. I have kept the air bags on and will see if they are needed. For sure they would seem to limit rear axle articulation, but I am not too bothered as the car is not a mud or rock beast but a tourer as the title says.



Now the drive home is all of about 10 minutes, but it is corrugations and a sprinkling of potholes... The ride felt fantastic - major improvement. To be honest one of my fears was that the heavy duty Dobinsons (they don't make heavier!) would be too stiff, but I was really pleased. Okay about 80 litres of water and twin wheel bumper is on, but the Dobinsons felt great. Cliche I know but I felt it rides better than the coil sprung 105 GX (which I have actually never liked compared to a std 105 that I had before. No idea why!?!). So next one is fitting a handbrake cable from a 79 series as mine was too short when the water tank was fitted. Lift is not much (also happy as I did not want big height) 2 inches max. Didn't measure before or after, as I say the objective is not clearance but load carrying - and this it can do!
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gilghana
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 12, 2009 14:22    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, two massive boxes were pulled out of a container a few days ago... and I didn't even get to open them until tonight. What would you rather be doing - meetings about world Mahogany markets or rooftents and drawers? Exactly! So we got the boxes home and started unpacking this evening.

Firstly the drawers. African outback, 1.3m long, full steel construction. Damn solid. The AO system is such that on top of the right hand drawer is a full length sliding top for mounting the fridge (pictured here on the right).



The only parts not sheet steel are the fronts of the drawers and the tops. Yes I have access to some amazing timber and machine shop etc but when I see these and bearing in mind I got a GREAT deal thanks to a plummeting Rand, I don't regret it at all! I paid the same amount of cash for the tent and drawers and battery as I would for only the tent back home in UK.





Some detail:









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gilghana
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 12, 2009 14:26    Post subject: Reply with quote

Now the roof tent. So first the biggest cardboard package I have ever received!


Package opened and the roof tent popped open in the middle of the living room. Very cool piece of kit - gas struts and a very simple mounting system to bolt onto roof bars. Built in National Luna strip light. Ahhh, the damn thing is great! We were so excited we were thinking of sleeping in the tent in the living room tonight, but decided better the bush first!

Now, we have a Hannibal conventional roof tent (which is going to be getting shipped to my folks now) which we love, but this just takes thing to a whole new level of speed and ease. If you have ever packed up folding rooftents on the 1st of January under a desert sun - late morning - after far too much red wine then you will know EXACTLY what I mean...






So the plan is to use the winch on the 105 and a tree to make for some easy roof tent mounting tomorrow! Can't wait and should make for some good photos
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gilghana
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 12, 2009 14:29    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, we are supposed to be moving into the dry season in West Africa, but murphy's law dictates that when you want to fit a rooftent on a Saturday afternoon it lashes down. Rain here is like a shower - really, really hard tropical rain. Anyway I decided to go for it. I positioned the 105 so that with the help of a tree and a snatch block I could use the winch as a hoist. This really helped a lot.

So, old one comes off:



The mountings for the hannibal Impi are simplicity itself - some aluminium tracks are on the bottom of the tent, into which you slide 4 pieces of flat bar each with two bolts welded. You then tighten down a small piece of drilled flat bar on each of the four mounts, effectively clamping the roof bars.

What I really like is that the tent is relatively narrow - 1.3m. This means that unlike some others it doesn't overhang the sides of the vehicle. This is important in the forests!


I will get some pictures of it opened out tomorrow as well as the interior. Darkness and rain stopped anything else this evening. Raining so hard now we can't even think about trying it - just getting bedding from house to car it would be soaked! In front of the tent is going to go a solar panel replacing the old bit of plywood I had up there before.






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gilghana
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 12, 2009 14:59    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, two big (tall) guys could easily lift it on - 60kgs - but to leave the bars on I would have had to open out the folding tent - and it was lashing! And my assistants were a couple of watchmen who are short (like a lot of Ghanaians) and tend to be a bit shaky - they are mostly pensioners! So the easy route - and more fun/better pictures - was to go the garden hoist route. Unfortunately have not even had the chance to get it open in daylight yet... but initial impressions are that it really is the biz, and this ZA Rand rate made it. As I say the width is great and the fibreglass seems damn tough. In built national luna strip light is cool but connections are Hella type so hard wiring will be done - Hella plugs are unheard of here.

Well, first dry afternoon here for over a week, enabled me to pop the tent for a view of it up:


So then onto the African Outback Drawer System. Damn heavy stuff it is. The installation was fairly straightforward, although I did change the installation slightly. Instead of drilling the floor I utilised some VERY strong mounts which originally lock the side bench seats to the floor. The drawer system is not full length (originally designed for a troopy 'RV') as I wanted to maintain the possibility in future for a small second row bench seat. Immediately in front of the drawers are going to be the two batteries, and immediately in front of them is going a full height Milford cargo barrier for two good reasons:
1) You can then pack up bags etc on top of the drawers
2) I do not want a fridge behind our heads with nothing holding it down other than the usual straps or turnbuckles...

Basic drawer installation is completed, tomorrow afternoon will tackle properly bolting down the top covers etc.







Drawers were finished off this evening, what was quite surprising was that as I increased the size of the side panels (with my custom marine ply ) slightly it meant the drawers are quite a tight fit... Trimming back some of the edges makes it all nice and tight but still able to open the fridge slide.
Next up is mounting the fridge to the slide. To this end I have "sourced" some Toyota tie down eyes (i.e. unbolted them from the rear of the company 105). Couldn't find anything else lying around... Will lock down the fridge with some turnbuckles. Only thing is that the fridge is going to be pretty damn high of the ground - so I am thinking of some sort of folding step that goes into the receiver on the rear bumper. Wouldn't want to be sorting my cheese and beer by touch alone! After that is the wiring - that should occupy a good few hours.
Oh yeah, also got a 70 series red turbo emblem on order with my local toyo guy... That has to be done I reckon. Will get some pics up soon,
thanks for the interest folks,


Well,
thanks for the words of encouragement folks! So just before Christmas DHL delivered me a parcel from UK containing some very cool LED caravan awning lights that I bought off e bay... My idea was to supplement the ****py rear interior light and rig one up to illuminate the rear door where a drop down table is going to go. When I ripped the innards out of the carravan lights they were perfect - 50cm long by 1cm wide with 30 LEDs and fully waterproof.

But first was to finish off the fridge installation:



Very pleased with the installation, solidly mounted to the slide with big spreader plates and large turnbuckles, and the great thing is that it is not as high as I feared - both of us can flip the lid and see inside without too much stretching.

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24Seven
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 12, 2009 15:07    Post subject: Reply with quote

Very nice gilghana

More or less my perfect LC  Very Happy
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 12, 2009 20:33    Post subject: Reply with quote

That looks fantastic... Great job
You will have a great trip  Very Happy
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"Miranda":- 1994 HDJ80, Allisport Intercooler, Warn winch, ARB bullbar, OME suspension 6cm lift, Long Range tank, TJM Spare Wheel Carrier

"Dessie": Desert Wolf Lynx off-road trailer
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gilghana
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 12, 2009 22:44    Post subject: Reply with quote

24 & Graham, thanks!  There is a lot more to come - I stopped cut + paste posting to finish my diffs...
Here goes again:

thanks for the words of encouragement folks! So just before Christmas DHL delivered me a parcel from UK containing some very cool LED caravan awning lights that I bought off e bay... My idea was to supplement the ****py rear interior light and rig one up to illuminate the rear door where a drop down table is going to go. When I ripped the innards out of the carravan lights they were perfect - 50cm long by 1cm wide with 30 LEDs and fully waterproof.

But first was to finish off the fridge installation:


Very pleased with the installation, solidly mounted to the slide with big spreader plates and large turnbuckles, and the great thing is that it is not as high as I feared - both of us can flip the lid and see inside without too much stretching.



Then I wired in one of the LEDs to the rear interior light (just removed the festoon bulb) so it works off the door - what a difference!



Then I wired in my two batteries - but the complete wiring is a LOT more work - but I am impressed with their performance. I have had the fridge running since Christmas morning, set on minus 15. When I hooked it all up I was on 80% SoC and when I turned it off today at 6pm (27th) it is on 58%. Not bad considering ambient is about 32 Celsius.



Here is the rear door table LED in operation:



So this afternoon I fitted the rear door table - luckily I still got plenty of my custom made Mahogany (Khaya Ivorensis with WBP glue) marine ply left. My GF cut them out - a mere 20 mins with a small vertical bandsaw and a belt sander... She has a lot of cool tools in the carving workshop she runs here in the company. Then I got busy with the self-tappers and some stainless steel wire.



Here you go:
Width is basically 130cm and length is 215cm - these are not spot on, but quickly taken with a tape... So good enough I hope.



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gilghana
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 12, 2009 22:49    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks!
The gearbox is the R151 box... Not Toyota's strongest
But on the other hand I tend not to abuse it too much - for a trail / more extreme vehicle it would be a different issue. In our company we have +10 vehicles with R151 boxes - so far the two pickups doing very heavy duty stuff have both had gearbox problems, but on the other hand we have several 105s with 250,00kms on them with zero g/box problems so use is a major issue IMHO.

Re Coyote's question about how high the tent opens/roominess etc, well Saturday we finally got an overnight camp to test it out. It opens HIGH - higher than our old conventional folder. The exact height I don't know but if you check these pictures you will see it's height compared to the troopy which is a tall vehicle! Space inside is not a problem at all - for two normal sized people... Okay John Candy would be having a problem. The interior light is a great thing - I wired it to a 12v plug that is next to the fridge, so tent erection consists of:
- stand on rear bumper and undo two catches and flip tent up, then reach in and grab plug and put into socket
- remove ladder from inside the tent and slide into the rail. Finished! Soooo simple.

Negative points:
- So far I have only identified one. The tent is held up by two gas struts (gabriel IIRC) which have a lower metal section covering the rod (like the top boot or metal cover on a shock absorber). These have some sort of really **** finish on them and mine corroded simply from the inside of the tent being a little bit damp. Rusted really badly - absolute junk. Okay it is just a matter of removing them, wire brushing and properly painting.

I intend to get a small 12v fan mounted in the ceiling of the tent next to the light to help with tropical conditions.

Otherwise very happy with it. The ease of put up/down is a real improvement over the folding types. And I would rather trade a bit of interior tent width than having a big overhang - as Rossco has pointed out, from the dimensions they look like they were made with a 70 series in mind.

These pics were taken just after dawn in the rainforest. Wasn't proper camping - we only went closeby just to test the tent and fold down table & LEDs - all good so far.



So, couple of evenings last week I tackled the cargo barrier. This was a bit of a heart in the mouth moment as it almost looked like I wasn't going to get it in unless the drawers were removed  and that was going to be a PITA. However with a bit of grunt I got it in and turned around. Then there was a bit of a bonus! The very strong old seat mounts from the side benches (as used in drawer securing) looked like they would work for the bottom barrier mounts - and they did! Okay it means the barrier is say 2" further forward than planned, but that is better than faffing around with the floor and a 22mm hole saw!

The Milford barrier mounts consists of drilling a 22mm hole and two 9mm holes each side. A metal plate is then inserted through the 22mm hole and it is bolted through the two side holes. This leaves the large hole with the threaded plate behind - into which the barrier mounts are screwed. As you can imagine there is a fair bit of fiddling, swearing etc.

However the barrier once in is solid, rattle free and looks like it does what it should. Also provides a convenient place to mount my rear speakers and the battery monitor. A super cheap inside/outside thermometer will also go up with the bat monitor for seeing what the fridge is doing. Eventually I will also use some thin carpet type stuff to make a drop down barrier that I will be able to unroll down the cargo barrier. This will effectively divide the vehicle and reduce the workload for the air-con, as well as a bit more sound damping.





Strangely when I see these pics it looks like the barrier is in front of the side window - which it is not, anyway...

So after the barrier fitting we got some plywood and covered with grey carpet to make up a box for the batteries. Glued down the carpet. The idea is basically a hinged box over the batteries so the top can be lifted to get access to wiring and two circuit breakers that will isolate the batteries from all the stuff in the back.

Here it is offered up just to see how it will fit and look - now I will mount it in and fit hinges etc.

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PostPosted: Sun Apr 12, 2009 23:17    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks guys - will probably stick with the 6.5 for the reasons you mention - the 6.5 rims do tuck the sidewalls in more with 265 tyres, as Soenke points out this is better when aired down. Luckily we have a tyre mounting machine in the workshop... I will get our tyre fitters on it soon.

Today I finished off the battery box, bolting it in.






Then time for more wiring. I put my viair compressor on the side of the drawers, and the 12v outlet is for the tent light as well as the charger for a maglight (with LED conversion - a much better torch now):



The cargo barrier is proving really useful for mounting things - so I mounted the indoor/outdoor thermometer so we know what is going on in the fridge. I then mounted a 2nd 12v outlet which is primarily for a small inverter for charging laptop and camera etc. Tested it out with my mac - managed to get wifi signal from the house and browse MUD in the troopy!



I then re-routed wiring for the amp so that basically everything now runs from the aux batteries. Then testing time...
- Fridge compressor running
- LED table light on
- Compressor inflating a tyre
- stereo on loud
- laptop charging from inverter

Total of 16.3 amps. Going to have to put in a larger circuit breaker (only a 10 amp rated one at the moment) as it would trip after a while. Shutting down fridge, inverter, stereo and lights let it run a bit longer but still tripping.



Thanks for the interest Coyote & Phil,
well tricky parts:
- fitting the turbo: getting the sump off was a bit of a swine due to the silicone instant gasket, and the boost compensator fitting was a bit fiddly.
- The IEF rear bumper was not particularly accurately built and needed serious bending with jacks and 2x4.
- The longranger rear sub tank I stupidly did in the garden and not on a hoist... And it comes with a sender fitment and blanking plate if you are not fitting a sender - the plate was very badly machined and needed replacing and this turned into a bit of a time consuming task (on and off about 5 times) which could have been so easily done right first time by the supplier.
- The cargo barrier was only difficult because I fitted the drawers first - so getting it in and over the drawers needed brute force.
Other stuff is just time consuming but really enjoyable - this is the second expo type vehicle I have done (first was a Defender ). This time around the budget was a lot higher, but the Defender was in need of a lot of mechanical TLC so included gearbox and transfer box overhauls, axles, diffs and fitting a long block engine. Stuff that I did home made in the Defender (storage system and extra fuel tank, roof rack) we bought for the troopy. With the Defender sourcing was easy - back home in the UK Landrover parts are so easy to find. With the Troopy I sourced parts from Germany, Holland, UK, Australia, France, South Africa. The big ticket stuff in the build up is largely over and what remains is a lot of finishing and tidying up of cables, hoses, wiring etc. I am however considering a air-water intercooler set up and various ways of better airflow under the bonnet - 70s are bad for this... Locking Diffs are something that I cannot really decide on. My Defender I had a truetrac front diff and detroit locker in the rear. Traction was awesome! If I do decide this then it would be selectable lockers as I did find that the rover ate halfshaft and driving member splines in the rear (wore very quickly). I am tempted to go down the ARB route, probably not required on our trip but without a winch the benefits of lockers are not to be dismissed, and I intend to keep the vehicle a long long time so would be better doing it now while we have the facilities etc. Oh and I will be adding a lot of underbody sealer and cavity wax as the tropical spec vehicles don't have much - current game plan is to end up back in Europe so the vehicle has to cope with the dreaded salt... And I am still kicking around ideas of heavy duty side step replacements - something jackable and robust. I am not a welder at all, but we have a guy that is fantastic and a lot of various bits of steam piping and other steel lying around.
So, a fair bit more to come actually now I read this

So wheels...
well yesterday I got our tyre fitters to swap rubber - so the troopy has the 6.5" rims off a std 105 cruiser fitted with General AT2s that only have a couple of hundred kms on them. So this afternoon I got out some sand paper and started the prep. I got one helper in the form of a retired chainsaw operator to help out with the sanding. I must say Amuzu did a pretty good job:



Used the onboard shower to wash down the sanding dust:



Then masked off and sprayed with multiple coats from rattle cans. Paint is a bit glossy but beggars can't be choosers out here!



And the final result (well, still got the spares to do):



Now last week a long awaited vehicle arrived (I ordered in October) for our company hospital which is also a district hospital. It is a fully ambulance equipped new 78! Must say we had some laughs driving around as the siren has a loudhailer function. Anyway this one (got to get some pictures) has rear mudflaps, (which mine doesn't) so I made a deal with our Doc... a couple of ratchet straps (to lock down the oxygen cylinder) in exchange for the rear flaps They even say "LandCruiser" on 'em.

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garystockton
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Location: Edinburgh, Scotland

PostPosted: Sun Apr 12, 2009 23:23    Post subject: Reply with quote

Gil,

You've made some great progress - really looking the dogs danglies now!!

What are you going to do with the Hannibal you sent back here (nudge, nudge, wink, wink ...)  And how come you decided to swap out for the Impi?

I like the drawers, but think the £1400 they want for them here is just way too much, considering what's involved, really.  I'll be designing my own, I reckon - I use mostly the SA 'ammo boxes', so will be basically building a frame around those...  But those look great  Laughing

And I seriously enjoyed the Heath Robinson 'ama Afrika' style hoist - you've gone native, m'boy!  Time to sit back on the verandah and sup on a nice cold G&T with extra quinine for the mozzies.  Wink  Laughing

Damn - I miss Africa!!
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gilghana
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 12, 2009 23:26    Post subject: Reply with quote

So, it seems there is some interest in the HZJ78 Ambulance! Well this morning we handed it over to the hospital and did some basic training of how to deal with the stretcher and so on!
So here goes... Troopy arriving at the hospital:














So I decided to do the bullbar this afternoon. The one on the old 75 series (used as a runabout by electricians) was made up years ago and has taken a beating in the bush, so I reckon it's battle proven. The uprights are damn thick, the bumper likewise and the tube work too. Here it is on the old 75:



Now I wanted to get all the fitting checked but first here is a shot of it behind. It has bolt holes on the side and a large vertical bolt, but no bottom strap for the bolt to go through (I will weld one on so the bar is firmly clamped top AND bottom - this will in effect make it a 4 sided pocket that fully fits over the chassis members). IMHO it is strong enough, but may as well be very sure.



So here it is mounted - the small cannister plugged into the onboard water system is a general ecology water filter so that I can also draw drinking water from the tank with no worries - works nicely!



So it needs a bit of cleaning up! But considering the price of them I am quite happy - a few hours with wire brushing and sanding and a bit of paint and it will be fine. It weighs (guestimate) about 40 kgs, so is no lightweight. Whether the winch goes on or not is open at this stage. I will hang back with the painting for a while as I have some wurth stoneguard stuff on the way which I might try...

The lightforce 170s protrude a bit, but they are tough lights, and I dont want any airflow restrictions that I can avoid - it gets hot enough under there!

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