GRJ78 Troopy to Overland ready home

[Gr8Yota]

Finally after many many months of searching, negotiating, hassle, persistence and waiting my Troopy arrived in the UK a week or so ago. I have been gathering kit for transforming it into my full time home so I will take you along for the ride.

Initial progress will be slow as I need to get it through IVA before I rip too much apart or add too much.

The back story: I owned a KZJ70 from 1996 until 2009, so am quite familiar with the J7 family. I bought an FJ Cruiser in 2014 which I absolutely love but it isn’t much good for me and dog Zero to live in so last summer I started the search for a 78 or 79 that I could convert. I ended up buying a new one out of Dubai after chasing lots of used ones in South Africa and ruling out Australia as too expensive.

 

[Gr8Yota]

The first job is to address the IVA requirements.

Replace the RH blank light with a fog, change the speedo face for one with MPH and swap the headlights…

But having imported the headlights from Australia I then discover they are not RHD units! So I’ve put the OE back in for IVA and will swap again later…

I also removed the bonnet emblem, just in case..

 

[Gr8Yota]

I had to remove the bench seats so I could get to the panel to remove that to get to the fog light loom… so whilst it was apart I’ve added sound deadening mat and then closed cell foam insulation.

 

[Beijing Ballie]

What a platform to start with, looking forward to watching this story unfold with great interest, and i bucket full of envy.

 

[Scott]

Congratulations on the new purchase and good luck with the build. Sounds fun.

 

[Bat21]

Does this one have the V8 diesel in it?

 

[Gr8Yota]

No as the title it’s a 1GR-FE

 

[Beijing Ballie]

What are you going to do underneath, lather it up with a couple gallons of sheep sweat?

 

[Gr8Yota]

Probably just add a layer or two of paint. I’m not keen to wax this one, (always have done in the past) going to try it out…

 

[nick_the_fish]

What a truck! Lucky you. Looking forward to watching this tread as you build up the truck. I honestly think they are one of the best overloading base vehicles you can buy.

Enjoy.

 

[Gr8Yota]

It’s been a busy week.. but not much achieved. On Monday we trailered the Troopy to the test station for it’s IVA

Now this must be a very rare sighting… an 80 and a 78 together! (The 80 belongs to a friend)

So we arrived with lots of time to spare but the testers decided they could do it straight away, pulled me into the shed and pretty much straight off did the emissions test… The Govt guidance notes state this should be conducted at normal running temp. We had a stone cold truck that has never been driven other than around a compound, in and out of a container and onto a transporter! So it failed on the Lambda (O2) reading by about 5%, CO and HC were pretty much zero! So you can imagine I was pretty p***d with the testers.

They also failed the Australian fog light I’d had to add to the right side and the spare tyre… Yes Tyre!! For being a sharp protruding edge!! WTF!

So today the local garage did me an emissions test, I drove the 1/2 mile there via a 7 mile loop so had a warm car and guess what… it sailed through absolutely perfect results. I’ve addressed the other bits too…

Put on the wheel cover it came with and added a £7 fog light (which I’ve now moved further left to meet the criteria) and disconnected the OE fogs…. Bonkers but just playing the game…

Retest tomorrow for the failed bits so I hope all is OK now. This time I am driving it to the test station so it is nice and hot on arrival…

 

[Gr8Yota]

Well I think I can say the build has started in Ernest now…

I still have the retest to pass, I got a call Fri that they were cancelling the retest as their emissions test rig was broken !

But as they now only look at the bits they failed I can start altering things.

Friday eve the brackets arrived that I’d had made to make use of the space between the outer and inner skins. So I can start fixing power, water etc and connecting everything up. I am short of a few bits for this so it will be a bit stop start whilst I await bolts, rubber strip, more paint etc etc and it‘s a bit figure out as I go despite a plan or two.

First up the power to the aux batteries. I’m using two 100Ah LiFePo units to power the ‘living’ side of the vehicle. Charging will be via DC-DC and Solar. I went with Victron Energy kit as it is solid and well supported with good warranty.

Mounted Using nutserts(Rivnuts) all put in by hand… a little slow but easy enough…

There are eight of these in total so I gain a fair amount of space for mounting stuff.

Trial fit of first panel with power supply for the two 100Ah LiFePo batteries that’s DC-DC and MPPT inputs.

The two batteries will sit under one end of this platform. The fridge will bolt onto the top of it taking up nearly half this side.

 

[Beijing Ballie]

Is the platform made with standard 18mm plywood or something a bit more special. Just wondering about the weight.

 

[Gr8Yota]

We are using poplar ply which is lighter weight. But still going to be heavier than I would like!

 

[guyc]

For the vertical pieces you could cut lightening holes in them. You can generally cut about 50% of the depth of the 'web' away without affecting the strength.

Whilst it is more work you can reduce the thickness of the top by adding some stiffening underneath. Alternatively if you know where the fridge is going you could have a stiffener under the fridge feet and dispense with any need for the structural top under the fridge.

Good work, a very cool project and I'm very jealous.

 

[tonytoyota]

Hi it's comeing on looking gooda big

 

[Gr8Yota]

I drove it today! Back to the VOSA station for the retest.. so it was properly warmed up and needless to say it sailed through the test. So now the next wait is for registration…

One wheel arrived for me to check fitment and find suitable nuts.

Hutchinson two piece aluminium wheel. Similar to those I had on my 70 but without the VFI insert for now. I’ll probably need to add some wheel arch flares of some sort.as I’m told these are -25 offset.

 

[tonytoyota]

Hi love them wheels

 

[GeekOKent]

Are these wheels pcd150 ? Looks awesome.

 

[pugwash]

I drove it today! Back to the VOSA station for the retest.. so it was properly warmed up and needless to say it sailed through the test. So now the next wait is for registration…

One wheel arrived for me to check fitment and find suitable nuts. View attachment 324579
Hutchinson two piece aluminium wheel. Similar to those I had on my 70 but without the VFI insert for now. I’ll probably need to add some wheel arch flares of some sort.as I’m told these are -25 offset.

Yumm- i just bought 5 of these in black

I'm expecting the standard 100 series nuts to fit- specifically these ones 14x1.5mm Flat 47mm Thread 22mm Hex Chrome Wheel Nut for Toyota Land Cruiser [J100] 98-07 - [Leaving Land Cruiser Club]