The Ultimate Troopy: 80 series + 75 series + LS v8 = LSJ155

[RMP&O]

Got a pretty cool project going in the shop.

Little back story,

I found this 1993 HZJ75 Troopy in Latin America back in 2017. It had been left for dead mostly but couldn't be imported at that time for over a year. So I kind of just forgot about it and put it back burner.

Fast forward about seven or eight months and I get an inquiry from a guy looking to get a LHD Troopy. Right out the gates he says he wants to put it on an 80-series chassis and wants a v8 in it. So I told him about the 93 HZJ75 I had found. He was interested, so began the process of acquiring it.

Fast forward another six months or so and I had the Troopy here in Idaho, legally imported and ready to rock n roll with an Idaho title. A few months earlier the owner had drove up a Southern California locked 80-series he had bought for this project. He had also been sending me tons and tons of Toyota boxes for six months!

Fast forward a few more months and the build began!

Basic rundown on this build;
*1993 HZJ75 LHD Troopy
*1994 (I think) 80-series locked chassis, stretched five inches and all new Troopy body mounts made
*6.2L L94 v8 from an Escalade
*GM 6L80E 6spd auto trans mated to HF2A t-case
*2007+ wide nose conversion on body
*Pop-top camper


To be continued.

Cheers

 

[RMP&O]

Here is the Troopy in Latin America after we had acquired it and got it out of it's hiding place.



TBC

Cheers

 

[RMP&O]

Work began on stripping the 80 chassis.



Once the chassis was stripped, move it in the shop. At this time I just had a little one bay shop.



Cut all the 80-series body mounts off the 80 chassis.



Troopy is 5" longer for wheel base than an 80. So we extended the chassis 5". To do this we chopped off the rear lower control arm mounts.




And then cut the frame in half.



For this build the customer didn't want any plating on the outside of the frame, he wanted it to look stock conversion and stretch wise. So sleeving the frame is how this one was done.





While this was going on it was time to strip the Troopy down to nothing.




To be continued....


Cheers

 

[BritKLR]

Super cool. Keep it coming!

 

[RMP&O]

Welding frame back together.



To cover the splice.



Welded up and first round of clean up with the grinder.



Strip the chassis out from under the body.



Body setup to roll the new stretched 80 chassis under it and start building body mounts.



Rolling the new 80 chassis under it.





The new beast begins to take form.



Sold off the old 1HZ h55 combo



TBC

Cheers

 

[RMP&O]

Coil springs, oh ya!



I spend a lot of time on setup when I do these builds, as long as it takes. It is important to get everything squared up, centered and level.





Everything has to be test fitted.



Even our 2007+ wide nose conversion.



Before body mounts can be built the engine needs to be in place and body in place as well. A Marks 4wd kit to mate the t-case to the GM trans puts the engine to far forward in my opinion. So I modify the trans crossmember to move it all back.



Pretty happy with the engine and trans/tcase placement.





With that done, it was time to start in on the body mounts.




TBC


Cheers

 

[RMP&O]

I have built a few of these Cruisers on 80-series chassis. This time I decided to build the body mounts from scratch and weld them up.



They begin to take shape.



Getting them fitted under the Cruiser.






Here is where the Troopy landed on the 80 frame, this was as low as I could get it.




And here is a stock 70-series on it's stock frame. Not bad!




I put the Troopy down on the new body mounts for the first time. Troopy meet your new chassis!




And the beast rolled out of the shop in it's new form.





Apologies for a few sideways pics, not sure what is up with that.

The body mounts were welded on and can support the body but were not done. More on that to come.


Over the next few months I had some other work scheduled I had to get after. I also moved into a new shop, a real shop!


TBC

Cheers

 

[RMP&O]

A couple of the other Cruisers I had to deal with before I could get back on the Troopy.




And move into a new shop!




It took me about three weeks to get all moved, setup and back to working on Cruisers full time.

TBC

Cheers

 

[RMP&O]

New shop new tools. I got the Troopy body on the rotisserie.




I got the last of the things pulled from it like rear cargo windows.



I will be doing all the rust repairs on this truck. We have a lot of new OEM Toyota body parts but there will be some fab as well. These areas all need to be opened up and cleaned out before sand blasting. These are floor crossmebers and body mounts.






Again, not sure why some pics are uploading sideways, I have adjusted them and saved them.


Any ways, went over all the body mounts again to finish boxing them in.






The point of having a half circle on the frame rail is so that mud, dirt, debris doesn't collect there and cause corrosion. It also makes washing the chassis easier.

TBC

Cheers

 

[RMP&O]

With that all done it was time for the next step.



Strip down the chassis in prep for sand blasting.





Axle parts cleaned up, hadn't pulled studs yet in this picture.



Frame ready to go.




I hired Adam Churnside, formally of Tor Fab recently. We got the frame and axles off to the sand blaster the other day.




That brings the build up to date. Next week we should have chassis parts back from the blaster and they will all then get painted. The owner of this truck wanted to go with paint vs powder coat. The body will be going in for blasting when we pick up the chassis parts. When the body comes back I will start in on the rust repairs. My shop in in a motorsports complex. My landlord and neighbor has a nice paint both and a very experienced guy to do the paint work for us. So it is not leaving the property for paint, just going to the shop next door. The truck is getting white and chassis flat black. The engine is getting a full rebuild and I expect it back in the next 4-6 weeks. Same for the trans. The 80-series axles are factory e-locked.

I think that is about it for now, I will keep this going throughout the build. The owner is actually taking this on an ATWD when it is finished!

Cheers

 

[TonyLC]

Super cool. Keep it coming!

Thanks Paul. (Owner of the Troopy here)
Already had you guys bookmarked for some gear I'll need in the future

 

[ProwlerDriver]

wow, this is awesome. Fantastic work!

 

[1Goat]

Wow. Absolutely brilliant!
Well done so far.

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[1611Aviator]

I’m getting some ideas


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[RMP&O]

Gutters all stripped of factory seam sealer. Few areas need some attention but overall they are good.



Old school trick here to clean out hollow areas real well.



Another old school trick to quickly remove the factory seam sealer in the wheel wells.




Chassis is done at blaster, swapping it for the body tomorrow.

Cheers