GRJ78 Troopy to Overland ready home

[Dave_S]

You'll need a ferry! LOL!

 

[Gr8Yota]

oh…

 

[Phil01]

Liking it…What are your TT springs rated at for your estimated total weight?

 

[Gr8Yota]

I went for the 5-700kg parabolics and the 100kg progressive coils

 

[Gr8Yota]

Scotland was a good test out. Wet and wild but interspersed with sunshine. 2200km in a week. Came back with a few things to change and some better organising to do but on the whole a good run.

 

[Gr8Yota]

Today I started on the tweeks and the next stage which is the vehicle side rather than the camper.

Wheels mounted. They are theoretically only 30mm wider and only a fraction taller (225/95 R16 to 255/80 R17) but the new boots make the OE look like a space saver.

Rubber wheel arch extensions now on order

 

[Dave_S]

Good good. Do you need arch extensions? They look about level with the existing arches from those pics. Looking straight down from above, can you any visible tread?

 

[Gr8Yota]

Yes I’m going to need extensions. It’s marginal, might get away with it but I’ll add some rubber edge rather than FRP flares. The rubber worked well on my 70.

 

[Gr8Yota]

Arch extensions fitted, need a little tweaking but they’ll do until the summer when the rubber is more cooperative!

Added some ‘warm white’ LED strips inside:

and mounted up one window grille. The idea being that I can leave the rearmost windows open but securely. They should be virtually invisible from outside in daylight.

 

[Gr8Yota]

Well I’ve had a go at refurbishing the seats acquired for me by @fbnss . I decided to just try and make the left seat good as the double seat is perfect for Zero. This meant I could rob the right seat of the only bit that was good, the left hand bolster. I had some leather, I think from an old settee that I got in a charity shop so nothing much to lose.

I could try and dye the leather to match but as I’ll use a cover over it it doesn’t matter much.

Now to try and make it fit!

 

[Tonytoyota2]

Hi that is one cool cruiser you have got love it wot a good job all the best Tony.

 

[4play]

Work is progressing - well done

The Troopy must be awesome with the 4.0Ltr V6

But 2nd prize, I had my 1HD FTE chipped it now pushes out 187KW and 650NM

 

[Gr8Yota]

I‘d be happy with the 1HD, but is that ‘stock’ as I thought the Troopy only got the 1HZ?

 

[CruiserScot]

The Aussie 70's got the 1HD-T prior to the V8

 

[Surfy]

Beautiful Rig!

Surfy

 

[Gr8Yota]

This is an Export Certificate issued by the UAE Government when I purchased my brand new car. I sent it to DVLA when I applied for my registration.

According to the DVLA it is PROOF the car is a used vehicle, previously registered in Jan 2021. It is the ONLY document the DVLA would accept as proof of the vehicle’s age and status. They even refused to recognise the VIN plate as evidence that it was in fact built a month AFTER the date THEY chose to declare it was registered.

Now as far as anyone else can see there is no such ‘evidence’ on this document.

I’ve been trying to get ‘Stan’ registered since June. The Registration I was finally issued at the beginning of August stated that Stan was originally registered overseas in Jan 2021. Wow! He wasn’t built until Feb!

Anyhow I had to follow ‘procedure’ to complain and fight them. I had to write to the department and ask for it to be corrected, along with my name they got wrong and the date from which they were charging tax which was July when their own letter to me stated it wouldn’t be charged until August.

Well the employee that responded basically said he was right and it wasn’t being changed, except my name when he saw had be “keyed incorrectly” so he sent me a new one… on which he spelled my name wrong again!

So I made a complaint to the ‘complaints team’… stage 2 of the process…. 2 months no response.

Stage 3 write to the CEO…

Oh but the CEO’s office just passes it to the Complaints Team… no reply

So second email to the CEO and it gets passed back to level 1! WTF!! If I write to the CEO I expect a reply from their office not the office I’m complaining about.

So the Head person (thought I better edit that term lol) at level 1 tells me he is right. They use the Export Certificate to gather the information. According to him they don’t make up dates (rofl rofl) and the Export Cert is proof the car is used. (Which it isn’t). They do not except a VIN plate or anything else as proof!!! WTF So where on this export cert is the date of registration as JAN 2021 stated???

So I tell him to pass this back to the CEO’s office and it needs now to be referred to the Independent Complaints Assessor, he passes it to the internal complaints team… who write and tell me as this is the first time they have this according to protocol it has to be handled by them… (they’ve had it from me and from the CEO’s office already so it’s the 3rd time).

So I write again to the CEO’s office. I am being passed around in circles…

I also email the RTA in Dubai (Road Transport Authority) and ask them to clarify. They point out the obvious (well obvious to everyone other than DVLA) that there is no registration number on the Export Cert so it shows it has not been registered in Dubai. And an export cert is just that, a cert to say I can export the vehicle, doesn’t matter if it is new or used.

I send these two emails to CEO at DVLA.

So I then get a response from bottom level again to say the additional evidence I supplied shows it is a new car after all.!!! Well Well Well… I didn’t send any new ‘evidence’ just someone else telling them they were wrong and dumb!

(If they still hadn’t accepted this I would have told them to start Criminal Proceedings against me as I am obviously making a false statement if they are not making up stuff I am… Their application form for the Reg has in bold type “making a false declaration is a criminal offence”) That would have been interesting!

So they finally accept it as a new car not 18 months old. But of course NO admission of them being wrong or any apology.

I have yet to receive the document so we’ll see what is wrong this time!

So they devalued my car by making it 18 months older than it is. Oh and if I make a false declaration on the application it is a Criminal Offence but they can do so no problem!



Today I won. They have finally agreed that it was new after all. Of course no apology or admission that they were wrong or that their ”correct procedure” is wrong…

 

[Dave_S]

Christ on a bike, what a hassle. Congratulations on the positive result and sticking with it - I think many of us would have just given up TBH.

The DVLA really are a law to themselves - though I read on another forum that they've finally been picked up on the whole van-to-camper fiasco: https://www.ombudsman.org.uk/news-and-blog/news/dvlas-poor-communication-causes-confusion-campervan-owners Maybe, just maybe, they'll start to be held accountable. Now that would be a good Christmas present!

 

[Gr8Yota]

Yes they should be held accountable. Their attitude the whole way through was “we’re not interested in facts, we do it this way”. I will complain but it will go nowhere. The moral is don’t give up fighting!

 

[Dave_S]

Maybe go via the ombudsman too? The more people that do that, the more chance they'll need to take action? Just a thought...

 

[4play]

Back in 2003 Toyota South Africa imported 15 of the 78 Series Troopys to test the market, the model they imported was the 1HD FTE with rear disks, rear door windscreen wiper, stabaliser bars and a few other goodies not normally standard, but unfortunately no lockers and mine is one of the 15.
Yota SA finally ended up importing only the the 1HZ (donkey)