thought i might update this as its been a while.

Have done lots of mechanical work to get this bus reliable and driving nice

I fitted new brake shoes all round (front drums!) and replaced any tried looking wheel cylinders:


The door i got off the scrap hiace got sprayied


I've tackled the grot under the slidey door rail. I've lost the lead for my garage digicam so can only show you a before and almost finished stages:

Mmmm tasty:




and now:

Basically the middle 30 cms was missing also holes at both ends of the rail. Once the grot was cut out, I had to make up 3 panels that followed all those contours. I also added extra strength but welding in some more supports on the inside.


thankfully Toyota provided access panels to get at the other side of the panel.





Also I got a timing chain kit for U.S. ebay a while back, about time i fitted it

the 18r with all engine covers removed


head off!

stuff removed! - once the radiator is out there is so much room! really easy engine to work on. Head has to come off to remove the timing chain cover, the book also says you need to remove the sump, but i couldnt see the point, so left it on. I purchase the factory toyota 18r book for this job, again off U.S. ebay just because both haynes i have with this engine in (hiace/lux and celica) are really vague

mmm cam


view from under the van through where the radiator would sit


I took this opportunity to tidy up and paint some of the parts i was removing, like this fan surround, black is much nicer than rust


I also had to order a few extra bits from toyota


lots off cleaning degreasing


No pics after this point mostly because i was concentrating on getting the van ready for the Retro-Rides Gathering in Sommerset:
http://retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=rrg09

and I made it!, i'd only managed to do 20 miles test run with the engine back together before i left on a 400mile round trip to Sommerset including about 3 hours stuck in traffic on the M25. Still no overheating oil/water loss! The van seems happy at cruising at 70 mph am i worked out i'm getting around 27mpg which isnt bad for something brick shaped.
(pic courtisey of dennismo)

I've since fitted some new kyb shocks and it Passed its MOT today so time to crack on with the body work

That's a lot of rot work.

Woot for rockin' the JNC sticker!

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Nice! the wheels look great btw, have you got a shot of under the pop top, is there anything under there or just allows you to stand up?

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http://classiccolt.forumcircle.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/ColtSSR
'69 Honda C50
'79 Honda C50
'73 Honda ST90
Custom Honda Chaly
'85 RX7
'79 B1600

thanks!, here is a pic of inside the pop top:

3 beds up there! The bunk on the left folds up if you need more head room too.

This thing is super sick! Looks like it's had a hard life and been neglected, glad to see it made it's way into good hands! Good job on the rust repair too!

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'70 sl350, '86 spree, '88 cressida

Bad-ass. And I'm very impressed with the work you've done so far. Keep it up!

And I want a retro cars sticker. THey stopped carrying the mag around me lately and I'm quite sad.

man, i really wish we got those here. would be a bad ass ride to take the family out and about.
looks good, keep up the great work.

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i might be young, but i love old school cars.
1981 corolla wagon
1985 corolla gts
model car blogspot
http://zenkitrdcoupe.blogspot.com/

new seats, I've been looking to replace the stock seats for a while as they don't have much support or adjustment. I think I've found a solution
Porsche 924s seats, they are a very similar design shape and size to the Hiace ones (just not brown vinyl!)

i've now got a pair of scruffy ones for szing up, but really i'm holding out for the brown velour ones if some ever come up on ebay. ;D

Progress! With the funds from my 323 I have been able to buy a decent welder!. For the last week or so I have been de-rusting. I don't have to many pics as I keep forgetting to take some.

van currently looks:

There are various bits of welding I need to do on the van but as it keeps raining I have been focusing on removable panels.

example of the rust, I ended up cutting out the drain hold bit and remaking that, then did this:


currently the door looks like this

Also have done a repair on the bottom of the door.

have done a few repairs on the front quarter panels too.

some of todays stuff, a little hole

became a big hole!

then I ran out of cutting discs and it started raining
Seems when the door step was replaced; some time in the vans past. The drain holes got covered/welded up, resulting in it filling up with water, I will defiantly be including drains when it all goes back together and a ton of waxoyl.

lower front panel in primer

One step forward several backwards and one sideways, Got a mate round to help with the removal of the front screen. He has done plenty of screen removals before so were in good hands. Spend and hour playing about but the screen wouldn't budge until the inevitable happened:

Although this was after I'd checked screens were still available!
The screen did eventually come out, just about in one piece.

With the screen out I could asses the rot:

80% of which I've now done, I should finish tomorrow. As for the screen a local place can get one for £105 inc fitting and is coming on tuesday. I'd wanted to replace the old screen anyway as it was scratched to hell but didn't expect to be doing it this soon.
edit : the rest of the screen surround was like new only that one corner that had rotted

new screen and metal a-pillar ;D


In the end I had to the repair to the pillar in 3 sections as it extended up the roof, basically all the red oxide painted area was cutout:
http://i689.photobucket.com/albums/vv25 ... CF6365.jpg
nice an solid now and filled with waxoyl

always forget to update this copied and pasted from my ojc build thread.

only a little bit today;

This hole on the inner arch was under a lump of fibre glass ::)

So it got cut out

I attempted a continuous weld after a few tack welds. Mostly worked although I didn't get brilliant penetration in a few places, so had to go over them again.

metal now




given the door a coat of 'rover diamond white'! When the time comes to re spray the entire van it will be this rover white, similar to the original slightly cream white.

no more sealed beams!

I've restored my head lamp surrounds. Got a halogen conversion plus yellow bulb caps. Derusted + painted the adjusters, washed up the light lenses in fairy liquid ;D should look good when they go back on.

Also started some more welding but my mig wire ran out and it has been to cold to be out welding. So body work progress has been slow.

remove the leaky steering box

my puller was too weedy to remove the pitman arm so will have to borrow one during the week. Then I will go to the Toyota dealers to order a new oil seal and any other parts it might need.

Steering box apart, bearings and all other parts seem in good nick. Just the rubber seals need replacing. There lots of brown sludge at the bottom of the casing that could off once been EP90.

The bits are now soaking in my high-tech degreasing parts washer (old lunchbox + tooth brush).


the Toyota factory manual shows how to rebuild the steering box using shims and stuff to remove the play. So I will give that a go as its in bits.

Steering box seals ordered from toyota £16 for both. Also a parcel arrive from Ireland!

to replace this


This came from a Hiace camper in THAT Irish scrapyard!


another mojo booster today, the hiace has its face back!

I trail fitted the chrome bumper and I really like the look so its staying. I've spent a few more hours scraping off the remaining old paint of it. I've also got to make up some new brackets for it.

Steering box done too, seals


all painted an ready and now fitted



more bumper cleaning, I've wire brushed and zinc primered the inside.


Small dent on the passenger side has been filled so I've stuck and NGK sticker over it ;D Huge improvement over the black iron girder I think.

Very nice. You must be the only guy restoring one of these . Keep up the good work!

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hey, beaut car, i have another right hand drive model, from australia, picked it up for $400 and its my current love, first car. i wanna do something similar to you, but as you can imagine, i have alot less room, wanna put an 18r motor in because my head is cracked and i dont think the 1600 is up to the job.

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first car, best car, evar. $400 1971 gen 1 hiace, many problems, no money, lots of fun

Great machine. After driving a Kombi for many years, I was given a bright orange '79 Hi-Ace to drive every day, filled with telephones, for work. I was amazed at the sophistication, and the quiet smooth ride. A real leader at the time.

Incidentially, if you travel at 70km/h and hit a two-brick high speed bump, an un-laden SWB '79 Hi-Ace will clear 30cm of air, and land flat, two car lengths down the road.

There are close to zero on the roads in Japan, so its neat to see one in detail again. Neko.

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The Black Cat - S800M Coupe.

hehhe! that's the same model my grandfather has. So gutless though, maybe thats why they were never on sale in the US?
His is a stripped out version with just two front seats, he rigged up ramps so that he can drive a ride on lawnmower into the back of it for his gardening business.

Nice to see another retro rides member! Man, UK cars rust out like nothing on earth

you say gutless but you drive a '79 2.0 hiace then jump in to a '79 1600 VW camper! Then you will really know what gutless is!

any way




had a great time at the RR gathering over the weekend, set off on friday Convoying with BnD in the Wartburg and stuyizz in the Nissan Homy Caravan Limosine Turbo intercooler Diesel mobile living room thing.
Nice to see some fellow ojcers too! But what really made my weekend was on sunday a chap with his son wandered up at the show and asked if I had brought the hiace of a Mr Doody from Hereford, turns out this chap was the previous owners Son in Law!
He told me loads more history about the van, like the entire front panel was replaced after it was hit by a snow mobile in the alps! Its been all over Europe at some stage and its had at least 2 restos/resprays/tart ups in its time. Apparently its already on its seconded set of replacement rear arches! It originally had chrome bumpers but they rotted out, which is why its got the later black girder ones.
Chap was very pleased to see it was still going and with hopefully email me a bit more info/history.

rr gathering pics here:
http://www.japanesenostalgiccar.com/for ... hp?t=11010

Real stoked to see you are restoring one of these vans. I also have one of these generation Hiace's. The previous owner restored most of it and I'm just finishing it off. I really like how these are quite rare cars these days. In New Zealand (where I live) you will see loads more VW vans than these older Hiaces.

this is so rad !!!

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SPARKLE GARAGE
雷 - BANG !!!