Yoeddynz's 1987 Hiace 4wd - its still going. Resto time.

[yoeddynz]

Edit: I have re-linked some of the missing photos where I can but some others are lost to the company that was tinypic. Oh well. You'll have to just picture what I'm explaining in some sections

Read on...

This is our workhorse since January 2010 and what a beaut it has been. It has carried so much stuff for our housetruck build, been shelter while out camping with mountain bikes, taken us on long trips about south Island and not missed a single beat. But it has always used alot of oil- like one pint per 200 miles and its getting worse.

The day we bought it...

Inside

In use camping..

Built a little wood burner for winter trips. Works a treat. Whiskey is optional...

Its definitely an earlier robust agricultural Toyota and I love it. Ok its not quite as agricultural as my old landrover but for a 'modern' vehicle its quite basic.

We were going to get a newer van 2 weeks ago and actually won one on trademe but the fella failed to mention a severe rear main seal leak which he had tried to hide with silicone on bellhousing plus a small matter of the 4wd system not engaging. I fixed the 4wd on the spot- its silly vacuum operated 4wd engaging system had a hose missing. Not sure why Toyota had to change and add complexity? What was wrong with the lever like ours ? it just has to travel 3 inches further.

Anyway, all this left us not that keen on buying another and instead sticking with what we know. So we decided to keep old faithful and spent some decent money on new shoes for it to celebrate.

Now some of you may well say "its just a toyota van- why bother with a thread?" And I agree- up till today when I realised how cool I think this van actually is. Its a rare thing now to find an older 4wd hiace- most are all the next series ' the 100 series- from '89 on. In fact I have yet to see another old 60 series like ours on the road. I have seen two for sale on trade me. We only got ours by chance when a backpacker from the Czech republic was leaving and advertised it locally. we were smitten with its looks, long wheelbase, simple mechanics and clean condition bodywise but not ots performance nor noisy cv joint or the oil burning tendency. But we knocked him down to a nice price and it began its long suffering service for us.

For the next WOF test I cut out the only bad rust along the bottom of the rear side windows and welded in fresh steel. and that was it. Its simple, very very cheap to run and but for the noisy cv joint (split cv boot has let it go dry) it is a very capable 4wd.  Unlike the later full time 4wd hiaces this one has high and low range transfer box and manual front hubs which we can lock by reaching down from open door not even getting muddy.

The oil burning feature has been a pain though and we thought about fitting a new engine but couldnt swallow the price. Then hannah spotted a van just like ours for sale in local paper by a friend of mums. It had a full big money engine recondition about 9 years ago and has only done 29,000 k's since. Body was rough and it is a short wheelbase but we went to test drive it and two days later its on the drive for a bargain price! sweet. It shall be called van number 2.

So the last day and a bit has been spent removing the engine from it and cleaning it up. Tonight we finished up by almost getting the engine out of van number 1.

Its has been a drama to say the least. This is the first time I have ever removed a engine from a forward control van and toyota have not made it easy. The engine is bloody heavy, gearbox pretty bloody big and there is a design fault I have had to modify.....

We had been advised by a 'real' (does it for a living) mechanic friend that they will come out through the door but they usually just drop the lot on the floor and hoist van up- nice if you have a 4 post lift or bloody big trolley jack.  We borrowed a nice engine hoist from another friend but soon found out that the hoist did not have a long enough boom to reach the centre of engine. Even if it did the crossmember between the seats was in the way.

 I ummmed and errrd about what to do. We lowered engine as much as possible and I managed to wiggle box off- boy its heavy compared to the more usual mazd rx, vauxhall or Triumph boxes I have dealt with in the past.  

After a nice strong afternoon coffee I came up with a solution...

so simple- why didn't Toymoter think of this?... probably because they expect most people get a garage to do stuff lkike this. But not in deepest Africa, Iran. Bolivia...or Blenheim

-Pics missing-

I will either weld the member back in or even better make it so it bolts in place for future work (hopefully never!...)

And out the engine comes- easy peasy.

-pics missing-

Tomorrow we lift the other old tired engine out and then begin big cleanup of all the caked on oil and dirt in engine bay. Nice. I hope its sunny again. The hardest bit I think will be tring to line up box to engine under van and wiggling both together. Not looking forwards to that bit. But once that is done we will be on the home straight.  We also plan to raid van 2 of anything we can store that may be needed (like the working heater matrix) for the future and then get shell taken away by a bloke with a truck and hiab.

[yoeddynz]

we pulled out the old motor and had to clean up decades of oil and dirt. While I did that hannah cleaned up the gearbox from van 2.

We used our heavy item shifter to move box about- its bloody heavy .  I forgot to take photos of how we managed to join box onto engine from underneath- it involved lots of wood and the scissor jack from our nissa 1.3 racing sunny. It never fails to put a smile on my face when I hear the dull 'thunk' when box slides home on the splines and the faces meet.

I welded up some brackets and flanges to bolt the crossmember between the seats back in place.

We also swapped the entire steering system across. Our old one was sloppy...and sticky...at the same time.

Last night we took it out for a good ragging and new engine is amazing! Not faster as such but sooooo much gruntier! Going out over a local pass that used to be 3rd all the way up is now easy 4th and 5th! sweet. And it starts so easily. very very happy.

New gearbox is tighter with better syncros. We swapped the entire steering over too- no more slack in the dead ahead and smooth non sticking rack.

Also swapped the LH upper front arm over- these vans have the cast in ball joint that toyota NZ want $400 for!

Ours was a fail at WOF time till I told them that Toyota allow for upto 2.6mm play - but ours was pretty much at that so we just sneaked through that test. Anyway...the green van had a excellent LH ball joint.

And new mirrors that actually fit properly and work.

There was a leak coming from the bottom of the cam belt cover though. It was intermittent - like I would clean it away when van was idling and it would stop. Then after a drive it would be dripping again. My guess was that the crankcase was getting slightly pressurised whilst driving forcing some through the front crank seal? I checked the breather hose and it was fine though.

Well we took off the cambelt cover this morning- gave it all a good clean and then put fan belts back on and warmed up engine- no leaks anywhere. So we took it for a spin- just drivers seat in- no engine cover in place and gave it a good drive.

Had a look several times and nothing- no leaks, really odd! Maybe it was old oil built up behind the cover that melted.. I dunno. But we are happy. i'm sure next time we take it out with outs tools, overalls etc it'll leak : At least it'll stop the diff from getting rusty....

Pretty much stripped the other van right back. Just take the screens and the muffler and then get the shell collected. Amazing the amount of little bits we have scored!

I cant be the only one who gets a big kick from little things in life like discovering an unworn clutch pedal rubber or unmarked sunvisors in the spares van.

Oh- and we discovered the green van has oldschool air shocks like my old triumph had. You just pump them up with a schreader valve when carrying a heavy load. We nabbed them tonight just at sunset.

Found this if anyone wants any good info on 2L engines....

http://www.onlinefreeebooks.net/automot ... l-pdf.html

[yoeddynz]

Here's the pilot bearing I discovered....no wonder getting gear was sometimes a bit sticky- this would have kept grabbing the first motion shaft.

and what it did to the 1st motion shaft...

 

The van continued to leak! But it would only do it if we took it on a trip that involved open road driving. once idling for a while it would slow then stop leaking. So off with the cambelt cover again and took it for a drive on open road. as soon as we stopped we could see it running from the bottom of the cam seal. I think it must be the seal housing expanding just a bit when hot and weeping out the bottom...

 

I removed the bottom cam pully with this chuck together tool using some cam cap bolts from the old head- worked fine..

 

The seal actually moved when I drilled it. I probably could have picked it out with a finger nail it was so lose. We replaced the crank seal too while we were in there.

 

The seals we got from Blenheim bearing centre were exactly the same as the Toyota ones but $24 for two! not $50 each I've heard quoted. They have to be a particular rubber that is resistant to the acid in the oil that comes from diesel fumes mixing into it.

We also discovered that there should have been a long seal that fits the cambelt cover. Ours was missing. the other engine had one but it was buggered. All the wreakers sadi the ones they see are buggered too. Rang Toyota- $70 for one bloody seal. Ended up getting one from Precision regrinds in Nelson for$30 from a broken seal kit. We wanted to have it as the van does see offroad and it would suck after all this to have one little stone get in there and drop onto cambelt breaking it!

Anyway- hopefully leak has gone- yet to take it on open road.

Now the clutch master cylinder is leaking slightly.......

[yoeddynz]

'Absolute prick of a job time' on our van today. Since we have owned it the heater has never been very 'heaterish'. More 'tepidish'. When we bought the spares van for its engine we also nabbed the heater box while we were at it. I say we but actually it was hannah who had that pleasure.

Today it was my turn and I had to remove the whole bloody dash to get at it. Plus loads of extra shit had to come off as our van had air conditioning which has never worked anyway. I dont want all the extra stuff that goes with it under the dash anyway.

pics missing

I got the heater box out and luckily the two of them are almost identical- the new one actually has a wider matrix but the box is the same dimensions.

The air conditioning unit/matrix was completely clogged with dirt/dust/pine needles???/flys etc so no wonder our poor wee fan only ever produced airflow when on full. I ripped the guts out of the enclosure so now the air flows straight through from the fan to the heater matrix.

 

While the lot was out I cleaned all the 24 years of dust away and luckily there was only some surface rust here and there. Hannah has neautrilised that as we plan to keep this van long time. What was nice to discover was that there is not rust along the bottom of the windscreen seat- as a lot of hiaces of this age start to go there.

Took the carpet out next and cleaned up the whole lot after this shot. Good access with the heater and aircon gone.

 

I have come in from the cold now having just refit the new box. I think I cut some wires I shouldn't have. I had to cut the loom in one place in order to remove the unit and I thought they were only for the aircon circuit but just in case I made sure I cut them in a place that would be esay to solder back together. So I now have some upside down under a van soldering on a cold sunday morning to do.

Question time.... How am I meant to bleed the air out of the heater matrix? It stands on its end with the pipes facing down through the floor so trapped air will sit in the top of the matrix. There is no way to connect it up with out fitting it in place first.

[yoeddynz]

The old van has been running sooooo well. Now with a heater its fantastic and cosy on long trips. We thought it deserved a treat so while I fettled with the Viva today Hannah sanded the Hiace back. She had stripped it all down yesterday. Time for a fresh colour ;D....

Its a rough as paint job just using enamel. The original paint is all cracked everywhere so the new coat is more a about protection. My first coats were a touch heavy and unfortunately lots of runs in places.

[yoeddynz]

- 11 years later -

Wow

Vinny the Hiace van is still going strong and used often. We'd be stuffed without this van as it does everything the cars do and soooo much more. Its taken us on many many camping trips, winter ones kept warm with that fireplace. Hauled all manner of trailers and loads. Shifted loads of timber for all the various builds that have taken place here- I'm amazed how well the cheap old roof rack has lasted.

The low range option on the box really does help for some decent enough 4wding fun too. 

More recently it was visited by @Horse25 lovely 60 series camper with pop top roof...

But it was getting a bit frilly around the edges and that green paint was showing its age. A mini rolling restoration was on the cards. Then another van came along.  We bought a 100 series 2.8 high lwb 4wd - cheap because it had stuffed front pulley and broken bolt in the crank. Lovely van with a really great condition body and it had only just had its injector pump reconditioned.

Lined some vans up (my mates similar 100 series that was in for work)

Put the new van on the hoist..

Broken crank pulley bolt..

Machined up a quick jig so I could drill it out straight and not stuff any threads.  Win...

I machined out the stuffed pulley and machined a stepped shim to suit the flogged crank nose. It all bolted together with a brand new bolt from Toyota and worked fine. Much relief !! 

I also machined up some bushes for the drivers door which had comical levels of drop. I guess 600,000 kms will do that.

The van was then cleaned it up, painted a few patches and it came up pretty sweet...

We used it for a while. The 2.8 was a gem- it ran so smooth and has a good deal more ompfff than vinnys old 2.4.  Hmmmm- which van should we keep. This new one was quite refined and much quieter. Almost felt modern!

But we love our rattly old vinny, its classic looks, the fact its now a pretty rare van being an early high/low range 4wd model. Plus it's alot more nimble and handy offroad then the later one. Due to that extra long wheel base the new one cant even do a U turn on our road.

So we started stripping down Vinny in preparation for a light restoration - the main priority being the rust removal.

In pics. Rust be found,cut out and replaced with nice new steel..

funky old sticker..

We popped the new van (Vicky - since you ask) up for sale on trademe for $7500 and got a heap of interest. The mileage put most off but the exceptional bodywork was a drawcard. Its sold promptly and we were now stuck with no van - vinny still getting worked on.

Big holes appeared and disappeared..

Hannah had fun remove several layers of paint and some impressive levels of filler hiding a few dents..

more rust cut out...

Painting the bare steel in Durapox 2 pack primer as we went...

We also had this old 60series darling come in for some serious rust work and it gave us an idea for a paint colour...

Vinny moved outside for filling and sanding...

Before top coats went on Hannah removed the headlining and foam by using her head...

Then masking and top coats - no expense spared- we used the finest oil based enamel from Mitre10

First off a darkish grey, called Gothic Romance, chosen for its ability, we hope, to not show up too much of the dusty roads we have about here.

Then it was orange. 'Pumpkin head' to be precise. Chosen because it matches a bicycle I had built last year which I really like plus after seeing the other van. Felt like a time for change from green. This is definitely a change...

With bike..

We had scored this rare badge off a similar aged 50 series hiace from the wreckers ages ago and had been waiting until after the inevitable restoration to be able to treat ourselves and 'affix that badge'

Its the little things in life.

Looks perfect..

But its needed a partner and I had a badge in mind - found on 80's landcruisers of the same era with the same font as our hiace badges. I jumped on Aliexpress and this treat arrived in the mail in a record 7 days later!

That's about it for the outside. I'll get some more pics of it now its built up.

We will be breaking up the mass of orange on the tailgate with some grey and adding a white pin strip along the side but no urgency. Its back into service, fresh wof pass from a very impressed wof tester. The interior is next. We've already been to spotlight looking at various cloths and materials for the headlining. 

Mechanically we are after a 3L (2.8L) or 5L (3.0) engine to replace our 2l (2.4)* so we'll keep a look out. But in the meantime this old van will just keep trundling along...

 

 

 

*Toyota really failed when it came to naming this series of engines with any sense of logic.