Ive been meaning to do a thread for this for a while but never got round to it so here we go.... *deep breath* a Toyota Hiace Super Custom Limited 3.0 Turbo Diesel was purchased after failing to find a nice Mitsubishi Delica L300 to smoke around in comfortably for daily duties, weekend camping trips and festivals/raves etc..
I've liked these for years, the Boso ones with wings, spoilers and cocktail bars in the back are the best thing on 4 wheels but in West Yorkshire the crazy low hanging bumpers wouldn't last 5 minutes
I searched online and missed out on a few vans locally and eventually found this one over 400 miles away in Wales 
...great. However after various emails and phone calls back and forth it became clear this was a good one. Train ticket booked and off we (long suffering Dad and a mate) went to get this...
The journey back went smoothly with my dad in the front messing about with all the buttons...
Kettle, Ice maker, Food warmer/cooler, Electric curtains, Joyful talk system (basically a intercom system so you can talk to the rear passengers without shouting
and my mate in the back messing about with all the various seating positions 
Lounge set up, cinema set up, sideways pulled up at a beach set up or finally all flat to make a double bed set up. The 3.0 turbo diesel isn't the fastest but if the cooling system is taken care of will last forever and pulls the van even fully loaded with 7 people, 2 dogs and a boot full of stuff no problem.
I'd decided before we collected it the wheels and side vinyl were on borrowed time, yes they were lovely 90's spec JDM style but were all cracked and had been replaced in some parts badly, which annoyed me so this happened the first weekend i had spare....
which went well right up until i got to sliding door and the drivers door, the vinyl came off and took part of the damn paint off
i'll blame soft fresh paint but it may well have been baby jesus angry at me ....anyway it didn't look too bad from a distant once i'd got some touch up paint from Halfords Lol
I then decided to tackle the chipped front grill, Toyota for some reason fit a nice chrome grill and then coat it in a easily chipped frosted coating?? Mine wasn't too bad but you could see the chrome coming through in places so this happened....
Applied paint stripper to the grill and light surrounds, sat back and watched the Hiace become heaps more blingy
A few months in, the water pump started leaking quicker than i could fill it so off to the friendly local garage it went. Thankfully the 3.0 engine is shared with the Land Cruiser so parts are ok to get hold of, but due to the engine being under the front seats it was a hellish £375 job
but one less thing off the 'to do list'
The current to do list is roughly -
- Get air con looked at and hope it just needs a re-gas.... I can't get my ice cubes made until the AC works
- Sort out the sticking/catching front passenger brake when it gets warm.
- Have a leccy' specialist look at why the curtains arn't working and why when it rains and i'm giving it beans do the dash board lights up (not TC but a dodgy connection somewhere)
The wheels have been a problem, i found some split rims local on ebay so grabbed them, stupidly stupidly stupidly tried one on the back and it fitted nicely so went ahead on a slow but expensive paint/plasticdip buying session, sprayed them up and was happy with them. I then came to fit them, put both wheels on, stood back Ahh yeah looking good, jacked the front up and tried to put the fronts on ....ARGH!! I need some serious spacing!! Stupid stupid stupid head!!
To cut a long story short, i paid out and got some 20mm spacers that proved to be JUST enough, put the wheels on, did a return camping trip to Whitby from Huddersfield and en route decided i didn't like the idea of spacers so decided they needed to come off Just a personal thing so don't hate me for not loving spacers... The wheels looked immense though!!!!
Anyone bored yet or shall i continue?? I truly love this van, its been great for trips away, helping friends move heavy stuff, taking the cat for a drive thru KFC, taking the dogs up to the moors. Due to having a spine the same shape as a spring i was concerned that the seating position would be a pain but its actually the most comfortable thing i've ever owned. I normally get serious back ache doing the 250 mile trip to Kent to see the folks but this is great and in the back... well take a look....
They don't make interiors like this anymore!! The MPG will never be great, i think i get about 22-26mpg but i tend to drive it very steady. I haven't yet taken any decent pictures of it but i've replaced the vinyl with some wood effect vinyl from B&Q (£3.99 a roll FTW
) to cover up the dodgy paint. I've also replaced most of the interior lights with disco LEDs and added some solar powered lights in the roof for when i go dogging 
Future plans are -
- lower it slightly (obviously)
- Fit Desmo roof rack with wooden slats i have waiting for me in Kent
- Service the hell out of it
- Find a spare interior light cover as i have a plan
- Find some suitable steel wheels and add whitewalls
- Front nudge bar
- Replace patchwork exhaust with a full stainless steel job with boso tip
- Possibly fit a table
- Fit a 2nd battery and a tele'
And one last picture of my cat ordering his popcorn chicken....
I've liked these for years, the Boso ones with wings, spoilers and cocktail bars in the back are the best thing on 4 wheels but in West Yorkshire the crazy low hanging bumpers wouldn't last 5 minutes
I searched online and missed out on a few vans locally and eventually found this one over 400 miles away in Wales 
...great. However after various emails and phone calls back and forth it became clear this was a good one. Train ticket booked and off we (long suffering Dad and a mate) went to get this...
The journey back went smoothly with my dad in the front messing about with all the buttons...
Kettle, Ice maker, Food warmer/cooler, Electric curtains, Joyful talk system (basically a intercom system so you can talk to the rear passengers without shouting
and my mate in the back messing about with all the various seating positions 
Lounge set up, cinema set up, sideways pulled up at a beach set up or finally all flat to make a double bed set up. The 3.0 turbo diesel isn't the fastest but if the cooling system is taken care of will last forever and pulls the van even fully loaded with 7 people, 2 dogs and a boot full of stuff no problem. I'd decided before we collected it the wheels and side vinyl were on borrowed time, yes they were lovely 90's spec JDM style but were all cracked and had been replaced in some parts badly, which annoyed me so this happened the first weekend i had spare....
which went well right up until i got to sliding door and the drivers door, the vinyl came off and took part of the damn paint off
i'll blame soft fresh paint but it may well have been baby jesus angry at me ....anyway it didn't look too bad from a distant once i'd got some touch up paint from Halfords Lol
I then decided to tackle the chipped front grill, Toyota for some reason fit a nice chrome grill and then coat it in a easily chipped frosted coating?? Mine wasn't too bad but you could see the chrome coming through in places so this happened....
Applied paint stripper to the grill and light surrounds, sat back and watched the Hiace become heaps more blingy
A few months in, the water pump started leaking quicker than i could fill it so off to the friendly local garage it went. Thankfully the 3.0 engine is shared with the Land Cruiser so parts are ok to get hold of, but due to the engine being under the front seats it was a hellish £375 job
but one less thing off the 'to do list' The current to do list is roughly -
- Get air con looked at and hope it just needs a re-gas.... I can't get my ice cubes made until the AC works
- Sort out the sticking/catching front passenger brake when it gets warm.
- Have a leccy' specialist look at why the curtains arn't working and why when it rains and i'm giving it beans do the dash board lights up (not TC but a dodgy connection somewhere)
The wheels have been a problem, i found some split rims local on ebay so grabbed them, stupidly stupidly stupidly tried one on the back and it fitted nicely so went ahead on a slow but expensive paint/plasticdip buying session, sprayed them up and was happy with them. I then came to fit them, put both wheels on, stood back
Ahh yeah looking good, jacked the front up and tried to put the fronts on ....ARGH!! I need some serious spacing!! Stupid stupid stupid head!! 
To cut a long story short, i paid out and got some 20mm spacers that proved to be JUST enough, put the wheels on, did a return camping trip to Whitby from Huddersfield and en route decided i didn't like the idea of spacers so decided they needed to come off
Just a personal thing so don't hate me for not loving spacers... The wheels looked immense though!!!! 
Anyone bored yet or shall i continue?? I truly love this van, its been great for trips away, helping friends move heavy stuff, taking the cat for a drive thru KFC, taking the dogs up to the moors. Due to having a spine the same shape as a spring i was concerned that the seating position would be a pain but its actually the most comfortable thing i've ever owned. I normally get serious back ache doing the 250 mile trip to Kent to see the folks but this is great and in the back... well take a look....
They don't make interiors like this anymore!! The MPG will never be great, i think i get about 22-26mpg but i tend to drive it very steady. I haven't yet taken any decent pictures of it but i've replaced the vinyl with some wood effect vinyl from B&Q (£3.99 a roll FTW
) to cover up the dodgy paint. I've also replaced most of the interior lights with disco LEDs and added some solar powered lights in the roof for when i go dogging 
Future plans are -
- lower it slightly (obviously)
- Fit Desmo roof rack with wooden slats i have waiting for me in Kent
- Service the hell out of it
- Find a spare interior light cover as i have a plan
- Find some suitable steel wheels and add whitewalls
- Front nudge bar
- Replace patchwork exhaust with a full stainless steel job with boso tip
- Possibly fit a table
- Fit a 2nd battery and a tele'
And one last picture of my cat ordering his popcorn chicken....
??
