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.
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.
;D
At least it'll stop the diff from getting rusty....