We call him Dennis - Volvo T5 powered Super Custom Limited

If anyone’s interested, I’m going to document the repairs/uprades/modifications on my Hiace here.

This is just after we bought it:

forensic anthropology wages

We’ve nicknamed him Dennis. No idea why, not sure why we’ve sexed it as male either…

It’s on a K plate, which is 1992, but I reckon it’s actually a couple of years older than that.

Anyhow, I didn’t like the wheels, so first uprade on the list was some new ones. I’m a fan of JDM motors (I also own a 1986 Corolla AE86 import) and wanted some period correct wheels. I was pretty specific in the look I wanted, and found a set of 17” Hinodex Stern reverse Face II’s on ebay. Bit of a trek to fetch them (I’m in Nottingham) but in my opinion well worth the trip. Fitted the wheels and lowered the front a bit by winding down the torsion bars, and now looks like this:




Upon inspection, it was quite clear that it’s had both a front and rear shunt at some point.

The rear was worse than the front and had been very poorly repaired. No idea if this was done in Japan before being imported or while in the UK, but it needed sorting:



Cut the bent/rusty metal out and straightened out as best i could with the equipment i have available:



Welded some fresh metal in and a small skim of filler:



More to come...

Great job so far.

Nice work! Keep us posted on how it's coming along!

Great to see the positive work going on, looks great!

nice work I am about to do the same on mine . Had a minor prang but damaged the rear end so very interested in your repairs.

Looks great on them alloys, also love an ae86 too

Mine is off road with leaking sump, have wound down the torsion bars and cut the rear coils down a bit, has vw t4 gas shocks fitted on front and hiace fronts fitted to the rear with adaptor brackets, also on genuine centrelines which I happened on by chance
Gone some photos on my posts

Thanks for the positive replies

mickB - have you made the front bumper lip on yours yourself?

Forgot to mention something in my first post, by the way. The 2LT engine is coming out at some point and something rather more powerful is replacing it. Collecting parts at the moment for it.

Hey Gazt, what lump are you replacing it with? Toying with the idea of switching mine to petrol down the line.

toldsimply wrote:

Hey Gazt, what lump are you replacing it with?  Toying with the idea of switching mine to petrol down the line.

Gonna keep it myself for the moment, I have a theory that this particular swap will work relatively easy but I could be completely wrong I don't think it's been done before and is a bit left field lol. It's staying automatic, but it will be a turbocharged petrol engine going in. I've bought a complete car for the engine, just need to take the motor out and go from there. Probably be the new year now before I start the swap, as I'm fed up of working on the van and just want to enjoy using it for a while.

Right on man looks solid! I'm happy that there some people still using forums and not always on FB. I'm about to embark o a hiace journey myself and am looking forward to swapping info!

PS: I've also got an Ae86 although mine has been modified as a G2 rally car here in Canada!

SleazyBakeOven wrote:

Right on man looks solid! I'm happy that there some people still using forums and not always on FB. I'm about to embark o a hiace journey myself and am looking forward to swapping info!

PS: I've also got an Ae86 although mine has been modified as a G2 rally car here in Canada!

Awesome! Here's my 86:



Turbo'd mine - building a new 1.7litre engine with better internals for more boost from a bigger turbo, 6 speed gearbox, Pajero axle, Brembo brakes etc....

Looks nice! I too have been doing some sheet metal work ... seems like the driver side of my 92 highace supergl might have been parked for a long time in a shaded wet place because all the metal rot is on that side. I have heard of other jdm cars that sit a long long time before making it to export and can have similar damage just from being parked. Anyway here’s a photo of mine in transit from Seattle to Oakland and I noticed my alloy rims which were an original option look a lot like yours before the switch. I’m keeping mine since my current use is going to be for camping and surfing excursions. Seems fine for that.

Good luck with the body repairs, hope it's not too substantial.

thompsono wrote:

Looks nice! I too have been doing some sheet metal work ... seems like the driver side of my 92 highace supergl might have been parked for a long time in a shaded wet place because all the metal rot is on that side. I have heard of other jdm cars that sit a long long time before making it to export and can have similar damage just from being parked. Anyway here’s a photo of mine in transit from Seattle to Oakland and I noticed my alloy rims which were an original option look a lot like yours before the switch. I’m keeping mine since my current use is going to be for camping and surfing excursions. Seems fine for that.

Those are gorgeous wheels! Never seen that style fitting the 4WD. If you have one off can you reply with the make & style? They definitely weren't a factory option. We see a ton of the Super Customs here in NZ and there are all sorts of wheels put on them in Japan but the 4WD models not so much.

Tip for players: Pajero wheels fit and actually improve (!) the track width by a cm or so each side.

gazt wrote:

Thanks for the positive replies

mickB - have you made the front bumper lip on yours yourself?

Forgot to mention something in my first post, by the way. The 2LT engine is coming out at some point and something rather more powerful is replacing it. Collecting parts at the moment for it.

I'm a vw man, well hot rod into Ford into vw , the lip is a mk3 golf vr6 , fits bang on perfect even flows with the moulding slots , such an easy mod and took it from owning a t4 van where its popular mod

Proper job there man. I'm a bit obsessive about doing stuff well, even if the results of my efforts won't be seen once it's all built back up! Well done for taking an obvious pride in your work.



Dennis is a fine name for a motor vehicle, after all; several thousand bin wagons and fire engines can't be wrong.

Ok, not posted in a while, obviously...

I've recently been working from home, rather than the office due to Covid-19. However I'm struggling to keep motivated and after a discussion with my Director, we've decided that from next week I'll be furloughed. Will have to take a big hit in wages, but at least I won't have the worry about producing work - I had been struggling to sleep at night.

So, this gives me at least 3 weeks in which to do whatever I want now during Monday-Fridays , and the Hiace is going to benefit!

Anyway, last November we took Dennis to Filey, and slept in him overnight. We decided in the morning that this wasn't the best idea we'd had ha ha. Picture from the night before...

image ru

I mentioned in an earlier post that I've been collecting parts for an engine conversion. Well, I purchased this:



Ex police Volvo V70 T5 2004.

Also got these:

betta bowl kit

Auto transmissions from Supra turbo, and Volvo 960. The idea is to bolt the Supra transmission to the T5 engine, by using the removable bellhousing from the 960 gearbox. The Supra and 960 auto transmission are very similar Aisin units, and the bell/tail housings are separate to the main unit. I'll find out in a few days if my theory is correct that this will work, if not I've spent a wedge of money for nothing ha ha.

The Volvo T5 5 cylinder turbo engine may seem an odd choice, but they make a lovely noise, they're plentiful and cheap and they're all aluminium, so should weigh less than the 2.4 litre 2LT diesel boat anchor that's in it at the moment.

Got a few other parts too, I'll update when any progress has been made.

Well Gatz I have done a few crazy thing with vehicles in my 72 years but think you are in for some real head aches there , is that realy you in the yellow coat. Hope you are good with a spanner welder bodywork not to mention the electronics. Do you realize your putting 3 times the power in that bus and brakes tires and suspension will all need upgrading not to mention the nightmare you are in for getting it insured, sorry to put a damper on things but good luck and keep us all up to date how its going.

JT69 wrote:

Well Gatz I have done a few crazy thing with vehicles in my 72 years but think you are in for some real head aches there , is that realy you in the yellow coat. Hope you are good with a spanner welder bodywork not to mention the electronics. Do you realize your putting 3 times the power in that bus and brakes tires and suspension will all need upgrading not to mention the nightmare you are in for getting it insured, sorry to put a damper on things but good luck and keep us all up to date how its going.      

I can confirm that's not me in the yellow coat

I'm aware that the engine conversion won't be a simple weekend job, and I do like a challenge ha ha. I'm very fortunate that I have a reasonably well equipped garage workshop, with MIG, AC/DC TIG welders, lathe, air tools etc, so the fabrication side wont be an issue. Although I'm not a trained mechanic, I have been tinkering/modifying cars since passing my driving test in 1988 and I think I know one end of a spanner from the other. I also have a group of knowledgeable friends that I can rely on, should I need some info that I'm unsure of. With regards to the electronics side, I will be using an aftermarket ECU, most probably a Megasquirt, as I've successfully installed one on my turbo modified Corolla that I posted above, and tuned it myself. The transmission will be controlled by a Microsquirt, connected to the engine ECU by CAN.

I've been putting some thought in to the suspension and will investigate further once the engine conversion is complete. I'm not wanting to turn this in to a race car, I just want power when I need it. At the moment, 90bhp just isn't cutting it when I get to a slight incline ha ha.

I've not inquired about insurance, but I don't anticipate this being of great concern. It's insured as a classic vehicle, the same as the Corolla above. The Corolla has all it's modifications declared, and the cost of insurance is less that 200 quid a year.

I'll keep this thread updated when I'm able

Who do you get Classic Insurance with? My bus is a 1991

Andonic wrote:

Who do you get Classic Insurance with?  My bus is a 1991

Currently Adrian Flux. There's loads of companies that offer 'classic car' insurance, you need to contact a specialised company that offers these types of policies and not the normal high street ones. You don't accrue any no-claims bonus however, so if its your main car, this could obviously be a problem. Not a problem for me, as I have a Mazda that I daily, on normal insurance, and have the Hiace and Corolla on Classic 'limited mileage' polices.

So the engines out the car, and on the engine stand. Needs a clean!



The engine is normally in the car in FWD format, and I'll obviously spinning it around for RWD. The intake manifold that comes with the engine isn't very good for RWD applications, the inlet/throttle body is underneath and I just don't think it's a very good design. So, I'll be making my own. To aid me with this, I bought part of an intake from a RWD Volvo 960, the intakes are in two pieces on the 960 engines, and I just need the part that bolts to the head. The engines these use the same modular 'whiteblock' engines as the V70 T5 and share a lot of parts between them. Before cleaning:



The 960 is 6 cylinder, so I chopped off one cylinder, and cleaned it:



The port shape is a little different, so out with the die grinder:



I'm waiting for some aluminium stock to turn up before I can progress any further.

Now Gazt I have no doubts about your ability in your mods for Dennis, it was the lovely picture that threw me, and now I am left feeling so envious of your ability and equipment . Again please keep us up with the mods regularly.

That looks an interesting engine conversion!
One tip - there's not much space in the Hiace for the engine so an inline 5 may not fit, check the available space very carefully first. Also the twin overhead cam makes the top wide - again reducing access space. With the 1kz-te inline 4 it's pretty rammed in there IMO.

I tried sleeping in mine too, now I've converted it into a camper, see my posts, I'll have to update them at some stage. In the custom section IIRC.

Hi!

Nice idea! Since I like the Hiace and Volvo 5Zylinder Turbos, this is bookmarked

Manuel