Time to introduce myself.

Subject: Time to introduce myself. Fri Aug 18, 2023 3:55 am

My name is Emil, me and my partner Claire has lived in Vancouver, Bc for the past 7 years now with a dog and a -92 Delica L300 turbo diesel.

We are leaving North America next year and moving back to Europe. To end this era on a high we will doing a 3-4 month road trip around the pacific north west. The plan is to head off in May. To make it more interesting we are expecting a baby in November and the Delica only have two seats so we have now bought a 2001 Toyota hiace super custom living saloon EX full time 4wd with the 3l turbo diesel 1kw engine with a stock intercooler (heard that’s a pretty rare engine?) 220k on it.

So anyway, now I’ve got 8 months to turn this into a vehicle that we can live out of for 4 months with a baby and a dog. And since I’m no expert whatsoever on engines or cars at all for that matter I’ll be frequently asking for help and would be extremely appreciative to anyone willing to give their opinion.
So I’m just going to ask a bunch of questions now already and see where to go from there.

Tires: I’m guessing that 90% of our road trip will be on tarmac/asphalt however we want to do the Dempster highway up to the arctic sea so does anyone have a good option for tires that will do good on gravel roads but still not compromise fuel consumption and highway comfort too much?

Engine: I’ve heard this engine has a tendency to overheat but coming from a delica I think I’ll be okay. But what oil are you guys happy with? I’ve read about the Toyota Red coolant which I’ll try and get for the radiator. Should I just go with the same in the intercooler? Read somewhere to use different colours to trace leaks easier, good idea?

Suspension: I don’t think I’m gonna mess around too much with the original, we’re won’t be going offroading, but I would love a bit of extra clearance underneath. How ‘easy’ is it to lift these things? Was thinking just 1-2”. There are coils all around.

Extras: Has anyone had any luck of getting solar panel wires etc into the cabin without drilling a hole in the roof?

Appreciate any info or help from anyone.
Thanks a lot!

» let me introduce me&my Hiace
» Ok time for a change
» Time to move on
» Spring Time?
» It's been a long time..