Replacement Panel.

Hi Guys
Just managed to dent the rear nearside quarter panel of my beloved "Matilda" Toyota's Own 1984 produced Hi Ace Camper van (LH119).

Anyone know where i might get a replacement panel?..cost? etc.

Maybe a recommendation for a garage in the east London/Essex area that might carry out the repair would also be very much appreciated.

Thanks.

PS I Love my Van.

toyboy wrote:

Hi Guys
Just managed to dent the rear nearside quarter panel of my beloved "Matilda" Toyota's Own 1984 produced Hi Ace Camper van (LH119).

Anyone know where i might get a replacement panel?..cost? etc.

Maybe a recommendation for a garage in the east London/Essex area that might carry out the repair would also be very much appreciated.

Thanks.

PS I Love my Van.

Have you talked to a body-shop first? Most dents can be pushed back out rather than cut out and re-welded.
With the internal side panels off there's not much of the van body that is not accessible.

Hello

Thanks for the response.
Yes i have been to two local body shops, one quoted £500 inc vat to replace/paint a panel the other quoted £325 + vat.
Similar prices i think and both seem fairly cheap to me but i have no real Knowledge of this kind of repair, do you think they seem reasonable, could i source a panel myself for a better price?
Any thoughts appreciated.

Thanks.

Not sure, £500 is 10 hours at £50 per hour. The garage up the road from me charge £90 so that's 5.5 hours work, less if you allow money for the panel, welding wire and gas, primer, rust proofing and paint. So it doesn't seem unreasonable if they do a good job.

I think you'll have to chat with them and see what work they have going on and if you think you can trust them as people. Google the names of their companies to check for an comments too.

Hi
Thanks for your input, i have now found a guy who tells me he has a machine that can "pull out" the dents, i totally trust this fella as he's based very close to and knows the mechanic who deals with my mot/service and DPF certificate, same kinda price but no hacking off a panel/welding etc.

Thanks again.

Your van looks in good nick in your photo.....nice.

Yes probably better pushed out and re-finished if you can.

Thanks, I imported direct from Japan and the site (Car From Japan) had lots of photos underneath, it's very clean. Had to catch up a lot of servicing though!

Cool.
And thanks again for your input.

What is a DPF certificate, never heard of it please enlighten me.

JT69 wrote:

What is a DPF certificate, never heard of it please enlighten me.

DPF = Diesel Particulate Filter

As Toyboy is in London he would have had an aftermarket DPF filter system added to clean up the exhaust. The certificate would be to convince the London council and DVLA that it was now compliant.

Good idea really, it would be interesting to know how much it costs to retrofit.

I put my number into the London emission zone web site the reply was this vehicle complies or does not need to comply.

Further to low emissions zoneP413DHG
White TOYOTA HIACE
Edit
No charge due for this vehicle
This vehicle either meets the required emission standards, is exempt from the scheme or is subject to a 100% discount.

Interesting, I can't even drive my Peugeot 1.9TD into London according to the rules, let alone my Hiace!

I wonder if yours is classed as a bus or camper that is exempt?

I queried about LEZ compliance on here before and apparently if your van was imported after a certain date then it's regarded as 'young enough' to be allowed in the Low emission zone. Bit of a bugger as mine isn't. It's only been an irritant once thus far.

Just to "clear the air" as it were i have a DPF fitted to my 1994 2.8 Toyota Hi Ace Motor Caravan "Matilda".

Total cost supplied and fitted £2200.!!

It was supplied by Clean Diesel Technologies and fitted by a local mechanic who carries out the yearly service and takes her to the test centre to obtain the LEZ certificate.

This filter (exhaust system) has been fitted for some years now (2012) and i fear that at some point she will fail the test so if anybody out there has experience of this or can suggest a way of clearing a blocked Clean Diesel Technologies Diesel Particulate Filter i would like to hear from you.

Sensible suggestions only please.

I love my van.

Thanks.

Sounds like a neat attachment, it's expensive and inconvenient but rather less so than lung cancer and also means one can enjoy non-euro6 stuff with the benefits of clean air.
Personally I hate diesel smoke anyway and have noticed a huge improvement after the DPF came into the cars on the road via euro6.

As for maintenance I suspect you answered your own question as surely the best people to ask are Clean Diesel Technologies and your local mechanic

Yes i'm sure your right.

Thanks.

I also run a van in London with a Clean Diesel Tech DPF. I usually get it tested at Boleyn Service and recovery in 77 River Rd, Barking IG11 0DS.

Ours hasn’t needed it yet but they have an oven for cleaning the DPF. Normal hot running of the engine such as motorway driving should clean it but if not the filter is removed and baked for a time.

Boleyn fit out all sorts of stuff from airport fire engines down to our vans so far they've been okay.

As to the descrepancy for filters on the DVLA check site, I think its to do with how the van was registered on import.
Ours was registered by some numb nuts as a light van/goods because thats cheaper. Would have saved us a lot of cash had they gone down the camper route.

Sadly the ULEZ in 2021 will sound the death knell for our time with this van as further mods aren’t possible as far as I know.

milkman wrote:

Ours was registered by some numb nuts as a light van/goods because thats cheaper. Would have saved us a lot of cash had they gone down the camper route.

In the UK you are free to re-register / declare it a camper any time with the DVLA, a process I'll be doing with my MPV when the camper conversion is complete. It's pretty straightforward and done by lots of home converters, details are online from the government website.

Also very necessary as if it is a camper and is registered as something else, in the unfortunate event of needing to claim on your insurance the company will gleefully tell you that it is not covered because incorrect information was provided when taking out the policy and / or it was not being used for its correct purpose. We found our van was not registered as a camper so we quickly had that corrected and made sure the insurance company was informed. Our rules probably differ, but insurance companies don't; their sole desire is to avoid paying anything.

milkman wrote:

I also run a van in London with a Clean Diesel Tech DPF. I usually get it tested at Boleyn Service and recovery in 77 River Rd, Barking IG11 0DS.

Ours hasn’t needed it yet but they have an oven for cleaning the DPF. Normal hot running of the engine such as motorway driving should clean it but if not the filter is removed and baked for a time.

Boleyn fit out all sorts of stuff from airport fire engines down to our vans so far they've been okay.

As to the descrepancy for filters on the DVLA check site, I think its to do with how the van was registered on import.
Ours was registered by some numb nuts as a light van/goods because thats cheaper. Would have saved us a lot of cash had they gone down the camper route.

Sadly the ULEZ in 2021 will sound the death knell for our time with this van as further mods aren’t possible as far as I know.

Thanks for the info i'm near to River Rd so i might pop in for a chat with them.
I'm seriously hoping that some company out there will produce a filter that can be fitted before the 2021 rules kick in.

I'm thinking I might swap out my 2.8 diesel for a petrol if they keep going with the demonisation of diesel. It'll get up hills a lot quicker as a petrol. I think it'd be worth the faff as I love my van.