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Hello, my names Nathan :)

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Hello, my names Nathan :) Empty Hello, my names Nathan :)

Post by NathAston Sun Dec 04, 2016 9:16 pm

Hello all,

My names Nathan I'm 21 years old and live in South West London.

So just to introduce myself, I'm planning a road trip around the world (or as far as I can get), initially I was planning to buy a Diesel van and do a Waste Vegetable Oil conversion for cheap MPG but I've grown closer to the idea of doing an LPG conversion as it's much easier to get your hands on.

So the 1st thing on my to-do list is buy a van, I've been doing research into all different vans but have grown towards a Micro Van as I hear they are good fun to drive, great MPG easy to find parking and they look cool too Smile I've been looking around for a Hijet but really wanted to get some solid advice 1st Smile

Any help or guidance on the questions below is greatly appreciated

1. So overheating seems to be a fairly common issue, is it still possible to find a van that doesn't have this issue?
2. What are peoples thoughts on doing long distance road-trips in a Hijet? Is it reliable enough? (I'll be avoiding motorways)
3. Does anyone have experience with a Hijet in harsh weather conditions? i.e snow, heavy rain or very hot climates
4. Does anyone know any "Hijet specialist mechanics" who could check over a Hijet before I departed on a trip for any obvious faults that needed attention?
5. and finally, do you know of anyone selling a good quality Hijet?

Thanks for reading!!

Nathan

NathAston
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Hello, my names Nathan :) Empty Re: Hello, my names Nathan :)

Post by Guest Sun Dec 04, 2016 10:43 pm

First of all, welcome. Living in bit of a Jungle yourself. Croydon, Wallington Mitcham, Epson?? How far out west?

Driving in snow is great fun - if you have ten bags of sand in the back over the back wheels. My pick would go almost anywhere that a Land Rover could go on tarmac roads with the obligatory 10 - 12 bags of sand.
Alternatively buy a 4 wheel drive Hi-Jet. Much the best option but MPV 4 Wheel Drive MPV would be hard to find but the ultimate answer if you are going to countries with poor road surfaces or farm tracks for roads.


Glad you have got rid of the the idea of a Diesel. Next, never, never mix the words Diesel and Hi-Jet together ever.!!

Definitely forget about doing an LPG Conversion on a Hi-Jet yourself. There are plenty of already LPG Equipped Hi-Jets out there to buy.
How tall are you? Ideally no more than 5ft 10" with the distances you are thinking about. I am just under 6ft and the furthest I have driven a Hi-Jet in one day was from Berwick on Tweed to home on the Isle of Wight. Quite a tiring journey. The vans especially the MPV are much more comfortable than the Pickup with a Romahome body on it. The Pickup has much firmer coil front springs and 4 leaf rear springs. You can put 4 leaf Pick up springs on the van using the longer pick up U-bolts.
Are you expecting to be touring hot climes?
The MPV has windows all round and two glass Sun Roofs which have two positions or you can remove them completely in a few seconds. A van will cook you in hot weather.

There is only one Hi-Jet Specialist worth going to and he lives in Manchester, but well worth the trip. He won't thank me if I tell you on here who it is but a little research on the Forum and you will be able to find him.

I have a 2002 Van, one owner from new, 78,000 miles, with LPG Conversion but it did overheat, but I think that it was possibly thermostat.
But I wasn't too worried as my plan was to put a Daihatsu 1600 engine in it. The 1300 engine produces 65bhp whilst the 1600 engine 94bhp which with the long road trip you are planning would be ideal for carrying plenty of gear, hill climbing and nice and quick on Autoroutes.

Well that should give you plenty of ideas to mull over for a couple of days I think.

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