Introduce your self...

Hello, I've just bought myself a 99 hijet 1.3 efi, mainly drawn in by the LPG fitted. This is the first Non VW i've owned for a long while so fingers crossed, i'm feeling slightly nervous. I've got a list of problems to sort already and I haven't driven it apart from getting it home.
I'll get pics up soon enough. Got myself some old ford weller 13" steels to go on and 2.5l of paint ready to respray the beast, I really should be sorting the problems first though. Oh and I plan on lowering it as I don't actually carry any weight at all. Anyone done this?
I'm now off to the workshop section to post my problems.

Ash

Hello & welcome to Hijet ownership.
I fancied fitting some old weller 8 spokes to our Hijet, they should look great.
Are you planning on getting them re-drilled or are you going to use wobble nuts?

Wobbly nuts I think should be the cheapest route. stripping the wheels for repainting at the moment so will get pics up as soon as they're on. Not sure what colour yet though.

Hey all!

I'm Ged, an electrician working mainly on domestic properties in West Sussex and parts of East Sussex (generally Brighton - Worthing on the South Coast).

My van of choice for the last 5 years plus has been a 2002 HiJet 1300 EFI (rebadged Piaggio Porter).

I generally run it with minimal maintenance, an annual service and used parts where necessary. It's had a few knocks in car parks mainly so I doubt if it has one straight panel on the whole van.

All being all though I still like it lots and prefer it to bigger vans like Transits and car derived vans.

welcome to the site. lots of various info around on here

It's on a different tread but another biker!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi all,
My name is Ben and I currently dont have a hijet, infact I have never owned one. However what brings me to this wonderful forum is my love of Daihatsu's even smaller van the Handivan (or mira or cuore) specifically the L55, L60 model which shares the same motor as the jap hijet. I have owned a standard 2 cylinder 1984 L60 and a 1994 L200 turbo avanzarto R mira which was loads of fun but I have been without Daihatsu's in my life for about 8 years, untill today. I just picked up an AB20 turbo, or to give it is proper name I think its a AB55. his is a rare old motor and was originally from a Hijet, however the same moor was also available in the mira cuore (handivan). I have a little query that I would love some help on though. The only info that came with the motor says that the hijet was an s60 from 1979 and I cant find any information stating that the s60 ever came out as a turbo. This motor was only released in the cuore in late 1983 and it seems little weird to me it would have taken Daihatsu 3-4 years before putting it in the cuore.
I think I have just answered my own question. The info with the motor must be wrong. I just found info on Wiki saying the IHI RHB51 turbo was developed with Honda and first used on the Honda City Turbo which didnt come out till early 1983. Daihatsu must have started using it after that which is why the cuore turbo was released in late 1983. Maybe a 1979 hijet had been retrofitted with this motor, I guess Ill never know. I would still be interested when the first hijet turbo was released if any one knows. Im still debating whether to put the motor in an old hijet or a handivan. The hijet was released in the 80's with a cb23 1L here in Australia and I'd rather swap that with a 1L CB60 turbo rather than downsize to 547cc turbo. The Handivan is about 200kg's lighter too which would be more fun to drive.
Ill post again with some photos when I get the motor home (Im at work and its in the boot of my 1973 BMW 2002, I love little motors) and cleaned up.
Thanks for this great forum and info you might have on the history of the 2 cylinder hijet/cuore turbo.
Ben
If your interested this is what I do for a living. www.utopiancreations.com.au I like playing with little things, hang on that sounds bad.

Ello, just invested in a blue 1999 1.3 Hijet and I'm loving it! It's not got the cornering ability of my Clio 172 but its a hoot with the RWD!

If anyone has any campervan style ideas for these check out my post in the forum and appreciate any advice! Thanks

welcome in is a camper conversion on here I think is Dee's but I'm not sure but I like the quick conversion on you tube which is a roll it out and open up then go jobbie.

Just thought I'll drop in and say hi

I haven't got a Hi-Jet but my brother has, had it couple of years now and hasn't been hardly any trouble, parts not bad as have a Daihatsu dealer in town and is so much fun to drive, just like out of Mr Jolly Lives Next Door!

I myself have a Daihatsu Charade GTti so similar lineage, specially with the CB80 engine, which of course is similar to the CB42, similar enough for some people to put one in a Hi-Jet, bit of a difference, suddenly having 99hp under your bum!!

Cheers, Tony.

Welcome along Is the zodiac name boat or starsign

Cheers,

Nah, Zodiac is out of Fireball XL5, loved it as a kid and use it on the forums I'm on, used it for years and have never bothered to change it, will bung something on my avatar

Okay not one I'm familiar with but if it's a Anderson jobbie it had to be good. Me thinks I'm not old enough for most of it.

Hi, joined the site recently, i have a 2001 Hijet van. It was bought for moving house and runs to the tip with crap from the new one, i would get more in a Tranny but i had always fancied a Hijet so this gave me an excuse to own one

Hello & welcome.
Nice looking van.
Great wheels.
Are they the wheels that sold on Ebay recently?

Hi, yep, they're the Ebay items, i was surprised to get them as cheaply, esp with free postage!(which i'm guessing must've cost at least half the final price. Though the wife wasn't too impressed, even less so as i won the other one too, so now i have a set of 5

I was going to bid on them too, but I forgot.
You did get them for a good price, considering alloy wheels for a Hijet are like rocking horse poo.

Hello Folks, i joined this site as I currently have a Toyota Previa but It sgetting too expensive to run. I'm thinking of getting a Hijet as I will use it to be a small camper/sleepin vehicle. Is it ppossible to put a double air mattress in th eback of a hijet?

Hi yes you can and welcome, it does bunch a little at the wheel arches but other than that its a snug fit.

Hello & welcome.

Hey all just bought a 1300 hi-jet (aka THE BEAST) and love it!
I live, skate, mt bike and surf down in cornwall so the van is going to be made to work alot.....
Found this site last week and it rocks good job, loads of info that has helped me already!
Look foward to many posts on here all the best
justin
ps anybody up for a hi-jet jam down in cornwall!

Hi there, Me and my Girlfriend have just bought an N reg 993cc Hijet, we were first attracted by the very 'unique' paintjob done on it by a bunch of school kids (think cartoon mooses). I'll post some pictures soon. Anyway, thought i'd say hi and comment on how helpful and entertaining this site is. Cheers.

Going by your name, it should get even more entertaining on here (not to mention the cartoon mooses!). Welcome on board.

Hi all just got meself a 1300/lpg on a 97 plate no idea wot its like ebay purchase want to make a little camper cant wait to get her home

Hi and welcome someone should make a conversion kit for Hijets they would make a fortune

Well, I am now the proud owner of a red 1.3 EFI Hijet - nicknamed Pudsey (due to reg plate pretty much spelling that out!)

She is about to be my chariot in a couple of weeks for a trip across the continents - London to Mongolia in fact! 10,000 miles. She's in ok fettle (I need a speedo cable sharpish!).

Wish us both luck!

Hi just joined. Pick up my Hijet on monday, did not want to tax it with only 5 days left in the month.Will post more when I get it.

Waz

Welcome and I don't blame you for waiting a week to save some cash.

Hi, thought I would introduce myself and ask for advice from the people who would know best!

I have decided to buy one of these little vans as they are cheap, fuel efficient, cheap for road tax (£130) and the cheapest vehicle to insure(£480). Basically I want a practical little van thats not going to cost me too much.

So who better to ask than the enthusiasts?

I've decided against the diesel as people say that the engine is unusual and unreliable so that leaves the petrol 993 or 1.3 EFI. I've read comments from people who say both are great and also posts with problems about both so do people think that one is more reliable and long lasting or are they both equally good?

I'm not bothered about going fast being more worried about mpg and whether the engines going to blow up or overheat or basically make my life difficult!

I've seen a 1996 Hijet MPV 993 efi with 40,000 miles for £600, a 2002 Hijet MPV 1.3 efi with 80,000 miles for £600, a 2002 Hijet LPG 1.3 efi with 85,000 mile for £600, a 2002 Hijet LPG 1.3 efi with 36,000 miles for £995

So can anyone benefit me with their years of Hijet experience - the 993 or the 1.3, is it worth paying the extra for the low mileage 1.3 over the low mileage 993, will I be glad if I get the LPG or is it a pain in the a**?

Any advice appreciated!

Never owned a 1 litre so the bigger picture i'm not sure of although I did drive one a few times at a previous work place.

I love the 1.3 version, as its still cheap tax but by heck they go pretty well, nice little engine that's got a lot to give. Plenty of poke for overtaking and behave well with loads of weight in the back. I feel they go much better than the 1 litre. My previous 1.3 would go (scarily) off the clock, well past 100 mph until I chickened out and not wanting to loose my licence. Where the old works 1.0 felt like it was working hard at motorway speed, although it did have that nice 3 cylinder growl to it.

I personally would quite like an lpg one, but I'm not scared of fixing and tuning the LPG system (which I think many are not setup great mixture wise) - where garages don't want to touch it, and LPG specialists are a law to them selves. Another minor point being you cannot get on the euro tunnel with an LPG vehicle. And its very common for the LPG fuel gauge to not work right.

I personally would choose the 1.3 everytime, but I'm sure there are others who swear by the 1 litre version. Each to their own really, I bet the MPG figures are very similar, but also it depends how you drive them anyway. I tended to hammer my 1.3, getting it sliding about and bouncing down the back lanes - yet it still did really well on fuel. The 1 litres do have 1 less spark plug to buy, but they also have a dizzy cap and rotor arm to replace, where the 1.3's have 2 coil packs and the wasted spark system which is pretty much service free.

Oh the great over heating hijet syndrome...... well i'm going to stick my neck out here and float my opinion (unlike me surprise surprise)!
I think it is often caused by people not changing the coolant correctly. Because the top radiator hose goes down below the footwell it is a funny setup to bleed and get the air locks out of the system. So more often then not I would guess that a van than hasn't had the coolant changed will probably be less likely to sufffer from the overheating problem, where one that has a rushed quickfit winter service, or a new radiator etc will be more likely to have problems - if you catch my drift? Even the dealerships garage boys will overlook the complexity of the system and treat it like your common car which pretty much bleeds itself.