New here & to Hijets

Hi all, after a few years of trying to decide on my next vehicle, (and driving swb transits in the meantime, also known as rust boxes) i finally went with the 993cc EFI 6 seater from 1996.
This thing is mint, 33k garaged all its life, everything functioning perfectly or damn near.
All electrics spot on, all seals still good no leaks at all.
Cooling has been spot on, fan comes on and off as it should, hoses looking good for now only slight perishing.
And one of the best bits along with the cooling system (not ruined engine), is the body/chassis.
couple of recent dings but fixable, paint is spot on everywhere and i mean everywhere.
The underneath damn near rust free, and as a transit owner i know all about that crunchy stuff.
Pics coming soon
Drove it about 3 hours on motorway after purchase through the storm we had in southish uk,
managed to keep it on all 4 wheels
though i admit i nearly span it coming off roundabout in the wet with no load on that journey (during loss of control mind says "now you're gonna ruin that perfect body and paint")
All in all I'd say i enjoy driving the little lulwagon, certainly characterful and fun, but in that "oh crap im about to die" kinda way.

Welcome and sounds like you already have that hijet grin Sounds as though you have a good one, not easy these days as you may have already read! Get those photos done and fill your location in on your profile before you get a telling off from Woody!

You need to be brave and not frightened to show your friendlyness to the car behind by wagging your tail end at them.

I drive my Hi-Jet's like a racing car. Push it to the limits and beyond. They are great fun. You will soon get used to the handling characteristics of a Hi-Jet.

He's not kidding! I've had to try and follow him!

Barely noticeable ding on boot

Leaf spring looks about twice as bad in photo. (noticed that leaf looks almost flat with no load, maybe 2" clearance from axle to bump stop, sound okay?)

lovely foot wells (have mats which ive made dirty already)




perfect shiny paint under perfect shiny carpet

love the older lights and the metal bar beneath radiator.
oh and it was 1100, bit of money getting there and needs tyres and really all rubber parts at some point, though seals have held up very well.
Good specimen for a future classic right?

Certainly got yourself a very tidy MPV there TPC. You'll be making even Raggy jealous with that nice little find.

Wow! You were right Woody I am jealous of that one (although wouldnt swap). Thats like new, a very tidy example. Was it advertised or word or mouth. Been kept in cotton wool for years that one. Those carpets look pristine, certainly beats the hole now in mine on drivers side (must do something about them). Not that I am jealous but your block drive could do with de weeding!

Thanks ^^ can you believe i actually missed it the first time around, but was relisted by the new owner who i think wanted it for an easy run around for his gf while the bmw got sorted out, think she was put off with the lack of power steering and the on/off throttle
I actually payed a deposit by bank transfer before even seeing it, wasn't gonna let it slip through the fingers again. Gotta roll the dice sometimes.
Hah yeah you could say it needs weeding, though if you took a look at the hedge you probably wouldn't notice the weeds on the drive

Only just saw weeds, couldnt take my eyes of the van! Hope you struck lucky.

well it ran faultlessly on the drive back, idling on a hot day the fan came on and off as it should temp barely went past halfway, 60+mph on motorway no problems.
even rear wiper works great =p
plan for this van i think is to renew all the important bits before they get a chance to fail and damage other parts in the process.
starting with cheapest first i guess, oil, hoses, caps, sensors, gaskets etc

Sounds as though it's been looked after but wouldn't go drastic on changing things though. If it runs like that let most sleeping dogs lie as the saying goes.
Oil change..yes
check antifreeze...yes
check any hoses for cracking...yes
sensors....no (if they are working leave alone)
drive belt...yes, gaskets...no
rad caps...definitely yes
Tyres....yes for cracking and wear
Wipers...just change any way.

Don't know what documentation you have but if garage receipts etc check what's been done so you know what's a recent change and what hasn't been done. Don't rush into changing things for sake of it. It's running fine, enjoy it and just do the basics at the minute.

You have taken the same thoughts straight out of my head Raggy. Great minds think alike.

cool thanks for the input, shortened my to do list quite nicely

Woodie wrote:You have taken the same  thoughts straight out of my head Raggy. Great minds think alike.

Learnt it all from you so no surprise!

You are being too modest Raggy. You've got more brains and skills than me.

Woodie wrote:You are being too modest Raggy. You've got more brains and skills than me.

But years of hijet experience goes a one way in this game! Jus look at me, IT technician for years and my qualifications in IT?....half an A level!

Get a room, you two! Welcome, TPC. You can indeed find gems in the zouf west. Might be worth you getting some stainless-steel jubilee clips & doubling up on the large dia hose clips as orginals are prone to fail suddenly, and there's usually room to fit a back-up. The hoses are pretty long- lasting, thankfully.

Hi PFM and thanks!
Can't go wrong with stainless, and cant trust originals that are 23 years old.
Belt and pump will have to be done sometime soon so will change out hoses then i suppose.
Not sure how far i want to go with work on this yet, its either got a good few years of abuse left in it or the potential to be a future classic. Though most likely it'll be somewhere in between as i don't have the facilities (or skills yet) for a big project.

Looks really nice...well found!  Apparently the silver ones often have paint lacquer problems? Looks like you avoided that as well!

nice tidy hijet, welcome man

Thanks Andy & Scotia
As for paint the only spot with that problem is in the boot where it slopes to make space for the boot lid, a few flakes came off when i removed the carpet.
Will get some more pictures inc one or two when its on a ramp, and probably make a new thread.
Fyi it held up to a light pressure wash on the outside

You seem to have been lucky with the paint so far then. I initially looked at a silver one and it was peeling everywhere and it's the reason I think mine ended up blue and silver as the previous owner resprayed it. Look forward to the pics.