My daughters hijet

Heyyyy. Here are some pictures of my daughter's Hijet. She bought it last March. And she is planning a trip all around South America with it. We've had a couple of troubles but after a lot of work we hope they are solved. We are testing it right now.


Beauty 01

--

Beauty 02

--

Beauty 03

--

Mixing oil and water

--

Too bad

--

Taking the engine out

--

Preparing the spare parts

--

Cleaning screws

--

Working on the floor

--

Trying to improve it

--

Another view

--

Mandatory USB an 12V plugs

--

Almost done

--

Almost ready to go

Best regards from Buenos Aires, Argentina.
(I managed to rotate the pics, they are ok now. )

Excellent! Looks in good condition but also looks like you have had some fun with the engine! From the looks of the garage you look as though you are well rolled up to look after a Hijet. (I can recommend the Isleof Wight, since knowing Woodie, this year will be the 4th trip down there!).

I love the colour. I have only ever broken one pale blue 993cc Van. In this country a rare sight. You certainly have a great workshop to do your work in - and how skilled you are. Superb !! Your daughter is very fortunate to have such a skilled and kind father. She is very brave taking on the challenge of her road trip.

You have made a great job of the inside for her and the engine work as well. That was not an easy job either was it ?

Have you had a really good look at Raggy's Skylark project? That is real dedication and superb workmanship. Puts my skills to shame. Everything I do has been self taught. The only two things that have been trained for was first my Group 3 Heavy Goods Vehicle ( 2 axles up to 16 tons gross and after that my Group 2 for multiple axles up to 24 tons gross weight)
When I worked for Romahome I was sent on a weeks LPG Course for Motor Cars, Caravans and Boats. That Certificate was for 5 years. Most of it was common sense to me anyway.

Everything else I used to do is self taught. Woodwork, Flat roofing, Plumbing, Welding (MIG), and all of my car work learned by taking one apart and rebuilding engines and gearboxes. I started that aged 11 with my first motor bike - a James 197cc with Villiers 9E engine. I had an E Type 3.8 Convertible, aged 22 and took the engine out of that to change the clutch. That was hard enough, but then I had a 3.8 "S" Type Saloon, Manual with Overdrive, Chrome Wire Wheels. That was the whole lot out to do the clutch change and rebuild the Overdrive Unit. I came to the Island with it. Just remembered the registration number = OPC341D. In Woking (the home of McClaren) I was driving Flatbeds and 8 wheeler Bulk Cement Tankers for the RMC Group (Ready-mixed Concrete) and what was I carrying - ORDINARY PORTLAND CEMENT or OPC. It always caused amusement with the staff and customers.

That Jaguar was a lovely car and I ended up putting a Set of Triple 2" SU E Type Carburettor's and Manifold on it. The Rear Carburettor had to have the Bellmouth Lug cutback to miss the Clutch Master Cylinder. All a steep learning curve but just fueled my need for knowledge of mechanical engineering.

I moved to the Isle of Wight in 1974 with the S Type and soon got into Ford's, having previously owned several Mini's. In 1976 built up a 1380cc Mini 1275 "S" engine with a Downton Engineering Head and Cam, LCB Exhaust and a single Weber DCOE45, and put it into my Mini Traveller. It was quite a Wolf in Sheep's Clothing.

I had Ford's for MANY YEARS and was known as The Ford Man, then got into the rear engined Skoda's - Estelles and Rapid Coupe and put an Alfa Romeo 1800cc TwinCam in the back. I have still got 2 1800 Alfa engines today and the prototype Bellhousing and Alloy adaptor plate I made to fit the engine to the Skoda Rapid many years ago.
Then in 2002 I joined Romahome for 2 years and that was where I got into Daihatsu Hi-Jets. And the rest is history as they say. I didn't discover this forum until January 2013 and joined it as I have previously mentioned on the 2nd February 2013. 6 years ago!!! Where has the time gone??
Spent answering questions on here for a lot of it I reckon.

It's a lovely van! I have never seen a low-top in the flesh, maybe we don't have them here in UK. Look forwards to hearing more from you!

Hi again Woodie. Thanks for your compliments but I'm not sure that they match very well the truth. The job of the inside has been completely designed and done by Celeste (that's her name) and a friend of her.
And I'm not sure if I've done a good job with the engine. It started to mix oil and water again and don't know what's going on. The block and head planes had been machined flat, of course I assembled them with a new gasket. The oil is filtering to the water circuit, and not the opposite way. The head is the main suspect at the moment. Is it possible that the oil filters somehow to the water camera?

"Everything else I used to do is self taught. Woodwork, Flat roofing, Plumbing, Welding (MIG), and all of my car work learned by taking one apart and rebuilding engines and gearboxes..." That's really goooooood. There are so many nice things to learn and enjoy. Well done.

So you had a Jaguar years ago? That's good stuff. I think I've seen no more than 10 Jags in my whole life in Buenos Aires. And the E-type is a wonderful design, a classic now. Really beautiful. The old minis are incredibly beautiful either. Those cars must cost a fortune nowadays.

(while reading about your OPC truck could't stop fantasizing about a Hijet with the concrete mixer on it, hahaaa, sorry it's such a ridiculous image)

Good choice those rear engine cars. Nothing more dumb than the so widespread current front engine/drive configuration. But there are so few rear drive cars these days. Just top level sports cars. Unafordable. What a pity.

Well, I think I will come back here every now and then. Regards.

PS: Thanks, gogopiaggio. I haven't spent much time looking at the introductions of all of you and your vans or cars. Woodie mentioned a Raggy's Skylark project that sounds like it deserves some time. I'll look for it.

sorry, camera = chamber.

Not many HiJets here in Ecuador, mainly Chevrolet badged Suzuki Super Carry's. Can't help mechanically but can help with a mechanic if necessary. Looking forward to trip reports

Welcome vwgary from fat far away

You are doing it now Raggy. " from fat far away". I think you have gone " awry" with your Predictive Wording.
I imagine that you meant " from far far away".

Yes, don’t know what’s happening with my iPad, when keyboard appears on screen it covers the box to type in so it’s a bit of guess work, least I know you are there with your expertise in literary matters to correct me.

When it comes to being high maintenance, Woody is a chip off the old (Daihatsu engine) block.

Thank you very much vwgary! Best regards!

That appears to be a BIG oil leak to the water, is the block to head just the gasket or is there an O ring seal, presume the valve gear is getting lube? & not excessive pressure across the gasket due to blocked oil ways, had it happen on a Ford years ago.
Don't own a Hi Jet only do a bit on friends camper & he has never had water or overheating problem, must be the only one that has not had leaks, it has done just under 100k miles.
Unusual for Woody not to have an answer or at least a suggestion

Hello verryoldman, thanks for your post.
I'm not sure if I understand you well. Between the block and the head there's just the gasket. It has copper rings on some critical areas, for example on the passage of oil to the cylinder head. By 'valve gear' I suppose you mean the camshaft. The passage from the block feeds one of the camshaft bearings and then the oil is distributed to the other two and to the "rocker arms" across the "flutes" (don't know if my terminology is correct, I'm helping myself searching for on wordreference.com). There's a kind of "chicler" in the block, very close to the plane that limits the amount of oil that goes to the head. And when I disassembled the head, the gasket was in good condition, no visible damage. So there are two possibilities, the block or the head. I'm changing the second one crossing my fingers. We'll see what happens in some days. Of course any good idea is welcome.
Best regards, and thanks again.

https://hijet.forumotion.com/search?search_keywords=skylark

Hope head cures it

Here I am again. Fortunately it seems that the new head solved the problem. No more oil in the water circuit. I went to Zarate city, around 50 miles from Buenos Aires and went back with no problems.