1992 Hiace 4wd RZH119 ex-Firetruck (2 Viewers)

[flx]

To do the insulation of the left side I have to first remove the EP, which is relatively easy to disconnect exactly for this kind of need or any maintenance.

Most difficult was to find some space in my garage to store it

Again I need to remove the wax covering the internal wall

I was hesitating to do behind the rear washer tank, not that easy to remove when full (and as it's huge it's not emptying quickly ).

The upper filler is not easy to disconnect (or reconnect) hidden behind the metal...
and there is the lower connection for the breather and level...

Fits back nicely

Off course I waited to have put back the metal plate to test to re-fill the tank.... to discover it was leaking t the 2 connections points -_-
Luckily those cavities are designed by Toyota to leak out any liquid that gather at the bottom.

And I'm done with Armaflex for a little while...
(slide doors and hatch will still need to be done later)

 

[flx]

Then I trimmed and reinstall the side panels.
It needed to be trimmed for letting the electrical wiring out and for the thickness of the flooring that was added.

Also before reinstalling the left one I had to deal with a spinning rivnut (with a crossthreaded bolt inside).

I tried all the tricks on the Internet to get it out but none succeeded and this one is one of the few that is completely blind and I can't access the other side...
So after pushing this for long I now had to use some destructive means.

Tried to drill between the bolt and the rivnut... and that wasn't a good idea, happy I had the protective glass on for this one...

Ended up nasty with the cutting wheel

Not my proudest result but at least it's out...

Was even able to fish it out of its cavity

And right side

And then went to re-supply in plywood to make the next furnitures.

 

[flx]

Electrical Panel back in

Put the bed back in.

The final bed won't be made like that at all (floating structure and rock'n'roll type) but makes a good template to build the other furnitures around, particularly the sideboard cabinet that will contain the electrical, all plumbing (including gray water tank), and wardrobe.

 

[RevISK]

Your sketchup game is strong

 

[flx]

Your sketchup game is strong

Thanks, I would like it to be way more to be able to have all the internals of the cabinets and the construction details in a reasonable time

 

[Govwike]

Yes they are very Japanese, kind of cute, lol..

 

[flx]

Started working on the side cabinet, still a very "early" version of it but at least the Electrical Panel will be slightly protected.

Then removed it to assemble it outside.
And now that I have the exact outside shape of the cabinet I built a cradle for the battery. Horizontal was a bit tight with the lower ventilation (that was the firetruck watertank overflow... and in the future will be use for the heater) so I ended-up putting it vertically.

Used inserts so everything can still be removed if I want to used it as a van.

Put an extra cork layer in the cradle to limit vibration of the battery and also cold transmission through the floor.

A little tight on the wiring in this position but works.

 

[flx]

Back to assemble my furniture...

Adding an access hatch for battery and lower EP.

That will be the only one for now, more will be added later obviously but for some I'm not sure of the available space before to have the final bed... and also I'm a bit short on time and that took me forever and I will need to find better hardware and method for the next ones.

As I have the one piece bed in the van currently I can't just bring the cabinet in one piece in the van and I have to assemble it in.

Bolted through a chassis bolt (will add later a 2nd holding point on the red upper bracket you can see in the rear of previous picture).

Perfectly fit with the bed in width, which will be very important for building the floating bed after.

Access hatch

 

[flx]

In the middle of all of that I added an OEM Pintle to the Hiace, so if I get stuck on the track next week I can be pulled easily

Built a temporary charging station with left over pieces, as I don't have a countertop yet.

Not the cleanest but works well enough to charge my phone during nights.

The switch is to activate the external Anderson plug. For now it will be used to plug my air compressor but in feature it will also be used to plug the external heater and maybe an external charger.

Store in the cap of the weatherproof enclosure... that is fixed to the hitch.

Was hopping it would hold right in place like that a little better but the weight of the cables alone tend to pull it a bit so not confident to just let it like that. Want to keep the ability to have a moveable connector to go plug into things (and not just a fixed connector) so I need to find a trick so it remains secure and protected (so even if the hitch is touching the ground the cable is not).

 

[flx]

Added Anderson plugs to the ARB compressor to use it with the external plug (but kept the option to plug it to any battery).

And filled the Hiace... going to the 40 series meetup for the long WE next week, will be the opportunity to test it a bit.