Shop Time w/T.W. Friends

Thanks @gearcruncher. The day’s never ruined when getting free advice from an expert



Good morning everyone I hope your shifter’s shifting smoothly.

 

Now do the White House.

 

Good morning guys

 

That's the one thing I haven't done yet on my drill press. I've tried to use it as a mill, but my fixturing is limited and there's a ton of runout.

 

So a little over a week ago, my wife and I were talking about how I need a daily driver. Somehow we got to talking about those little Kei trucks, which got me going down a rabbit hole. Now I've convinced myself I need a 96-98 Daihatsu Hijet, am going to Nashville to test drive a few of them as well as other keis to see if I fit, and am talking to a guy in Oklahoma who's got one for sale with a 'new' engine in it... I've also started researching importing one to fit my tastes as almost all of them stateside were imported to be UTVs and are all 4x4, which isn't the worst, but when you're trying to get a 660cc engine up to highway speed the extra weight doesn't help! I also went down the rabbit hole of even seeing if my state would title it, and after numerous mixed reports from the internet, I got in touch with a few locals that own them and are titled up and running around the state. I started talking myself out of it when thinking about sourcing parts, since they aren't exactly on the shelf at Oreilly's. I've been following a guy with a similar model on the Mini truck forums that's been picking through his and replacing and repairing parts and his process in sourcing them, so I'm a little less worried about it. If the crap hits the fan, I could always just throw the engine out of a US market motorcycle, atv or snowmobile in it. Seems pretty easy to swap with a welder and time since the bed just comes off with a couple bolts and the frame is totally open afterwards. The main part of the engine you sit over and the seats fold up and the shifter assembly also can fold up as it's all cable driven, so you get total access, albeit a bit cramped, to the engine. These things run on little 1l 3cyl engines and come in either a 4MT or a 5MT and for me the 5MT is the only way I can comfortably cruise at 60mph. (The 6MT tops out at 81 in the Daihatsu Hijet)

Stateside Purchase at a dealer = Easy, titled. Expensive...
Stateside used = Cheap, already here. May not be titled, which can make things difficult...
Import = Cheaper than a stateside dealer, much more involved. Though the hard stuff you can find a broker for. I have a line on a guy my friend used to import his Honda Wagon.

To make a long story short, I'm crazy. I got the itch for something weird and interesting to drive and now I'm sitting in a hole of excitement that may or may not pan out. Otherwise I'll be driving the beater 03 Corolla that for some reason I despise. I think it's the paint color, or the fact its BORING. My whole life I've been interested in Japanese cars, but then I got into off-roading and I won't let that go either. Now that I have the offroad adventure vehicle, I want something to street around in that's not something that doesn't bring me smile to drive.

Hopefully I test drive these things and I hate them and then I can move on.

My name's Josh, and I have a car problem.

 

Most of my projects, including the draw knife handles, only require measurement by the famous "eyecrometer". They're perfect from far, but far from perfect.

 

Haha, I'm too OCD about things now that I'm over 5 years in the trade and split hairs on a daily basis. Although I don't mind using it for simple things, anything that's not able to be 'close enough', I'm considering either one of the those sites you send your model to, or buying a Langmuir 3 axis mill since they are on the cheaper side.

 

Do it! Sounds like fun. Then we all get to follow along and live vicariously thru you.

 

I think the handles need bent the other way for the drawknife. At least thats how the ones i have are. That way you can cut the bark or whatever

 

I could see that as being very , but we all have our things we like, absolutely nothing wrong with that.
I've never traded a gun my whole life (I'm 55)...the last 8 months I've traded for 7 guns.

 

You guys are making this hard to give up on.

Yeah, I'd probably do some little tune ups in the first year or so, but beyond that I'd just drive it as is for a while. Then in the winter when I'm driving the truck I can sand it down and prep to repaint it. The plus side of a mini truck is there's so much room in the garage when it's in there you can work around it easily. They are only about 55" wide and 130" long!
I'm thinking to get one in my possession would be in the realm of 5-6k imported. Most of that cost is the shipping and import taxes. The actual cost of the truck itself is under 2k!
The year/style I want stateside seems to run about 8500, pretty much everywhere, but a lot of them don't even have A/C. I found some in Arkansas, still around the same price, but two of theirs has A/C.

 

Gears

 

Dang Josh, you are crazy.

Nah, there is definitely a market for those Hijets in the US. Enough that there is a powersports dealer probably 2 miles from my house that consistently has 4-5 out front for sale. I also see one daily driving out to the space center for 2nd shift which means he's a weirdo, but there's that.

 

@Slashaar - two days ago my niece was looking at kei trucks but the one she liked was and orange one that was half van half truck with a roof top tent. Probably not what you're going for.

 

I've seen those, I forget the name off the top of my head, but I believe it's just another variant of the same thing. Just like a plain 'hijet' without 'truck' tacked on to the end is a van.

 

One of these? It's the Atrai, but these are too new to be street legal here.

 

That was the one!

 

You should just get one of these, people wont be able to tell if you're coming or going.

 

This sounds beyond cool, you have my 100% support!