Good plan, thats how I did the lines on my van. Same reason I used blue too so I could see which ones I did. Yeah I've been wanting to get rid of the cat honeycomb and adjust the valves anyway. Also the timing belt I had from the dealer is looking like its fraying and almost ready to break so new one of those as well, OEM made by Mitsubishi. I also have a custom exhaust made for a turbo van coming in as well. Hopefully its not too load. May have to re-jet the carb for it but won't install it until its running reliably again. The vacuum lines are a holdover from trying to meet emissions and drivability using a carb. My 80 RX-7 was the same way. You can remove all the lines except the one for the dizzy advance but (big but here) you need to understand how that affects functions on the carb and the systems relying on vacuum like transfer case shifting and such. If you go this route the carb will be cold natured when you drive it and it may require a higher idle so it doesn't stumble when loads like lights or the radiator fan kicks on.
Latest on the van. Its been down now for about 2 months. I rebuilt the OEM carburetor but that didn't work out, it refused to idle even though the fuel cutoff worked and pulled it off and went through it again. The rebuild kit was a joke, the gaskets it did have that matched I used but it lacked a bunch of other rubber parts a kit should have. Anyway, heres how it went down. I swapped the rebuilt carb back on and it wouldn't even start. I then started looking at more things and removed the EGR valve and cranked it up. Boom! It starts just fine and the exhaust is pouring out the EGR port. Hmmm, exhaust restriction? I put the EGR back on and had my wife try to started it while I had my hand on the muffler tail pipe. No pulses, nothing. The muffler was clogged. So I was on the right track removing the catalyst honeycomb but just didn't realize the muffler collapsed on the inside. I removed the old muffler and I couldn't even blow through it. First time I've seen a muffler that clogged up. So I swapped on the turbo muffler from J Works and man it fired right up on the choke and ran like a demon until the choke pulled off and it tried to transition to idle. Thats where it has been at for the last few weeks. I messed with the carb but could not get the idle to spill fuel out and run. That new muffler sounds awesome too! So the plan now is to swap to a motorcycle carb. Thanks to @Bigsullie000 for sharing his Nibbi carb conversion journey with me. I have a carb and the parts coming in this week and will be doing the conversion over the holiday break. I will definitely do a full write up with notes, links and recommendations. There have been a lot of carb swap threads, which I have read through, but they leave out or gloss over things a lot of folks need to know.
Great progress report. You are definitely on the final leg of this journey, and after that, your little van will be repaired, upgraded, and ready for its second life in the US. I have heard of the ceramic honeycomb inside a catalytic converter breaking into chunks that block the exhaust, but a completely clogged muffler would have been way down on my list of likely culprits. Hopefully my old brain will retain this new information in case I need it in the future. After one year of owning my Hijet mini truck, I'm halfway through my Hijet project list (old man, low mojo) but I catch myself most evenings looking for a 4WD kei van on Japanese car exporting sites. I can't justify having a motorcycle, 4Runner, kei truck and kei van and paying taxes and insurance on all of them, particularly only driving 4000 miles a year, but I really want a 4WD kei van.
Yeah, I ran it hard for 2+ years with almost no issues, it was time for some TLC. The turbo exhaust is very radical and looks insane on the van.
I'm looking forward to seeing some pics of it on the van. What does it do in the way of noise inside the van?
It has some noise but that provides extra protection right? Seiously, I can't tell as I have the engine hatch open cause its not running yet. I'll do a short video of it when its all buttoned up later.
Sorry to hijack thread. Like this, with a kangaroo on it? I also spend most evenings looking and more mini trucks too but every now and then I wonder, hmmm should I sell this thing? I brought it back to life and the reality is I'll probably never let it go, but just to tease you It is truly amazing how good this thing is in the snow with studded 13" tires
So got the van all squared away and working great but then the battery dies with 2 months left on the warranty (which won't mean jack at return time I'm sure). So off to Wally mart to pickup a new one.
Wrote up the carb swap I just completed https://minitrucktalk.com/threads/suzuki-every-carb-swap.24819/
Did this change effect your milage? Any noticeable change in power or torque? I would love to hear that exhaust.
Great torque down low it revs out really well. Has a lot more power than it did with the plugged exhaust haha. Haven't had time to measure mileage yet. I posted a vid on FB here but its a private group so not sure you will be able to see it or not https://www.facebook.com/groups/1830995063761364/posts/2300424750151724/?__cft__[0]=AZXNwzoVs8N1Xt-2tM3yme06YOy9wIvNbnRo-NDS609_NyWvl1cEXsG2GJ4Czh48IIw1NOiKefcLhFcQK6gUPhsyosSZbq4Z_ygmoI4wjHku3mP8oCVWH2RLXhOBqMlltTBVrEpyv5jp6oDfqyP0HY9bIgGUKKtkY4env61oAFv0ZxbEpIiFRzigiShMlBndFcI&__tn__=,O,P-R
Used these to replace my headlights. So much better and plug and play. Thanks for the link! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B5FXFQQS?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
I finally figured out what my 13in wheels came off of, a Wagon R, which is the upsized non-kei version of the van I think. Always learning new things. Also, my paper work says the van is a 95 but based on the serial number t he date of manufacture looks to be late 96 or even early 97. See this post for details https://minitrucktalk.com/threads/c...every-model-numbers-reference-1987-2007.24783
