Hey everyone My name is Joel Michaud, and Iam a soon to be 93 Honda Acty owner. I have been lusting over these mini trucks for countless years now and have finally taken the plunge. Iam a carpenter and plan to use this as a good haul around intown work truck. It will be imported from Japan in the coming weeks. Looking to see if anyone has experience registering and inspecting these in Calgary or Alberta? Would really appreciate any help I can get and would surely be willing to compensate. Thanks! Really looking forward to joining the club! Joel.
A complete service is a must. Change all the fluids, pull dist.cap and clean(maybe replace dist. cap) elec. contacts/rotor. This will put you miles ahead of everybody that doesnt do this. Not long age we had a honda that was a nightmare. It ran great on the upper end but had hell with lower range and idle. New fuel pump, new fuel filter, new carb.(600.00), couple of six packs of adult beverages and it still didnt make any difference. Ran like S**T on the lower end. A 70.00 new dist. cap and new rotor cap was all that was needed. Check the dist. cap if nothing else.
Hey! Thankyou for the reply. This is the exact info I was looking for to get a good start. Thankyou for taking the time to reply! Much appreciated. I will be showing it a lot of tlc once it shows up and get it into tip top shape for cursing calgary winters! Anyone else out there from Alberta with tips on getting these set up to pass inspection? Thanks Joel.
Sounds great! I will be posting some pics once I get it up and running. Really looking forward to it. Any Alberta minis out there? Joel.
well just over the rockies, at Radium Hot springs there is a 96 suzuki carry truck I had imported from Yokohama in Sept 2014. no troubles at all with it. except it does not like cold morning. I installed a stick on oil pan heater from Napa and it seems to help a lot. are you also picking your truck up in vancouver ? Cheers --Tony
I don't think the inspection should be too difficult to pass. Maybe talk to the shop you're going to take it to before bringing the truck in to see what they'll be looking for. As far as I know, all you need is an Out of Province Inspection (which is a simple mechanical fitness test, looks for cracked windshields, worn tires, cracked hoses, etc...). You'll probably need to get daytime running lights working. Registering it should be pretty easy too. When you're calling for insurance, I would refrain from volunteering that it's right hand drive though (that may be a red flag to double your rates for no reason, because Skyline/Supra/etc.).
Hey Thanks for the replies! Tony: I was thinking about the possibility of picking it up in vancouver and driving it back to Calgary. Not sure how crazy of an idea that is or not. Anyone have any thoughts on this? Would be a fun trip, but suck royally if there are any mechanical issues. Whats everyone think? Spike: Thanks for the heads up. I will get the day time runners going and look into anything else that may need to be upgraded to pass inspection. I will have to talk to my insurance to get everything set up aswell once the inspection is good. Thankyou very much for your help. Joel.
Hello Joel, well my neighbour girl just did the exact same thing as I did. Only instead of trailering it home she drove it. I must say though that she is only 5'3" at most. I am 6'2" and maybe can do 100 km in it before I need to stretch. if you go thru japancardirect.com Scott Bower will have it inspected for road worthiness before it gets sold. however simple things like sticky gas lines can happen coming from a warm climate . It happened to me. but in my yard. easy fix with WD-40 but better to have problems at your home with tool box nearby. for me I would only trailer it. You never know. Tony
Hey Tony Super cool! Two mini trucks on the block now I keep telling myself its a dumb idea to drive it from van to Alberta, but it could make for an interesting journey and a great story. Don't want to be stuck on the side of the road cursing myself though How did she deal with getting the truck legal to drive from the port to Alberta? Thanks for your help, really looking forward to this. Joel.
Driving from Vancouver Joel my neighbour girl just went to our local ICBC insurance for a 10 day permit. any insurance company will do. After you have purchased your truck from whoever in Japan. they will forward a manifest with all the paticulars needed for insurance etc including a complete description and serial #. When you pick it up at Annacis island(thats in greater vancouver area) you provide the customs with original papers that you have with you. Pay the 6% duty , plus a $100 bill if you bought one with air conditioning. you only pay the 6% on purchase price. which should be no more than $72. I said it before to you, but really trust that Scott Bower at japancardirect.com he will not cheat you and make sure you receive the truck you need. I continue looking at the auctions. and if you look hard you will find the perfect truck you want for about $1200 +$800 shipping +broker fee to scott Bower $900 + $200 dollar fee to import broker in vancouver total= $3100 for a truck with less than 30,000 km grade 4 which means no dings or scratchs Tony
Joel one thing I was thinking about. When I checked my radiator for the first time it was mainly water. that means before you leave the tropics of Vancouver you must do a water antifreeze change. It only took a few minutes after I figured out how to access rad cap and drain. But it is something to take into consideration Tony
Hey Tony That sounds great! Thanks for all the info. I bought the truck through a reputable dealer that a friend has also purchased through. I dont expect any issues but will let everyone know if I do come across some. Iam still very tempted to make the journey but have to factor in a few things first. I would do a stop at Van before I leave for the trip, check everything out, change oil, check all lines, drain and add antifreeze to rad... Anything else I should consider>? Thanks for all the help, I see an Alberta Mini meet up in the future! Joel.
Oh!! well congratulations on your purchase. It really is the safest to buy from a dealer that has serviced truck before you buy it. It may even save you some money in the long run. make sure the dealer has changed all belts. ac/fan also depending on km's ask for new timing belt and tensioner. all 660 cc engines need to be done at 100,000. just saying if your within 25 K let them do it. Keep us posted with a picture Tony
