Daihatsu Hijet Van/ Goldwing GL1800 Engine

Hi , I bought my 1989 Daihatsu Hijet with the intention to just drive it for fun and save a few bucks on fuel. After daily driving it for about a year I started to have issues with the engine, low compression in the center cylinder (3 cylinder) of the 550 cc engine. There were other little things but was able to fix just about everything just using my head and making domestic parts work. The problem is that there are not many parts readily available for these trucks and the ones that are happen to be very expensive. Rather than having the head redone and rebuilding the top end I chose to help out a buddy who has a similar year Hijet truck by giving him the engine and any spares that I had for it so he could get his up and running. I did a bunch of research on possible replacement engines, RX7 rotary (very long transmission)Suzuki Hyabusa, I didnt want to do what others were doing in Smart Cars and Mini Coopers, plus they have heavy vibrations and are pretty loud also the cylinders have to sit up pretty high causing the whole rear seating area of my van to be taken up by a sideways sitting engine or having to do a chain drive rear end at a huge cost especially because I wanted reverse. In short the Hyabussa just wasnt for me, I wanted to do something different, and I wanted something reliable that is known for a ton of miles with little to no real problems and had reverse.This is where i thought of the Goldwing, shaft drive, electric reverse, small package, good hp, no vibration issues (6 cylinder boxer design)relatively lite and plentiful. I found one in Miami and went down to get it. At this point I had been doing some body work on the van due to minor rust issues from neglect. I did all of the repairs with metal and used very little filler to just feather the body out. I wanted to use the van as a sign for my business so I painted it 2 tone and had it wrapped.It was one of the best business decisions i ever made because it get attention. Now I am in the middle of the conversion and it is going a little slow by my standards due to the fact that I work 6 days a week. The engine swap has been going on for 2 weeks now, so i have 2 days into it and a couple hours in the dark last night. Here are some pics. How I got it.

The forum you are linking from wants us to be logged in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=uXUM7v4mznM

Thank you. Watching with great interest.

Here is the day the conversion started 04/12/15

Started to extend the harness to the gauge cluster

In reply to MrJoshua: Oh crap, i was hoping that wasnt going to happen. The way this site lets you upload the pics it has to be from another site that is hosting it. I believe i have it fixed now, the original pics that wouldnt open without logging in should be good now.

Looks pretty cool. I didn't know that those were street legal.

Building the engine mounts Thats about it on the progress, I have to finish the cross member mounts then the engine will be mounted completely. Next is to fab up the willwood clutch master to the original clutch peddle, clean up the wiring, Mount the gauge cluste and key switch, make a switch board of some kind for the reverse and starter switch.Also convert the original shifter cable linkage to the engine with a mechanical linkage.

In reply to jimbob_racing: They are in certain states and age, If they are over 25 years i believe and each state has a "medium/slow speed vehicle deal" Mine was from a government installation where it spent most of its life, im guessing it was sold at auction to someone in Miami, that guy had it titled. There is a place down there called Title King, they can title anything.....

I'm looking forward to seeing how this turns out!

Years ago I'd considered a Goldwing drivetrain for a Locost-type build, but at that time they were still bringing nearly $2k to get a new enough one that had reverse.

In reply to petegossett:

after a quick search it looks like they are still north of $1500

Mkguyvr, if you dont mind me asking, how much did you pick the engine up for?

This place has gotten bizarre (and I like it!) in the last few months with you and the guy that is making direct drive V8 minibuses and reverse trikes. Bring on the weird!

Will be intently watching this, have always had a strange desire to swap the goldwing flat 6 into something. Very curious to see how it turns out.

I just saw one of those last night on the season finale of Backstrom and was wondering what the hell it was. Interesting choice of engine, I can't wait to see how this goes.

In the shot of the engine and front crossmember - it looks like there's not much ground clearance under the motor and that it hangs down a good bit further than the crossmember, which seems really risky. Is it really that way, or is it something about the photo angle?

In reply to edizzle89: I paid $2000, The engine is a documented 20,000 mile engine that came out of a 2001 bike, the guy bought the bike that had been laid down, no damage to the engine. One thing is for sure, while shopping around for these engines, $1500 is a good price for the engine but if you go over what all comes with it for that price it is "nothing". That is a long block price, You will need the intake,throttle body,harness,ecm,reverse computer,right handle bar switch set, gauge cluster, driveshaft,exhaust and numerous sensors and safety switches to even start making sense of the fuel managment system. I got most of this with my engine and spent another $1000 just ebaying my way through the list of little things. If I had to do it again I would go on Copart and buy a complete wrecked bike for less than I paid and have it shipped.

In reply to ultraclyde: Its the angle, although the engine is quite low due to the drive shaft dictating the engine placement, the rear of the van is 8 inches off the ground for me to squeeze in and out while I was working on the rear mounts, I was pushed for time and fabricated the front mount without lifting the front up. The cross member sat on boards that were up to the bottom of the engine when I tacked it up so its as high as i could get it without exposing the engine. I will be making a skid plate and welding it to the cross member to protect the bottom of the engine. When i am done the engine will be at the same height as the stock Goldwing which is 4.9 inches (5 inches) The wheel base is 5 inches longer on the van than the Motorcycle so I dont perceive any problems.The engine is somewhat visible from the side at a low angle and looks kind odd. The sides of these vans/trucks are quite high in comparison to any other cars/trucks/vans the frame is about even with the bottom of the rocker, whereas most other vehicles have 6 inches or so to hide whats under there. It will be kind of cool looking in a way because you can see the headers plain as day, reminds me of an old gasser in a way.

I was looking at wrecked GLs on copart after reading this. Most looked to be trading north of $2k but it's always hard to tell for sure.

What year did they start having reverse?

Heres a view of the side before i had the engine up into its resting place, in the picture the engine has 3.25 inches clearance at the back due to engine angle the engine is about 3/4 inch higher now (4 inches), once i lift the rear suspension back up 1 inch I will have 5 inches of clearance and the bottom of the engine should be level. As a reference the wheels are 15 inch and the tires are 22 inches tall. The gap between the ground and the rocker is 10 inches, I lowered the van 3 inches overall a few months back.

In reply to ultraclyde: The 1500s started the reverse trend in 1987,but all of the 1800 which started in 2001 had reverse, The 1500s has 100hp and the 1800s have 118 hp. If you watch the auction for a bit you will see some go for a reasonable amount.Keep in mind that you will be able to sell off spare parts on ebay although a PITA it will help off set the purchase.

Pretty cool, I will be watching with interest

Super cool!

What is your guess on the weight of that engine and transmission combo?

In reply to Jumper K. Balls:I have read that they weigh 260 lbs, And moving it around I would say that is pretty close to what I would guess, I was able to straddle it and brace my arms on my knees and scoot it on plywood a foot or so to get it under the van, Im 6'2 and 205, it was about all I could man manage myself.

This is an awesome project. Curious to see what sort of shifter solution you come up with.

In reply to clutchsmoke: The stick shifter in the van is cable shift on the forward and back axis as well as the side to side. I removed the side to side cable and I am going to find an angle i like and weld it into place so that it only shifts forward and back. The cable wont quite reach the area i need it to so I will fab up the original shifter with the aluminum foot lever on a cross member and integrate the cable to a pivot bracket to a piece of pencil rod to the shift linkage. Shift forward for down shift and backwards for up shift.