Importing a Hiace

[Marshall]

Hi,

I am brand new to this site and not a Delica owner but I am looking for some advice. We are importing a 93 Hiace Camper Van (2.8 Litre). I am looking for a some suggestions for a RHD diesel mechanic in Edmonton. I would love to know if anyone has had any success in finding parts in Edmonton as well. The name of a good inspection facility would be much appreciated too!

Thanks!

[MardyDelica]

hi, good luck for the hi-ace
usually the hi-end hi-ace has headlight problem.not a complied e-code headlight. as per parts & service for this hiace. you are looking to get hard time to get parts as the parts is only available in japan & if any way you can find parts in canada its way to expensive.
hi-ace for my opinion is not quite good in canada. as they always has problem overheating cause of our mountain & canadian weather condition.hi-ace is only good thru my opinion in flat surface & highways. but going up to the step mountain very hard. thats why there is not much support for this hi-ace even its toyota. mitsubishi delica is much reliable than hiace as design for off road & our condition in canada, this delica is already been tested here for about 6 1/2 year now & most important is there is a support in parts with this vehicle not the hi-ace here in canada.
so try to see if this vehicle is worth to import here to canada.
Cheers;

[Pacific JDM Parts]

Hi there and welcome!
I do not know if you have found any answers to you questions yet but i will try to help!
As to finding a good mechanic try calling around some of the shops and firstly see if they are willing to work on RHD vehicles and then if you see anyone driving around in a RHD ask them where they get there work done and if they are willing to recomend the shop.
The shop may also be able to carry out your inspection.
I do not know if anyone is stocking parts in Edmonton but you can always get things shipped there if you need to!
Just ask around and you can usually save yourself a lot of time and money.
Just make sure you carry out all of the preventitave maintance to the vehicle before you use it and you can have many trouble free kms
Good luck

[Delicafan]

Please don't bring your vehicle especially a JDM to Canadian tire. That's just bad advise to who told you that.

[dah_hunter]

Never bring anything to Canadian Tire ever..

Suggesting canadian tire is horrible advice..

Hiace vans arent ment for hill climbing thats for sure..

But they are fun vans.. I have a work one that i use in Africa.

[Spearo]

Marshall I think that 4 Wheel Auto would be your place to start. They seem to know the RHD Toyotas.
http://www.4wheelauto.com/
Erik

[Pacific JDM Parts]

I must read and think what i put sometimes!! My very bad. Only go to shops that are experenced and have good reputations for work on RHD vehicles!!!!
I am sorry for my stupidity!!

[mararmeisto]

Although Canadian Tire IS a nation-wide agent for vehicle inspections, please don't bring your JDM to them. As stated by another poster, they will only tell you what's wrong, and then tell you why you're wrong for owning a vehicle with a steering wheel which is obviously on the 'wrong' side of the car.

Find an inspector who is familiar with JDMs and use them. Most of them (at least in BC and AB) have worked through/with the provincial inspection system long enough to know what to look for and what to indicate to you to get your vehicle up to code.

These are the 'big' issues you'll have to conform with for a '93: LHD headlights (difficult for the HiAce by most reports), side marker lights and reflectors, and the third brake light (although I suspect it will probably already have that). Keep in mind that Japan has been building vehicles for their own market that conform to our safety standards of the day for much of the last 40 years (since they entered our market with captive imports).

And please, don't go to Canadian Tire, if only to save you from having to post a thread on this forum telling us how bad your experience was getting your vehicle inspected at Canadian Tire.