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Hey guys! So some of you may know me as tech support, or Gary (HSV454)’s daughter. Although I’m not quite the car fanatic my Dad is, it’s pretty hard to be be in this family without being exposed to a few petrol fumes, and so I’ve recently acquired my very own project. It’s a bit different than the Senator, but here is my 1977 Toyota Hiace Campervan, affectionately known as ‘Ringo’ –
Basically he’s a bit of fun, purchased off four surfer guys who had recently taken him on a trip up to Byron Bay. He’s called ‘Ringo’ because at some stage in his 39 year old life, someone has glued a photo of the famous Ringo Starr to the interior. Once we saw that, we couldn’t resist!
Anyway, our plan is basically to have some fun, doing up the interior and tinkering with the engine (under Dad’s watchful eye since at the time of purchase, I didn’t know the difference between a welsh plug and a spark plug – improvements have already been made). My partner is a Brit (I know, I know) so we’re hoping to cruise around a little bit in him on the weekends, breaks etc to see a bit more of Australia.
So here are some before pics to give you an idea:
Anyway we have already done a bit of work so this post is a tad behind, but I’ll pop some up more recent pics in a moment!
Going to be really interesting with the LS swap Georgie :XD:
So, we decided we’d attack the interior first, since that’s a little more within my comfort zone. The first step was clearing out all the junk that had been left by several owners, some highlights included some suspicious looking leaf-life remnants in a draw (hey, it could have been oregano) and a 1990s ‘Penthouse’ magazine from the glovebox. I think Ringo has lived an interesting life.
Anyway, as I said this is a ‘fun’ project so we’re going a bit out there on the interior, going for a very retro/vintage feel.
First step was painting the interior cabinets. Since they are hooked up to gas and water, I didn’t really want to pull them apart, and since we’re replacing the floor, we figured we’d just paint them while they were inside. Basically we applied a primer, waited for it to dry, and then covered with two paints of a good oil-based paint. Unfortunately, we made a bit of a rookie error which was that we applied the primer with brushes. In retrospect, a roller would have given a much better finish. But hey, you live and learn.
Had to tape up “RINGO”!
With primer applied. And then some pics once done (but before touchups):
Going to be really interesting with the LS swap Georgie
Haha, I wouldn’t back poor old Ringo in a drag race right now, that’s for sure. I reckon we do 0 – 100 in about four and a half minutes.
Going to be really interesting with the LS swap Georgie
Haha, I wouldn’t back poor old Ringo in a drag race right now, that’s for sure. I reckon we do 0 – 100 in about four and a half minutes.
You have the stove to boil eggs
(make a good egg timer as is)
Good to see you saved “Ringo” as it’s a part of the back story!
The next step was laying the vinyl flooring, which was suprisingly pretty easy. Going for a retro look, we bought 2 x 3m of this checkered vinyl flooring from Bunnings.
At first our plan was to remove the old vinyl flooring to act as a pattern for cutting this one out. However, the new vinyl was very thin, and so we felt that it would not be very comfortable underfoot. So, instead (as you can see in the picture), we carefully measured out the campervan layout so we could get a rough idea to cut it, and fit it. We left an extra 5cm on each cut for waste. It was then a matter of cutting it out to a rough pattern.
Once it was cut, we had the terrifying job of taking it out to the camper and hoping that we had got it right. We held our breath and… it fit pretty well.
We then painstakingly went through cutting it down to size, a few cms at a time, then a few mm, until it was veeeery close. We then unscrewed the metal trimming, and cut it even finer. We discovered that it was important to cut it short by 1 – 2mm, otherwise if there was an overhang at all, airbubbles formed under the flooring. Once it was cut properly, we screwed the metal trimming back on top of the new flooring. Here is Tom, hard at work:
Once that was done, we had to cut out the hole for the table, which I did and then screwed back on top.
Ringo has had extra seatbelts fitted to the interior, as well as a safe. At first this presented a problem because we had no idea how to cut the vinyl around them. So, we decided that as it would all be under the seat and not seen, we would end the new vinyl about a foot from the edge of the camper. I actually quite liked this, as I’m pretty sentimental and liked the idea of leaving a bit of the original vinyl out. So, we bought some metal skirting (again from my new favourite place, Bunnings), cut it to size and drilled it down with small screws (so as not to accidentally hit anything below). This is what it looked like in the end:
The vinyl says it does not require glue, however there are a couple of small bits that aren’t held down by skirting, which we plan to just secure a bit. We are also going to add some beading around the cupboards to neaten up the finish. However, here he is with his new floor:
VRSenator065
- Adelaide SA
- VR Senator LSx454 1960 Kombi (project) 1921 Nash Hot Rod (future project)
View build HERE
Posts: 5 777
Great to see a couple of young people getting stuck in, and also good to see an old car being brought back from the brink with some love and attention. Hopefully after this week end Ringo will have all 1600cc or raw power back too
Now I need to go off and some googling on Hiace/LSx swaps……Great to see a couple of young people getting stuck in, and also good to see an old car being brought back from the brink with some love and attention. Hopefully after this week end Ringo will have all 1600cc or raw power back too
Now I need to go off and some googling on Hiace/LSx swaps…… And drive in a straight line haha.
I will do the more mechanical posts this weekend.
VRSenator065
- Adelaide SA
- VR Senator LSx454 1960 Kombi (project) 1921 Nash Hot Rod (future project)
View build HERE
Posts: 5 777I will do the more mechanical posts this weekend.
Hopefully with a small video of him ticking over like a swiss watch….
Great to see a couple of young people getting stuck in, and also good to see an old car being brought back from the brink with some love and attention. Hopefully after this week end Ringo will have all 1600cc or raw power back too
Now I need to go off and some googling on Hiace/LSx swaps……And drive in a straight line haha. I will do the more mechanical posts this weekend.
Very Carefully
VRSenator065
- Adelaide SA
- VR Senator LSx454 1960 Kombi (project) 1921 Nash Hot Rod (future project)
View build HERE
Posts: 5 777^if you saw how worn the drag link ball joint was, and how it had pretty much 180 degrees of steering wheel rotation before it actually turned you would understand what she means IJ
Luckily sleuth dad was on the case and managed to find a replacement, no mean feat for a 1977 car when only that particular model year had that particular link 
<p style=”text-align: left;”><del></del>hey mate , i cant see the pictures anymore but any chance it looked like this</p>
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