Vannin' Home Forums General Discussion Readers Rides 93' mini-moto hauler

Hi guys'. New to the forums, I randomly bought a 93 g10 shortie a couple weeks ago to haul around my mini bikes to and from the track. I was looking at selling my daily driver and buying a transit-connect but decided to go with something i could "classic plate" and hopefully not cost me too much out of pocket. I've always loved these things, but never actually did any research on them, I just knew i wanted to stay fuel injected and have AC if I could. I already have 2 bikes with carbs that I have to maintain. Anyways, I bought the car about an hour outside of Las Vegas and had the sketchiest drive back home ever. sealed beams had so much corrosion on them the headlights would slowly fade during the drive back, and eventually was driving in pitch black following my buddy. Lost power once or twice also....so it's been fun to say the least LOL.

Here's a pic of when I got it home.



The next day I found a huge leak coming from the weep hole in the driveshaft. So I bought a new seal and dropped the shaft. Put some toyota fipg on the weep hole and vacuumed it through to make sure it doesn't leak again. I also took out the home-made wooden shelves and removed the sony headunit with house speakers the PO installed and rewired in a decent looking panasonic headunit I had laying around.



Yeah it's [censored] gross under there. I finally registered the car today and got my plates on so I'll be taking it to get pressure washed sooner than later.

I ran to the junkyard and got a few parts off a few g20 vans that I needed. (gauge cluster bulb sockets, rear door latch, the bracket that keeps the rear doors from swinging all the way open, and a new driver side lower door hinge. I also replaced the sealed beams and swapped out ignition cap & rotor, ngk lines, ngk spark plugs, TPS, and then started to look at the cooling. I flushed out radiator, and then flushed out the heater core (also found out PO deleted Heater control valve - I have a replacement on the way), I did wish i had a high pressure hot water source I could use.....still a bunch of nastiness came out but I got heat again...not crazy heat, I gotta still look into this more, the airflow isn't the greatest currently, so i want to clean out the blower motor assy next but I did change the thermostat while I was in there. Also did an oil change - used rotella since I use that in all my vehicles. I'm currently waiting for a chevy FSM to arrive that I ordered off ebay. I'm pretty excited for this thing.




Heat seems low right? at least it' flowing again I guess. Will probably flush out the heater core one more time and try to clean out the vents as best as I can.

I went to a junkyard I normally don't stop at because I heard they had a 78' G10 on hand. I grabbed the head lamp doors, turn signals and tube grille. I wanted to grab a few more things but it was packed against a wall. I kind of want to go back for the chrome front bumper, but its not a huge priority of mine right now.



not anywhere close.....they look so similar at first!

Decided I wanted to still run the tube grille if I could since my 93 grille was cracked in maybe 2-3 places - one major. I made some brackets today with some spare 1/8" flat stock I had laying around and welded the top brackets. I slotted the holes to give a little more adjustment also. I'm pretty happy with the results.




kind of overkill but whatever. I also sprayed the headlight doors with some leftover ceramic silver paint I had for another project. I didn't prep them super well because I plan on replacing them whenever I find a good OEM set. Brackets ended up getting some black paint. Ended up cutting out clearance for the AC lines. overall pretty happy, just need to figure out something I can use for the upper/lower trim. But this is how it looks as of this evening.



I just got my DRC moto bindings, and I'll order up some anchors in a day or two. Despite being a mini, I plan on mounting it in the middle because I do have plans to get a R6 designated track bike later this year. Next on the list is flush brake fluid, new belts/tensioners/pulleys, replace most of the accessible vacuum lines on the motor that may be split/cracked, replace fuel filter - inspect fuel lines, then either wheels and tires or start collecting parts for the suspension. (front LCA's, new sway bar bushings, 2.5"-3" drop spindles, and refresh front and rear brakes while i'm there) The van runs so much better already. I am absolutely thrilled how cheap parts are coming from older BMWs.

Anyways, hope to learn some things from you guys', and hopefully the van will hold up for all the socal trips I have planned.

Sweet!

Nice shorty, great looking brackets the tube grill changes the whole look.😁

thanks! I checked out your thread also. not sure I can complain about rust anymore on this thing.


Thanks, I think it was great addition for the price and what's available here locally.
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I removed the carpet off the wood held in with what felt like 100 staples, and removed the "wall mount" radio shack speakers only to miss having them LOL!





I finally got the wheel chock and anchors installed. I made some additional support brackets for the underside for extra strength. I test fit my bike in there this morning. (don't mind the backwards mounted tire....stupid local shop did that, and since then I do my own mounting/dismounting).




I'll probably add 2 more anchors in the rear so i can at least tie other things down inside if needed. Kind of irritates my OCD that they won't be in the same spots as the fronts, but I measured the center of the front (minus the step) and tried to mount the anchors so the straps would be an even distance away and still clear on the bottom. (because of the frame rails I had to do more of a 60-65 degree strap angle vs 45, but i don't think the bike will have any problems at all during transport. I also need to get new straps with larger hooks since my last ones disappeared last time I rode....moving slowly but glad the van can be used as intended now!

Nice van.

Thanks!
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So i knew I had some rust issues between the seats but I guess I didn't expect as big of a job as it turned out to be. After wire-wheeling away I was left with a patch must larger than the sheet metal piece I assumed would cover it. I ended up replacing a 23x7" section with 16 gauge sheet metal. I think there is a patch under the driver seat as well, but I'll get to that when I put in some seats in the future. also: this patch was kind of daunting as i've never really done this before, only read up on it since I have to do a tiny section on my e30 drift car (by the acceleration pedal). I actually didn't mind the van being the learning experience.



I made my initial cuts and after long consideration I decided to cut out the whole area so I could weld in a flat piece of sheet metal.




I tried to use a cardboard template for my replacement panel but it wasn't perfect. Some areas needed more filler welds which was difficult to do with the heat and thin material.



Threw down the first few tacks making sure the floor stayed flat

After getting the whole panel welded I sprayed some primer down (on the bottom only) and applied some seam sealer over the welds.


hopefully tomorrow i'll grind the top side down, epoxy primer and paint and spray a few layers of 3m undercoating on the bottom and will be good to move onto other maintenance tasks. Waterpump, belts, idler pulley & tensioner should be arriving in sometime this week, but not sure if I'll be up to the task right away due to work schedule.

Here's a photo I thought was funny when I went to help my buddy (with the raptor) out. (Obviously before I cut a huge hole in the floor!)



I'm really digging the van but kind of wishing I waited for a G20 shorty mainly for the 350 because this thing is slooow!

to the site and great work ya did there.

Thanks! I appreciate it!

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I tried to get more work done today but ran out of time. Grinding is the worst part! Pretty sure my lower back is going to be hurting tomorrow!



^ that was after the grinder, before the flap disc. only got to spray the primer down on top. I did spray 2 coats of 3m undercoating, will do one more layer tomorrow.



I was scared to grind all the way flat. It was great though, the welds were solid, not porous at all. I'm feeling pretty confident doing this in the future.

and I found some turbines locally...15x7 square set. pretty sure they're the Western brand based off the center caps. will clean up another day and look for stamping on the back side.

Heck yeah, coming along! Wheels will look cool on there