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Thread: Andy's Weebmobile - 1994 Nissan Caravan Silkroad

  1. #1
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    Andy's Weebmobile - 1994 Nissan Caravan Silkroad



    Almost a year ago to the day, I bought this silly thing from an importer down in Houston, who I'd met while visiting our own HondaKid86 in 2017. Danny got the van in, and it turned out to be an extremely clean 5-speed diesel with under 50k miles and I had to have it.

    I'd already used up my vacation time for 2019, so Adam again factored in, as the bagman handing the cash off and leaving some swag in the console

    It rolled off the transport and onto a local towing company's flatbed on August 19 last year, sporting the worst, most dry-rotted tires I've ever seen. I went to pick it up in the 1992 Volvo I owned at the time.

    It matched the general aesthetic of my drivway just fine. I don't have the Volvo or Toyota anymore

    First thing it needed was new tires. I also changed the oil, air filter, and fuel filter. We'll come back to that fuel filter.

    Despite Caravan oji-san's apparent love of Parliament cigarettes, the interior is really clean and smells nice too. Grandpa apparently felt strongly about keeping the interior nice, as not only did he spring for Genuine Nissan plaid seat covers from the dealership accessory catalog, but he also had three layers of mats protecting the carpets. The OEM carpet mats, a set of dealer accessory rubber mats over those, and then a set of oil-absorb mats he cut himself with a scissors I pulled the seat covers off to launder the 26 years of JDM swampass out of them, to find seats that were literally brand new, so I decided I'd leave the covers off and destroy the seats myself. He also installed a Broadway wide-angle mirror.

    The other immediate issue was a smashed-up taillight. I ordered one and it literally arrived overnight from Japan.

    About a month after I got it, it developed an issue where it would blow a ton of white-gray diesel-smelling smoke at cold startup, and misfire a lot. How much smoke? This was a pretty minor cloud compared to what it usually spewed. Usually this kind of thing in a diesel is either a lack of heat at startup, or air infiltration via a leak on the suction side of the fuel system.

    I'd already changed the filter and gaskets. That didn't help.

    Then I changed the glow plugs with OEM NGK's. They were in bad shape, but that didn't help.

    Then I thought I might have injector leakdown so I changed those. They were in poor shape but that didn't help. The injectors were actually leaking though, and replacing them did solve another issue, where the van's idle speed would wander around depending on different factors. That 2.7l 4-cylinder diesel makes 85 horsepower, btw. More than enough for two tons of van

    Then I replaced a bunch of questionable fuel lines and clamps. Didn't help.

    Finally, I put some clear lines on to check for air bubbles and that led me to this bastard. The manual primer pump for repriming the engine after changing the fuel filter or otherwise opening up the system. It doubles as the fuel inlet and outlet for the filter. Mine turned out to be sucking air, stifling the fuel flow, and frothing/aerating the fuel under throttle. I ordered a new primer, water separator, filter (again), and replaced all of it along with the lines (again). No more smoky starts! Yay!

    Just in time too. Dad's Camry broke down so I've lent him my 2000 Honda Civic, and the Silverado still isn't registered thanks to the Coof (mail in registrations only. At one office. For the whole state. ) so the Caravan is the daily driver for probably the next week at least.

    Summer is almost over, so I don't plan to do much more to it this year, other than change the oil again. Plans for next summer are

    1. Change the gear oil in the trans and rear end with Redline products.
    2. Get a 17x8 Infiniti QX4 wheel to test fit and see if it will clear the sliding door. If not, I will probably go with a set of these D21 V6-SE wheels.

    The current 80s Nissan hubcaps are on there because I hated the original daisy hubcaps.

    3. Try to order a set of JDM checker floor mats for it via a proxy service from Amazon japan or Rakuten. So far I've tried to order a couple of different manufacturer's ones and found them NLA. Plan B is having a set custom made from a place in NC.
    4. Replace the ugly 2-spoke steering wheel with a non-airbag S13 240SX wheel. The S13 wheel is a good choice because it bolts right on and the turn-signal cancel tab clocking is the same.
    5. New KYB gas-a-just shocks. The original are kinda floaty. This van is made of a lot of D21 parts, and that includes the shocks.
    6. Belts and hoses.
    7. Maybe a set of lace seat covers, if i can find a used set on yahoo japan

    And finally, some random weebery:

    He kinda looks like me.
    Finally got it registered.
    Hagerty says I can't street park, but this says I'm allowed to.
    OK
    THIS IS MY TOY CAR
    nob.
    My piece of flare.
    Last edited by Yeti; August 18th, 2020 at 08:32 AM.

  2. #2
    Administrator dodint's Avatar
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    Read this as 'Weedmobile.'

    Very cool, I love interesting cars. I wonder if this is an older/nicer version of the one I drove in Afghanistan.

  3. #3
    反重力 Rikadyn's Avatar
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    If I was going to track my S13, I would want this as my support vehicle.

  4. #4
    This is so cool!

  5. #5
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    Very cool.

  6. #6
    Junior Potato
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    Uhhhhhhhhgggggggghhhhhh I love the colour.

    And those wheels.

    *chef kiss*

  7. #7
    Junior Potato
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    A question for ya: you said you got it from an importer.

    Is it right hand drive?

  8. #8
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    Yeah, RHD. Sold new in Oita, Japan apparently.

  9. #9
    I'm gooder. Phil_SS's Avatar
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    That is a beautiful color.....#swoon.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Phil_SS View Post
    That is a beautiful color.....#swoon.
    '2K1 Charcoal Gray two-tone'.

    It's a nice color. There's defintely some blue and violet in the mix with the gray.

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