does any one have the pimp my ride season 1 video of the Hijet? is it worth the 2$ to buy it to view it?
I didn't watch it before posting, since I'm on dialup (with my Mac and Safari. ) My search of Google for "hijet pimp my ride" yielded several results, though. Poke around on YouTube - you'll probably be able to find the episode. Colin
17 inch wheels they had to cut to get the 17's to fit . i tryed some 17's on the Midget and there was no way they would fit . they wouldn't even clear to bolt them onto the axles. i still have some 15's and a set of 13's on an old Metro. ain't give up yet.
17's on a hijet I am the owner of the pimp my ride hijet and can tell you that there is some cutting to do if you want to fit 17's. You also have to rotate the springs so that the wider rims fit between the coils.
Here's a free version of the mini van re-do video on You Tube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74R2hL6JsCs gbrad
How in the heck is that thing street legal? I though mini-truck were not road legal in the states? Was that model dihatsu(spelling) hijet sold in the US at one point in time? -mark
Yes, the Hijet was sold in the U.S. up through 1995. They were still restricted to 25mph at the factory. It is my understanding that the governor was easily defeated (disconnecting a single wire, which one I don't know), and you had the full speed range of the truck. That van was a left hand drive model. Once in a great while, you'll see one pup on on ebay.
Wow, i didnt think there was even any Dihatsu dealers in the US. LHD is always nice too. So i'm confused, thou they were only rated for 25mp/h, these ones were street legal too??? Tell me more! -mark
No they were not street legal. You can tell a U.S. spec Hijet immediately by looking at the speedometer. It only goes up to 30 mph, and is marked in red above 25mph. It is also of course, LHD. They were sold under the same rules as what is being imported now - off road use only. The last van I saw go across ebay, was claimed to have been used used to ferry around employees on an airport tarmac. It was located in Las Vegas, NV. Mitsubishi also sold a few kei class trucks in the U.S. They had the 550 cc engine, three speed transmissions, and were also LHD. One fo the members here has one.
So the hijet on pimpmyride shown driving down the freeway was show 100% illegal? Interesting??? Yea, those mitsu you speak of had the big top on the cab for our extra large north american heads -mark
My guess, based on caseypeeps other post, is that it got a "special exemption" or some such thing by the university that bought it as they needed to drive it on the road a short stretch. More than likely another case of "just because you got tags for it doesn't mean it's 100% legal" ...at least in the eyes of the feds.
No, it was not 100% legal. To be able to be driven at the 60 mph top speed claimed in the show, the governor had to be removed. The van is about as legal to be on the roads as mine - granted by the state of California in this instance, not the EPA.
