Previa awd - "Expedition Lite"

[tanglefoot]

This is so great to see! I rode in two of them as part of the carpool to get to school...one an S/C-auto, one, normally-aspirated with a gearbox. The normally-aspirated one was part of a week-long field trip to Canyonlands and did the Salt Creek trail in the Needles District.

The All-trac system should be more capable than many AWD systems today, and you sure can't beat the weight distribution.

Low break-over angle plagues many modern vehicles. You can often adjust for it with line selection (crossing anticlines at an angle, keeping one set of tires on the higher road edges or center mound, etc).

I like it how you have it now. I wouldn't muck around with it much more if it were me.

Both your sets of wheels use non-conical, shank-type lug nuts, don't they? I would probably want some hub rings, unless the Acura wheels happen to be steel with acorn-type lug nuts.

 

[Martinjmpr]

I've always been intrigued by the Previa, just seems like such a wild concept from a company that is pretty much seen as a trend follower rather than a trendsetter.
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I've also noticed they're dirt cheap used.
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Question, though: With that engine placement, is maintenance or repair difficult? I'm old enough to remember the early "forward control" vans with the prominent "doghouse" in between the two front seats.

 

[hop]

From what I've heard maintenance isn't that big of a deal, but it's less straightforward than a normal engine forward design and parts are getting harder to come by. You do have to access certain things from under the driver's seat or under the van. We'll see. This will be my daily driver so the reputation for reliability, along with fuel efficiency and being unstoppable in snow, are the main reasons I chose this over something like an Astro/Safari or something bigger. Dreams aside, the reality is that I'll be driving this on roads, and snow-covered roads 99% of the time so a Sahara-capable major 4x4 wasn't really necessary or practical.

As for being dirt cheap, the reason is that they were last imported to the US in 1997 and by now most of them are deep into the mileage at 200+, 300+, or more! I have been searching off and on for about five years to find an all-trac (rare to begin with) without a million miles. I've missed a couple here and there, including a pristine garaged 1997 with 60k on the clock a couple years ago, so when I found this one I gambled on it.

 

[DJB1]

This is awesome! Can't wait to see more...

 

[hop]

I'd like to install some fog lights to the front bumper. Not sure the best way to do this... there's an empty fuse slot for factory fog lights but I have no idea how to route the wiring to that zone. Anyone have any recommendations for lights?

 

[hop]

Just over one year in and so far it's mostly been good.

Couple issues have popped up - the rear defroster doesn't work and the A/C stopped blowing cold.

The rear defroster fuse is fine, the tabs are fine, and I've checked the resistance which seems to be fine. What's next? I'd rather not go into winter with a bad rear defroster.

A/C - probably not going to worry about it until next summer.

 

[BrennMan]

Awesome picture! Nice set up!

 

[Leppah]

I have a 91 previa. I read that the expansion valve is an issue with the AC. It's under the glove box if I remember correctly.
My van is the same color as yours. I did the lift to mine, added 16" mustang wheels, and some yokohama geolanders in a slightly bigger size to my prev.

 

[Leppah]

Here's how mine looks.



I'm starting to look around for ideas on how to carry extra gas cans. My van only has a 16 gallon tank and it doesn't get great mpg. I want to carry two cans just in case I need them once I start exploring the mountains more.
I already have a rocket box for the top, so I don't want to add a rack beside it. It's a pain getting up on the side that doesn't have the sliding door.

 

[wyoidi]

Awesome! Can't believe I just found this thread. I lived/worked out of a 92' previa with a 5 speed manual for about 5 five years. I loved that van, your pictures bring back a lot of memories. I drove that thing everywhere until the wheels basically fell off at around 270k, it never stranded me and never got stuck. I had a very similar futon set up in the back just like yours. I never knew you could lift one... probably a good thing I didn't know that at the time haha. Now that I have kids I've started to keep an eye out for one again, supercharger would be sweet! Cool van!