Toyota Coasters

[cedtrains]

Just to get the ball rolling on the topic of Coasters, so here goes.
Bought my Coaster as a 23 Seat Bus from a company just out of Toowoomba. 360,00 or so K's. It was a DLX so air con piped back through the rear as well as dual floor mounted heaters. Stripped out for use in our business transporting stock to shows with an eye very much into a conversion as a motorhome.
It's been very slow going! Work has decided it had plenty of stock shifting use, so very slow to get the MH side of things going. I found the CMCA Forum an huge help and people very happy to help. Hope we can provide similar here.
Will upload some images as time goes on. Apart from a few alterations to the original plan it features:
Shower / Toilet ( cassette ) , Fridge 3 way ( yet to even smell gas! ), seating on the drivers side.
Passengers side has a void immediately behind the seat TBA, followed by a small seat just rear of the door, will have a lift up bench top extension over this seat. The kitchen has a glass top sink and a separate 2 burner cook top, again with glass top.
Originally we had an east west bed with a "L" dinette but after a trip to Melboune and 10 days in Tassie for work and some sight seeing we have elected to pull that out and install a lift up double bed with heaps of storage below.
Gas bottle storage ( 2 X 4 Kg ) will be incorporated with the framing for the bed.
The most important installation particularly for Melbourne and Tassie was a diesel heater. Lean over press the button, get up when it reads double digit temperature.
Fresh water is around 100 litres and grey around 50. Hot water for the shower and general hot water is a heat exchanger with 240 volt backup ( no 240 Volt yet ), worked better than I had hoped.
160 Watt of solar on the roof with a 20 amp regulator. We were in Tassie in July but had no problem with sufficient power, all LED helps and did not use 12 volt for the fridge, ran on 240 with an inverter.
Would love to hear of other Coasters in use here and a bit of information / set up

[T1 Terry]

Hi Rob & Ruth,
When you say you don't have the gas connected to the 3 way fridge and use 240v via an inverter while in Tassies, was that full time including bush camps or was the inverter use only while driving?

T1 Terry

[cedtrains]

T1 Terry,
It was pretty cool anyway but we were driving every day so used the inverter while driving, just enough to keep everything in the fridge OK.
It is a "Tropic" rated Dometic but I fing it heavy on battery, particularly as we only have the one 120 ah at the moment. When gas is connected I reckon we will only need the one battery, time will tell. Apart from LEDs our TV is really the only thing drawing power.

[BruceS]

To ad to T1's question can you please tell us a little about your battery setup?
One multi-purpose bank or 2 seperate ones & how big are they?

[EDIT: just saw your post!]

[T1 Terry]

T1 Terry,
It was pretty cool anyway but we were driving every day so used the inverter while driving, just enough to keep everything in the fridge OK.
It is a "Tropic" rated Dometic but I fing it heavy on battery, particularly as we only have the one 120 ah at the moment. When gas is connected I reckon we will only need the one battery, time will tell. Apart from LEDs our TV is really the only thing drawing power.

I was wondering just how big your battery pack was if you could run a 3 way fridge on the batteries from an inverter It's actually running from the alternator, a good method and avoids needing huge leads running to the fridge, I'm guessing you have the inverter wired through a VSR so it doesn't flatten the start batteries.

T1 Terry

[RussellB[SA]]

I bought a s/h coaster 1975 chassis, 202 motor with LPG, low roof, decked out as a Mobile Home.

Spent $8000 fixing it up mechanically, sold it after 2 years for $8000.

It was great but not much speed (top speed 80khp).

DCP00885.jpg

DCP00888.jpg

DCP00889.jpg

We had alot of fun in it, even did the entire Motor bike road racing circuit in it in 1999 towing a trailer with 2 bikes and gear in it.

[supersparky]

Hi Rob, I wondered where you have been. Now I know where the shop is too. I am really interested in the island bed conversion. Perhaps you could post some step by steps pics as you do the mods.Our Coaster hasn't changed much since you saw it a few years ago. I have a few mods in mind but am a bit lazy at present.
Cheers
David

[cedtrains]

David,
I am currently working out the gas bottle locker / bed side skinny robes and the lifting bed frame, all in that huge area we call a Coaster. Christmas at work is over the top at the moment but I sneak off as often as I can to get some work done.
Hope to have something in place by Christmas though.
Regards

[cedtrains]

North - South Bed in a Coaster LWB
I have pit a brief description to the images but they make it very simple to follow I think.

[PeterinSa]

Hi,
Re the Gas Bottle Locker, not sure if the rules have been changed re hole in the floor to vent to the outside and hinges on the door to be towards the front if the locker is on the side of the vehicle with vents in the door etc, locker sealed off from the inside of the vehicle. Would check the regs think I saw them on CF.

All 240vac Power points to be double pole switching( same as caravans?)

Great vehicle for a conversion, especially if you have a Turbo diesel engine.

Peter