How I Converted a Toyota Hiace into a Cozy Camper

After a few years in my self-converted 1994 Ford shuttle bus, I was itching for a change. I knew I still wanted a unique vehicle- something you don’t see too often in the U.S., but still can hang with the rest of the van life crowd. 

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I had gone down one rabbit hole after another over the years and had come up with a top 5 list for my dream camper van conversions. 

Among them was the quirky little Toyota Hiace– a diesel minivan imported from Japan, right-hand drive, and oh-so fun. 

True, stepping away from my beloved shuttle bus, which was essentially a studio apartment on wheels, was a hard choice, but I was excited for the change and challenge. 

Why the Toyota Hiace is among my top five campervan conversions:

Some of the top features that called me to the Toyota Hiace for a campervan included:

• Its smaller size guaranteed we could fit down even the narrowest of forest roads across the country. 
• The Hiace gets 20+ miles to the gallon– twice as much as the shuttle bus. 
• Of the height options, the mid roof allowed me to stand fully inside (though no one taller than 5’5” would be able to stand up without the high top or pop top version)
• Functional storage– would you believe I actually ended up with MORE toys and goodies loaded up in this versus my shuttle?! Even with the added slackline, zip line, rain canopy, shower setup, freediving gear, and full outdoor kitchen, I still had plenty of room. 
• Getting outside more. Sure, we hiked almost daily in the shuttle bus, but other than that we started spending more time inside rather than out and about our campsites when we had downtime. Going to a smaller rig with less lounging space meant we went from living in our van to living out of our van– in the best way! I ended up loving the outdoor camp setup I implemented and didn’t mind being outside more rather than cooped up in my shuttle bus. 
• The JDM community is super fun and supportive; I don’t care to be super social unless it’s with like-minded people or over a hyperfixation- so seeing all the lit up faces and inquisitive people looking at my Hiace made it easy to show it off and find fun new friends! 
• After some research into parts and mechanics revealed that it wouldn’t really increase my costs over my “American” shuttle bus, I was all in. Even after putting in thousands on my Ford 7.3L Diesel bus, it still seemed to need something expensive every month. I was READY to be back on team Toyota. 
• It’s a Toyota diesel.. in a quirky minivan. What’s not to like?

How I Converted my Toyota Hiace

I bought my 1994 Toyota Hiace at a great price from the wonderful and easy-to-work-with Harris Katz of Motorcycle Warehouse– a JDM import shop in Happy Valley, Oregon. 

With the generosity of strangers who graciously gave me a spot on their nearby property to work on it, I immediately started my build.

My Pre-Build Prep

Once I had the van completely empty, I scrubbed it from top to bottom, and then got started on the insulation. I used these heat shield panels from Amazon, which I added to the floors and walls. For the ceilings and upper walls, I used this acoustic thermal insulation. 

With this complete, the subfloor was ready to be created and installed. After taking plenty of measurements, it was cut and installed in less than an hour- now ready for the vinyl flooring!

This also proved to be much easier than I anticipated, and now after having tried multiple floor types in various rigs over the past five years, I learned that quality/thicker vinyl sheet flooring is the way to go for van life.

It holds up incredibly well, is far more affordable, easy to clean, weighs next to nothing, and though it looks like vinyl planks, there aren’t actually any seams for dust and dirt to get stuck in- over time in a van this can cause separation of your flooring with real planks! 

Lastly, I took her to get professionally tinted. After her spa appointment was over, a few hours later, I got back to work. I was finally ready to bring the rest of my plans to life for the first build version! 

V.1 of my Toyota Hiace Campervan Conversion

Using a couple of apps and my notebook with grid paper, I had previously sketched out a few options and ultimately decided on a twin bed layout, with a long storage shelf running the length of the bed for extra room. Under the bed, I had plenty of storage, which was easy to access. I also had a small aisle so I could go from the back of the van to the front easily. 

Behind the driver seat sat my countertop and behind the passenger seat was a bench that offered extra storage underneath. We were ready to enjoy our new home!

…Or so I thought. The build quality wasn’t bad, but it certainly wasn’t as functional as I had envisioned. Such is life sometimes! 

The storage shelf got messy quickly and didn’t hold as much as it could have. The little aisle was always filled with my paddleboard or other items. The twin bed was a cruel joke I played on my pup and myself and was not big enough for us to share easily. 

The counter simply was not enough space, and the bench wasn’t as used as I had thought it would be. 

So, after traveling around with her for a few months, I got back to Florida and gutted it- again. 

V.2 – Complete Success!

The new build took me about a month of randomly working on it, but was 1000% better. After gutting everything back down to the vinyl floor, I was ready for my new home to take shape. 

A queen bed took up the back, and allowed me to utilize every square inch of storage below.

The back half of the storage was accessible when the back door was open, and there were two deep drawers about 3 feet long and 2 feet wide, with one holding my outdoor kitchen setup and the other holding my outdoor camping accessories and pups gear. On the outside of each drawer was a small passthrough, ideal for my freediving gear, hammocks, shoes, and miscellaneous trinkets. 

Omitting the bench and replacing it with an L-shaped counter that took up the remaining living space was PERFECT. One side housed my basic sink setup, while the other hid my fridge and held my solar generator and other items. I even added a 100ah mini lifepo4 battery that charged off my alternator, which gave us all the power we needed for days at a time. 

Add in a flip-up bonus counter, as well as a floating desk that could attach anywhere on the outside of the van, I had a great setup for enjoying my campsites to their fullest! My outdoor kitchen included a collapsible table, camp chairs, many cast iron pans, a propane two-burner grill, and a teeny collapsible wood stove that I could cook full meals on- with just twigs!

The large back door made for the perfect outdoor shower room with how it opened perpendicular to the van. By using strong magnets and a thick weighted shower curtain, I had plenty of room and privacy to use my rechargeable solar shower bag to go from a professional dirtbag back to normal nomad. 

Ready to hit the Road Again

After going through another 20 states and enjoying the advantages and challenges of the Toyota Hiace immensely, I started to get the itch again after another year… Stay tuned to see why I switched to another Japanese import, and why I think it may just be one of the absolute best rigs of all time to use for a campervan conversion!