Toyota poptop camper van

[poptart]

How rare is my '84 poptop camper van? I've only seen one other one.

[skyflyer9]

I've only ever seen one in real life, in Asheville NC (it had California plates and the logo of some conversion company), and I saw one on eBay.

That's a killer setup! Do you know if yours was from a conversion company?

Welcome to the forum! We'd love to see pictures!

[slosurfer]

Welcome to the forum!

I would love to see pics!

[poptart]

Pop Tart 012.jpg (99 KiB) Viewed 5345 times

Pop Tart 013.jpg (100.19 KiB) Viewed 5366 times

Pop Tart 018.jpg (100.56 KiB) Viewed 5340 times

Pop Tart 019.jpg (99.57 KiB) Viewed 5336 times

This is Pop Tart, my '84 Toyota Camper Van.

[Makelo]

I'm speechless, that's one beautiful Toy Van. Was this ever an option in the US? Or is this the equivalent of a VW Westfalia conversion ?
Dan, only if you where in Cali,
Good luck with the sale

[slosurfer]

Wow! That's so cool! I want one, but with 4wd.

Thanks for posting pics, that's very cool.

[Wonderwagon]

I believe that "Country Home Campers" was the only company to do the pop tops, and they used cargo vans so I'm guessing that you don't have cruise control?

[vannen]

I've got van envy Pop Tart! That is so cool.Thanks for posting!

[jmoa]

i am drolling over the screen. where is this at? how much for it? interested in trading for a 85 le 5spds with 100.000 miles?

[Brenton Netz]

Just beautiful! Where has that van been for so long?

And now I'm not the only van owner to mount the spare on the front...

[Mog]

It's listed in the "Vans for sale" section. Somebody buy it already. Mog

[weasel]

Damn, now that's a conversion! Sink, stove, cupboards, probably a fridge in there somewhere too!
I've got one of the country homes poptop conversions. 87 4wd 5 speed, 130k miles. But no accoutrements, it was bare when I bought it.
http://nephology.org/van/
Unfortunately I bought it with a seized engine and I haven't had the time/money to put a new one in yet. It'll cost about 5 grand all in. 2 grand engine. 2 grand labor. 1 grand tax and hoses and other crap.
I'll probably bite the bullet this winter, as my other 87 4x4 went to the great van graveyard in the sky recently. I'm just having trouble justifying 5 grand for an 87 van.
Jon

[slosurfer]

Wow, very cool!

[thegeeess]

That is really cool and in great shape too!
Obviously it is a pro conversion but I wonder if anyone has ever done a decent DIY job?
Anyways uber sweet wheels pop tart!

[weasel]

I bumped into a guy at harbin hotsprings who had a country homes TV poptop that he'd built his own storage/fridge/stove/sink system into. It was kinda neat. Everything is do-able if you have the skills and the time! I just think cooking and cleaning should be done outside of the van - there's not much room in the van to begin with, and why make your van all stinky?
Jon

[poptart]

Sorry, I've been out of town and took her off the market. She's back on Craig's list at http://eugene.craigslist.org/cto/1448415141.html

To answer your questions:
The conversion was done by Automotive Services Inc, Vancouver WA. I have the brochure. This is the 'Penthouse' option.
No, no cruise control
jmoa; tempting trade, but you are in Ontario? I'm in Oregon...
And about cooking and cleaning in the van - the stove and sink are actually set up so you can cook/clean inside OR stand under the open back hatch, thus allowing excellent ventilation and shelter from the weather.

[Brenton Netz]

I'm sure you will eventually find a home for this rare and unique van (perhaps not at that price though) but, if you ever find yourself in a part out situations, I would LOVE to buy the interior from you.

Thanks,
BDN

[buckwheat63]

I've got one of the country homes poptop conversions. 87 4wd 5 speed, 130k miles. But no accoutrements, it was bare when I bought it.
http://nephology.org/van/

Wow. So that's clear walking space into the front cab huh? I installed one from a VW on my TV (same size as yours) but left the roof over the cab for storage. Obviously there's the issue of a missing passenger seat but still interesting. Mine has the old AC vents overhead (looking like a fat roll bar) so the cab feels very separate.

One thing I've always thought would be nice is a second window above the main front windshield for seeing mountains & trees from the wheel. The gap would need to be thin so built in solid to the frame where the window is, then the camper shell would have to seal onto that securely... probably with some kind of structural roll bar type welding to hold it in place. Crazy idea but that's the one thing that cramps me in these vans is head space in front.

[weasel]

Yeah, my top has a sunroof at the front so there's tons of headspace above the driver/passenger and is nice and light and airy.
I have it running now after putting a new engine in. Need to do some road testing before I'm fully confident in it. One thing I noticed already is that with a poptop the wind noise at speed is pretty loud! Need to install bigger stereo speakers to compensate...
Jon

[buckwheat63]

I didn't specifically notice the difference when I added it but yeah my van is super loud on the freeway. Hard to have a conversation and I have to crank the radio. I browsed the thread(s?) about covering the floor and side panels with that silver stuff but am not convinced it's worth the trouble (?) since my carpet is short & gray; not shag, looks good enough, and is the least of my concerns. Perhaps worth looking at something for the pop-top though.

I used spray foam to fill & fix a number of things in the pop-top retrofit/repair including fill for fiberglass. One thing was the wood curb on the ceiling had been beat up & pulled from the fiberglass shell, but it was hard to reach & fix without a total tear-down. There's a sheet of thin plywood which is probably glued to the FG shell and that is stapled to the curb before gluing. The FG has recessed grooves a few inches wide for stiffening on the top surface:

and the thin plywood is presumably glued to it at the low points. This connection was all broken up in the front from pulling up by the wind. So I drilled holes & filled some of the gaps with the expanding spray foam stuff. Nasty chemical sprays & all but it seemed to work well & make sense. A technical problem is the spray can didn't seem to be putting out much when squirting vertically, when it became less than full, or maybe after a few seconds even when fresh. The stuff expands over the next quarter-hour or so as it cures and I could tell where it was working when it oozed out the sides. Be ready to scoop up the sticky ooze as it plops down onto the sides of the van. That stuff dries firm and is best trimmed the next day when it's stiff, using a sharp, long utility knife blade.

Maybe shag carpeting is good for sound control. Or some kind of egg crate soft textured surface on the ceiling. It would be really nice to have less road noise. Perhaps the floor insulation is the best route though, since simply deadening internal noise with an egg crate ceiling means I still have to yell to the passenger & turn up the radio. The floor is already under a compartmented deck though so I'm still not sure that's the most important source of noise. It could well be the pop top making it so noisy. I usually have the driver's side window cracked too which is definitely very noisy!