Wow, NA's comment made my day. And it's only 6 am here.
Marcus, like the sig. Good luck with the van again. Have you thought, maybe it's time to move on?
I only just got it, and the problem this time was my own fault. I was going to take the spark plugs out to clean them, then realised they were bloody awkward to get at, so refitted the leads, but one of them must be not fitted properly, hence the engine only firing on two cylinders. But I can't tell without getting underneath, due to the stupid 45 degree angle of the engine. Besides that's it's all working fine, went to a local breaker's yard and found they had two Daihatsu Hijet vans in, so went and cherry picked bits off them, and got the parts a damn sight cheaper than I would have elsewhere. I may go back and attempt to get a shock absorber from one of them, although I'm more dubious about that, since it's a part that's not easy to test on a vehicle with no wheels.