Someone PLEASE satisfy my curiosity

[FalcoColumbarius]

Hey Peter,

I shift my "very rare" A/T GLX by familiarity of the sound of the RPM and taking the weight off of the accelerator at the opportune moment, which a/ takes the stress off of the drive train and b/ causes the A/T to shift gears when going up. When coming back down the gears I will shift down with my (left) hand and pumping the accelerator, ergo causing a rise in RPM to meet the new gear (first the O/D button; then 2nd, &c.). I think this puts me very much in touch with the "Miss Lil' Bitchi". The only thing different from a manual is I am not clutching with my left foot. I find this convenient, especially when the Starwagon is in an extreme angle (like a steep, off road incline) thereby leaving my left foot to steady myself whilst my other extremities are doing all the work. I learned to drive on a manual and I was originally looking for a manual Delica but having been driving with an A/T I think I now prefer this way over a manual. I think the only drawback is not being able to bump-start if ever I have dead batteries (God forbid).

Falco.

[peterh]

Hey Peter,

I shift my "very rare" A/T GLX by familiarity
Falco.

Ah, you're a clever man , autos are suposed to be better for sand and slippery driving but I do miss engine braking

[Green1]

but I do miss engine braking

You miss it? Why is it gone? Autos engine brake as well as anything else... I engine brake with my auto all the time.

[marsgal42]

but I do miss engine braking

You miss it? Why is it gone? Autos engine brake as well as anything else... I engine brake with my auto all the time.

I do too.

The first stage of engine braking is inhibiting the overdrive. My Mom calls this the jake brake.

The second stage of engine braking is to shift down to a lower range.

At the risk of being B.C.-centric, I routinely use the former coming down from observing stars on Mount Seymour and on hills like Gaglardi Way, while I've used the second coming down the switchbacks on the Duffey Lake Road. With no braking and a reasonable payload the speed is aerodynamically limited (L300) to 100 to 110 klicks (The Cut, Coquihalla Highway).

...laura

[peterh]

but I do miss engine braking

You miss it? Why is it gone? Autos engine brake as well as anything else... I engine brake with my auto all the time.

I do too.

The first stage of engine braking is inhibiting the overdrive. My Mom calls this the jake brake.

The second stage of engine braking is to shift down to a lower range.

At the risk of being B.C.-centric, I routinely use the former coming down from observing stars on Mount Seymour and on hills like Gaglardi Way, while I've used the second coming down the switchbacks on the Duffey Lake Road. With no braking and a reasonable payload the speed is aerodynamically limited (L300) to 100 to 110 klicks (The Cut, Coquihalla Highway).

...laura

Yeah ok guys Hey Laura, you mentioned observing stars, I have a few astronomer friends in Canada - are you into astro photography?

[Wobby]

I've been around the Deli scene for about 6 years and haven't heard of or seen a manual diesel

Hi Peter,
They are available in L400's (but they are rare) I can think of at least 4 Ozzy members that have them

[marsgal42]

Yeah ok guys Hey Laura, you mentioned observing stars, I have a few astronomer friends in Canada - are you into astro photography?

Yup.

M13 in Hercules

M13.jpg (39.7 KiB) Viewed 4788 times

The Pleiades

Pleiades.jpg (45.37 KiB) Viewed 4788 times

I haven't done much astrophotography recently, since it's painfully obvious that I don't live in the right part of the world. In the winter we go whole lunar months without seeing the stars. In the summer it doesn't get dark until ridiculously late - if it gets dark at all.

Our family place up in the Cariboo has observatory-quality skies. M33 is a naked-eye object on a good night, the Milky Way is bright, and there are so many stars you start to lose the constellations. I estimate the naked-eye limiting magnitude at 7.0 to 7.5. It's dark.

Great, except for the midnight twilight in the summer. Oh, and -30 in the winter.

...laura

[almac]

I have noticed that many people refer to the 5 spd manuals as rare, very rare, extremely rare, very uncommon, etc.

So - how rare is rare? Are 5 speeds really that uncommon (i.e., were fewer manuals made compared to autos), or are there just more autos being imported? Are there more autos in Japan relative to manuals? Did Mitsubishi make more autos than manuals or were autos just more popular? I have a 5 spd and know a handful of others who do, too. In a recent for sale post the words 'very rare' were in a larger font as if to emphasize the once in a lifetime opportunity some lucky purchaser was going to get. In the same add, the relative rarity of a 5 spd crystal lite with forward sunroof was also emphasized. I have those options, too, so never really considered them to be a rare combo. Maybe I just lucked out and got the rare of the rare

It seems most people on this forum have an automatic - but does this factoid really impart rarity on the manual crowd out there? If manuals were the 'less popular' choice, why was this?


Happy Trails and Happy New Year.

to give u an idea how "uncommon" manuals are...
when my 5spd tranny blew up in december, i called around to look for another one, and could only find ONE, in all of BC for sale; a few dealers didn't even return my calls. this made me wonder about a few that people were raving about...
the seller (who will go unnamed)KNEW they had me by the loins, and sold it to me at a rediculous price.
in my opinion, this was truely bad for business. i may have bought the transmission from them, but i will never do business with them again.

quadzilla, if you decide to buy a manual, and suspect ANYTHING wrong with the tranny, its' easy,... just walk away. Better yet, get it inspected by someone who really knows delicas.
but in the end, its' like buying any second hand vehicle, just be aware of what you're buying, and availability of parts and service.

peace
al

[Mr. Flibble]

I was just looking at an auction site today - and of 46 Delicas ranging in from 1994 - 2006 (I was looking at L400s) There was one with a "F5" (manual) transmission.

[quadzilla]

Well, I just realized that I posted this thread in "Member Introductions" so I am officially calling myself a dork. I meant to put it in "General Discussion". Can you move a post from one forum to another after it is posted?

Any rate, I have worked Google to the bone and have not been able to find any hard numbers related to the ratio of AT to MT Delicas, but from the info posted in this thread, it is really starting to look like the MT is uncommon (in L400's, too). I do have a life, but have gone a little crazy with this whole 'rarity' concept.

almac - so far my MT has been solid, but after reading your post and the difficulties you had sourcing a transmission, it is making me sweat a little - although couldn't you have used the transmission out of an 88 or 89 Dodge Ram? They have a Mitsubishi diesel in them. I got cornered by a friendly 'redneck' in deep, backwoods Oregon who was oscillating over my van and the fact that he had a dodge ram with the same engine - I kept thinking to myself that it couldn't really be that easy to source parts for a JDM simply by pilfering parts from a late 80's dodge, but who knows.

1 / 46 = 0.021 so ~2% of available L400's on one auction sites are MT? I wonder if that holds for others - I bet you won't find the MT Delica auction site.

Thanks all and Happy Trails...

[almac]

almac - so far my MT has been solid, but after reading your post and the difficulties you had sourcing a transmission, it is making me sweat a little - although couldn't you have used the transmission out of an 88 or 89 Dodge Ram? They have a Mitsubishi diesel in them. I got cornered by a friendly 'redneck' in deep, backwoods Oregon who was oscillating over my van and the fact that he had a dodge ram with the same engine - I kept thinking to myself that it couldn't really be that easy to source parts for a JDM simply by pilfering parts from a late 80's dodge, but who knows.

interesting...
can anyone else confirm if this dodge tranny is the same?
it would make me "respect" a certain wrecker even more. *vomits* :(
but whatever... the damage has already been done.

[Pacific JDM Parts]

The transmissions are different between the Dodge and the Delica.They are different internally so the parts will not transfer over between the two.Already been down this avenue and after many hours wasted still had to get a replacement transmission.
I know its slightly too late for you almac but i know of at least 2 5 speed transmissions for parts.So they are out there its just unfortunate that people take advantage of the whole JDM vehicle business and charge over the top for things.
One thing to watch on the 5 speeds is they can leak oil between the transmission and the transfer case which causes the transmission to run low on oil and we all know what happens when things run low on oil!They do not hold a lot of oil any way so it will not take long before damage can happen.Also like any oil its alway good to change it regularly which helps prolong the transmission's life.
Then you could go in to the whole driveing style but i will leave that alone as thats a can of worms i do not want to open.
Just stay smooth and enjoy the ride.

[FalcoColumbarius]

almac - so far my MT has been solid, but after reading your post and the difficulties you had sourcing a transmission, it is making me sweat a little - although couldn't you have used the transmission out of an 88 or 89 Dodge Ram? They have a Mitsubishi diesel in them. I got cornered by a friendly 'redneck' in deep, backwoods Oregon who was oscillating over my van and the fact that he had a dodge ram with the same engine - I kept thinking to myself that it couldn't really be that easy to source parts for a JDM simply by pilfering parts from a late 80's dodge, but who knows.

interesting...
can anyone else confirm if this dodge tranny is the same?
it would make me "respect" a certain wrecker even more. *vomits* :(
but whatever... the damage has already been done.

The vehicle that I owned prior to my Chamonix was a Plymouth Voyager. The engine in my Voyager was a three litre Mitsubishi V6 EFI with a Mitsubishi transmission. I think it will be very possible to find a tranny for your Starwagon. I would suggest scouring Delica Wiki to see what PDF download you can find, print it off, package it in a binder, with plastic pages so you can drag it under the van with you and not worry about getting oil all over the pages. Take it down to your local Mister Transmission and ask them if they recognise this tranny. I would also make it a point to get to know other local Delica owners in your neighbourhood and use that as leverage when negotiating with said garages. Be creative and take control of your world .

Alternatively, you can also peruse the pages of Delica Club Australia or Mitsubishi Delica Owners Club of the United Kingdom and see what is on their pages.

Then there is always Google. Seek and thou shalt find.

Falco.