Delica Canada | Mitsubishi Van Club

so a few asked me to share info about my Iltis so here it is. this is my daily driver.
Ex-Canadian military vehicle made by Bombardier but originally designed and built by VW.
came with a 1.7l gas motor. has 2wd, 4wd, and rear locker in stock form. she runs a 24 volt system with a 100 amp alternator and i have added a battery equalizer for the twin batteries to be able to power up 12 volt accessories.
last year i swapped out the motor for a 1.9TD from a diesel Jetta. and have been running it on close to 50% WVO mix since september.
very little mods in the way of using waste oil, i wrapped the injection lines with heated wire and they did great till temps dropped and last week i installed a VW oil filter coolant heat exchanger to the fuel filter. she is getting harder to start in below zero temps so i need to do a bit more mods. but she has no trouble handling 50% WVO once it starts up.
Loud, Cold, windy, but lots of fun to drive. gotta wear a toque when the temps drop.

More pics

Great job. On tdiclub.com a number of people have experienced major engine damage with rings sticking running on wvo. Some of the experts on their swear that it will ruin any tdi motor. Just wondered if you have done a search on that site re problems of this sort? Hate to see any problems after all that work.

I have no personal experience myself.

this motor is a mechanical injection TD not a TDI. I am sure i am doing plenty of damage running 50% with no mods and cold starts, but i am using this motor as an experiment, the swap didnt take long. used VW diesel cars are pretty easy and cheap to come by so if it breaks then i can fix it or replace it for pretty cheap. i figure saving 50% fuel over a year will buy me a couple of used motors.
because of my low gearing my RPM on the highway is near 3800 constant or a bit more, this should clean up the crap out of the cylinders. i put on close to 100km per day.
max speed before engine swap 130km/hr on gas motor.
diesel motor with taller tires, max 100km/hr.
I am going to add a methanol/water injection when i gather all the parts. this is supposed to help clean up the chamber quite a bit so we can add that to the next part of the experiment.

rezdiver wrote:More pics

Nice rig. Would be perfect to discover new trails in the South Chilcotin

Love the tool boxes in the engine compartment. Must be handy.

Nice rig! Thanks for posting the pics. Haven't seen many of those around the last few years, used to see quite a few around Vernon, BC a number of years back I guess when they were in military service.

Very cool. Great picture of the child sitting in the front seat. I like to do that with my little ones too!

Is there a gasoline fired heater in the box on the back of your Iltis? A friend of mine has a similar one (ambulance model) that has an extending soft top to accommodate a stretcher, and a gasoline fired heater in the box hanging off the rear. It works well to keep it toasty warm even in Manitoba winters, but sure knocks the heck outta the fuel mileage. Where did you get the hard top? That look like a more economical solution for a Manitoba winter. (although this winter has been crazy warm so far) Anyways, nice ride. I would love one of those myself.

Jason

after oil wrote:

the storage boxes are great. tons of room in them.

this was an ex-ambulance model, i have all the racks stored in the garage, not needed and altogether probably 400 pounds of extra weight.

the box in the back is a gas fired heater, does not use too much fuel, i believe this model was 15000btu. it stopped working last year and i have not had time to take it apart. it can run on gas or diesel. it did put out a lot of heat when it was working.

I had custom built that hardtop a while back. worked great. I used a roof from a Series Landrover and modified it to fit. its gone now, sold it and put the softtop back on, its nice to be able to take the top off whenever you want. it is nicer to have the hardtop in the winter as it can be insulated easier but kind of pointless with the wind blowing in through the doors.

just installed a new raycor 5/8 diameter 500watt heated fuel line last night. hoping it will help with the WVO mix this winter. put a picture up in the WVO section of the forum.

Pretty capable little trucks! Thanks for the posts.

new additions:
-fuel filter coolant heater
-racor fuel line
also added an outboard manual fuel primer bulb between the fuel filter and injection pump.