!st shake down trip in the Delica....

[delicanewguy]

Ok, finally got to take the Delica out for it's first shake down trip. I have to say that I am very pleased with how it preformed. We headed west on highway 1 and had our first stop at Jones Lake,still a decent amount of snow at the lake.

We continued on and decided to see if we could get into Nahatlatch,well the main road is in fairly decent shape. We went as far as the Apocynum camp site's and we tried driving in but the Delica broke through the snow crust and decided to rest on the rails......Hmmmm pretty much stuck as stuck could be....so. We spent the next hour building up rock's under the power wheels and with some digging we rocked the Delica enough to back out of the mess.

We ended up pulling into the old road that lead's to the Alexandria bridge and stayed there our first night.

We then took a trip to Manning park and I was interested to see how the Delica would handle Alison's pass .....Well it did not disappoint.....I never had any smoking issue's but I didn't break any acceleration records either. We went as far as the Lighting Lake and had fun getting the Whisky Jacks to sit on our head's.

We headed back towards Hope and decided to go to Harrison lake west.We stayed a few night's at different beaches and got to try some 4wheeling.

So the first thing that stood out was the fuel tank's. You really do have to know your undercarriage and make sure you place thing's very well when the going gets tuff. I think the first change I'll make is Air Locker's for the rear! I not so sure you would want one in the front.As for comfort....I will have to come up with a better way to sleep in the van. In the summer time an air mattress will do the trick but for winter a air mattress will rob you of too much body heat. The most annoying thing was the headlight's....I'll have to see what the rest of you have done because at night ,on the highway, the headlights are sadly inadequate.

There were a few other minor thing's but I have to say that the Delica offer's tremendous " Bang for the Buck" and I am hooked on them. I'm looking forward to getting out with the rest of you on some of the meet's.You folk's are a lot more knowledgeable about these van's and I can't wait to pick your brain's.

[Erebus]

Sweet ride! Welcome to the Delica family. Sounds like you had a wonderful trip.

Ya, gotta watch the undercarriage when "playing". What I don't like is that there is no skid plate on the transfer case. Oh, well, nothing is perfect (except me, of course )

If you have more pix, feel free to post them on the "member trips" section so we can all sigh as we sit at home and plot our next trip!

[delicanewguy]

Yes the undercarriage is a weak point.I also did not like the way some of the wires and line's underneath could be prone to stick's and the such.I'll get under there at some point and neat everything up to minimize the chance of hooking thing's.Nice ride you have there as well.....

[konadog]

The first time I looked up under the front of a deliica I thought of an ugly big stick getting crammed up through that scoop-like affair and impaling the rad. I suppose there are after market or home-brew skid plates to protect vulnerable spots like this and the transfer case and exposed wires no? And for me, one of the best things about any 4x4 is that you CAN go slow and easy and carefully. Doesn't mean nasty things won't happen, but it sure is nice to not need that 2wd running start and GO, G,O, GO! to get up the steep hills

[Erebus]

Yes, there are skid plates available, not readily, but they exist; mostly as "home brew". Right now Wayne of Luxury Imports is working on a skid plate/snow shield for the later model 1990?-- Delicas. Will post info when it becomes available.

[jwfchase]

I thought for sure a part had been stripped before delivery when we first got our Delica.

http://www.delica.ca/forum/is-something ... -2016.html

[Green1]

Luxury Imports already has a skid plate for the 1989/90 delicas, but is working ono one for the newer ones now...

one thing I did notice when offroading is that I managed to get a large branch caught under the vehicle sort of beside the transfer case, and it was snagged on what appeared to be an oil line... I'm glad I caught it (or more to the point Ruminante radioed me from the vehicle behind to let me know) before something really bad happened... that was all well back of the "scoop" in the front.

[delicanewguy]

Yes Green1 that was just what I was thinking when on the trip.Maybe some type of extruded channel to cover all those lines would be a good idea? It would take some fitting but better than nothing.Has anyone managed to damage the fuel tank(s)? I was thinking of taking the mini nerf bar off under the sliding door but it does offer some protection to the tanks so I'll leave it on......

[Green1]

the tanks themselves have skid plates, but much of the rest of the under side does not.

[delicanewguy]

I was more concerned with something coming from the side,they just seem so exposed where they are.Nice delica by the way!

[Green1]

I was more concerned with something coming from the side

While this is possible, most of my motion tends to be forward which makes that less likely (not impossible!) so I'm much more worried about other areas than the fuel tanks.

Plus, They equipped the Delica with a spare tank in case something happens to one ;) (ok, it would take some doing, but in a pinch almost anything is possible!)