Pommie in NZ!

[Dave]

Hi folks,

I'm a Brit living in NZ and wandered across this site so figured I'd say hi as I can see it becoming a regular haunt!

In an effort to see more of the country, I'm after something I can sleep in which also has 4wd, so I figured a 4wd Delica or L300 would be an ideal basis for a camper conversion. They look kinda cool too. So far I've been using a tent and my motorbike, which is great for some trips, but a bit impractical for carrying my surf board, snow board and mountain bike! hehe!

I'm going to wander over to the tech section shortly and pound the 'search' function as I have a whole host of questions before I start looking to buy one.

Cheers for now,
Dave

[konadog]

Welcome Dave! Glad to have you here. A 4wd delica is indeed a great camper vehicle. Get one and keep us posted with pictures and tales of your adventures in NZ!

[FalcoColumbarius]

Welcome to the club, Dave. Would love to see pictures of your Delica (when you get it) and your adventures in New Zealand. Would also be interested in hearing about the manual that comes with your new van, especially if it is an L-300 Delica.

Falco.

[Erebus]

I too will say "welcome". Some day I hope to make it to NZ for a visit. Just one of many places on my "to go" list.

BTW, there are some quirks in the search function -- such as it can't look for anything with less than 3 letters. See an entire thread on it http://www.delica.ca/forum/any-tips-on- ... -4287.html

[Dave]

Woo! Got one

After looking at a few lemons, I'd resigned myself to the fact I'd never find a decent one, but then one popped up for sale which sounded very tidy for the money (turned out to be an absolute bargain!). Bit of a long way away but I jumped on a plane to the South Island, fell in love with it and drove the 900+km home. Plus a 3 1/2 hour ferry. Yawn!

It's a 2.5litre turbo '90 Exceed. And it's a manual trans too!

The guy seemed really honest about it and took me on a 1 1/2 hour test drive that involved town, open road and even logging tracks so I could try out the 4WD. He was a great guy and an absolute pleasure to deal with. If only all car buying could be so easy!

The Injection pump has been fully rebuilt, it's had a new heavy duty clutch, new thermostat and various other bits and bobs and generally seems to have been very well looked after. Oh and has turbo timer too. The clear coat on the roof has faded and peeled a bit, but other than that it's sweet! It was mainly used for towing his boat and a bit of camping, but he never used it to launch the boat as he didn't want to get salt water on it, which is good news! It's spotless underneath.

It was imported from Japan in 2001 and the same guy has owned it since. Has the original owners manual and service book, although in Japanese unfortunately! The guys wife took it to the school where she works and had the Japanese language teacher translate it for them. All fully serviced and cambelt, etc done.

I'm so chuffed! If I wasn't at work today I'd be cleaning it and designing my camping interior right now

The only down side is that the highroof model doesn't fit under the carport on my driveway. D'oh! It just fits in the carpark at work with about an inch to spare. It stands head and shoulders above all the AWD soft roaders in the carpark too

Plans include:
- a full camping interior which can be easily removed so I can put the seats back in for when me & my mates go snowboarding in the mountains.
- full length roof rack & ladder
- decent stereo system
- custom cycle carrier (poss front mounted)
- poss a LSD at some point
- fitting the larger front bull bar found on later models
- more lights
- dual batteries
- few other bits and bobs
- oh yeah, and cup holders!

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[Erebus]

Congrats!!!! Good that you didn't get that other one you were looking at. Good things come to those who wait -- at least in this case. We'll be interested to hear your adventures with your new Delica.

Sliding windows too. That's something lots of us here want, but they are scarce. Those who have them do report some issues with the rubber having dried out and therefore leaking. Something to keep an eye on.

[FalcoColumbarius]

Oooo and she's a pretty one, too!

One thing you can do is adjust your torsion bars up which will give you a little more clearance under the front end and bring the top of your rear down around an inch. Also on this site in the "Delica Canada Technical" forum is a link to "Visit Delica Wiki". Therein you will find a lot of useful information and ideas. I'm glad to hear that you found such a beautiful machine. Is that a full three seater bench inside the sliding door? I have a Chamonix that has a two seater middle bench with a fold down third seat but with no seat belt. How do you get into the aft part of the cabin (the rear seats), does the middle bench not get in the way?

Be well, Falco.

[Dave]

Cheers guys,

I checked for leakage on the sliding windows when I washed it, and there was a tiny bit, but hopefully it was just due to the use of the hose and squirting up in it and won't be as bad with the rain. It never rains here anyway

Cheers Falco, might give that suspension tweak a whirl and see if I can squeeze the van under the carport. At the moment the front fits under, but the bum sticks out as it's just a shade too tall.

The previous owner binned the middle seat and moved the full rear most seat forward as he needed 3 seats for the kids and room inthe back for the dog. As such it's only a 5 seater at the mo. Not a bad setup though and will come in handy for when I go to the mountains as I can shove 5 people in it and get all the gear in the back.

Started having a cleaning frenzie over the w/e and washed the dark blue and brown curtains. They're now light blue and white! hehe! Everything's all shiney now though

[dfnder]

Thanks for the post and pics :)

[Erebus]

The previous owner binned the middle seat and moved the full rear most seat forward as he needed 3 seats for the kids and room inthe back for the dog. As such it's only a 5 seater at the mo. Not a bad setup though and will come in handy for when I go to the mountains as I can shove 5 people in it and get all the gear in the back.

With the stock configuration you can still really easily carry 5 with gear. Check out an old trip log from Green1 backpacking by delica to see photos of how 5 people with backpacks fit. Granted the rear seat was slid all the way forward on its track, but still ...

Enjoy your new ride no matter how it is configured.

[Dave]

The previous owner binned the middle seat and moved the full rear most seat forward as he needed 3 seats for the kids and room inthe back for the dog. As such it's only a 5 seater at the mo. Not a bad setup though and will come in handy for when I go to the mountains as I can shove 5 people in it and get all the gear in the back.

With the stock configuration you can still really easily carry 5 with gear. Check out an old trip log from Green1 backpacking by delica to see photos of how 5 people with backpacks fit. Granted the rear seat was slid all the way forward on its track, but still ...

Enjoy your new ride no matter how it is configured.

Wow! That looks proper comfy. Loving those huge arm chair style seats

Btw, swapped the tail gate struts last night. What a huge difference! I'm silly tall and it still misses my head by miles. No more bruised forehead

[miller]

Nice bus! would love it in NZ with ability to snowboard so close etc! ah well will have to put up with MK Snowdome and Tamworth Snowdowm

I tried the tail strut swap but alas ended up breaking one of them grrrrrr