Tool Box suggestions?

[shaner]

I always carry a tool box with me and I am sure that I have way to much stuff in there. What tools do you think are required for a L300 dedicated toolbox that can handle most repairs/tune ups.
I just got my lovely back from the shop with a new head and after the bill I am thinking ill be doing more work on my own from here on in. I replaced a head light bulb with minimal swearing today so I am off to a good start. I will be removing the rad early next week to get it rebuilt since i want to avoid another head job.

Any hints with the rad would be appreciated. Am i to assume that I need to be prepared to catch transmission oil as well as coolant? Should i just drain the transmission and do a fluid swap at the same time? do i need to remove the fan or no?

Cheers

[FalcoColumbarius]

Hi Shaner,
I hope my limited knowledge will be of some assistance. Regarding tools ~ typically you're going to come up against 10, 12, 14 & 17mm bolts as a rule of thumb. Sometimes 8mm. You'll want a Philips screwdriver or two, one long and one short. A "plastic rivet removal tool" is quite handy. It's a cross between a screwdriver, a fork and a spoon. it looks like this:



I went to Canadian Tire and purchased a tool kit, regularly at $200, I got it on sale for $96.
It looks like this:



It stores easily in your wagon and holds most of the tools that you will need. Avoid spending more than $100. Also, it comes with a thin flimsy foam like membrane that goes between the lid section and the base section when you close it. You're going to need to replace that with a custom fit piece of cardboard before to long ~ just giving you the heads up.

If you decide to get ratchet wrenches, get the kind that have switches on them. The kind that you flip over to go the other way are useless when, in tight conditions, you've undone the bolt and cannot remove the tool from the bolt head because there is not enough space and now you can't tighten it to get the tool off and you can't put another tool on because the original tool is still on there!

A battery terminal cleaner is very good to have and looks like this:


You can get them for five bucks at Lordco, or any auto supply shop.

For removing oil filters: As the 4D56T oil filter is quite big, your typical oil filter tool, the kind with a metal strap? They won't fit over the filter. What you need is "sabre toothed adjustable pliers", like this:



Having said that, if you take a clean rag and wipe the residual oil off the filter, you can get a good grip on the filter with your hands and slowly twist it off. It takes time that way and is a bit of a workout, if you take my meaning. The pliers are way more convenient.

I have also found that when dicking around with your intake/exhaust manifolds ~ a quarter inch calibre, six or ten inch extension with a quarter inch socket knuckle to be quite handy.

These last two items do not come in the tool kit above and not everything on your wagon is going to be a 3/8" drive.

If you are planing to do your own head job, you will need a torque wrench. Don't use the cheapo $30 specials. For something like a head that must be accurate, you need to spend two or three hundred bucks, in my humble opinion. The cheapo torque wrenches are fine for torquing down your lug nuts but I wouldn't use them on my head.

I would also become familiar with the shop manuals, including the torque specs ~ which you can find in "L300 Dedicated Category Reference Forum"/Delica Canada Technical. Which brings me to another point: If you're me, you'd think that twelve foot pounds, twelve pounds is a substantial weight to lift, must be a fairly strong torque. It's not. Your average firearms trigger is 12 ft lbs. I broke a banjo bolt by putting too much weight on it. Really easy to do. It also pays to get into the engine compartment and look around.

To get the radiator out, you'll need to remove the fan shouding off. This involves the smaller Philips screwdriver and (I think) a 10mm socket. It'll make things more convenient to take the fan off of the fan clutch, I think it's eight bolts, been a while.

Remember one thing.... I'm a painter by trade, who likes to play with his Starwagon. I've learned a few mechanical things, but I am no mechanic. At least not in the automotive sense. Hope this helps.

Falco.

[shaner]

Thanks Falco.
This is exactly what i was wondering. "Regarding tools ~ typically you're going to come up against 10, 12, 14 & 17mm bolts as a rule of thumb. Sometimes 8mm"
I have a old ammo box full of tools right now but i want to trim it all down so that i can fit what i need in the space where the jack is.

I am not planing to do my own head. I just had it done for the second time :(.
I am doing the rad this weekend as a preventative measure. Seems pretty straight forward.

[Morganizer]

"The space where the jack is?" Where is that? I must have not found it yet. Mind you, my jack is not Mitsu, it's a scissor jack from something else. It just kicks around under the middle seat.

[FalcoColumbarius]

"The space where the jack is?" Where is that? I must have not found it yet. Mind you, my jack is not Mitsu, it's a scissor jack from something else. It just kicks around under the middle seat.

Dude, so good to hear from you! Open your tailgate and it's in the bulkhead to your left. It's behind the left tail lamp, you should see a knob. Inside there should be a small orange bottle jack, the handle (telescopically stored) and a little plastic tool bag.

Falco.

[punkrawker]

tools you say? 2 sets of metric wrenches, set of metric deep and shallow sockets, a few different size philips, adjustable wrenches, electrical tape, spare olfa knife, a set of SAE wrenches (you dont know about previous owners "handi" work and would be a piss off if broken down in the woods knowing the ticket home was a sae wrench, metric is close but usually results in stripped nuts and bolts, also shit happens) linesman pliers, wire strippers and if you can a stubby set of metric wrenches and probably one of the most important pieces you should have is a multimeter and spend some time to know how to use it. test lights works for complete circuits but will never measure resistance on glow plugs or tell you what you batteries are at.

some other useful items, a can of deep penetrating oil like pb blaster (wd40 is not the same thing), spare quart of motor oil and a lp torch keep the head and bottle separate for storage. also i found out that as nice as a factory bottle jack is, a 6t bottle jack fits quite nicely inside the factory jack location. you can do what i did and fit factory and a 6t bottle jack in the void.... will have to play around with them to fit but so far its a few thousand kms and a few camping trips in down some pretty rough terrain and has not opened the compartment door. i have all the above mentioned in my van in a red tool box, sure its a good 40 lbs but the red tool box has saved my bacon a few times now.

Also, track down a copy or print off the Peter Russek manual (like a haynes manual but WAY better) for these vans and leave a copy in the glove box!!!!!

[yojimbo]

Stubby 12mm ratchet wrench.

[almac]

I don't carry a lot of tools on me on a daily basis, but when I'm going somewhere for more than a day or 2, I usually take the basics:
metric wrenches
3/8" ratchet and metric sockets(deep&shallow)
3/8" extensions
combination wrench
2 Phillips screwdrivers
plastic rivet removal tool
oil filter wrench
pliers(needlenose, regular, and snap ring)
rechargeable trouble light *this is an important item, IMO*
various fuses
spare H1 bulb

I can't think of anything else I might need.
I used to carry torx and hex wrenches, as well as a ton of other stuff, but never found the need.