New Delica owner

[hawkdrver]

Hi everybody -

3 Months ago, I didn't know these vans even existed! A friend of nine showed me a picture of his Delica that he drives in Japan, and you guys know the rest. I found a guy that was selling them in the states (Bellingham, WA), flew down, picked it up, gave it a good once over, and hit the road for Alaska the next day. It ran strong the whole way and still is, and the overall condition that it's in is really kind of unbelievable for a 27 year old vehicle. My wife and I are in the process of converting it into a camper, and this site has been just awesome on a number of questions that I had.

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My next project is to add a roof rack, alloy rims, new off road lights and a trailer hitch for starters. Plenty of work ahead but I am out of the country for a few months and my plan is to have all the parts waiting for me when I get back. Thanks for a great site, and I look forward to comparing notes with you guys.

[Lapprentis]

Nice ride ! My windows looks like yours so if your Wife is making the curtains, I am offering you to by a duplicate of these, I need that too before next summer :)

Lapprentis

[lrp374]

That is a very nice looking van and as you say looks to be in 'new' condition. You may wish to consider manual hubs and a block heater in your list of projects. Enjoy the ride - I think you may be the first from Alaska!

[hawkdrver]

Block heater for sure...had not thought about manual hubs yet, didn't know they were available.

Lapprentis, I'll see what the wife's going rate is for curtains...she is a small business owner, so I might be lucky to get ours done!

[FalcoColumbarius]

Hiya Hawkdrver, welcome to Delica Canada

Wicked looking wagon you have there! I've had my wagon ('92) for eight years with the auto hubs ~ they've been great for me, I just grease them periodically. A number of members prefer the manual hubs but for myself a like the comfort of not getting out of the wagon to twist the hub ends when I could take her out of gear, drop her out of 4WD and back up fifteen feet (or so, which disengages the wheel locks) and then I'm on my way.

Look forward to hearing about what you do to your wagon.

Falco.

[hawkdrver]

Thanks for the replies -- already getting some ideas I hadn't considered yet.

I have a couple of full on noob questions including one about the manual hubs....I assume there is a better place to ask them than in this thread, but don't want to start or post in four separate threads if there is a catch all thread for new guy stuff... Unsurprisingly most of the questions are about non-OEM parts! (And I have searched already!)

Thanks!

[lrp374]

A few manual hub options: Superwinch Cat.# 15001.43 with 28 splines. Other options are Asian copies. CCA in Coombs have them in stock and will sell them individually in Canadian dollars which should be very attractive!

http://www.ccautos.ca/l300-1/
http://www.cseoffroad.com/1500143.html
http://www.tuffpans.com/
http://www.jeeppartsguy.com/products/?v ... t_id=89839

Tuff Pans and CCA specialize in Mitsubishi while the others may have trouble getting the Superwinch or Rugged Ridge models.

[hawkdrver]

Thanks! Will definitely check it out. Just curious...I've had a lot of people recommend the manual hubs. I am assuming that's because the auto hubs have a bad rap for reliability, but I haven't seen much on the internet about it. I have a jeep CJ-7 that I rebuilt, and I put manual hubs on all 4 tires (locker diff in the rear) so I can unlock one axle if I break something offloading - my other vehicle is a 01 tacoma with manual hubs and I've no complaints. Am I in the ballpark?

I guess I'll just throw the noob questions out in here...#1, does everyone agree that my van is a low roof l300 with a 4d56? I found the parts number thread, just want to make sure I am 100% positive since I am going to order a lot of parts sight unseen from overseas....still looking for US part numbers for oil and air filters...the counter guy at NAPA just stared at me when I asked if they could look up the parts.

Next, for anyone that has a rook rack, I am doing some online shopping, I think most people try to use a rain gutter type mounting kit - had my wife do some measurements but she is not a mechanic to say the least. Looks like rain gutter to rain gutter is about 47" The racks I'm looking at vary from 42-28". I'm not completely against drilling through the roof, but would probably rather not if I can avoid it. Anyone done this lately? Did a search on a couple delict sites, but I'm sure it depends greatly on the rack, and again, I am best guessing from 24k kilometers away :)

Again sorry if this isn't the best thread for this. I can repost in other thread if necessary. Thanks again!

Steve

[Growlerbearnz]

#1: it's definitely a low roof, and if it takes diesel it's a 4D56. Check your chassis number and VIN plate- they'll tell you all sorts of details about your particular van. There's a great thread here which shows you how to find and decode your VIN plate and chassis number: http://www.delica.ca/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=2119

[hawkdrver]

Awesome thanks!