Delica Canada | Mitsubishi Van Club

Since it was a good day outside today I decided to tackle my wetfoot problem. It took almost an hour to get the corner body panel off due to those darn screws. I ended up using my Dremel tool with a small cutting wheel to slot the screw head.

I used my heat gun to warm up the window rubber so I could get at the top screw ( which is under the corner of the window seal) I used a large gasket scraper to hold back the rubber while I cut the slot in it.

You can see in pics below where my problem with water was coming from.


Then after scraping away the old compound, I used a brass wire wheel to clean up the seam and surrounding metal.



These are the tools I needed to do the job including removal of the plastic body cover/side marker lights. The 1/4 inch socket with a phillips bit works great for removing the 2 lower screws under the headlight.


The prepped surface ready for re-sealing


Now I would have taken a pic of the new seal, but I lost battery power , and it started to rain. And the fact it was dark out and I still had to put everything back together. All in all in total time I would say 2 hours including clean up.

Tomorrow night , the passenger side

Good job,

Not to sound like a broken record but one of these

would simplify the other sides disassembly. Beg, borrow, steal

Cheers

Kevin

I tried that on the 2 that you can actually reach with one, but I get a little concerned when I'm flinging a mallet so close to the window. And the bits I was using were of the Ukranian Tire kind and they ended up snapping the tips off. Guess an impact grade of bits are in order.

Golf Cart wrote:I tried that on the 2 that you can actually reach with one, but I get a little concerned when I'm flinging a mallet so close to the window.

If you just strike the head of the tool, you won't have to worry too much about the window. <grin>

Seriously though, I had a problem with those damned screws too - seems like they had 'retreated' up under the window gasket after initial install.

What are you going to be using to seal the seam? I used Sikaflex (spelling?).

J Paul

I used the following I got from CT. Can't remember the price.

Funny.. I'm currently trying to repair my leak as well. Every screw has been a nightmare to remove. I've had to drill them all and use a screw extractor on every one so far. I thought I was at the end, but there is one left. The one under the window rubber is being a cow as well.. I soaked it in WD40 for now and will try again tomorrow. Does the heat gun work well to soften the rubber enough to get it out of the way? Also, is the screw the same type as the others, cause I need to replace all the others. I might as well replace that one as well..

sighhhhhhhhhhhh

The heat gun does work to a certain extent, but even with the seal warm, you will have to hold it back enough to get the screw driver in. I could have used an extra pair of hands, but ended up holding it back with a gasket scraper using the screw head as a pivot point.

I took a Dremel cutting blade and slotted them so I dont have to replace them. In the event I had to drill em out, I got Pan Head sheet metal self -tapping screws #12 x 1/2 " Robertson

Dont forget the top of the metal panel is slotted , so you just need 2 turns on the screw to get it out.

Good Luck