2002 Mitsubishi Delica Space Gear L400 (Garage entry)

[Fummins]

I thought the roof was going to hit the roof but I was able to lift the hoist up all the way, just over 4'.

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Here's how cartoonishly tall it is compared to thee best vehicle ever built, a 2020 Kia Sorento. It's 2' taller than the Korean trash can.

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[7milesout]

And, I filled it up with fuel last night. Fuelly tells me I got 16L/100km 14.7mpg

Wow. That thing is almost the environmental destroyer that my Scamp is. I hit 14.0 mpg on the Scamp's last tank, and that was one of the better tanks.

Of course, I generally only run it around town. And I waste gas revving at the cops with no cats, resonators or mufflers. They've not pulled me over yet. I think they kind of like the revs I give them. Thinking it's kind of like a salute. I don't rev it so much as just giving it a quick stomp in gear, just to make it loud for an instant. Tis fun!

[Fummins]

Yeah, the last few tanks were around 18mpg. It is basically pushing a 7' tall, 5000lb brick down the road. Temps are dropping, got snow, idling. Whaaaa

I'm on the hunt for an inner tie rod now. What a rabbit hole! Some importers sell the same part for the L300(older version) and L400(the style I have-1994-2007). They don't list the real part number on their website cause you could just skip the middleman and buy your own stuff for cheaper but....One place got careless or just doesn't care and shows the part number as their company initials followed by the numbers "7321". I googled that with the words "tie rod" and came up with a 555 brand # SR-7321-M.
So now I might see if I can get a 1999 Hyundai Accent(with power steering) inner tie rod quick and cheap. If not I'll just order one that's marketed as being correct...

I'm just gonna dump this link here for future reference
https://size.name/en/catalog/rulevay...&thread_out=14

[Fummins]

I ended up ordering a couple of inner tie rods for a 1990 L300 Van from Rock Auto. I picked two different brands just because aftermarket parts...Both were supposed to be for the same application but only one ended up having the correct threads. It barely fit. I had to cut 1/2" off the end but otherwise fit great. Unfortunately, the one that fit was a clearout one that they only had one of...I'll probably change the lh side too cause it's probably not far behind. I aligned it as close to the old one as I could and thought for a minute that the slight pull to the left was gone, it tracked perfectly straight doing 65mph while heading north. Then I turned west into the wind.....
The transmission is working fine still.

[Fummins]

185132km

I adjusted the left toe in a hair because both wheels were toed out a little and the van still pulled to the left. That didn't change much.
I took the van out for dinner with the family on Saturday, put about 100km down the highway there and back. I don't think the headlights are aimed properly. I didn't get flashed at night on the single lane highway but noted I could see the center and left shoulder ines on the road a lot better than the one on the rh side....Oncoming headlights didn't bother me at all, I think it's a combination of high seating position and sitting off to the right that really help.

I noticed a not-so-great noise this morning coming from the engine and the 4wd lights on the cluster were flashing so that's fun.

I have used the van as a daily since I bought it except for a hI'm debating pulling the insurance and just using the Mirage. I don't think I'll ever fix the things I should if I keep driving it every day. Plus this thing costs over twice as much as the car does to drive. The money I save in insurance and fuel will pay for all the parts I need in a couple of months.
I think I'll fix this thing up a bit, use it to go camping a few times, and decide where to go from there. I do like driving it but I'm cheap. I really should be fixing my truck up a bit but it doesn't fit in my garage.

[Mark]

And now it's snowing....
This van takes way longer to clear the windshield than the Mirage! I idled for 6-8 minutes and cleared it enough see. It wasn't fully cleared until 20 mins later. I'll have to clean the garage out tonight cause this parking outside thing is for the birds! I'm hoping I can still fit the van in there with the airbags inflated cause it did lift it up a good 3-4".

Does it have a clean cabin air filter or maybe it doesn't have one?

[Fummins]

It doesn't have one. I don't think airflow is the problem(though I've seen some nasty pics of Delica's with plugged heater cores and evaporator cores), it blows good enough but just takes a bit for the engine to warm up. I'm just used to near-instant heat with the Mirage.

[Fummins]

I haven't updated this lately. I drove the car more often lately because I never have to pay attention to the gas gauge in it.

I partially installed a chinese diesel heater next to the front passenger seat. I only got as far as mounting it to the floor and then tied the exhaust and fuel line off to the side. Still have to figure out a fuel tank to use along with a place to mount it, mount and wire a fuel pump, seal the bottom of the floor opening. Mount a second battery somewhere and wire it up with an isolator or go ghetto and trickle charge while driving via cig lighter outlet?
I really should see how bad the rust is on the front end one of these days. These vans are known for frame rail rust around the upper control arm mounts, especially the lh side. If it's not too bad I can probably cut out and replace some pieces but if it's too sketchy looking I'll end up finding a fabricator to give it a go. Hopefully not too costly to fix otherwise it may just end up being a parts van or sold as is. I'm on the fence about how much to blow on this thing, most are listed for $10-15k and chances are they either have rust or will start to shortly. US prices that I've seen are even crazier, I saw an add for an older model with the entire rh rear smashed in, interior gutted because van life and they want $15k usd. And I'm pretty sure it's a write off.

[Fummins]

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[Eggman]

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A needle gun, some Ospho & some POR15 ought to take care of that rust.