Delica Canada | Mitsubishi Van Club | Design fault with L400s

The Series 1 L400s have a design fault that is a real problem for 4x4ing and that is the bash plate has a bolt on it that, when you impact the ground , the bolt gets shoved through the bottom of the oil filter and empties your engine of oil in a few seconds. There is no warning until your motor cooks. We have had several members with wrecked motors because of it. We have a member that makes proper bash plates that fix the problem.
The least you need to do is remove the bolt AND the captive nut on the bash plate. You will see the one just inches below the oil filter. Then just use a cable tie to hole the plastic plate in place. It is a light plastic plate so a cable tie is more than enough. At least then if you bottom out it is just flat steal hitting on it and not a bolt end or sharp captive nut...If you go on Ytube you will see my Delica doing a bit of a jump on Fraser Island. Search "jasper jump". It barely bent my "T0me" bash plate but with the normal one in place it would have been bye bye oil. The jump was an unexpected accident cause due 2 pumps close together. The beach on Fraser Island is the only beach in the world that is a registered Main Roads department "road". It has an 80K (50mph) speed limit. Cheers


Report this post

what change was made in the later L400s to solve this issue? and would it be possible to make such a change ourselves to the older L400s?
And what is the difference on the "proper bash plates"? just stronger so they don't get pushed up? or is there some other difference?

Nylon bolt. Problem solved. Or remove the thin tin can which is not a bash plate but a dust guard in reality.

The problem remained through the entire series 1 L400s. It is not an issue in Japan as these are used as snow/ice mobiles. If you go to http://www.delicaclub.com and have a look around you will see photos of the bash plates people make. Most people in Australia use them on the beach and the sandy tracks often have rusts that the wheels go in and the bash plate is hitting constantly on the mound in the center so all you need is a bump or two and the car comes down hard on the plate. Gee I wish there wasn't size restrictions on photos. See


Here is the bash plate on my car.. The guy who makes them uses this photo to advertise them..
http://www.t0me.com/t0me/index.html
It would probably be quicker for you to just go to the 'Album' section of our club and have a look. There are some good bash plate photos in there somewhere..I seem to have got side tracked. Cheers..

Again

Nylon bolt. Problem solved. Or take it off. It's a tin can.

when I try to go to the photos you linked to I just get "not authorized"

however the last link to the seller shows some nice looking plates... unfortunately I would bet shipping would be an absolute killer... need to find someone around here who can make something decent.
(considering what I've done in my L300... I think a bash plate would be a good plan for me...)

Sorry.. they must be in members only section. It is free to join and there is 10s of thousands of good posts so it is worth a look. We already have some folk from Canada as members. If you do join have a look at the photos of the Stockton Beach Dunes. They are over 40 meters high and very steep..Yes making a bash plate casn not be that hard. The ones her are laser cut and very neet. Then they are treated in the anti rusting process that leaves them with that golg rainbowy kind of finish. They have a 25 year guarantee against rust. Tom (T0me) is a nice guy he will probably give you the dimensions etc. Cheers..

Green1 and others, I have looked into these a bit. Here's some e-mails I've had from t0me in Oz. Basically, it's a no go for us to get his plates over here; even just the rear plate. However, I'll bet someone within our Canadian ranks is handy enough and has the where-with-all to come up with something as good or better. I'm thinking 3/16" Al alloy of some sort.
***********************************************************************************************
Hi Tim, couple of things. Firstly, I don't have any idea of a
carrier
who goes to Canada and I've not got any accounts with any couriers, I
usually just use Australia Post and they won't take something this
heavy
overseas. So, if you can find a courier who will take it I'll
check em
out for you.
Secondly I'm out of stock and exploring a new supplier so for the
moment I
don't have any anyway. Sorry mate. I'll stick you on my list for
once
I've gotten the supplier issue sorted out. Let me know what you find
for shipping between Canada and Australia.

Cheers,
Tom

****************************************************************************************

Hi Tim, I can't split up the sets, nobody would want a rear plate by
itself.
They weigh about 17kg, 600x600x100mm. I haven't got any shipping company
who will take them to Canada, I don't use accounts either as I only sell a
couple of these each month so its not worth paying for an account.
Sorry I couldn't help.
Cheers,
Tom

It's really too bad, had I thought about this a month ago I had a shipping solution (though it sounds like he didn't have stock anyway...)
(Girlfriend's cousin just moved form Australia to Canada, they had a shipping crate, I'm sure they could have shoved in a set or two of plates...)

They do look simple enough though, just need to find someone who can make them... (considering that I have a habit of breaking things on the bottom of the delica when off-road, I think I'd rather get good protection down there, rather than ram that oil filter in to a rock somewhere....)