Starwagon culture shock?

[Rattlenbang]

After driving around the Victoria environs this weekend with my new EGT monitor, I'm starting to realize why these were never intended for the North American market. We can grumble about being underpowered and such, but I'll be they're damn near perfect for Japan. I still wonder how much off-roading there is available to warrant bull bars and high lift and four wheel drive; maybe it's an affectation like so many of our SUVs that never leave the pavement.
But I was surprised at just how easy it was to push the thing into the temperature danger zone. A little twitch of the pedal and it shoots from 1050 to over 1200 degrees almost instantly. Even just local hills were more than capable of creating exceedingly high exhaust temperatures. The biggest issue seems as much about speed as anything else, and it makes sense that there was an alarm that went off at 100kph. They simply aren't designed for that. You can lug around at 60kph all day long without any problems, but once you start trying to keep it up to hwy speeds, it's ridiculously easy to overheat it. Why? because it wasn't designed for it, wasn't intended to climb hills at 80 or 100 kph. I'll bet they rarely have the issue of cracked heads over in japan.

It's one of the reasons why the VW Westy went from air cooled to water cooled; they simply could not keep up in this market with only 60 hp. It's all an interesting lesson on design and how much vehicles are tweaked for the idiosyncrasies of local driving habits.

[yojimbo]

The alarm is a legal requirement for cars in japan.

[Phill]

The alarm is a legal requirement for cars in japan.

It might be, but I believe the OP was about how quickly the EGT's climb to the danger zone.

I know what you mean, having that EGT gauge is sure changing the way I am driving around Nanaimo, I sure accelerate a lot slower then most people just to keep the EGT's in a safe zone

[konadog]

They have mountains and high-speed freeways in Japan too and I reckon the L-300's there get cooked if people push them too hard just like they do here.
I have neither a pyro gauge, a 100km/h chime, nor a cracked head, and have logged over 110,000 kms on my L-300, much of that dragging my work trailer. I don't think it's under-powered either; It just is what it is - a heavy machine with a little motor, so it's slow off the start and slow up hills. I respect its limits and so don't worry a whole lot about killing it. I drove my 71 VW bus the same way and never cooked that either. But I like that slow, puttery driving style so am very happy with those limitations.

[Rattlenbang]

I don't know how many clicks are on your van, but it seems from what I've seen that the heads usually pack it in between 150-200,000km, which is really low for a diesel, but pretty darn high considering the temps you could be blowing. Maybe you'll get lucky. But this has shown me that it is crazy easy easy to go into the danger zone, even on mild hills. I think the VW aircooled was actually less prone to self destruct, especially with the earlier buses; the vanagon camper was a ridiculously heavy vehicle for that little two litre. I don't mind going slow either -and now I have no excuse - but I find it uncomfortable doing 60 in an 80 zone on a one lane hwy with traffic packing up behind.

[thedjjack]

Depends on the tuning as well... Mine is really hard to see anything over 1100 (5 speed might help a little) but I think sometime the fuel is a little much = extreme heat...

Funny how little throttle it takes to raise temps once you install a Pyro you wonder how you drove without it...I am at 205,000km with the motor never apart... warm up slow, get of fuel once no speed is gained, cool it down, keep the cooling system 100%...and maybe luck?

[Rattlenbang]

Funny how little throttle it takes to raise temps once you install a Pyro you wonder how you drove without it

Indeed. I'm confident this rig will last a lot longer with this installed.

[konadog]

but I find it uncomfortable doing 60 in an 80 zone on a one lane hwy with traffic packing up behind.

Not me - not even a little bit. They can wait just as if I were driving a cement truck. Patience is a virtue, after all...

[yojimbo]

The alarm is a legal requirement for cars in japan.

It might be, but I believe the OP was about how quickly the EGT's climb to the danger zone.

True but the implication was that the alarm was sometbing specific for the car. Like a "warning! L300 meltdown imminent!" Heh. Maybe it needs one

[Rattlenbang]

The alarm is a legal requirement for cars in japan.

It might be, but I believe the OP was about how quickly the EGT's climb to the danger zone.

True but the implication was that the alarm was sometbing specific for the car. Like a "warning! L300 meltdown imminent!" Heh. Maybe it needs one

Not really; I imagined having a speed alarm indicated that fast speeds aren't common or maybe even allowed, which partially explains why they seem to be engineered for slower speeds. I wouldn't be surprised at all if many or most JDM vehicles have them. With our speeds in NA, the thing would never shut up.

[yojimbo]

Well as I understand it all jdm cars have alarms at 100kmh. But then also consider the kinds of perfofmance cars there. The l300 delica is what it is, or rather was, the replacements are much more obviously built for highways. I dont really think the market for the l300 was so much camper/expedition vehicle but local runaround in ski resorts or outwards bounds centers or delivery vehicle for rural areas. Maybe the japanese themselves didnt use them like that, hence the design change.

[Rattlenbang]

It would be very interesting to know what exactly they were shooting for when they designed the thing. Of course sometimes designers miss the mark, but giving them the benefit of the doubt, I would like to know who they thought would be drawn to a strange-looking 4-wheel drive bush basher with a relatively tiny engine. It's immediately apparent why such a beast wouldn't fly over here, but there? They spent millions developing it, so I'm sure they had a target.

[Mr. Flibble]

It would be very interesting to know what exactly they were shooting for when they designed the thing. Of course sometimes designers miss the mark, but giving them the benefit of the doubt, I would like to know who they thought would be drawn to a strange-looking 4-wheel drive bush basher with a relatively tiny engine. It's immediately apparent why such a beast wouldn't fly over here, but there? They spent millions developing it, so I'm sure they had a target.

Given that there are many similar vehicles over there, there is quite the market for them.

Also factor in extremely small living spaces with no room for entertainment (hence the stock Karaoke on Royal Exceeds); and fewer commuters due to parking issues and great transit, and you have these.
They are also popular for overnight camping trips.

Most of them come over with very low mileage for their age.

We simply drive them more often, and further.

[glenn]

Ok, I'll say it. . . Delicas were popular in Japan as shaggin wagons. Why do you think it's so important that all the seats fold down into a bed? Curtains? Karaoke? Small engines? They weren't really taken off road much, and they didn't need to go fast - they only had to look the part. Better than a love hotel. They were very popular for overnight "camping" trips indeed.

[Phill]

The alarm is a legal requirement for cars in japan.

It might be, but I believe the OP was about how quickly the EGT's climb to the danger zone.

True but the implication was that the alarm was sometbing specific for the car. Like a "warning! L300 meltdown imminent!" Heh. Maybe it needs one

haha I hear yah, My EGT comes with a (lack of better worked) "Itching betty" beeper when my EGTs are above 900, so I assumed that's what he was talking about, I did forget that some JDM car came with a speed reminder