A Delica grows in Brooklyn NY !

Captain America · Post by **Captain America** » Mon Nov 07, 2016 7:57 am

Greetings from Brooklyn New York! I'm the happy new owner of a 1990 Delica Exceed crystal lite roof. She has 154,000 km on her and purs like a kitten. No puffing smoke either (so far). I got it Through Gary Duncan down in Virginia. He was great to deal with and has an airplane hangers worth of JDM imports. He even picked me up at the airport when I flew down there to pick it up. Better yet, it was titled here in the states and was realativley easy to title & insure up here in NYC.
As per my fellow American Delica owners my van has become a star on the streets of the big Apple. I'm real happy to be part of the Delica community and this site has been indespensible in helping me figure it all out.

Morgonzo · Post by **Morgonzo** » Mon Nov 07, 2016 1:23 pm

Hey Captain, Congrats on the Starwagon, glad to have you in the club. I believe my Delica might have been sold through the same firm as yours. Glad to know NY hasn't decided to make it extra hard on you for choosing such a abnormal vehicle. I grew up in Westchester so I am familiar with the misery of the DMV. Is it gas or diesel? Auto or 5spd? There's a map in one of the other introduction threads..(Furi..i think) where US Delica owners can pin their location, you should check it out. Next summer might be a good time to try a meet up of some kind. Despite the current running condition, I would advise doing a base-line on the van (fresh oil+filter, fuel filter, air filter and flush and fill coolant) so you can start a maint log. I'm already deep into this process, in fact my thermostat, radiator and temp sensor are currently out of the block and I have fresh rad hoses ready to go on when I finally get the time to do it. So if you have any questions ask away, I'll help if I can....I'd be SOOO lost without the Forums help.

Captain America · Post by **Captain America** » Mon Nov 07, 2016 1:47 pm

Morgonzo,
Thanks for the welcome and sound advice. It's a diesel automatic and 4x4 of course. To your good points I've changed the fuel,oil and air filters. I own a 1993 Toyota Land Cruiser as well and am familiar with "baselineing". I frequent the seemingly definitive Toyota forum ih8mud.com. The wealth of info on that site is a tremendous help as is this great site. Baselining has found a place in my everyday conversations lol! I replaced all 4 shocks myself as well and that has made a great difference in handling along with cranking up the torsion bars. Ordered all of my filters & belts from Amazon as well.I've made quite a few cosmetic adjustments as well but have not had luck posting pictures as they have been too large.

Morgonzo · Post by **Morgonzo** » Mon Nov 07, 2016 3:51 pm

Hah, i can't post pics either for the same reason! And I feel like a dummy when I try to change the size of the Jpegs. I'm not tech savvy and I get frustrated real easy on that kinda stuff. I have yet to do the shocks or torsion bars, but both are on my list. I've tried to source as much as I can through US auto parts stores just to run the numbers down so I can walk into an O'really's in Cascade CO and get an air filter. That's the idea anyway, I've found things like the rad hoses are almost unobtanium here in "Merica. I used Rocky Mountain Imports for my hoses, and I ordered 4 new GP's and an updated GP rail from Pajeroshop.com. I was able to get the correct Thermostat from a local Mitsu dealership with the gasket. I can't report on whether it was worth it or not because I have the Dragon Wagon in MANY parts right now.
In case you have yet to find it, the online forum oilburners.net is a great source for general diesel knowledge. They deal with the common american trucks (I have a '92 F350 7.3 idi as well as the Deli..) but being that it's a mechanical diesel, a lot of the info is worth reading.
Out of curiosity, what oil did you go with? I went with Chevron Delo 400 for both Big "D" and Lil "D". It's spec'd right for the 4D56 in the Deli's and IDI guys seem to see less oil burn off with e Delo as opposed to Rotella or other brands. Never used synthetic.. so can't comment on that yet.

Captain America · Post by **Captain America** » Tue Nov 08, 2016 6:45 am

Morgonzo,
I have changed the oil/filter twice in two months using rottella. I wanted to flush the system a couple of times. My next change will be to the delo you mentioned. Seems it's the one that gets the most votes. I use mobile one synthetic in my cruiser and have been happy with it ,but im going with traditional stuff in the deli because I intend to baby it's little engine a bit more.I see you are in Colorado. My dad lives in Breckinridge and I spend a lot of time out there living & playing. It's a special place.

Morgonzo · Post by **Morgonzo** » Tue Nov 08, 2016 8:31 am

Hey Cap'n, I'm in Georgia..not CO (although my dad is there as well...) I just used that as an example of an out of the way place to breakdown (because it rarely happens when it's convenient). We were looking at LC's before we bought the Deli...both the wife and I are partial to the 80's LC's. But with me it's all about 4x4, diesel and stick-shift and the LC's with those options were mucho dinero! I actually ran Seafoam in the crankcase before I changed the oil to try to remove some crap. I wasn't ready to swap out the injectors so I wanted to clean them up as best I could in the engine. I also pre-loaded the fuel filter with SF before re-installing it so the injection system got a good blast of it.

Eloquence in Engineering, the Mechanical Diesel!

Captain America · Post by **Captain America** » Tue Nov 08, 2016 4:54 pm

The 80's are legendary for a reason. Overbuilt and extremely capable. I've had mine for ten years and it keeps going. Can't say enough good things about them. So, have you found sea foam to be legit? I've heard it mentioned on the cruiser forums.

Morgonzo · Post by **Morgonzo** » Tue Nov 08, 2016 6:44 pm

Before this past month, I've only used Seafoam in my diesel tank. I see it as a no-harm no-foul kinda deal. At best it'll help clean up some old sludge and deposits, and at worse it'll just burn with the fuel and maybe raise your cetane level a bit. I used the seafoam Trans tune in my truck and now in our '90 Camry. I would be careful with the Deli auto trans though, Ford and Toyota are easy to find parts for.

Furi · Post by **Furi** » Mon Dec 12, 2016 1:29 pm

Captain America wrote:Greetings from Brooklyn New York! I'm the happy new owner of a 1990 Delica Exceed crystal lite roof. She has 154,000 km on her and purs like a kitten. No puffing smoke either (so far). I got it Through Gary Duncan down in Virginia. He was great to deal with and has an airplane hangers worth of JDM imports. He even picked me up at the airport when I flew down there to pick it up. Better yet, it was titled here in the states and was realativley easy to title & insure up here in NYC.
As per my fellow American Delica owners my van has become a star on the streets of the big Apple. I'm real happy to be part of the Delica community and this site has been indespensible in helping me figure it all out.

Welcome New Yorker!
New Yorker.

Killbert · Post by **Killbert** » Sat Jan 07, 2017 6:16 pm

Welcome! Don't forget to add your name on the us delica forum, delicaforum.com! Great to see another US owner!

K

From Florida