Mighty Yeti Upgrades

[FredVenne]

Hello everyone!

As most of you know, we own a camperized_from_the_shop Delica L300 Exceed. So far, we only did a few changes that we were comfortable doing ourselves.

At the last Calgary mini-meet, I met Erebus and we were talking about our little babies and looking at his and listening to everything he did himself... I felt that I had no credit for having such a little van the way it was. I started to realize that there is a lot that I can do to improve it and make it better for the long run.

That said, we decided to start doing the things that we were talking about. So on this thread, we will post the upgrades, mods and anything that we will do, ourselves, that might be of interests to all (or most) of you.

So... here we are. After our 16000km trip last winter, the front end took a bashing from the rocks coming from the cars that would have been way too close to us (actually I have the tendency to drive way too close behind... yeah I am one of those).

So we took the bull bar, plastic cover and main front panel off, sand blasted (professionally... see the photos), anti-rust coat, primer and 2 coats of rockguard. Great product to work with by the way. It look really good, but closely, very closely, you can see some imperfection and the white is different then the delica white... too white in fact. So it does bother me, but I will leave it like that until I see in a few years, that the panel would need a little touch up, then and only then I will repaint it all with a closer to original white.

Have a look at the photos and please don't hesitate to ask questions, comments and even make fun of me go for it I can take it, just remember that I will get back at you

Enjoy,

Kim, Fred and Mighty Yeti

[FredVenne]

More photos!

[FredVenne]

One more upload...

[konadog]

Nice! Looks really sharp

[FalcoColumbarius]

Fred, nice job on the Mighty Yeti, indeed! The Bambis look stunning in black, better than the white.

So,... when are you going to paint the rest of her?

Falco.

[FredVenne]

Falco, we have no intention what so ever to paint the rest of her... unless it become really spotty and rusty. By the way, you remember telling me to look at the 2 spots on the bottom part of the back window... that will be the next step... I might even rockguard it all. There are a few rust spot on other places on the back door, which it's weird, but I will have to deal with it. So I am thinking of removing the whole, door, strip it of everything, sandblast it to get ride of the rust and rockguard it... next year though...

Fred

[CREGAN]

Looks great - like a new(er) van! Nice to see another rattle-canner amoungst us.

Craig

[psilosin]

Impressive. Looks great. That's so cool that you can rent a spot to do some diy sandblasting...never heard of that before.

[FredVenne]

I hate advertising stuff on my threads, but psilosin is right… I was looking for a company to sandblast my parts and everybody were charging a min of 200$… found that place; http://www.consolidatedcompressor.com/ and it was 90$ tax included! What really got me was that when I showed up, the lady at the counter asked me if I have done this before. I said no, so she asked one of the employe to show me how to do it. No paperwork to sign or waiver prior playing with the sand. What concerned most the employe was to keep my car at least 30m away so I would not blow my windows. I was thinking… well if I drop the hose and it goes every where… will I lose my head? I gues that was not much of a concern for them hehehe… Anyway it was cool to do it myself!

Fred

[FalcoColumbarius]

I did my ladder but the sand blaster was in a big box, with cow gloves and a window. I had to stop from time to time to clear the mess off the window so I could see.

[after oil]

looks sharp!

[madmazda]

ahhh love that place..... been there many times for work related sanding jobs....

[Luisito]

Dude! That's awesome, it looks great.

I have a few questions:

1) The plastic "MITSUBISHI" cover/shroud - what did you paint it black with? Mine is grey and looking really old... I'm thinking of either removing it altogether or painting it black as well;

2) Did you consider not putting the shroud back on, and just leaving the bars?

Luis

[thedjjack]

I think that trailer in the photos is too small :)

[FredVenne]

Alright... I have worked a lot this week on the Yeti. I will have more photos later when I will wash it, so you can tell the difference. What I did this time, well I changed most light bulbs with LED's. I have not touch the headlights yet, because I will switch the bulbs for HID's. And then I will change the other remaining bulbs for LED's. Also later (when I'll find them) I will change all little bulbs inside the van for LED's.
I did switch a fluorescent light on the camper side that was draining the batteries really bad. So I got one of those LED's at an RV dealer... expensive, but totally worth it!
Next thing, I did switch the struts of the back door, so it opens up much higher now, I can even walk underneath and I'm not even touching the door (I'm 6'2").
Also I spray painted with rock guard all the mirrors (all 4), wiper arms (all 3) the side and back door steps and the protection panel underneath the front end. I actually found the horns. I don't know wich kinds you guys have but they are huge, BOSH and there is 2! The little ones are still attached at the front. I was tempted to remove them but then I thought of leaving them there. Maybe another time.
I added some pretty sweet LED's fog lights, there are Vision Global Lighting System, the Solstice Solo. 10W LED's at 900 Lumens at 162$ each... cannot wait to try them tonight!
Changed the H3 bulb 55w on my IPF's for 100w and rewired the whole thing so it is safer. Again, tonight will be the test! I will post photos later.

And last but not least, I have decided to look at the EGR. I have been reading a lot about this topic. And it seems that 90% of you guys blanked it. Well, I have decided to stir up some you know what and have made the decision to clean it instead of blanking it. I will see tomorrow morning how the start will be and I will let you know. I have a couple videos showing you the almost like new EGR.

http://youtu.be/gKMpx9opBOc Part 1

http://youtu.be/gKMpx9opBOc Part 2

So now I am very tired, dirty and in great need for a drink.

Cheers!

Fred, Kim and Yeti