Advice from the Delica hive mind - please.

[glenn]

Hi everyone,
I need a little advice. I have a still sweet 92 L300. It's been well loved, and still looks great. 16" rims, wheel flares, ladder, skidplate, custom console, CLR all working , nice clean roof, freshly painted bullbars, new battery.
BUT, it has either a bad head gasket, or a cracked head. I am assuming it needs a head. It also needs tires.

I need to sell it.
Do I fix it, then sell it. I would have to pay to have the work done (like $3000?)
or
Do I sell it as is?

So, my question is: how much is it worth as is, and how much is it worth repaired? What would you pay?

I have not taken the insurance off it yet, and took it for a spin today. I miss it. As much as I like my L400, the L300 is a pretty special vehicle. Hard to beat the cab over driving position. Anyway, any advice would be appreciated.

[Rattlenbang]

That's a tough one. I'm sorry you are having the troubles with it. FWIW, I bought mine, which also needed a head wasn't as nice as yours, for $1500.00. I've seen a few that needed heads go for that price. I've heard of estimates as high as $4,000 for head replacements, which means you need to sell for $5500.00 to break even with what you would get selling it as-is. $5500 would be a very good price for yours, and I think you could ask higher. I've seen L300s list for everything from $4500 to $9500, but that doesn't say what they sold for in the end. If yours is as clean as it looks from the pics, and you go all out detailing and shining it, you should be able to get more fixing it up than selling the hulk.

If you were to take the time and learn to replace the head yourself, you can do it for less than $1000.00, and you'd be much further ahead.

[White Mule]

Tough one. If feed back is what you have asked then...

Sell the L400, then get busy fixing. No? then...

Sell me your wheel flares and sell L300 as is.

[glenn]

I've actually tried selling my L400, to fix the L300 - but I didn't get any bites at the price I was asking (although it was mid winter) and it is not worth my while to sell it for less.

I reluctantly came to the conclusion that my L300 just doesn't suit my needs. I pull a very, very small tent trailer, and it just can't handle it on long road trips. It's just too slow. I don't drive fast, but I like to be able to keep up with traffic. Doing the speed limit on a flat stretch of highway feels like I'm pushing it too hard. And even though I drive like a granny, I still cracked the head (I still maintain this is a flaw and not my fault).

I did consider parting it out, but I just can't do it, it's still a nice van and it would be a shame. But if it's only worth a couple of thousand bucks as is, maybe . . .

[konadog]

A nice, working vehicle is an entirely different thing to a wreck needing work. Fixed and running your bus would appeal to a far wider range of potential buyers, in an already small, select market. Easier to sell and worth far more too. It seems to me your choice is to either pretty much write it off for salvage or keep bring it back to life and made a bit of money. Maybe someone like Rattlenbang will buy it cheap and fix it, but it could easily end up butchered for parts.
It is a tricky dilemma. I know I'd be tempted to cut and run and just to be free of it asap, but I reckon if you can afford the fix and have the patience to find the right buyer you would come out ahead.
Good luck.

[Rattlenbang]

Yup. There's a good reason why they aren't sold in NA: despite being a great vehicle, they just are too underpowered for the way we drive here. As Delica owners can be iconoclasts and just do it our own way, but it can cause dangerous situations if you have to drive slower than the prevailing flow of traffic, especially on the highway. Moving on from it it probably the way to go. Fixing it and selling it would be a major investment without much return. Parting is a PITA, and you get to look at a partially dismantled hulk for quite a while until you get your $$ back. Sell it as a project and move on (wish I was in the market for one right now).
And FWIW, all the ones I've seen that were listed like yours -needing head - found a buyer.

[Pajero]

I would have paid 1500 for it, knowing that it needed a head, But I now have a 92 Delica that will be swapping out the engine soon. They head on it I think is still good as this engine was run low on oil I think, and due to that the connecting rod is worn out. Not sure what people's thoughts on installing a good used head are, but I would get it checked out by a shop to make sure there are no cracks in it and then sell it to you for cheap....another option for you but like I said not sure what the thoughts are on doing that...


Joe

[CREGAN]

I say fix it and sell it whole. That van is gorgeous, way too pretty to part out. I have been parting out a westy for two years and while I have made profit, it is a pain in the ass. I think it would be sad watching a van as nice as that being vultured. Someone will love that van much like you do.

Craig

[glenn]

Thanks guys - I really appreciate the conversation. I talk about it with my wife, but you know, despite her best intentions it's really a one way conversation.

I'm leaning towards getting it fixed. I wish I could do the work myself, but I know I would quickly get in over my head. The most I've ever done is brakes/rotors/bearings, that kind of thing. I swapped an engine in my old austin healy sprite - but that was pretty easy.

It's still not out of the question to sell my L400 Jasper - I miss the CLR and captains chairs, I kind of didn't get the model I really wanted. But that's even more buying and selling - and I don't like selling cars.

Anyway, any other thoughts are appreciated.

[Rattlenbang]

Pm sent.

[nxski]

I would fix it if it were me. A new head won't get you any more than a used head, so I would buy Pajero's head, replace with that and don't advertise in your ad that this work was done ("replaced head," "re-built engine," even "new engine" can reduce the price of the vehicle because it makes people wonder why that work needed to be done on a vehicle with such low km). If you're willing to tackle the job yourself, I would give it a try. If that doesn't work out, at least the shop will take a bit of the cost off of the replacement for the work you did and you'd have to pay for a tow either way.