L300 cooling system questions and upgrades

[rouxel]

My girlfriend and I are planning 2 trips in the next 4 years. 2 years from pretty much now we plan on driving north till the road runs out. Roughly 350 km past the artic circle and then 2 years later we are planning on driving the 101 as far into California as we can and then coming back thru Vegas and down. As some of you may have seen in the modification section, iv been busy building my van.

We have money set aside for a 0 km crate 4d56 turbo. The turbo will be water cooled and I will be also putting a intercooler on it as well. But what I really need to know is how to build the cooling system.

Iv done a bit of digging thru the forums about rads and electric vs belt driven fans etc.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how I should go about this? Is the factory rad a single core? Is there enough room for a triple core?

Assuming you had the money to play with, how would you build the "dream" l300 set up?

Thanks

Travis

[Growlerbearnz]

I looked into this a bit when my rebuilt radiator started leaking...

The factory radiator varies in thickness depending on the original spec of the van. 4WD 4D56s with dual air conditioning (most of the people movers) have a 46mm thick core (usually 3-row, but there are high efficiency 46mm 2-row cores out there) . The majority of off-the-shelf replacement radiators are made for lesser variants and have a 38mm core.

There are some disagreements about whether copper or aluminium make a better radiator- copper conducts heat better and is easier to repair in primitive places, but aluminium radiator cores have more effective fin area and can be built stronger for less money. I believe a custom built aluminium radiator would be best for our vehicles, as long as the top mount is modified so the radiator is held more flexibly. The factory top mount puts a lot of stress into the top tank, and is often where the original radiator fails.

I'd stick with the original fan setup- the engine driven fan is reliable and does a great job of sucking air through the weirdly positioned engine bay, and the auxiliary electric fan (A/C fan) comes on if coolant temperatures get too high. I've added an intercooler fan which comes on when the intercooler hits 50C, and wired it so it turns on the A/C fan as well.

I'm curious about where you're buying your crate motor from- I'm presuming you're getting a Hyundai D4BF rather than a genuine Mitsubishi motor? Not that there's any difference in them, except Mitsubishi's price...

[rouxel]

Thank you for your response. I will keep this info in mind as I start to put together this project.

About the engine, I haven't done a ton of research but I did notice that this site gets them and installs this. Is there a cheaper option out there? U mention a Hyundai engine? What is the difference, pros, cons? I'll have to do a bit of research. I have about $9000 to do all the work I want to do.


https://comoxvalleydelica.net/technical ... 6-engines/

Thanks

Travis

[Growlerbearnz]

Hyundai make 4D56 engines under license from Mitsubishi, but just to confuse everyone they have their own naming scheme. The equivalent engine to ours is the Hyundai D4BF (Turbo, non-ECU controlled injection). They're practically identical to the 4D56, the only obvious differences are the rocker and cam belt covers. The Comox Valley ones look like Hyundai engines to me- especially since they keep referring to them as "4D56 reproductions".

Again, there's nothing wrong with the Hyundai versions, in fact they are based on the very last of the 4D56s which had all the faults ironed out.

Here's a website with some numbers and pretty graphs: http://www.hyundaiengine.com/auto_diesel/05_d4bf.html

[rouxel]

Anyone know where I can buy the engine in Alberta direct or 3rd party?

Thanks

Travis

[ChuckBlack]

In addition to what Growlerbearnz mentioned earlier, keeping your engine OEM cooling system is what I would do as well.

I've done a complete flush on mine, replaced the thermostat, replaced the rad for a brand new OEM 4D56 Rad from Rising Sun Imports. Updated the coolant to ELC red, and replaced my Fan clutch as it wasn't as efficient as it should have been and it really made a huge difference in engine operations and efficiency. Because of the engine's location and size, doing anything to improve the cooling system is really up to how much TLC you're willing to give your L300.

In my case,The previous owners TLC's that L300 like crazy, And i plan on keeping it that way. Installing a good EGT gauge/sensor will prevent enormous headache, and having an healthy cooling system, well timed engine with proper valve adjustments will help in the long run. Always service your engine, complete preventive maintenances will help.

It really comes down to how long you want your van to last and what are you willing to do... I've previously posted on cooling improvements and had significant results since...
And why are you guys deciding to replace the engine/cooling systems?

[rouxel]

there are a few reasons that i would like to do this and to be completely honest i have a 5 year plan of doing a lot more then just the engine and cooling system. I basically want to rebuild the entire van. I would like this van to last 15+ years. I had a diff super exceed before this one with only 108000km but the body was garbage so i bought this one with a really good body but 250000km and the differance in power is not even close to the same. my new one has trouble getting to and staying at 110km/h without trying to down shift or getting hotter then it should. my old van could go 125km/h+ no problem. Im sure i could do a whole ton of maintenance on my current van or even a rebuild but at the end of the day it still has 250000km on the engine. Im no diesel mechanic and am not all that interested in fixing it multiple times to keep it healthy. I believe in the long run that putting all this money in now will save me headaches down the road.

The other thing is that my gf and I were looking into buying a new vehicle that was similar to the l300 for the trips but there is just nothing in our opinions that can do everything the delica can with the same unique look. The delica is just our style. so we decided instead of spending $30000-40000 on a new vehicle we would just put it into the delica. we are lucky that we both have decent jobs (millwright and nurse) and have no car loans, personal loans or credit card debt. all we have is a mortgage and even that we went as little as possible. bought our acreage for $271000 and puts a whole ton of sweat equity into it.

I guess in short, we are doing it because its our passion project and we can afford to.

[ChuckBlack]

Sounds like a plan,,, let know if you want some local help!!!