Delica Canada | Mitsubishi Van Club

Today I started to do a modification that I have wanted to do for a while. Since I live in Florida I really have no need for an altimeter.
Here is a step by step of my progress so far. Sorry that I didn't document the disassemble process of the gauge pod.

1.Here is the whole altimeter disassembled with the voltmeter.

2. This is the voltmeter dissembled and they are both the same diameter. 72mm.

3. Used a cutting bit on my dremel to cut out the face of the altimeter.

4.Used a cut off wheel to cut off the bottom of the voltmeter housing.

5.Used a grinding wheel to grind indent so the voltmeter would fit between the screw posts.

6.Before I super glued the two pieces together I had to grind down the inside of the altimeter
housing to make room for the voltmeter.

7.Used a piece of 0.080" lexan (the same thickness of the plastic from the altimeter gauge.

8. Super glued the lexan in place and when the glue dried I glued the gauge ring in place.

9. When the glue dried on the gauge assembly I painted the inside on the housing.

10. Had to trim a little from the inside of the gauge pod.

11. Here is the gauge full assembled.

12. Here is what it looks like all together. Its not wired up but I think It looks great.

I didn't have any problems really. A friend of mine (who is a car dealer) brought it down through Canada. It was originaly going to be purchased by one of his customers but the van had a bad alternator. He brought it to me to fix it. While I was fixing it the customer decided that he didn't want it any more which was fine with me since I had fallen in love with it. Since this was my first grey market car I was obviously very nervous but he assured me that it was a simple process that he had many times before. I am not sure what all the paperwork is that he needed to fill out but I did have to bring it to be inspected by the DMV and it passed without needing any alterations thanks to Florida and it's relaxed grey market regulations. About three days after the inspection I went to transfer the license plate from my old car and when she handed me my new registation papers I was shocked to see the short Japanese vin number. The delica was oficially a US citizen. I have even been pulled over and it appears that all the paper work was in order since the only issue the cop had was that he walked up to the wrong side first.

Gotta love Florida's lax import laws. Most other states
are not so lucky.

Good write up on the voltmeter.

Why did you not just press in and glue the voltmeter pod originally ?

jfarsang wrote:Why did you not just press in and glue the voltmeter pod originally ?

because this way looks much better? has that OEM look to it.

That is what I was going for was the OEM look. I will be changing the face and painting the needle to match the look of the stock gauges eventually.

Nice install job! I did a similar setup with my Boost gauge.

If anyone wants a cheap and cheerful voltage indicator, Canadian Tire sells for $9 a T-shaped unit that plugs into your cigarette lighter with LEDs that indicate the voltage level of the electrical system (BatteryOnly Dead/Low/Normal, AlternatorRunning Low/Normal/High). They call it an "alternator/battery tester", but it works fine as a surrogate voltmeter once you get used to it.

I bought it because I am contemplating removing my existing voltmeter and replacing it with an EGT gauge. Throw in a $9 socket splitter and you don't even lose your original cigarette socket!

Right now I am working on painting the needle for the voltmeter and making a new face for it. Found out that I needed to make a new face for it since the autometer face is metal and does not allow light to pass through it.

Will post some pictures when it is all assembled again.

when you connect the wires, would you run the positive wire:
1. direct to the battery; neg to battery? would this direct connection kill the battery?
2. to an "ignition on only accessory" like the cig lighter, neg to ground?
3. through a relay connected to the ignition; neg to ground?


im looking to do a mod similiar to this, however i plan on adding a 2 position switch(on/on) to select between the starting battery and a house battery.
obviously the meters' light would be connected to the park light fuse.

almac wrote:when you connect the wires, would you run the positive wire:
1. direct to the battery; neg to battery? would this direct connection kill the battery?
2. to an "ignition on only accessory" like the cig lighter, neg to ground?
3. through a relay connected to the ignition; neg to ground?


im looking to do a mod similiar to this, however i plan on adding a 2 position switch(on/on) to select between the starting battery and a house battery.
obviously the meters' light would be connected to the park light fuse.

If you check my other post http://www.delica.ca/forum/gauge-pod-7330.html you can see that there is a 12v ignition line and ground line which goes to the temp display that you can tap in to. I recommend striping some of the coating from these wires and soldering your connection in line.
If you disconnect the pins from the plug it is a lot easier since you can take the entire temp display out of the gauge pod.

rhdpanda wrote:

almac wrote:when you connect the wires, would you run the positive wire:
1. direct to the battery; neg to battery? would this direct connection kill the battery?
2. to an "ignition on only accessory" like the cig lighter, neg to ground?
3. through a relay connected to the ignition; neg to ground?


im looking to do a mod similiar to this, however i plan on adding a 2 position switch(on/on) to select between the starting battery and a house battery.
obviously the meters' light would be connected to the park light fuse.

If you check my other post http://www.delica.ca/forum/gauge-pod-7330.html you can see that there is a 12v ignition line and ground line which goes to the temp display that you can tap in to. I recommend striping some of the coating from these wires and soldering your connection in line.
If you disconnect the pins from the plug it is a lot easier since you can take the entire temp display out of the gauge pod.

is the plug different for the 2 gauge pod?
i currently only have an altimeter and a second fuel gauge in my pod.

almac wrote:is the plug different for the 2 gauge pod?
i currently only have an altimeter and a second fuel gauge in my pod.

If you get a chance check the the plug that is on the dash not in the gauge pod if the wires are in the plug you may be able to add your own pins for the gauge.

thanks.
looks like ANOTHER project i should get around to...*sighs*