CyKlops Delica L400 Cruiser

Driving a shiny 91 Delica Super Exceed? This is the section to show and tell!
Gandalf
Posts: 28
Joined: Sat Jun 25, 2016 4:56 am
Member's Photo Album: http://www.delica.ca/Photos/
Vehicle: Delica L400 LWB 3.0 V6
Location: Vancouver Island

CyKlops Delica L400 Cruiser

Post by Gandalf »

Hey guys,

I figured since a lot of mods will be going into this ride, I may as well plunk it here in this mods section.
So the new project has arrived, a 1998 L400 LWB 3000 V6 (6G72) S2 Delica... a first foray into Mitsubishi after years of MR2's. The purpose for this vehicle is highway cruising/hauling, with good handling, and upgraded power, for the very smooth roads of Vancouver Island. Yes sure, there is plenty of off-roading here too, but that is not the purpose for this ride. Looking for road-holding on sweeping 120km speed-limit curves.

First things first, wheels and tires were already purchased for this vehicle before the vehicle was obtained, haha. Priorities are important. So, to make a big lunker stick, those 80-series tires GOTTA go. On are going:

255 45 20 Duelers on 20 x 8.5 VW 750 Velocity's, +30 offset

So still a 29" overall diameter.
This thing got delivered and 20 minutes later, the new tires/wheels were on for a test fit, and they fit perfectly, no rubbing lock-to-lock etc (whew! off to a good start):

Image

Haven't decided on center-cap area yet, don't care so much for the caps that come with these wheels, may incorporate the Mitsu caps somehow, or just black out everything in the center and leave as is...

Next planned is a 2" lift kit (Wolfram/negativentropy's kit), which will lift the upper ball joints (about 1 1/4" spacers and then torsion bars), rear HD springs (about 3/4"), rear 2" spacers, 2" spacers for the sway bar, a 2" spacer for the rear brake bias, 2" longer shocks, plus any updates like bushes, tie-rods etc as required. Yes, we realize that the handling will be the best just as it is with these new wheels/tires and no lift, but since the stance just got wider by 2.5" total, the extra height should not be noticeable compared to stock, in fact, will likely still out-handle the stock setup. C'mon, intimidation is important to handling :p

A little further down the mods planned, there is a nice M62 (Benz clutch-type) supercharger sitting here waiting, and with some big intercooling (a CyKlops specialty) or perhaps just water/meth injection (haven't decided yet), and tuning options (want to stay oem ecu, since this S2 came with a flash plug next to the obd2 port), an adventure is in the works. A spare 6G72 block should arrive this next week, for some mocking up and bracket fabrication over the next while, and potential bottom-end buildup if necessary.

Have not decided on exhaust yet, clearly there are improvements to be had over that looooooonnng 1 3/4" noodle (or whatever diameter it is, it looks puny especially in those tight 90°bends) going all the way out back, but there is something special about how silent this thing actually is. Uber quiet compared to most trucks. Hmmm perhaps dual stockers out the right side, instead of merging into one? Turn the stockers on their sides? even keeping the little silencers or whatever they are? Hmmmm no noise complaints from the fiance would be a bonus, especially since she might actually set foot in this one.

No promises on timelines, but I never quit until I get what I want.
Any thoughts and help most welcome... go a bit easy on the Mitsu noob... but this should be fun!
Gandalf
Posts: 28
Joined: Sat Jun 25, 2016 4:56 am
Member's Photo Album: http://www.delica.ca/Photos/
Vehicle: Delica L400 LWB 3.0 V6
Location: Vancouver Island

CyKlops Delica L400 Cruiser

Post by Gandalf »

We're busy building a new garage/shop in the back which will have a pit... until then, I'll have to make do with some basic means of gettin under. Even doing the tires/wheels, it became apparent that some heavy-duty jackstands were in order... something that better suits the lift-points, and makes it easy to drop the rear control arms while being lifted. Some six-tonne units were available at Canadian tire, but the way they made contact (too narrow to allow the control arms to drop) needed some tweaks. This is what I came up with:

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Some 3/8" plate on each end... the plates don't take the weight (not that they couldn't!), they just cradle each side to guarantee nothing can slip off the stands.

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Deli-fied hardware.

Image
Gandalf
Posts: 28
Joined: Sat Jun 25, 2016 4:56 am
Member's Photo Album: http://www.delica.ca/Photos/
Vehicle: Delica L400 LWB 3.0 V6
Location: Vancouver Island

CyKlops Delica L400 Cruiser

Post by Gandalf »

Decided to give the Pro Comp ES9000's a go, this baby won't get a lot of offroad abuse... can anyone convince me that I need the boots for street use? They are 2" longer than stock all the way around. Also picked up some poly eyelets to replace the rubber ones that come with the Pro Comps.

So, pressed out the 4 worn bushes from the rear control arms, and pressed new ones in. I also made up some spacers to protect the control arms from deformation during the pressing, using some pieces of sliced pipe.

Before I can re-assemble the suspension, the frame has to be addressed. The reason why this otherwise lovely van sat for about a year at CCA was that it had holes punched by the rear bumpstops (and subsequent rust) which needed to be welded and repaired. Personally I find the frame material thickness to be a bit thin on these vans...

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After cutting out the rust, then rust-converting, I wrapped 1/8" steel plate all the way around the frame in a U-shape (because of the corrugated material I had to do it in pieces), then welded:

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Any surface rust on the underside was brushed/ground, rust-converted, rust primed, and then hard rubber undercoated. The entire underside and wheel-wells look new again:

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sinjin
Posts: 31
Joined: Wed Aug 03, 2016 7:16 am
Member's Photo Album: http://www.delica.ca/Photos/
Vehicle: 97 Delica L400 V6 SWB Super Exceed
Location: British Columbia

CyKlops Delica L400 Cruiser

Post by sinjin »

Gandalf wrote:Hey guys,

I figured since a lot of mods will be going into this ride, I may as well plunk it here in this mods section.
So the new project has arrived, a 1998 L400 LWB 3000 V6 (6G72) S2 Delica... a first foray into Mitsubishi after years of MR2's. The purpose for this vehicle is highway cruising/hauling, with good handling, and upgraded power, for the very smooth roads of Vancouver Island. Yes sure, there is plenty of off-roading here too, but that is not the purpose for this ride. Looking for road-holding on sweeping 120km speed-limit curves.

First things first, wheels and tires were already purchased for this vehicle before the vehicle was obtained, haha. Priorities are important. So, to make a big lunker stick, those 80-series tires GOTTA go. On are going:

255 45 20 Duelers on 20 x 8.5 VW 750 Velocity's, +30 offset

So still a 29" overall diameter.
This thing got delivered and 20 minutes later, the new tires/wheels were on for a test fit, and they fit perfectly, no rubbing lock-to-lock etc (whew! off to a good start):

Image

Haven't decided on center-cap area yet, don't care so much for the caps that come with these wheels, may incorporate the Mitsu caps somehow, or just black out everything in the center and leave as is...

Next planned is a 2" lift kit (Wolfram/negativentropy's kit), which will lift the upper ball joints (about 1 1/4" spacers and then torsion bars), rear HD springs (about 3/4"), rear 2" spacers, 2" spacers for the sway bar, a 2" spacer for the rear brake bias, 2" longer shocks, plus any updates like bushes, tie-rods etc as required. Yes, we realize that the handling will be the best just as it is with these new wheels/tires and no lift, but since the stance just got wider by 2.5" total, the extra height should not be noticeable compared to stock, in fact, will likely still out-handle the stock setup. C'mon, intimidation is important to handling [emoji14]

A little further down the mods planned, there is a nice M62 (Benz clutch-type) supercharger sitting here waiting, and with some big intercooling (a CyKlops specialty) or perhaps just water/meth injection (haven't decided yet), and tuning options (want to stay oem ecu, since this S2 came with a flash plug next to the obd2 port), an adventure is in the works. A spare 6G72 block should arrive this next week, for some mocking up and bracket fabrication over the next while, and potential bottom-end buildup if necessary.

Have not decided on exhaust yet, clearly there are improvements to be had over that looooooonnng 1 3/4" noodle (or whatever diameter it is, it looks puny especially in those tight 90°bends) going all the way out back, but there is something special about how silent this thing actually is. Uber quiet compared to most trucks. Hmmm perhaps dual stockers out the right side, instead of merging into one? Turn the stockers on their sides? even keeping the little silencers or whatever they are? Hmmmm no noise complaints from the fiance would be a bonus, especially since she might actually set foot in this one.

No promises on timelines, but I never quit until I get what I want.
Any thoughts and help most welcome... go a bit easy on the Mitsu noob... but this should be fun!
Excited to see this project evolve. I own a 96 LWB V6 (6G72) S1, and although I'll probably keep mine mostly stock, this thread will be great for my awareness of working on the 6G72 especially. Not a ton of threads here related to that engine I'm noticing. Mostly diesel chat. Anyways, best of luck with your mods!

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
thelazygreenfox
Posts: 901
Joined: Tue Jun 08, 2010 7:21 am
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Vehicle: 99 white Hi roof gas Chamonix
Location: Coquitlam B.C.
Location: coquitlam canada

CyKlops Delica L400 Cruiser

Post by thelazygreenfox »

Gandalf- Don't forget fender flares. Your widened wheel base will throw out a lot of gravel. I'm only an inch wider with Toyota rims but even with flexy flares a lot of road mess sticks to the front lower fenders..

I might come over for some winter steelhead fishn and will stop by to see your progress and the new shop..

Do you have the rear captains chair? Gotta love those. My 99 Chamonix went back to a 2+1 bench in the middle seat. :-(
MD :-D
Wear your mask, it keeps others from seeing the parsley in your teeth
Gandalf
Posts: 28
Joined: Sat Jun 25, 2016 4:56 am
Member's Photo Album: http://www.delica.ca/Photos/
Vehicle: Delica L400 LWB 3.0 V6
Location: Vancouver Island

CyKlops Delica L400 Cruiser

Post by Gandalf »

sinjin wrote: Excited to see this project evolve. I own a 96 LWB V6 (6G72) S1, and although I'll probably keep mine mostly stock, this thread will be great for my awareness of working on the 6G72 especially. Not a ton of threads here related to that engine I'm noticing. Mostly diesel chat. Anyways, best of luck with your mods!

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Thanks!
Yeah the 6G72 is pretty impressive out-of-the-box as far as torque, I'll leave the bottom end untouched until there is sufficient reason :-) But adding the supercharger will be fun, especially the tuning aspect.
I am concerned with the space taken up by the wiper assembly+motor... there has to be a way of relocating that rather glutenous use of space right where I would want some extra room above the oem intake manifold.

I did notice the S1/S2 difference of belt/pulleys, Mitsu elected to go to a ribbed belt on the S2 AC drive and main pulley.
thelazygreenfox wrote:Gandalf- Don't forget fender flares. Your widened wheel base will throw out a lot of gravel. I'm only an inch wider with Toyota rims but even with flexy flares a lot of road mess sticks to the front lower fenders..

I might come over for some winter steelhead fishn and will stop by to see your progress and the new shop..

Do you have the rear captains chair? Gotta love those. My 99 Chamonix went back to a 2+1 bench in the middle seat. :-(
MD :-D

Not planning on driving on gravel :-D Yes i'll probably quickly get a good idea of how much mess gets onto the fenders. I haven't looked at flare options yet, but I'm pretty sure I would want to match the paint color.

I do have the captain's chairs in back, I was impressed with the way the second row can flip up the seat bottoms and slide up snug to the front seats to allow for camping/sleeping/cargo space.

Aaaah fishing, another one of the island's intrigues that I have yet to find time to get to... only been here 3 years but it has been all work and buying house and getting settled. For sure drop me a line, I hope I can make some decent progress on the shop, so far just footings poured lol
Last edited by Gandalf on Mon Nov 14, 2016 4:46 am, edited 1 time in total.
Gandalf
Posts: 28
Joined: Sat Jun 25, 2016 4:56 am
Member's Photo Album: http://www.delica.ca/Photos/
Vehicle: Delica L400 LWB 3.0 V6
Location: Vancouver Island

CyKlops Delica L400 Cruiser

Post by Gandalf »

Nothing too glamorous, but rescued the oem wheel-well liners/flaps, they were ripping and had been crudely repaired at some point with zip-ties (not that I have anything against the humble zip-tie :-D they have many uses). Some 1/16th" abs sheet cut to fit, then folded, then I used marine goop to glue it back onto the oem flap, drilled the mount-holes, left to dry with a million clamps. Both sides needed help.

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Gandalf
Posts: 28
Joined: Sat Jun 25, 2016 4:56 am
Member's Photo Album: http://www.delica.ca/Photos/
Vehicle: Delica L400 LWB 3.0 V6
Location: Vancouver Island

CyKlops Delica L400 Cruiser

Post by Gandalf »

Got the new CCA heavy duty springs and the Wolfram 2" rear lift in. Woah, that combo gives me close to four inches! Then tackled the front. Welded some plate onto the torsion bar saddles to help guard against the forks spreading:

Image

Painted those, then re-indexed just one click more on the torsion bars, and cranked them up. Checked the upper bumpstops, and didn't like the decided lack of droop (travel difference between the height of the wheel at new vehicle height, and the unloaded wheel down resting on the bumpstop. Shaved the bumpstop at the midpoint of the rubber:

Image

This netted about another 1/2" of droop, but I want more, so I shaved the rubber as low as I could, which delivered an additional 1/2". I want to crank the torsion bars a bit higher yet, so in went some Energy Suspension 9.9132G ultra-low bumpstops (they're about 3/8"). That netted another 3/4" of droop. At my current front suspension height, the total available droop is now 2 5/8", which is plenty for my driving needs/rims/tires etc. And this is the result:

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thelazygreenfox
Posts: 901
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Location: coquitlam canada

CyKlops Delica L400 Cruiser

Post by thelazygreenfox »

Gotta love the side collars on the torsion bar saddles. They're usually only needed on crazy 4x4 delis but can be helpful if you hit a nasty speed bump too. I bought mine out of Aus. They're made in japan.

MD
Wear your mask, it keeps others from seeing the parsley in your teeth
Gandalf
Posts: 28
Joined: Sat Jun 25, 2016 4:56 am
Member's Photo Album: http://www.delica.ca/Photos/
Vehicle: Delica L400 LWB 3.0 V6
Location: Vancouver Island

CyKlops Delica L400 Cruiser

Post by Gandalf »

thelazygreenfox wrote:Gotta love the side collars on the torsion bar saddles. They're usually only needed on crazy 4x4 delis but can be helpful if you hit a nasty speed bump too. I bought mine out of Aus. They're made in japan.

MD
I likely won't be pushing them to their limits, but since I was in there already, it was an easy mod that may benefit a future owner, many many years down the line :wink:

Ok, designed and installed the exhaust system. Mufflers-back are 100% aluminum. Coated everything in ceramic flameproof. Kept the oem cat, and added a Honda Accord cat (easy fitment). Civic mufflers, they are compact, and everything tucks up well. Sound is quiet but rumbly. I may consider chroming the tips in the future, if i find a good local coatings shop.

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thelazygreenfox
Posts: 901
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Vehicle: 99 white Hi roof gas Chamonix
Location: Coquitlam B.C.
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CyKlops Delica L400 Cruiser

Post by thelazygreenfox »

Kept the oem cat, and added a Honda Accord cat (easy fitment). Civic mufflers, they are compact, and everything tucks up well.
Do you think the dual cat convertor too restrictive? My oem cat was plugged when i bought it.

How much is the Honda Civic muffler? My stainless system looks to last a long time but nice to know priices.
MD :-D
Wear your mask, it keeps others from seeing the parsley in your teeth
Gandalf
Posts: 28
Joined: Sat Jun 25, 2016 4:56 am
Member's Photo Album: http://www.delica.ca/Photos/
Vehicle: Delica L400 LWB 3.0 V6
Location: Vancouver Island

CyKlops Delica L400 Cruiser

Post by Gandalf »

The Civic mufflers are from a wrecker :shock: :oops: 8-) Its a trick of mine, used a couple of them on my previous van (Toyota Townace) and they lasted well. Compact, come with decent heatshields, cheap, seem to resist rust decently, and plenty of them.

Is it possible to get better flow using straight-though mufflers and dual 2.5" or 3" diameters? Or even a single 4"? Absolutely. Are the cats restrictive? Yes they are, cats also reduce as much noise/volume as mufflers do, in my opinion. I actually usually forgo cats, but because I was going for as quiet as possible with dual exhaust (to please the sensitive members of my little family lol, and a bit of conscience since my MR2 is nocats), I went cats this round. It will still more than double the flow capability of the oem setup (shorter, fewer bends, as well as double the flow diameter).

For cats I do a visual/light check on them, I look through as many of the cells as I can to make sure they are still clear. Make sure they came from a known running car... wrecker owners often can tell you that bit of info. The mufflers are usually ok if you pull them from complete exhaust systems, blast them with some air and give them a good shake. If it sounds like a percussion instrument, I drop it right there :-D .

I had the aluminum/steel supply for tips/hangers/flanges/brackets and header sealant, $15 ceramic coat spray, the rest cost me $50 total. Most of that cost was the cat.

I should also mention, I dropped down the mount points for the park brake lines, and extended the mount points for the brake hardlines bending them gently for the extra inches, and left the oem softlines in place connected. New longer hose to the diff. I'll get a pic when I get a chance. Absolutely necessary with this resulting lift.
Gandalf
Posts: 28
Joined: Sat Jun 25, 2016 4:56 am
Member's Photo Album: http://www.delica.ca/Photos/
Vehicle: Delica L400 LWB 3.0 V6
Location: Vancouver Island

CyKlops Delica L400 Cruiser

Post by Gandalf »

Got the coolant overflow done, all-aluminum, I threw baffles in there before I thought too much about it, lol, I had perforated aluminum kicking around... but really, it's likely just a plastic strengthening ploy and unnecessary with aluminum. Total volume is increased over stock, it extends a bit lower as well:

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The coolant level peeker is glass/aluminum, its actually a gutted fuel filter:

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Gandalf
Posts: 28
Joined: Sat Jun 25, 2016 4:56 am
Member's Photo Album: http://www.delica.ca/Photos/
Vehicle: Delica L400 LWB 3.0 V6
Location: Vancouver Island

CyKlops Delica L400 Cruiser

Post by Gandalf »

Here's another before/after comparison for fun:

Before:

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After:

Image
thelazygreenfox
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CyKlops Delica L400 Cruiser

Post by thelazygreenfox »

no pine cones and clean windows. Oh the van looks good too.
Wear your mask, it keeps others from seeing the parsley in your teeth
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