- Using the price quote form on the North Shor Offroad site sucks. No answer and if you ask again they don't know what are you talking about #
One of the most common problems on a 15 years old Delica is the weak tail gate strut. Specially if you add on a ladder, the back door comes done quite easily and sometimes doesn’t stay open at all (in the cold). Apparently these stock struts are from very good quality, so it makes more sense to recondition them than to buy new.
I heard nothing but good about Frank from Strut Wise in Langley who brings all sorts of struts back to life and even builds them from scratch to your specs.
Meeting him was already a pleasure. It seems he is one of the few guys left who understand a real workmanship. No wonder people from around the world sending him their struts. After I picked my rebuilt struts up I was very satisfied with the outcome. They looked brand new and worked like it as well. He even made them stronger than the stock struts was. Well worth the money.
One tip for new l300 owners: Check the lower bracket of the struts. If you read the “E/N” upside right you are all set. If its upside down take both struts off, swap sides and rotate the lower bracket. It will give you an extra few inches when you open the door. You head will like it :)
Even DinoEvo is still in overall very mint conditions, it had a few rusty spots on the mirror rods and front wiper arms. So I took them off and cleaned/sanded everything properly. Treaded the rusty bits and painted the rods with flat Tremclad. The same goes with the two mirror brackets on the car (driver side) and the wiper arms. Just a bit more masking. After everything was try, I reassembled the mirrors. A nice little job for a sunny afternoon.
- Bought a Engel MT35 fridge. Big heavy beast. Start thinking more and more about the interior. #
- Just uploaded tons of inspiration photos from last weeks offroad show in Germany. http://ow.ly/1XwAM #
- After a few weeks off I made more progress. IBS dual battery monitor and a second deep cycle battery is installed. #
- On my way to the “Abenteuer & Allrad” trade show. #
- Moskow-Siberia-Moskow. Fantastic trip and great photography. Wish I could read Russian. http://ow.ly/22ZnT More parts at the bottom of page #
- YES! New season of TopGear started today. #
- It’s not worth to spend your holiday on PEI @GentleIsland if they ban RHD cars. http://ow.ly/24PFE #
- Got rid off some cosmetic rust spots today with a fresh bottle of Tremclad :) #
To know a little bit better what’s going on inside the engine I installed a pyrometer (for the exhaust gas temperature) and a boost pressure gauge. As location I decided to go right behind the steering wheel. This dead spot is perfect for two pods. I also wanted to keep the look similar to the stock dashboard, so the VDO gauges (from Summit Racing) seems to fit perfectly with their analog, black look and the green illumination.
The temperature sensor for the EGT was already installed a while ago, so I just had to wire up the gauges and hook up the vacuum line. We took the power from the radio and the ash-try light which was the closed and most easiest route. I’m quite happy with the outcome. The gauges (specially the pyro) will help to prevent any major engine failure due wrong driving.
A few tips:
- Make sure you get the right pod for your gauge, even if the diameter is the same, the length various widely.
- For the Delica a boost gauge up to 20psi is plenty. If you take a gauge with a larger scale you wont notice that much movement
- A pyro with a scale up to 1400°F is enough.
- Full mechanical boost pressure gauges tend to have a little silent whistle sound if you back off, which could get annoying if don’t mount it in a sealed pod.
p.s.: Sorry for not taking any photos from the install. I forgot the camera. Also if you want to read more about pyro and boost gauges on Delicas, check out this thread on the Canadian Forum.
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