Delica l400

[kulgan]

I've been driving my trusty Delica for about 6 years and it's just clocked over 375,000k's so it's starting to get a bit tired and I suspect a slight crack in the head which they're prone to do.
I've wanted a V8 Delica for a long time now and have finally decided to do something about it.
My only requirement was that it be a high roof for the extra head room while camping.
I've spent about 6 months looking for a van with a blown motor and as it turns out they're rare as rocking horse sh*t. I didn't want to pay full price for a good van only to pull a good engine out. Financially it didn't make sense.
About a week or so ago I pulled the pin and bought a low mileage 1UZ VVTi and trans so the hunt really amped up for a body to put it in.
I found one for sale about 2 hours away from me so went for a drive over the weekend to view it. I went back today and picked it up. What a mission. My poor old Delica with 375k on it struggled on the big hills, overheating and if I did more than 80 kph it overheated on the straights as well. 2 Hours there and 4 to get home..lol
So here it is. High roof that I wanted, bonus's are the crystal lite roof(all shades working as they should) and the captains chairs in the back(soon to be in the front).

 

[kulgan]

I've been waiting on a idler to replace the fan pump. The 1UZ had a hydraulic fan and I wont be using that. It arrived this morning(thanks gloverman) so I finally got to put the engine back together. New replacement idler, water pump, timing belt and pulleys and starter motor.

 

[kulgan]

Now I can start on removing the old lump out of the Delica. This is how I bought it..lol Been sitting like this for about 5 months.

 

[kulgan]

A bit of swearing and cursing and bruised knucles and I have the diesel out. Seemed like every bell housing bolt was not going to come out easily. Top passenger side bolt took half an hour. Tomorrow will be spent cleaning the engine bay and removing or re routing pipes.

 

[kulgan]

Removed a lot of hoses and pipes from the back of the engine bay. Removed bell housing, pump and input shaft from Delica and Toyota Trans. Put new imput shaft seal into pump.


Toyota input shaft.


Delica input shaft about 15mm shorter than the Toyota's.


Toyota input shaft and OD gears in the Delica trans


Pump and 1UZ bell housing attached.

 

[kulgan]

This was hard to do but is a must to fit the 1uz into the engine bay. Cut out part of the radiator support and headlight hole.

 

[kulgan]

First test fit today. And it fit.
I'll need to source some Crown log manifolds as the ones off the 1uz VVTi are a fraction too big and will hit the sub frame.
The 1UZ engine mounts line up with the Delica mounts so just a slight modification there.
Other than that I'm a happy camper.

 

[kulgan]

The vans in the shop finally getting new engine mounts made up. Since I first bought the engine I knew I needed low profile exhaust manifolds. I thought the Crown logs were going to be my only option until I watched one of glovermans recent vids where he fitted Soarer manifolds. I'd given up hope of finding a set and was in the process of finding someone to make a set of logs when I got a call last night from a guy who had gotten my number off someone I'd called ages ago.
Wooooo Hooooooo
I wont need to cut into the sub frame with these on the engine and will clear the steering arm nicely as well.

 

[kulgan]

Well, The engine is finally sitting on it's own mounts. It wasn't quite what I asked for but the man who did the work is the only person in Wanganui who does Certs so I wasn't going to argue too much. lol . He did say if I need a bit more height I can pack them out with spacers underneath. I'll see how it goes when I try and fit the exhaust manifolds.

 

[gloverman]

Looking good. The manifolds you have aren't what we call "logs" . The logs are off 131 crowns and those are the same as we used on the supra off a soarer. I showed the making of the mounts in the supra too. I hope the mounts look better than they look in the photos. It looks like the rubber is all pushed out of shape with the load on the incorrect place. Cheers Kelvin.

 

[kulgan]

Thanks

Looking good. The manifolds you have aren't what we call "logs" . The logs are off 131 crowns and those are the same as we used on the supra off a soarer. I showed the making of the mounts in the supra too. I hope the mounts look better than they look in the photos. It looks like the rubber is all pushed out of shape with the load on the incorrect place. Cheers Kelvin.

Thanks Kelvin. Things are coming together slowly.
Yes, I have the same concerns about the mounts. I'll have a look over the weekend. Pretty sure I'm going to need to make some 6mm spacer plates to go under the mounts so I'll see if I can adjust them to fit a bit better while I'm there.

 

[kulgan]

Had a chance to play with the engine mounts today. None of the bolts were tight so after some fiddling around I got everything tight and it just made it look worse.



I went back to the garage who made them and after a short and slightly heated conversation they're going to do what I wanted in the first place which will be something similar to the pic below.

 

[Zuffen]

The moral of the story?

You want it done right you do it yourself.

Or, perhaps get kelvin to do it!

 

[gloverman]

I have a universal kitset like the ones in my video. Solves all these issues. Interesting the place issues certs, as by my thinking their design wouldn't actually meet the standards and you might want to check your design against the lvvta standard too. It might need some tweaks to pass as it requires a capture or engine strap. Good luck. Cheers

 

[kulgan]

Round 2 on engine mounts. I mocked them up and the guy who did the "other ones" welded them in for me. To his credit he did the welding for free and gave me a bit of a refund for the "other" work. I'm much happier now and ready to crack on with the project.
Mounts are for a LS1 so should be able to handle a 1UZ sitting on them.

 

[kulgan]

The Soarer manifolds I bought cleared the sub frames like I wanted but fouled on the steering arm so I was able to borrow a set of logs and they fouled as well. I took the drivers side Soarer manifold to the local exhaust shop and got them to modify it. I have the clearance I need for the steering arm but it's touching the block. Back again to the shop today to have it modded again but I'm happy with the result this time. Extra bonus with this fitting was that was able to get the manifold out without having to lift out the engine. Once I have this sorted I can really start to get cracking on mocking up hoses and fittings.

 

[kulgan]

Trying to figure out how to rout the heater hoses as the rear heater and air conditioning pipes were properly in the way. I spent pretty much a whole day trying to work it out until I realized that there really wont be anyone in the back to enjoy the heater and air conditioning. Will be a camper when I'm done. Made things so much easier to delete the pipes to the rear.

 

[kulgan]

Almost finished with mocking everything up.
Hoping in the next couple of days I'll be able to rip it all apart again and get it ready for final assembly.

 

[kulgan]

New center console gauges.
Volts, large temp and oil pressure.

 

[kulgan]

Picked up a set of Pajero rims and spent a few days refurbishing them. Standard Delica are 15" and these are 16's.