New to mightyram50, not to Mitsubishi...

[geezer101]

Greets guys, My name's Neil and I'm from Adelaide in South Australia (exciting stuff - I know...). I've been a member of Sigma-Galant here in Oz for a while now and as of last October, the 'proud' (read as crazy and/or stupid) owner of a 1985 Mitsubishi L200 Express. My intention was to get it running as a work horse but it is proving to be challenging. What I wanted - tow bar, air con (yes, AIR CON!), RWD, 5 speed with a G63B SOHC engine, tub body and a rear step. What I got - shredded bottom end, twisted crank, completely shot tail shaft support bearing and what I can only describe as the worst head casting Mitsubishi has ever made. Oh, and a list of missing parts, awesome DIY wiring, one nasty audio install and some borderline cancer. I'm in the process of rebuilding the engine as it is running the original factory numbers and reworking the head. No heavy mods are planned other than getting it to breathe, deletion of the EGR garbage, balance shaft removal, retrofitting points ignition (I am a fool for neanderthal tech ) and dialling up the cam - might throw a Weber into the mix yet as I am not big on the resin body factory Mikuni carby. As soon as I figure out why I can't post pics from my photobucket account, I'll play show and tell. Thanks guys! p.s. good to see some familiar users from S-G lurking here

[woodrat]

Hi Neil...I have had 2 L200s a 2x and a 4x both were great trucks with one problem...too small for a tall person like myself...I now have an 88 Triton Club Cab and I have all the leg room I need! I'm loving the fact that there are others here that share my love of these little trucks...

I'm in NSW

Cheers

John

[camoit]

The easy way to do an image is to just upload it directly to the board. There is a little picture button you would click. http://www.mightyram50.net/vbulletin...ips-and-tricks

[geezer101]

I figured out how to get images up my posts now - for some reason I was getting booted off and having to log back in. I'll slowly scrub the smell of noob off myself lolololol. As for the L200 being a bit on the 'cozy' side I am 6'3" tall and it's not too bad to get into. I'm probably gonna change the seats as the drivers' side seat is a bit of a mess. Well, here's where my mightyram journey starts -

[Law Dog]

Welcome!

[royster]

Isn't it about time to up-date this thread...or are those cob webs still on the grille?? :D

[geezer101]

Ouch Royster, those spiders need somewhere nice to live I've been doing all the background stuff that nobody sees unless they have been checking my other posts. My block is ready for hot tanking round 2 from grinding out and polishing the crank case walls, buttresses and oil return journals. My inlet manifold is now a bathtub as a result of mods needed to accommodate the obscure 34DATA 4/100 C8 Weber I salvaged from a twin cam Lancia Beta 2000 and I'm hunting down a few parts to reconfigure the air con, upgrade the front brakes and find a decent oil pump (that won't cost me $280-660 AUD). I'm going to have a shot at balancing my own rod and piston assemblies over the Christmas break too.

All this stuff needs coin - which my DD needs to stay on the road (I'm having to fork out for a full set of new tyres, front brake rotors and pads as mine are past their usable lives and this is just the basic stuff...) All in good time

[claych]

Isn't it about time to up-date this thread...or are those cob webs still on the grille?? :D

Hey !!! welcome geezer !!! post some pics of Your build ahahahaha buhahahahaha (sarcasm)

[geezer101]

Hey !!! welcome geezer !!! post some pics of Your build ahahahaha buhahahahaha (sarcasm)

~insert super facepalm here~ Yeah, I know. This is one long winded process that has endured roadblock after roadblock, changes in direction and cash flow issues. If I could just 'throw cash at it' then this would be a done deal and I'd be motoring along by now nicely (but I ain't got no cash!). My head was trash and I wanted another mechanical head - couldn't get one. So I extensively reworked what I had (fingers crossed it pays off). Making it work required some serious port finishing that I couldn't afford so I used what I'd learned on previous engines and raised the level (plus the cam journal caps were shredded so I used one very dubious method to repair them ) .

I could've left the EGR crap alone but I knew this would hinder getting it to run as smoothly as I wanted so I went the whole 9 and completely deleted it from the inlet manifold and sealed the EGR gallery in the head (I did a similar job on my G32B powered Celeste and it ran sooo much smoother) And then the carb. Previous idiot cleaned the base gasket it off it with the garage floor - yep, it's junk. This idiot buys a good clean Mikuni from a wrecker, then finds a Weber a few months later...
Yay, more work - and the Weber should have a kit put through it before I install it (more money goddammit )

[royster]

Wish you a rainfall of money, Geeze.

I looked around for your build thread but couldn't find it. Might you clue me in on that?

Or is this it?

[geezer101]

It's secretly encrypted in every other thread I've been spamming the bejezus out of lol. Have an eyeball of my photobucket album to see what lunacy I've been engaging in - http://s1089.photobucket.com/user/ge...L200%20Express I've kept all the image descriptions up to date as I have various forms of OCD. Grab a hot beverage and a high fat/sugar snack as you may be going through this album for a while

[royster]

Wow, what a remarkable buncha WORK!

L200Express241_zps6b98ab57.jpg

I do remember, now, you sent me to photobucket to see pix. You've certainly added more and clearly did some articulate work.

[geezer101]

Roy, how the !@#$ did you get that freakin' image tag to work for you? I've been fighting this biatch for ages and I either get invalid URL's or a direct image that blocks out the sun...

[royster]

Oh, the images just follow me around. Ya gotta hum songs they like, tho.

L200Express151_zpsc0f2a3dd.jpg

Actually, I right-clicked the Photobucket image (enlarged) to save the image to my computer, then use the picture icon on the forum. The image is then downloaded from my computer.

Not bad for an analog computer-illiterate, huh?

Nice valve cover, Neil. Your articulate work and caring focus are very obvious in the photos.

[geezer101]

There be a change in the air - watch this space

[mitchi]

Watching.......and wanting to know how you got the valve cover to look like that.....??????.....!

[geezer101]

Watching.......and wanting to know how you got the valve cover to look like that.....??????.....!

Ground off all the rough casting around the edges, file finished the rocker gasket seat then sanding blocked the whole thing til all the faces were as flat as I could get them. Then I used a linishing block so the grain followed the same direction. Gave it a clean and hit it with a can of coloured lacquer. I was aiming for that 'extruded' look. A lot of work but it looked pretty good IMO. Click on my photobucket link in my post above (they're not in complete order but once you see a rocker cover image pre-painted the rest are sort of grouped together)
p.s. haven't updated my photobucket for a while due to #1 - photobucket being a dick, and #2 - my expensive DSLR camera frying

[mitchi]

Ground off all the rough casting around the edges, file finished the rocker gasket seat then sanding blocked the whole thing til all the faces were as flat as I could get them. Then I used a linishing block so the grain followed the same direction. Gave it a clean and hit it with a can of coloured lacquer. I was aiming for that 'extruded' look. A lot of work but it looked pretty good IMO. Click on my photobucket link in my post above (they're not in complete order but once you see a rocker cover image pre-painted the rest are sort of grouped together)
p.s. haven't updated my photobucket for a while due to #1 - photobucket being a dick, and #2 - my expensive DSLR camera frying

Thanks man. I did do some polishing on mine, but I'm trying to come up with a color scheme.P1040977.jpg

[geezer101]

Thanks man. I did do some polishing on mine, but I'm trying to come up with a color scheme.P1040977.jpg

Shiny . Sort of job you only want to do once. I've done the black ripple paint and the OTT polish before so I wanted to try something different and the coloured lacquer was out on sale at the time. Looks good mitchi!

[geezer101]

Today, after a 5 hour round trip I brought home this -

$_20.JPG

I felt that my truck had been off the road for far too long and was going to take more time and parts chasing than I was able to put into it. So I'll be scavenging a very healthy 4G63 and 5 speed out of it, near new steel off road wheels, headers and sports exhaust system, some reasonably good 3 way adjustable seats and anything else that survived the double roll over it had been put through. Come Xmas break and school holidays I'll be calling in favours and turning spanners. And hopefully I'll be able to do the upgrades I've been planning during the tear down...

[dash]

4g63 was maybe a little too healthy .....to stay on 4 tires
at least, it died so yours' may live

[mitchi]

A screwdriver and a little buffing....good as new..............

Good catch.....Like the bed.....

[pennyman1]

I'd love to have the air dam - not as much damage as you would think for a roll over - a new roof and straighten the doors. But then we can't see the other side...

[geezer101]

The cab is a mess - the ledge of the cab roof has folded over the tops of the doors leaving the passenger side door pinned down and the drivers door unable to close (which was lucky or I wouldn't be getting into or out of it without cutting it up). The passenger door is also folded in towards the inside of the cab, but I should be able to save all the freshly tinted glass which is in way better shape than mine. I actually drove it to make sure the drivetrain wasn't garbage and it's a shame it got rolled - it was nice and solid and the engine is quiet and smooth even with the sports system. I'll be breaking out the hydraulic trolley jack and timber bearers so I can at least get the passenger door open. There is something wrong with the carb as it is hesitant on throttle - the guy I bought it from did say he put a kit through it recently, but I'll get onto my 34 DATA carb and hopefully install that instead.

[geezer101]

I'd love to have the air dam...

Wanna hear a dirty secret about that air dam? I have a suspicion that is a factory unit... wait for it - off a Volvo 240
(this one may be from a rarer 242GT)

When I swap the bump and air dam to my truck I'll be able to confirm it. So far it looks like I should be able to improve how it fits by trimming some off the upper mounting lip. It is close to perfect, I mean 1/4" in places. The PO drilled some holes to the underside of the bumper to bolt it all together but he also used 2 self tappers on the ends to mount it directly to the front fender arches (which would be unnecessary if it was flushed up against the bumper properly)