Mitsubishi L200 new cylinder head And finally moved it on.

[Joey spud]

I wanted (but did not need) another Pickup as the little Subaru is getting scratched to buggery by getting used as a pick up again.

Never again will i pay big money to paint a vehicle as once it was done i became all precious about using it which really defeats the whole point of having a little pickup truck.

 

So i decided another Japanese truck was needed,one that could be abused without getting stressy about it collecting scratches and the odd dent.

When at work i get to see what's good and what's a bit shite so avoided Navara's and Rangers and couldn't afford a Hilux so settled on a Mitsi L200.

Although old L200's are prone to crank pulleys and head gaskets (and diesel pumps) they are a simple 8 valve cam belted engine,bits are cheap and every Mitsubishi i have ever owned has been a faithful servant.

 

I didn't want a crew cab with a load area no bigger than a wheel barrow nor did i want any tacky chrome additions or two tone paint jobs (in other words the Essex look).

I looked at a few and checked the online mot history (a great idea and what the internet was made for) and found these things rust for fun but can do big mileages with little complaint.

 

So cutting to the chase in the end i went and bought a Roofers well used and abused daily work vehicle and collected it from near Gatwick last night.

 

Pez shot.

It has a really severe wheel wobble at anything over 40mph which is matched by a equally nasty brake judder so the 50 mile M23 / M25 run was interesting but other than that everything is good and the engine is quite torquey for such an old,simple design.

 

And in daylight.

 

I was off today so instead of first looking for the cause of the steering / brake wobble i decided peeling the lettering off was far more important but left the London skyline ones on for now reasoning to myself that they will peel off a lot easier when the weather warms up.

 

 

So there it is not really Autoshite material but i like it.

[dollywobbler]

Poshest tidemark ever. I like these, though they do seem to like rotting, which is why they aren't more common around here. They were once!

[cort16]

I really like these in single cab form. Are they quite bouncy to drive with nothing in the bed?

[trigger]

I like these too and got to drive a lot of them when they first come out before they got all trendy and popular for a pref while.

 

Although they do drive nice they suffer with a real thirst for diesel and you'll soon be on first name terms with your local petrol attendant.

[twosmoke300]

How many miles on er? I've seen quite a few throw the cranks at 100k . A pre emptive set of shells at 90k is the way to go apparantly . My engine man says they upgraded the turbos etc but the basic engine is the same as it was when it was a 2.5na

[Joey spud]

Here's a better shot of its posh tide mark.

 

This afternoon i had a look at the front end to try and suss why despite its nearly new mot it can't get down the road without shaking it self silly.

It came with its standard wheels in the back so i tried them first but no luck it still shook and all the ancient technology (steering box drag links and idler) were fine but the front discs are hateful and the brake caliper slides were seized solid on the drivers side.

 

 

I managed to pick up a set of pads and discs locally for a bargain £48 and popped them on and now it drives as well as a steering boxed and torsion bar front end and cart spring rear ended pick up ever could.

It is actually quite civilised.

 

Before i lost the light for the day i had a look at the rear suspension and found a broken leaf on a rear spring held in place with a length of 2.5mm twin and earth cable and large zip ties.

[robthedonkey]

Proper autoshite spec spring repair then?

 

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

[Joey spud]

How many miles on er? I've seen quite a few throw the cranks at 100k . A pre emptive set of shells at 90k is the way to go apparantly . My engine man says they upgraded the turbos etc but the basic engine is the same as it was when it was a 2.5na

It's done 104k but in the wad of dealer invoices that came with it it had an engine and injector pump replaced at 64k in 2009.

[twosmoke300]

Ideal - good for a bit then !

[andrew e]

ESSEX LOOK! Cheeky KENT just because the Essex meet had your actual genuine pikeys racing ponies

 

Odd selling a sign written wagon though - would anyone here?

[Joey spud]

It wasn't just the pikeys i was told we was parked next to a well known dogging site too..

 

He did at least peel his phone numbers off the doors before i picked it up.

[trigger]

A gay dogging site at that, thats why there was so many single men standing long the lane we kept driving up looking all sheepish!

[Lacquer Peel]

If you need any bits for it, I think my neighbour is breaking the spare one he bought recently.

I like the lesser spotted single cab ones, like you say the bed is a lot more useful.

[andrew e]

Joey doesn't need a useful bed - not for autoshite dogging anyway.

[hauserplenty]

[noseypoke]

A gay dogging site at that, thats why there was so many single men standing long the lane we kept driving up looking all sheepish!

All carrying wellys? if it wasn't for pickups we wouldn't have had tailgates

[Cavcraft]

Nice to see one that isn't fitted with ludicrous chrome 'essentials' being driven by a fat bloke with a Chinese dragon tattoo round a housing estate.

[Pete-M]

I use a 2015 one of these for towing. A "Barbarian", I believe to be the official title.

 

It's white, shite, and I don't actually mind it. It's not a brilliant tow vehicle but it's not bad when in 4wd. It'll pull as hard as it can quite willingly but it ain't refined. It's a truck. It's about exactly the wrong thing for the job but I'm kinda fond of it.

[Lukas]

To me, this generation L200 is the best looking japanese Pick-Up ever made! 

 

Just look at it...

 

 

To be fair: Here in Austria, we dont have these stupid "Warrior" and "Animal" names on it.

 

And 

 

 

 

fat bloke with a Chinese dragon tattoo round a housing estate

 

these people do drive Audis here, not an L200. 

[plasticvandan]

I work for a pickup accessories company, this was the last l200 that was any good,they turned shit after this.afraid we don't shocvk anything for it now either,seems the point where obsolete comes in is much quicker than cars (there's been three models since now)

[Pete-M]

£200/month for two years then give the thing back with 20k miles on the clock.

 

If you want a new 4x4 pickup for business use that's not a bad deal.

[Joey spud]

Had a bit of time today to play with the L200 so had another look at the rear springs.

 

 

The spring hanger bushes are totally shot. (but cant go any where).

 

 

And this is the rear spring with half a leaf missing one end and other leaves secured with gaffa tape,twin/earth cable and zip ties.

 

 

Along with the seized brake caliper and totally buggered discs which must have shown up on a brake tester it looks like the little truck has had a bit of a lenient mot.

[Lukas]

Check the chassis carefully for rust. It seems there was never a rust-proofing done, so they usually are rotted through from the inside out at the typical parts after 10 years. 

[Joey spud]

So EGR removal was the name of the game earlier.

 

I got a cheap blanking kit off ebay,for the tenner that it cost it wasn't worth the hassle making up an inferior copy.

 

 

On these engines the exhaust gases are also cooled by coolant before it gets metered into the inlet manifold but the cooler must have been leaking at some point as its pipes had been disconnected and it was now by passed.

 

 

I could have just blanked the pipe to the valve itself but decided to remove and bin the cooler too.

 

 

 

 

Then it just needed one of the plates fitting to the exhaust manifold and the other one slipped under the EGR valve.

 

 

I wasn't sure if unplugging and removing the EGR valve altogether would put the mil lamp on so i left it fitted.

I wouldn't be suprised that in the future part of the mot test will include looking for deleted EGR valves as well as DPF filters.

 

 

Much better and it seems happier on the road too.

[twosmoke300]

Being a 4wd it prob didn't go on the roller brake tester . A tapley test is far more lienient

[Joey spud]

Being a 4wd it prob didn't go on the roller brake tester . A tapley test is far more lienient

 

Good point well made but if it was tested on the road i think the steering wobble and pedal judder even at 10mph deserved at least an advisory.

 

Not knocking Mot testers here as i was an Authorised Examiner for many years.

[red5]

Being a 4wd it prob didn't go on the roller brake tester . A tapley test is far more lienient

 

Part-time 4wd....someone turned a blind eye,or didn't look...

[Joey spud]

Yeah good point my little Subaru goes into the brake rollers ok,but it does confuse the same tester every year when he can't get a hand brake reading off the rear wheels.

 

To be fair there is advisories this year for worn shacke bushes,o/s rear spring worn and o/s disc pitted.

[twosmoke300]

I tried a fourtrak in the rollers last week and even though it was part time four wheel drive the rollers didn't like it . Lsd up front maybe. Most testers don't risk damaging the vehicle or equipment tbh

[Joey spud]

A bit of an update for anyone into Jap stuff.

 

 

 

The rear springs were totally shot with broken leafs and dead bushes so i ordered a pair online and after a couple of days a heavy parcel arrived.

 

 

They came with all the bushes and bolts required and fitted fine but they were listed as heavy duty ones and now the rear sat a bit high and going over bumps really hurt my moobs.

 

 

 

Even with a selection of railway sleepers in the back it still sat high and bounced about so i ended up taking the springs off and removed the third leaf and tried again,now it is much more refined but still has an arse high stance probably due to tired front torsion bars.

 

 

Outsde the Kebab house (its natural habitat).