1996 Acty SDX

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awptickes

unimpressed by you
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After some back and forth for a few months, and some assistance from an OG here, I have it. It's in my garage.

It's so stupid fun to drive.

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I've driven it a good bit, it's so much fun. It's everything I wanted, and it has AC so the dog can ride with me.

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Good times.

I'll get the preventative maintenance done, get a Painless Dent Repair guy to come out and fix some dents, then drop it off at a body shop to get some paint and a bed liner.
 
Did you buy it state side or ship it in?
How much and how was the process to acquire?

I recently read an article that Maine (i think?) started voiding registrations for 25+ year old imports, so although they are eligible federally, the states are cobbling together their own rules. The state in question recently changed the law to better define "off road vehicles" to mean anything that didn't pass federal regulations at the time it was made. I think the Mitsubishi Delica was being targeted.

Found the article.

In for the read on the acquisition, looks awesome
 
Yeah, I shouldn't have issues registering it.

I bought it through an OG here, he handled everything, and had it dropped off in my driveway. I think we started in late April, so it took a little less than 90 days. If he wants to be mentioned, he'll speak up.

Got the idle adjusted so it doesn't feel like it's gonna die when I have the AC on when stopped, and it's got a full tank of gas. I may try to bleed the brakes tomorrow, and I've got my eyes out for some 13" oem Honda wheels, preferably from a civic VX for unsprung weight reduction.

I've got temporary tags on it now, and I've been driving it around, I've got nearly 100 miles on it so far. It runs and drives great. It gets up to over 80mph, and only feels a little sketchy at that speed. The doggo loves it too.

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The locals around here just turn their head and look like surprised Pikachu. What's even more fun is when they ask "is it street legal" and I say "No, not even a little bit. Totally not legal."

It needs some body work, it was r-graded, which is fine for me. I don't need a perfect truck nor do I want to pay for one. It runs AMAZING, fires up like a brand new motorcycle, and is a real hoot to drive.
 
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After some back and forth for a few months, and some assistance from an OG here, I have it. It's in my garage.

It's so stupid fun to drive.

View attachment 31738View attachment 31739View attachment 31740

I've driven it a good bit, it's so much fun. It's everything I wanted, and it has AC so the dog can ride with me.

View attachment 31741

Good times.

I'll get the preventative maintenance done, get a Painless Dent Repair guy to come out and fix some dents, then drop it off at a body shop to get some paint and a bed liner.

It is definitely worth the wait.
The dog looks so happy that s/he can't take away her eyes off you.
 
Did some more polishing after work, and finished almost the whole left side of the vehicle:
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And you can really see how much of a difference it made on the right side in this pic:
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Gonna install a new, working radio whenever the harness gets here. It's really coming together... Once I finish cleaning up the paint, I'll take it to a body shop and be like "Yo, fix this dent here on the front end." I've heard body shops take better car of cars that aren't totally trashed looking when you go to them -- which makes sense.
 
I think I'm done with the bed sides now.

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Yes... I'm leaving that tape residue. Lol.

Now I've gotta get a quote for the body work, and gain the motivation to install the radio. Maybe gonna pick up some new wheels too...
 
what's the payload and towing capacity? can you get 13" E-rated tires? :D

It's... Uh... Vague...

Officially there's no towing capacity, but people don't typically have issues until above 1500lbs. People report moving firewood without issue, especially with the 2wd models. Payload is officially 350kg, so take that for what it's worth. It's mostly related to the Kei designation, but here's the translated label.

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I got the radio wired up, which honestly, because this head unit has speakers in it, wasn't too bad. It still required pulling most of the dash off, but that only took 8 screws... Lol.

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That is so freaking cool. I love it. Pure utilitarian. Pretty much everything sacfrificed to maximized utility.

Just got back from Central America and I saw a bunch of these and similar in other brands. Very popular urban delivery vehicle.
 
So, I drove 5 hours to pick up a set of VX wheels.

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Got 'em home, cleaned them up a little, and popped the tires off and put the Walmart 175/70r13 tires on.

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Now, because I don't have a balancing machine, I've gotta take them somewhere. Eventually I'll have a good tire balancing machine, but until then I have to pay someone.

I looked into getting them professionally refinished, but they all wanted the same amount of money regardless if they had tires or no tires... So, I'm gonna make them work for it when I finally get the center caps and decide what color/shade to make them.
 
Can you fit different seats in there? Was thinking there are many options that would look really nice in the cabin.
 
Can you fit different seats in there? Was thinking there are many options that would look really nice in the cabin.
The passenger seat base flips up to allow access to the tool kit, jack, and windshield washer fluid.

The driver's seat has the air conditioning under it.

I have no idea if other seats fit, lol. I do have a passenger seat for a CR-Z still...
 
The passenger seat base flips up to allow access to the tool kit, jack, and windshield washer fluid.

The driver's seat has the air conditioning under it.

I have no idea if other seats fit, lol. I do have a passenger seat for a CR-Z still...
I was thinking some custom brackets and voila! Some old civic seats would be banging but cr-z is prob a huge step up.
 
Eh, I don't think it needs new seats, just a new driver side seat cushion/cover.

Anyway, I got an 8mm/.25" spacer from AutoZone and put the front wheels on. This truck drives like a real vehicle now... It's almost like a really slow shifter kart.

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I also put fresh spark plugs in, I can't tell a difference, but it might run better. The gap had opened up quite a bit. This last fill up I got 30.2 mpg, maybe next tank will be better.

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So far so good. It only rubs the tires on the chassis sometimes, but I haven't figured out where yet.

I can't seem to get the front dent out, I guess I'll mention that when I bring it to a body shop to get the upper cab corner fixed and passenger door re-aligned.
 
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