2004 Mitsubishi Delica - Camper Build

Documenting my Delica Camper Adventures and Build...

Back in 2022 I imported a 2004 Mitsubishi Delica from Japan. Here it is, fresh off the delivery truck! So clean and shiny. Came with 56,000km and a clean bill of health. This was the first day I realized that there's such thing as "low roof" models. I wish I had known this! I was a little sad that my model wasn't high-roof (my fault entirely for not researching). But overall, still really happy!

Those tires were great, but far from suitable for winter climates... It was one of the first things I changed.

Completely stock! I love that middle swivel seat.

Took it out for its first adventure in Waiperous in Alberta. Handles the off road with great ease.

Went fishing in the Elbow river and my friend actually found this canoe, sunken and capsized. He didn't want it so we hauled it out and I brought it home. Lol.

Close-up of the 40/40 Aluminium for the roof-rack system.

I bought some extruded aluminum. This is the beginning of my crazy idea to build a pop-top roof. Basically, manually building my own DIY high roof, but one that can pop up and still function as a roof rack.

Installed, and with an awning too! There is more to come... The roof rack you see looks pretty dumb, but there's method to the madness. What you see is the "lower half" of the pop-top structure.

Ripped out some interior and got started on the new flooring. That's 3/4 Birch Plywood from Wyndsor Plywood in Calgary. Great stuff. 5/8" would have been fine too. For finishing, I used no stain - just satin polyurathane finish. I really like the natural look of it.

Pictures make this all look easy. Getting all of those cuts and routing those holes was incredibly challenging. It's pretty far from perfect, but eh this was the first time I tried doing something like this.

Re-mounted the interior swivel chair. I bought extra long bolts so that it's still mounted to the frame. This way the vehicle still operates as a 5-seater vehicle.

Bolted down. Nice and smooth.

Started framing in the cabinets.

Tested out with the tri-fold mattress.

Cut the "pop-up desk" component

This is what it looks like when it pops up. I bought those mechanical "pop up" levers from Amazon.

Decided at some point that this camper needs a fridge. Found this BougeRV one on Amazon, and it seems pretty cool. I got really lucky with the dimensions, it fit right in there.

Another little camping trip near Nordegg, AB. Rainy! But nice and cozy with good friends.

Got started on the kitchen cabinet pullout.

So many more cuts than you expect. Lots of sanding and finishing.

I'm an amateur, and the extreme amount of work these cover sections took really demonstrated it to me. But it ended up being "good enough".

I built this out of extruded 20/20 Aluminium and 1/4" ply. Lots of cutting and difficult connections."

If you look carefully, you'll see there's zero clearance between the box and the space for it. So to fit the sliding rails in, I needed to use a router to hollow out space for it. Geez that was a ton of work. Here's me absolutely covered in sawdust and not even halfway done.

After much convincing, I managed to make it fit.

Solar panel came in! That's another big TODO list item... Also got the whole electrical setup in, but we'll see when I actually have time to do that.

Here's a nice look of the completed interior. Far from perfect but it makes me happy :)

Transformer engage! Desk Mode!

Got started on the top part of the roof-rack pop-top.

Here's what the sketched-up design will look like. Strut calculations need to be just perfect so it's not too difficult to either open or close the topper. Eventually there will be a bed up there.

Climbing break! Porcupine Creek, AB.

I built a funny mechanism to help the bed lay flat, sort-of...

These bars are easily removable, and sort of "hammock" the bed. It's far from perfect but I've slept on it a few times and it's pretty decent.

I regret how quickly I whipped these shoddy drawers up, but I was so tired of working on this van and I just wanted to go enjoy it. Maybe I'll revisit the craftsmanship later and re-do them. But for now it's functional.

More crown-land camping fun!

It's a genuinely relaxing place to get some work done.

A wild coincidence led me to meeting a buddy in Calgary who builds these awesome ladders. Thanks Sean! Here's Tyrone climbing onto the roof, and his dog Bjorn trying to also get up there. Sorry Bjorn!

Gone fishing.

Exploring Livingstone Falls Provincial Park

More to come!... (Work in progress...)