My 1981 v6 L200 from NZ

[tortron]

Hi
I have been wanting an L200 sport ever since i was a kid, my dad, uncle and family friends all had them. I was recently in the market for a ute and this one came up at the right time and ticked all the boxes.

1981 Mitsubishi L200

About 20 years ago it was built up as a mechanics shop run about, at that time it got a 3.8L Buick v6 and t700 auto trans from a Holden VN Commodore, power steering, along with the VN gauge panel, later model tray has been cut down to fit, L300 Brakes, nolothane bushes all round, not sure what exactly has been done with the suspension and ride height, but the guy i got it off had it set up to tow his race car, and it sits pretty high for a 2wd. He had it for 20 years and was pretty sad to see it go, but i will look after it.


Mine and my grandfathers L200






I love it, i have already driven all around the country in it and it hasnt missed a beat, in its day it would have been pretty impressive, but can still keep up now days. The previous owner had always wanted to put an LSD and super charger in,

So far i have just been tidying it up, The wiring left a bit to be desired so i have gone about rewiring a few thing to use the original switches rather than added in toggles, as well as all the gauges having issues (cleaned up the contacts to get the tacho working, needed a new temp sender and speed sender) the holden fuel gauge is running off the mitsi sender so reads full until the tank is half empty, I have gotten an original gauge panel so will see if i can fit the mitsi gauge in the holden unit.
I probably wont change much, its pretty much how i would have built it. The only thing i would do is swap the tray out for an original one for this year

[geezer101]

Welcome to mightyram! A lot of work has gone into modding your L200. The 3.8 must push it around like a bullet. Yeah I thought it was weird the shop chose to use a gen 2 Triton tray on it (unless they got it for cheaps and the original tray was no good). If the VN cluster has an electronic speedo I think swapping the factory panel back in will be a no go. Anyway it looks awesome, glad to have you on board

[Jeff V.]

That looks great. The engine looks like it belongs there. Very nice.

[tortron]

i will be using the VN cluster, but will swap the guts of the mitsi fuel gauge into it.
just spent the afternoon trying to figure out some more of the wiring, the more i look the more i wish i didnt. But it more or less works so i should probably leave it

[dash]

very cool!
a 3800 + auto tranny gets my vote for a light duty runabout powerplant. Needs the right gearing too tho.
Even a stock normally aspirated 3800, when fine tuned is a crisp performing torquey lump, that pulls strong from idle
Gets outstanding fuel economy at the same time

[pennyman1]

advanced adaptors used to make a kit for that swap - headers and motor mounts. The drivers side header dumped at the front of the motor because of the starter and steering box were in the way.

[tortron]

The power steering box seems to be tucked nicely away, so its got what i assume are stock cast headers, i might measure them up and see if i can put some aftermarket ones in there,
Its got more than enough power as is and the gearing is pretty nice, the speedo reads perhaps 8% low, so the gearing is pretty close to the commodore.

There are a few of these conversions out there

I was really quite pleased to find it with the auto still in there, makes it a nice little cruiser. I assume it has a shift kit in there for towing. Im yet to chirp the tyres shifiting to 2nd, but iv out grown all that stuff (i did of course check that it will get the tyres going)

[dash]

all 3800 i've ever seen(usa models), had short runner tubing manifolds. Pretty decent too


i recall advanced adapters making mini truck-buick 3.8 conversion kits, but they were for the older 3.8.
3800 is next generation, and totally different, refined, more efficient, powerful, etc...
Only the camaro/firebird in the u.s. got the 3800 rwd. So we either run that or 3800 bolted onto older S10 auto/manual boxes
Unfortunately usa didn't get the variety of 3800 RWD like OZ/NZ. Lotsa 3800 transplants into rwd imports. Makes sense

[pennyman1]

yes the adaptors were made for odd fire and early even fire 1st gen 3.8 Buick motors in rwd cars. Hard to find them now, but not impossible. Remember, the Buick GN and GNX are 1st gen 3.8s...