2002 Mitsubishi Delica Space Gear L400 (Garage entry)

[Fummins]

These were designed to be rust traps. I believe they took a 2wd van then added extra panels to the unibody. There's really no drain holes in the bottom so anything that gets inside stays there and rots. The way that the panels are put together is a recipe for a rust sandwich.

[inuvik]

I think you're probably right about their frame strengthening method. You going to just cut out that bottom section, regrind and weld in a new plate with a drain hole then?

[Fummins]

I'm a chitty explainer. I cut out the rust along the bottom, welded in a piece that was flush, then I took a 28" ish long piece and covered the entire bottom chunk of frame but did a dumb dumb. I don't want to grind all that weld off now, I'll hopefully be able to cut a slice along the back side and get it to sit properly then reglue it. Basically, if you stand at the front and look towards the rear, the lower frame rail runs level for the first bit then the inboard side droops near the rear about 1/8" ish maybe more. Just enough so that the cross member that bolts up to the bottom of the frame doesn't sit properly. Normally I'd say eff it and giver but I think I'll run into alignment problems.

You can't really see it here, but behind the c-clamp(to the right/rear) is where it's effed up.

[inuvik]

Ahhh, makes sense now and it looks like it's coming along pretty good!