Modest 2002 Montero Build

[KarmannMarco]

Next time your going through Rampart you should stop by and let me check out your 3rd gen! I live in Woodland Park literally at the beginning of Rampart Range Rd. Im currently about to sell my 2nd gen to pick up a 3rd gen. Great looking rig man.

 

[zerodrift]

Next time your going through Rampart you should stop by and let me check out your 3rd gen! I live in Woodland Park literally at the beginning of Rampart Range Rd. Im currently about to sell my 2nd gen to pick up a 3rd gen. Great looking rig man.
View attachment 389770

May plan a trip down in the next month or so. Will send a pm once plans solidify.

Sent from my LGLS992 using Tapatalk

 

[zerodrift]

So the wife and I went to Wyoming to explore the Medicine Bow National Forest this weekend. We're scouting campsites for this year's total solar eclipse coming up in August, and this is a great excuse to explore an area that is new to us.

The trip was very scenic, however the national forest had a great deal of private land scattered throughout. Made navigating and searching for suitable areas difficult. Thankfully the Montero made light work of the dirt and muddy roads. The tires were put to the test on this trip as we managed to make it up some steep and muddy atv trails without much trouble. Very pleased with the performance of the tire on muddy conditions so far.

The trip was cut a little short due to a tee on the heater core lines that broke the second day. Ran over a piece of wood on the road that bounced up to hit the underside of the car. Within a mile, we quickly realized that we incurred damage. Was able to bypass the rear heater system and filled the radiator with some water to limp us 3.5 hours back home. Patch held well enough, but will be flushing the system out today and replacing all plastic tee's with metal. Skid plates are a must now that we are exploring further away from home and in areas without cell reception. Also going to be carrying spare parts and going over my emergency tool kit and supplies.

Anyways, on to the pictures!

 

[zerodrift]

Parts arrived for this weekend's project. New aluminum coolant fittings and brake rotors. The rotors are interesting and use a vane pattern I've not seen before. Will be investigating this further and well report back on the rotor and performance.

 

[snare]

what brand and model rotors?

 

[zerodrift]

Brakenetic rotors. They take blanks, apply a coat and mill several different patterns in them. Figure as long as there aren't any cross drilled holes, they should last.

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[zerodrift]

Started working on the car today. Aluminum tees have been installed in the front.

Brake project is coming along. Working casually and it's fairly straight forward. I forgot how much of a pain it is to crack off the brake line from the chassis hard lines.

I have a set of forged mono block calipers that are going in my '86 Toyota MR2 project car. These are the gold calipers. Figure I'd hold them up to the Montero for a quick size comparison. It's funny that our largest car has the smallest brakes in the garage...

 

[zerodrift]

Job is finished and it's time to wash the car from the last adventure. Diy guide coming up later tonight (In a few days ad I've been busy).

 

[Offroadmuch]

Can't wait for the full write up. Brakes and the aluminum "T's" for coolant lines are a good tip.

 

[Offroadmuch]

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Hey Zerodrift what brand are your floor lifts? (correct name, not sure what those are called?)
I would love to get a set of those...

 

[zerodrift]

Quick diy guide time!

Coolant tee replacement (tees only if you have a rear hvac unit, otherwise you may have a straight coupler or nothing at all).

Tools needed: pliers, screw driver (or suitable tool for worm gears), large container to catch coolant, funnel.
Parts needed: 2 or 3 gallons of coolant, 6 Hose clamps (worm gear style). 2 replacement tee fittings. Brass fittings will work, but if your coolant isn't in good shape, you risk galvanic corrosion in the coolant passageways. Aluminum and plastic are the way to go. Fittings are 5/8". I picked these up off of EBay for $10/pair.

First up, make sure your engine and coolant is at ambient temperature.

Grab your large plastic container and pliers. From the passenger side of the car, just behind the passenger front tire- slide the container under the car behind the front passenger wheel.

With pliers in hand (and some towels to clean up), lay down next to the car with your head towards the front tire. I had to partially slide under the car to have enough room to work. A pad or some cardboard would be good to lie down on. You will find the heater core hoses just behind the passenger side tire, between the engine and the passenger side frame rail.

The assembly of hoses looks rather complicated, but it's fairly simple. Just think of the system as a feed side and return side. The system tees (splits) for each heater core, and the task is to just swap one part at a time. Use the pliers and loosen all factory clamps. Then just pry the hose from the coupler away from you if possible. Coolant will of course be rushing out, so plan to allow it to drop into the large container.

Coolant will stop in a minute or two. Completely remove the single tee and then the hose clamps. I urge you to replace the hose clamps as the OEM ones may not be so elastic anymore and you may get leaks after the install. Assembly is the reverse steps. Just place the new hose clamps on the hose, then install the new tee. Set the new clamps in place and tighten. Repeat for the other tee, noting that there will again be coolant in the other side.

Remove everything from underneath the car and fill radiator until full. Once full, turn engine on. Its ok to have the cap off still. Crank your hvac controls to maximum heat and return to check coolant levels. You have a few min to bleed the system before it gets hot. I tend to 'burp' the system by grabbing onto one of the two radiator hoses and gently but firmly squeezing. Cap the radiator.

That's it!

 

[zerodrift]

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Hey Zerodrift what brand are your floor lifts? (correct name, not sure what those are called?)
I would love to get a set of those...

This is a quick jack system. If you are using this for your Montero, pick up the height extender parts.

https://www.quickjack.com/car-lift-systems/bl-5000slx-portable-car-lift.html

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[zerodrift]

Diy brake caliper replacement guide!


This one will be short and sweet.

Parts needed: calipers, pads, brake lines, brake clean, brake fluid (DOT 4).

Tools needed: 14mm and 17mm socket, wrench, breaker bar, torque wrench, hammer, lug nut socket (may vary pending on your wheels), 8mm open ended wrench, some hose that fits on the brake bleeder valve, along with a container to catch old fluid. Jack and stands. Torch (propane or map), 10mm line wrench (captures the nut on all sides while being able to fit over the brake line) penetrant spray. Aluminum foil may come in handy.

Start jacking up the car per the manual and before the wheel is off the ground, break lug nuts loose. Continue jacking the car and remove the tire.

Spray penetrant spray on all parts you will remove (refer to picture of the schematics). Use breaker bar and crack loose all fittings that hold the caliper on.

Before progressing, its time to get the old brake hose off. Don't bother putting a wrench on the flare nut that keeps the brake hose connected to the hard line. Heat the flare fitting for ~2 minutes. Then apply a generous amount of penetrant spray. It will smoke- a lot. Reheat after a few minutes. Apply more penetrant spray. (3 times wouldn't hurt, as this is really stuck on there and you are at risk of stripping the nut)

Using the special 10mm flare wrench, crack the flare nut loose. Once loose, proceed to the 14mm bolt on the back of the caliper. Drain the fluid into a container.

Remove the old caliper by removing the 17mm bolts, set the assembly aside. Replace brake rotor by pulling the assembly off (may need to Remove Philip's screws or drill the head out) Remove the old brake line and replace. Put your new caliper on with pads in the caliper, and then install the new brake line. Torque bolts to spec (picture)

Bleed the brakes to remove air from the system. (Google search how two guides, and grab another person to help)

Clean brake rotor with brake clean solvent.

Repeat process on other side.

Torque wheels to spec per the schematics. Wheel torque is 108n-m +/- 10.

Follow brake in procedures for the new pads and rotors

 

[SirFrancisDrake]

Curious as to why you included brake lines in the replacement procedure? Were they going bad?

 

[zerodrift]

Curious as to why you included brake lines in the replacement procedure? Were they going bad?

Rubber hoses don't last forever and are inexpensive to replace. Well worth the effort of doing while you are there.