LibertyFLS
Observer
Preface: feel free to skip the text lol
Hello everyone, I'm Kevin. Haven't been into 4x4 since the 90's but a friend with an FJ and a Defender 90 convinced me to get an off roader. I've been modding cars since the 80's, and have spent the past 12 years building VIP Car builds, first was a 98 Infiniti Q45, then an 04 Infiniti M45, and currently my other toy is a 99 BMW 528it (wagon). I belong to Liberty VIP/GT car club and have been running the West Coast since '10. Anyhow, enough of that.
So I picked up a fairly worn out '95 Monty in June of 2016, and dumped about 2x what I spent on the truck into fixing / restoring things, and wheels and tires. I wanted very vintage style steel wheels, and found someone on CL selling 16x5 70's era Toyota FJ steel wheels with Good Year MTR tires in 245/75-16 which I thought was a real come-up, only to find the hub bore needed to be opened up and also that none of the wheels were straight (Bolton classic wheels just down the street), and that the tires were ancient and had flat spots.
The roof on this truck was the only sore spot, original owner was a beach bum, and it showed that the car had lived near the ocean. He'd put 2 bike racks drilled INTO THE ROOF and walked all over it because it was caved in and the roof was the only area with any rust, so we cut out all the rust, removed the stock roof rack, bed lined it and called it a day. No rust, no leaks but not a beautiful thing to see. Had another local shop, IPM Fabrication build me a baja rack and with gutter mounts, the wavy roof was no longer an issue, the truck looked cool and got comments, and it was fun to take off roading. This was my first Mitsubishi, and I fell in love but I decided I wanted to get a better one.
Put the '95 up for sale, got loads of interested people and one brought his mechanic to check it out, drove it and took it home that day. 1 week later, I picked up this 2 owner 99 2.5, same color and all. I definitely prefer the cloth interior in the '95, it was in great shape and very comfortable. The drivers seat in the new one is power, but it makes me sit higher than I'd prefer, and it's just not as comfortable, although the leather is in excellent condition for 220k miles on it, no rips or tears.
So far since picking up the new one about 4 weeks ago now, touched up peeling paint on the roof rack/doors/windshield, managed to get brand new hardware for the sliding windows (both latches were in pieces), replaced various bulbs in the dash and auxiliary gauges, had some from the first truck left over and actually it was one of the wheel indicator lights and the compass on both the 95 and 99 that needed to be replaced. Put 5 brand new US Wheel "Stealth" 5-spokes in 15x7 with Pirelli Scoropion MTR 31x10.5's and it rides like a dream. KYB Gas Adjust, a new Idler arm over the weekend which eliminated the shimmy it would sometimes get between 30-40 mph, and I have the pitman arm and tie-rods in a box to go on this week before the first outing this weekend driving up to the snow.
Originally I intended to take the side steps and mud flaps off first thing, like one I'd found on this forum I looked at for inspiration, but they are handy, especially for my 5 year old getting in and out. She did manage to get into the other truck Ok but would complain, so I may end up having IPM Fab make me some slider / steps for it. I wanted to put a baja rack on the roof, but kinda like being able to fit into the garage as it is (barely) so I may have one built, but only use it when I need it.
I'm 100% sold on the amazing quality of these Mitsubishi Montero/Pajero trucks, way overbuilt, I love these things. Looking forward to see how the factory locking diff works out (if I even need to use it) this weekend when we drive up to Lake Arrowhead, hope it has a load of snow from all the weather we've having this winter in SoCal.
Sorry for such long winded intro, I'm sure most people skimmed over anyhow lol.
Old truck:
'95 Montero LS
freshly bedlinered roof
roof painted white after letting it cure 2 weeks
New truck:
'99 Montero
Hello everyone, I'm Kevin. Haven't been into 4x4 since the 90's but a friend with an FJ and a Defender 90 convinced me to get an off roader. I've been modding cars since the 80's, and have spent the past 12 years building VIP Car builds, first was a 98 Infiniti Q45, then an 04 Infiniti M45, and currently my other toy is a 99 BMW 528it (wagon). I belong to Liberty VIP/GT car club and have been running the West Coast since '10. Anyhow, enough of that.
So I picked up a fairly worn out '95 Monty in June of 2016, and dumped about 2x what I spent on the truck into fixing / restoring things, and wheels and tires. I wanted very vintage style steel wheels, and found someone on CL selling 16x5 70's era Toyota FJ steel wheels with Good Year MTR tires in 245/75-16 which I thought was a real come-up, only to find the hub bore needed to be opened up and also that none of the wheels were straight (Bolton classic wheels just down the street), and that the tires were ancient and had flat spots.
The roof on this truck was the only sore spot, original owner was a beach bum, and it showed that the car had lived near the ocean. He'd put 2 bike racks drilled INTO THE ROOF and walked all over it because it was caved in and the roof was the only area with any rust, so we cut out all the rust, removed the stock roof rack, bed lined it and called it a day. No rust, no leaks but not a beautiful thing to see. Had another local shop, IPM Fabrication build me a baja rack and with gutter mounts, the wavy roof was no longer an issue, the truck looked cool and got comments, and it was fun to take off roading. This was my first Mitsubishi, and I fell in love but I decided I wanted to get a better one.
Put the '95 up for sale, got loads of interested people and one brought his mechanic to check it out, drove it and took it home that day. 1 week later, I picked up this 2 owner 99 2.5, same color and all. I definitely prefer the cloth interior in the '95, it was in great shape and very comfortable. The drivers seat in the new one is power, but it makes me sit higher than I'd prefer, and it's just not as comfortable, although the leather is in excellent condition for 220k miles on it, no rips or tears.
So far since picking up the new one about 4 weeks ago now, touched up peeling paint on the roof rack/doors/windshield, managed to get brand new hardware for the sliding windows (both latches were in pieces), replaced various bulbs in the dash and auxiliary gauges, had some from the first truck left over and actually it was one of the wheel indicator lights and the compass on both the 95 and 99 that needed to be replaced. Put 5 brand new US Wheel "Stealth" 5-spokes in 15x7 with Pirelli Scoropion MTR 31x10.5's and it rides like a dream. KYB Gas Adjust, a new Idler arm over the weekend which eliminated the shimmy it would sometimes get between 30-40 mph, and I have the pitman arm and tie-rods in a box to go on this week before the first outing this weekend driving up to the snow.
Originally I intended to take the side steps and mud flaps off first thing, like one I'd found on this forum I looked at for inspiration, but they are handy, especially for my 5 year old getting in and out. She did manage to get into the other truck Ok but would complain, so I may end up having IPM Fab make me some slider / steps for it. I wanted to put a baja rack on the roof, but kinda like being able to fit into the garage as it is (barely) so I may have one built, but only use it when I need it.
I'm 100% sold on the amazing quality of these Mitsubishi Montero/Pajero trucks, way overbuilt, I love these things. Looking forward to see how the factory locking diff works out (if I even need to use it) this weekend when we drive up to Lake Arrowhead, hope it has a load of snow from all the weather we've having this winter in SoCal.
Sorry for such long winded intro, I'm sure most people skimmed over anyhow lol.
Old truck:
'95 Montero LS
freshly bedlinered roof
roof painted white after letting it cure 2 weeks
New truck:
'99 Montero
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