1991 Montero LS Adventure Mobile Project

Izaac

New member
Hi all,

I'm relatively new here, but I wanted to start a thread to document fixing and building out a 1991 Montero that I bought as a project. I want to have some documentation to reference for myself in the future and help anyone if they're working on a similar project.

I recently moved to Denver and have the space for a project car; I also wanted something that was more rugged than our Subaru Outback to plod around trails with. My goal is to make this reliable enough for road trips, light offroading, and camping. I was interested in 80 series landcruisers, but I landed on this Montero as I thought it was more unique than everyone and their mother's 4runner/Tacoma (at least here in Denver) and half the price; this one popped up on my radar as being a clean southwest vehicle. I knew the PO through some mutual friends, and I love the Rally pedigree they have.

The odometer says 240,000, but there's inconsistency with the reported mileage, so I assume someone replaced the dash cluster at some point. To my knowledge, it sat in El Paso for an unknown amount of time. There was no rust, and overall its very clean, just a bunch of red dust caked on the passenger side wheel wells and engine compartment.

I picked it up in New Mexico with the plan to trailer it back to Denver. It came with some uninstalled Bilstein 4600s so before we departed NM I installed those and replaced the dry rot tires with some Goodyear Wranglers (cheapest on sale). Since the Montero was running, I wanted some cheap tires to drive around town on, but I plan on upgrading to something bigger later on.

First time seeing it in person.
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The Interior is in pretty good shape, aside from the center console falling apart and a few gauges that don't work.
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Saggy old shocks out and new Bilsteins in.
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Loaded up on this beast for the 10-hour drive back to Denver.
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Izaac

New member
Made it home. Celebrating with some NM Beer. Also, these initial posts will be a consolidating a couple of months time frame to catch up to current.

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I noticed coolant dripping from behind the harmonic balancer, hard to see the waterpump with the timing cover but assuming its dripping from the weep hole down the front of the block.

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I ordered an Aisin water pump before trailering the Montero up, so convenient timing. I have no idea when the water pump was changed last, so this was top of my list regardless. Here's the old pump and belt with the timing covers off.
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New pump, tensioner, belt and updated crank belt on. Got all the timing marks lined up and turned the engine a few times to make sure everything looked good. Also replaced the thermostat and housing as it was pretty corroded.
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MontySquareo

Active member
honestly just run those cheap tires till they're bald, the limiting factor on the Monteros is usually the suspension doesn't flex enough and (for the gen 3 at least) the fat butt will drag over every rock ledge.

enjoy your new discount land cruiser!
 

Izaac

New member
Ran into a small problem. After installing the new water pump and timing and buttoning the front of the engine back up, coolant started to run down the back of the transmission. The waterpipe that goes into the back of the water pump didn't seat as well as I thought it did. Pulled the intake manifold, injectors, and cleaned up what looked like the blue lagoon in the valley of the block. It's relatively easy to pull the manifold, but it was annoying why it had to be done.

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New gaskets and a little extra gasket sealer for good measure. Screen Shot 2024-02-16 at 9.51.10 AM.png
 

Izaac

New member
Taking care of some interior items. I didn't realize at first that the brake lights weren't working. The hazard switch was completely fried and broken into pieces. I cleaned the contacts and superglued the switch parts back together which solved the brake light issue. Now the hazards work as well.
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One of the gauges that wasn't working was the tachometer. Ordering one of these replacement parts solved it. I'm unsure how this works if it sends a signal off of resonance from the engine. But happy to have the tachometer working.
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MrGalantguy

Mitsubishi Loyalist
Beautiful Gen 1.

We saved one that was sitting for 10 years a little over a year ago. I have been gathering parts for it and plan on rebuilding/restoring it this year.
 

Izaac

New member
Time for a few small cosmetic touches.

Cleaned, sanded, primed, and painted various external things. The bash guard cleaned up nicely. The cross bars were pretty gross so I cleaned them and painted them with bed-liner. Then I filled in some deep gouges that were in the bumper ends. It's nothing too crazy, but the fresh layer of black paint makes a pretty big difference when everything is put back on.
Screen Shot 2024-02-21 at 6.13.44 PM.pngScreen Shot 2024-02-21 at 6.13.52 PM.pngScreen Shot 2024-02-21 at 6.14.02 PM.png

Installed some Hella Rally Lights, because race car. Here you can also see the touched up bumper ends. Just a small bif of freshness.
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I got these JDM-looking wheels from a guy on the MMUSA Facebook page for a great deal. Not sure what I'm going to do with them yet. Whichever wheel stays on the Montero, I want to paint with steelit. I've seen some that look really nice in the matte grey/black finish steelit has. I love the look of the Pomi wheels but think these would like nice aswell after they've been cleaned up.

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Steelit Example.
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Let me know what wheel you would go with and what color would look good with the White/Tan body.


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Izaac

New member
Beautiful Gen 1.

We saved one that was sitting for 10 years a little over a year ago. I have been gathering parts for it and plan on rebuilding/restoring it this year.
Thanks and that's awesome. Would love to see the progress when you start.
 

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