Igorskiy86
Observer
I have been a member of this group for a few years and learned a lot. Over the last three years I was building my Gen3 Mitsubishi Montero in to a very capable adventure vehicle and it has taken me on some great trips. Montero is a great vehicle, but there are a few things that I learned along the way that I want to have, and some things that should be done differently. The biggest problem that I have with my Montero is the lack of power which leads to not a very good highway performance, and even though it is great off road, getting places leaves more to be desired.
I started looking at different vehicles and decision came to be a 100 series if it could be had for a right price. I really wanted to get one with lower miles, but after doing some research it seems like 4.7 engines last for hundreds of thousands of miles, so low mileage became not a big priority. I also wanted to avoid as many electronics as possible, and did not want a factory gps since it is will be quite outdated by now and is hard to upgrade.
After searching on CL and even insurance auctions all the vehicles that I was liking were selling for too much money. One day my 99 LX470 came up on local CL for a really reasonable price, which almost seemed too good to be true. I went to see it, and it was a good candidate for what I was looking for. It had its share of issues: out of state expired tags, check engine light, rattling noises from catalytic converters, bad tires, cracked windshield, torn leather on driver seat bottom and a bad steering rack that had almost half a steering wheel turn of play. The good things it had going for it was 175k miles, timing belt done recently, felt solid on test drive, runs well and it had a clean title with nothing bad on carfax report. With all the mentioned problems I got it for about half to one third of what similar vehicles are going for in my area. So far the problems ended up not being very significant, check engine light was fixed with an o2 sensor, and the steering rack was not leaking or bad as originally thought, but just had completely worn out bushings which I replaced with aftermarket urethane ones. Exhaust rattle was fixed with removing broken heat shields. Since this was going to be an expedition/overland build I was going to be replacing tires either way, and went with BFG TA KO2 in 285/75/16.
Build plan, main purpose of this vehicle is going to be overland type travel, visiting other states, camping, but it also has to be capable of doing some trails. It also has to be good on a freeway at speed, and do some towing work. Below is what I am planning on doing, but some things could still change and few parts will get added.
Suspension/Drivetrain
-Repair worn suspension parts: lower control arms and sway bar links/mounts
-Nitro gear upper control arms to work with lift and future strut upgrade
-Keep factory AHC system for now with 2 inch adjustment for extra height
-Icon stage 2 or stage 3 shocks as soon as AHC gives me problems, or I get a deal on it
-OME torsion bars and springs when upgrading to Icon
-Just Differentials front diff drop bracket
-ARB rear locker, front locker if original has issues
-Tires 33 size, BFG TA KO2 285 75 16
-ARB breather kit
Body
-Front bumper TJM 13 on order
-Rear bumper 4x4 Labs with swingout and tire carrier
-Rock sliders 4x4 Labs
-Skid plates
-Winch
-Snorkel
-Land cruiser turn signal mod
-Roof rack, not sure if one will be installed on this build, but it will have a RTT
-Jerry can and hilift carrier
-Hid and led lights and light bars
-Dual battery system
-On board air compressor
Interior
-Repair front seat leather
-Repair steering wheel leather
-Double din receiver
-Ham and CB radio
-Rear drawer system
-Fridge
-Window tint
-Water tank/storage box in original spare tire location
Here are some pictures of the LX and my Montero build.
I started looking at different vehicles and decision came to be a 100 series if it could be had for a right price. I really wanted to get one with lower miles, but after doing some research it seems like 4.7 engines last for hundreds of thousands of miles, so low mileage became not a big priority. I also wanted to avoid as many electronics as possible, and did not want a factory gps since it is will be quite outdated by now and is hard to upgrade.
After searching on CL and even insurance auctions all the vehicles that I was liking were selling for too much money. One day my 99 LX470 came up on local CL for a really reasonable price, which almost seemed too good to be true. I went to see it, and it was a good candidate for what I was looking for. It had its share of issues: out of state expired tags, check engine light, rattling noises from catalytic converters, bad tires, cracked windshield, torn leather on driver seat bottom and a bad steering rack that had almost half a steering wheel turn of play. The good things it had going for it was 175k miles, timing belt done recently, felt solid on test drive, runs well and it had a clean title with nothing bad on carfax report. With all the mentioned problems I got it for about half to one third of what similar vehicles are going for in my area. So far the problems ended up not being very significant, check engine light was fixed with an o2 sensor, and the steering rack was not leaking or bad as originally thought, but just had completely worn out bushings which I replaced with aftermarket urethane ones. Exhaust rattle was fixed with removing broken heat shields. Since this was going to be an expedition/overland build I was going to be replacing tires either way, and went with BFG TA KO2 in 285/75/16.
Build plan, main purpose of this vehicle is going to be overland type travel, visiting other states, camping, but it also has to be capable of doing some trails. It also has to be good on a freeway at speed, and do some towing work. Below is what I am planning on doing, but some things could still change and few parts will get added.
Suspension/Drivetrain
-Repair worn suspension parts: lower control arms and sway bar links/mounts
-Nitro gear upper control arms to work with lift and future strut upgrade
-Keep factory AHC system for now with 2 inch adjustment for extra height
-Icon stage 2 or stage 3 shocks as soon as AHC gives me problems, or I get a deal on it
-OME torsion bars and springs when upgrading to Icon
-Just Differentials front diff drop bracket
-ARB rear locker, front locker if original has issues
-Tires 33 size, BFG TA KO2 285 75 16
-ARB breather kit
Body
-Front bumper TJM 13 on order
-Rear bumper 4x4 Labs with swingout and tire carrier
-Rock sliders 4x4 Labs
-Skid plates
-Winch
-Snorkel
-Land cruiser turn signal mod
-Roof rack, not sure if one will be installed on this build, but it will have a RTT
-Jerry can and hilift carrier
-Hid and led lights and light bars
-Dual battery system
-On board air compressor
Interior
-Repair front seat leather
-Repair steering wheel leather
-Double din receiver
-Ham and CB radio
-Rear drawer system
-Fridge
-Window tint
-Water tank/storage box in original spare tire location
Here are some pictures of the LX and my Montero build.
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