Best place for Montero Info?

[Viggen]

I have been thinking about a good vehicle to take "overlanding" and drove by a Dodge Raider and liked it a lot. Good room in the front and the rear, even behind the rear seat with it up. I would plan on towing a trailer behind me where ever I am going so the fact that its SWB (sort of being bigger than a D90 and CJ/YJ from what Ive read) is not a big deal at all. I want to tow a trailer as it would make packing and unpacking almost nonexistent requiring only to connect the trailer and off I go.

So, I began my search but cant find much out there. I have found numerous ones for sale for less that $1200 and I have access to a VW TDI and can get the Acme adapters to convert it to RWD using a Toyo trans and transfer case (blasphemy perhaps but better ratios...) and with some light work, the TDi can put out 110- 120 or so hp with tq in the 280+ range. It wont win any races but itll make enough power to tow a light trailer and the torque will make handling off road areas an easy chore.

Ive got a few questions I dont know any answers to. Its a coil sprung rear (maybe?) with IFS torsion beam front suspension. How strong is the front end? Are parts easily available? Whats the gearing availability situation as I will need to probably regear to keep the motor happy? The rear end Ive seen is pretty strong with a locker available.

I think Justice's SWB is awesome and I would love something like that for my rig. Dont really need a four door, LWB rig. Im weighing this or a two door Trooper II for duties.

 

[off-roader]

An 89-91 2 door Montero or Raider with a 3.0L v6 automatic would be what I'd buy.

Pretty solid platform from my experience although there are some gotchas IMHO (I'm on my 3rd gen 1)...
1) Smoky exhaust usually means valve guide seals are worn. To test, let it idle when warm for ~5 minutes and then rev the engine and check for smoke. If you get a big cloud then the seals will need to be replaced. It can be done w/out doing a valve job (VJ) but doing the VJ may be worthwhile depending on the age.
2) Have the Auto Tranny flushed and use either mitsu OE tranny fluid or an ATF + fluid. If you don't you stand a real possibility you'll toast the tranny due to incorrect/inadequate additives.
3) Trailing arms need to be reinforced at the thinnest part with an additional 1/4" plate steel welded onto it. or replaced with the trailing arms from a 2nd gen model (direct fit).

That's the main stuff. Of course you should do a leak down test to verify your engine's in good working order, have the cooling system checked, and then do a tune up including the water pump, belts, tensioners/pulleys, & the timing belt unless you have a guarantee of when it was done in the last 90K.

That's about it. Depending on the options you're looking to add, there's lots more you can do...

Here's a few of my red 89. It's set up for any kind of trail from mild to wild. It has a limited slip rear with 33x12.5 MT's w/ 2" body lift, cranked torsion bars and gen 2 coil springs.

After a day of play at Cow Mountain OHV area in N. Cal...


At Pismo (Oceana Dunes) SVRA/OHV area rescuing a stuck Range Rover.


At the 2008(?) Mitsubishi Owners Day at their US HQ in Cypress, Ca.


I should add that I've been involved with Mitsu 4x4's for about 10 years now. There's another forum where there's far more information on Mitsu 4x4's that you may want to visit. In respect for the ExPo site I won't post their url here but please PM me if you want more information.