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Ugh. New engine is in, and it runs, but there is obvious piston slap. It is under warranty, but the wage they will pay out to a mechanic is not enough to cover what it would cost to rectify, so I have to take the rig to LA where the manufacturer is located to have them haul it out and true up...

Something appears to have snapped on the inside of the motor. Likely a rod (even though I never heard or felt it happen), so I am on the hunt for a new engine.

The weird thing is that the temp never went up. I just suddenly lost power managed to coast to the side of the highway and the engine seized. When I popped the hood oil had sprayed out of the fill cap on top of the engine and it didn't appear brackish with coolant. Mechanics who know more than...

I used Bondo with the fiberglass strands in it. I bought a small diameter round chisel and put it inside of the holes left behind and gave it a few good whacks with a 3 lbs sledge. This way it made a little indention around the hole and created a space for the Bondo to fill. I did a fairly...

Well, a lot happened this week. Got the shelf system built out, the Hi-Lift mounted to the hood, and the electronics for the fridge and water system all wired. Packed the rig and left on a 5,000 mile off road adventure with the dog. 45 miles outside of town and the engine seized. Sigh. New motor...

Got the mounts for the RotoPax installed, installed the dual battery, stereo, and CB... now I just need to do the wiring to connect the fuse block to the rear of the rig for the fridge and portable water pump.

Painted the hood safety orange, UV clear coated it. Then I taped off a Japanese "rising sun" war flag for the War Rig in orange, and then filled everything in with flat black. Sprayed that with matte UV clear coat. Taped it off once more to maks a blackhole sun on the other side and painted it...

I have a Gen 3 Montero. My dual battery system goes in this month and I am also installing a CB/SSB radio with a PA. Where can I run power and antenna cables between the cab and engine bay? I would rather know ahead of time before I start tearing the console/glove box apart. My old truck had a...

Added recovery points to the front and rear bumpers, cladding to cover the unibody in the rear, rock slides, a front skid plate, and the snorkel. The snorkel is directly fed into the MAF which opens up nearly two cubic feet where the airbox was. This will give me room to out in a 120 amp deep...

Added rhino liner, orange go-fast stripes to match the winch, and 2.5" flexible rubber fenders. I still need to do the paint touchups, but that might have to wait until next week.

Thank you! I'm hoping by the end of Summer that it will be a real head turner!

Bainbridge Island

I am so out of it, I have no idea how a picture of my dog got added to the last post...

Front bumper and winch are on... I had hoped to do a prerunner-style bumper, but it is pretty heavy as is, so I am holding off on adding any bars to it for now. Next up is filling the holes where all the plastic trim was mounted, spraying bedliner on there, and adding rubber fender flares... but...

Some updates. The wheel wells are cut out, and the diffs are all changed... it turns out that the salvage yard I got the XLS 4.9 LS diffs from forgot to ship the rear ones, so we had to wait for those to arrive. The bumpers are likely to be done this week, and if the snorkel arrives that can get...

Good to know!

I rolled my old, old truck in Northern Nevada in 2015 while I was going from Seattle to Santa Fe, NM almost entirely offroad. I should have died but only got a seatbelt abrasion and a little cut on my shin. This is the result:

Oh, and my dog goes with me everywhere and hates washboard roads. I am hoping the front and rear independent suspension on the Gen 3 will be a little more gentle on her offroad anxiety than the old bouncy truck I was driving before.

Thanks, Toasty! I do not go out with the intention of rock crawling, but sometimes the rocks are in my way, but the spindly CVs do give me a little concern should that happen. And thank you, everyone for the warm welcome! I have been lurking here for a while studying what I wanted to buy next...

Hello everyone! My name is Houston, I am an exploratory geologist and college professor from Seattle. My previous War Rig gave up the ghost (a 2000 F150), and I recently purchased a 2003 Montero Limited with 130,000 miles on it for $3500. Oh my gosh the turning radius is so wonderful compared...