1984 Montero g54b questions

[84monty]

I recently wrecked my Prelude and had to pick up something on the cheap. One of my moms friends had this little treasure just sitting in their garage:

1984 montero 5 spd. Good thing I got to this first, The owners were going to donate it to charity!

It doesn't have a ding on it, appears to have been garaged since the 90s, Immaculate condition for a stock vehicle nearly 30 years old. ... It has 92000 miles on the original 2.6L g54b, and I have officially been bit with Montero fever. I really dig the look of the truck, its pretty rare, roomy, and I think has potential to be a great Weekend Warrior. Ive never owned a 4wd before, but I love wheelin with buddys and now that I have a capable rig, I want to achieve an acceptable level of 'wheelability' ... Basically I have really noticed the lack of power supposedly common with the g54b... Heading up to tahoe I was pissing off other drivers cause I had it pegged in third and could only do 40-45 mph uphill. Plus I know Im going to need a little more performance if I want to do any kind of wheeling... I was wondering where to start, if there is a way to gain horsepower with these motors without pulling the engine and doing a complete rebuild? I dont have the facilities or knowledge (yet) to do something like that. Im new to this, the only mods Ive ever made to an engine was intake and headers for my honda...

Im basically asking for some tips for a n00b. My next imprpvement will be tires and a 2-4" lift, but in the meantime Id like to see if there are any tweaks people out there know about that can squeeze some performance out of these motors? Or if its even worth it...Where should I start??

Also: Does anyone know of a site that sells replacement parts for these cars? I need a new shift tower and the pick and pulls around here dont have any 1st gen monteros.

 

[off-roader]

Nice rig.

I see you're in California. There's a guy in Placerville who 'stocks' a variety of gen I parts. He does frequent the yards in his area for them.

Also the 2.6 Mikuni carb is usually a bear to maintain unless you understand how it works. FWIW, it aint no Weber/Holly carb that's for sure.

There's an Factory Service Manual you can download from mitsubishilinks.com. Get it. It's worth it's weight in gold.

As for making it wheelable... there are a number of upgrades you can move forward with but I recommend getting that engine running right first. Then move on to the other upgrades.

 

[kuroi]

I have an 86 with the 4g54b and it has been a TANK! 220k miles on original engine with years of off road abuse and it finally started blowing oil smoke this last month. As far as power like you mentioned they are a bit lacking in the top end but the g54b has plenty of grunt for off road in stock trim, and you will be amazed at what these little things can do with a just a good set of tires. If you want more power out of it you have a couple of choices, one is to hunt down the parts to convert it to the TBI turbo setup that came in the Mitsubishi Starion, this route is good because you will be able to get it reffed and smog legal. Another option is to do a carb swap, the g54b is very under carbed and using something bigger will ake up your "big" four quite a bit. Here are some guys who do stuff for the 2.6 http://www.racetep.com/montero.html

Here is a good link as well http://www.4x4wire.com/mitsubishi/tech/turbo_monty/

 

[84monty]

Can you tell me how to reach the guy in Placerville? I live in jackson, that would be only a 45 min. drive. they got an 86 at the picknpull in richmond, thats a 3 hr drive so if I could contact him, that would be great.

I have already downloaded the service manual (what a gem) and have read about the problems/maintenance difficulty with the mikuni. I have no experience with carburetors, and the mikuni seems to be working fine (vacuum hose had a hole in it but thats it) but would upgrading to a webber make a noticeable difference? How much would that affect mpg?

I think the engine is running fine, it starts right up and idles nicely, and is fine on the flats. but does that 40-45 max speed uphill on paved roads sound accurate for this motor? Or might there be a problem? Maybe Im just so used to my honda but heading up hwy 50 goin 40-45 mph is gonna make for a lot of upset drivers..

off-roader, what are the number of upgrades you speak of ? I believe the engine is in fine shape, this is a single owner truck and the people were old and I dont believed pushed it too hard.

Thanks for your responses guys, and Im also trying to set up an account on the wire, but there seems to be a problem with the approval...so can only post here for now.

 

[scrubber3]

First thing I'd do is finish peeling the rest of that pin stripe off. lol

Nice looking rig man. Wish you luck!:coffeedrink:

 

[84monty]

its already off, looked incredibly lame.

 

[off-roader]

Can you tell me how to reach the guy in Placerville? I live in jackson, that would be only a 45 min. drive. they got an 86 at the picknpull in richmond, thats a 3 hr drive so if I could contact him, that would be great.

I have already downloaded the service manual (what a gem) and have read about the problems/maintenance difficulty with the mikuni. I have no experience with carburetors, and the mikuni seems to be working fine (vacuum hose had a hole in it but thats it) but would upgrading to a webber make a noticeable difference? How much would that affect mpg?

I think the engine is running fine, it starts right up and idles nicely, and is fine on the flats. but does that 40-45 max speed uphill on paved roads sound accurate for this motor? Or might there be a problem? Maybe Im just so used to my honda but heading up hwy 50 goin 40-45 mph is gonna make for a lot of upset drivers..

off-roader, what are the number of upgrades you speak of ? I believe the engine is in fine shape, this is a single owner truck and the people were old and I dont believed pushed it too hard.

Thanks for your responses guys, and Im also trying to set up an account on the wire, but there seems to be a problem with the approval...so can only post here for now.

I'll send you a PM on the guy in Placerville. Edit: Nevermind. I see you found him....

There's also car-part.com for used parts from a plethora of pick-n-pulls around the nation. Edit: Ahhh I see that was mentioned there as well...

Unfortunately you can't upgrade to the Weber since you're in Cali. It won't pass the visual inspection or the smog test here.

You can swap a turbo 2.6L motor in from a Starion/Conquest.
You can upgrade to a 4.3L v6 Chevy motor.
You can even throw in a 3.0L v6 from other montero's.
You can possibly upgrade to the twin turbo setup from a GT3000/Stealth.
The list goes on and on...

The 'wire approval is done manually due to the number of bot's registering and then putting up spam posts but I think you've got that resolved for now. Who are you registered as there? Edit: I see you there now as well.

 

[xped]

Turbocharging is the best power upgrade you can do to the g54b. I turbo'd my mighty max years ago and loved it ever since. I have a spare turbo motor if you're interested. Also try www.racetep.com they have a turbo kit and sell weber carbs for the g54b.