airbats801
Member
I've been playing around with monteros for awhile now. I decided I wantred to do a 4 door for a camping, offroad/overland rig as my swb is a bit small. I've always liked the first gen look the best, so I started shopping around for a clean one. I ended up finding just what I wanted. decently low mileage and a bad engine lol. Got it for a good price and dragged it home. I personally dont like the v6 engines, mainly hate working on them, so I had planned on tossing a mpi forged g54b turbo engine in it with a toyota r150f/ax15. That was going to happen until I realized I had accidently bought the wrong transmission. some guy sold me a w59 claiming it was a r150f. I didnt realize it until I tried bolting the trans up to my bill hincher bell housing. No bueno.
At this point, I had recently aquired a 4d56 with broken rockers, and a pajero with a bad 4m40 swap for cheap. Even though the auto on the pajero was controlled by a toggle switch, I at least knew it ran ok, and figured I could come up with something else later. The 4d56 was a unknown engine at this point as I hadnt pulled the top end or ever driven in. After some looking, I gave up trying to find a r150 and just ripped the 4m40 out of the pajeroi and started the swap into my montero.
This opened up a can of worms as the pajero was out of a type 73 and they were 24 volt with a lot of parts that arent the same as the normal pajero or l400 4m40s. alternator mount is different, starter is different, rear engine plate for the starter is different, trans is lightly different. etc..
but enough of that for now, lets get back to before that.
I had decided I wanted to run 35s and old wheel vintiques smoothies. I picked up some km3 35x12.5x15 for a rocking deal from 4wheelparts. I think I paid around 940 for 5 of them. I ended up ordering the wheel vintiques, and decided I didnt like the grey they came with and wanted a more cream white. I ended up going for ford wimbledon white and sprayed them with a paint gun. They turned out pretty decent.
Next was to body lift. I ended up buying 2" spacers pre drilled from ebay then buying the hardware from a local hardware shop. That was a little fun. I did put a few small dents in the floor pan, but eventually got the body lifted.
Next was the 1994 sr rear axle I had been sitting on for like 10 years.. I tossed that in, which was a bit of a pain as you can see by my craft jack work. I still havcent hooked the compressor up yet. I also installed second gen rear springs and rear links.
af
ter that, it was a set of oem new second gen uca I managed to score off ebay, and a complete second gen ls front brake swap. I decided to go with the ls as the parts were slightly easier to find over the sr stuff. at this time I also rebuilt the rear sr calipers as they had been sitting in the weather for 8 years?
During this time, I also bought 2 first gen 2 door raiders for a arb bumper that I had assumed with a actual first gen arb bumper. I was wrong, I think it may be for a 62 series or something, but whatever, I wanted it. Sold off the 2 raiders and kept the bumper and a set of bouncy seat frames.
Before the build ever started I had started collecting other odds and ends. I had picked up 2 super winches. A 9.5 talon thats basically new with synthetic, a few extra new rolls of superwinch oem snthetic rope, and a old x9000 superwinch, and some spare contactors. I also managed to score 2 old engel 35l fridges. One is a old arb thats rebadged, then the second is a older norcold that was another rebadged engel. I originally wanted a cfx75 dometic or national luna, but I was quite happy to pick up the pair of fridges for a total of 350 bucks!
so back to the engine swap, the engine is a decent fit one the body lift is done, the automatic in it is a big tight fit though. we barely managed to get the thing in there with the angle shown below.
The 4m40 engine mounts need to be about 4 inches forward. this required cutting the mounts off the frame and moving them forward. I actually did this with the engine in as it was such a pain to install it. I managed to get the engine decently mounted, but failed to have the ac compressor installed when I welded the mounts in. I ended up making the engine a tad too low so the ac compressor bumps the steering box. I will have to raise the engine maybe a quarter inch eventually to fix it. I'll probably do this when I manual swap the gearbox.
After this, I welded in a winch plate between the frame rails. I ended up just buying a harbor freight winch plate and cutting it up and welding it in as it saved me a lot of time. The arb bumper also took a lot of cutting and welding. It is welded onto the frame, and I still need to do a few more little things before I think im 100% happy with it. I am happy how it turned out though. The welds may not be pretty, but I did it myself, and I never claimed to be a professional. It's not going anywhere and thats what counts. I can barely snake the talon winch in. I had originally planned on low mounting it into the frame or arb, but the thing is too wide for either, I had to cut a lot out of one side of the arb bumper to fit it, and after the body lift I had the arb up so high just to make it look proper. It actually turned out awesome I think, I have amazing front approach angle
imo. I also bought some 3/4 plate steel to torch out some recovery points, but I havent got around to installing those yet. THe factory hook on the passenger side has proven to be extremely strong
as of now the engine is in installed and temporary wired up, I can drive it around, but I still have lots of work to do. I have a second battery mount I have to cut off a friends parts first gen pajero and weld into my montero. I also need to decide if I wanna try and front mount the intercooler, or run the top mount. I believe I have a scooped hood I can get for it, but its pretty beat up.
other small things I had to do, was replace the tank pickup with a diesel one. I think a carbed model may have worked, but I used a second gen pajero diesel one as I had it laying around. fabbed a small mount for the fuel filter in the engine bay, installed a second gen pajero diesel radiator .
I have wired up the trans wiuth the ghetto switches yet. I bought a arduino mega to try and make a push button shifter from dxcontrols off speeduino, but I havent decided if I will even bother with that. I really just wanna manual swap it and get rid of the automatic junk. Trying to get a trans controller from a late pajero or challenger to run this is gonna be a pain.. Thats also big money as I have to ship somet hing over from the uk most likely.
I still want to mouild a rear bumper, install a dual jerry can holder. I need to put my old extended yakima roof rack on, install a 3rd house battery. I'll probably do a 100ah lithium. I will be doing some sort of solar. I need to build some drawers and a bed if possible. all the fun stuff hasnt even started yet as I still need to gnt a rear winch and buet it mechanically right. I'm also going for a TJM air locker for the front, and maybe down the road a few years, I will build a front sr axle based off toasties old design he was wanting to do on the wire years ago if I feel its needed.
The end goal is something I can sleep inside and tour/offroad in.
Oh!, almost forgot, but another small upgrade was a set of aisin manual hubs I installed. I also have second gen torsion bars if needed down the road due to weight.
I dont think I can type anymore for now. Heres a bunch of pictures, and on top of that i tossed in a few pics of my 1985 l300 4x4 van I bought thats it australia right now waiting for me to go do some touring over there.
\
At this point, I had recently aquired a 4d56 with broken rockers, and a pajero with a bad 4m40 swap for cheap. Even though the auto on the pajero was controlled by a toggle switch, I at least knew it ran ok, and figured I could come up with something else later. The 4d56 was a unknown engine at this point as I hadnt pulled the top end or ever driven in. After some looking, I gave up trying to find a r150 and just ripped the 4m40 out of the pajeroi and started the swap into my montero.
This opened up a can of worms as the pajero was out of a type 73 and they were 24 volt with a lot of parts that arent the same as the normal pajero or l400 4m40s. alternator mount is different, starter is different, rear engine plate for the starter is different, trans is lightly different. etc..
but enough of that for now, lets get back to before that.
I had decided I wanted to run 35s and old wheel vintiques smoothies. I picked up some km3 35x12.5x15 for a rocking deal from 4wheelparts. I think I paid around 940 for 5 of them. I ended up ordering the wheel vintiques, and decided I didnt like the grey they came with and wanted a more cream white. I ended up going for ford wimbledon white and sprayed them with a paint gun. They turned out pretty decent.
Next was to body lift. I ended up buying 2" spacers pre drilled from ebay then buying the hardware from a local hardware shop. That was a little fun. I did put a few small dents in the floor pan, but eventually got the body lifted.
Next was the 1994 sr rear axle I had been sitting on for like 10 years.. I tossed that in, which was a bit of a pain as you can see by my craft jack work. I still havcent hooked the compressor up yet. I also installed second gen rear springs and rear links.
af
ter that, it was a set of oem new second gen uca I managed to score off ebay, and a complete second gen ls front brake swap. I decided to go with the ls as the parts were slightly easier to find over the sr stuff. at this time I also rebuilt the rear sr calipers as they had been sitting in the weather for 8 years?
During this time, I also bought 2 first gen 2 door raiders for a arb bumper that I had assumed with a actual first gen arb bumper. I was wrong, I think it may be for a 62 series or something, but whatever, I wanted it. Sold off the 2 raiders and kept the bumper and a set of bouncy seat frames.
Before the build ever started I had started collecting other odds and ends. I had picked up 2 super winches. A 9.5 talon thats basically new with synthetic, a few extra new rolls of superwinch oem snthetic rope, and a old x9000 superwinch, and some spare contactors. I also managed to score 2 old engel 35l fridges. One is a old arb thats rebadged, then the second is a older norcold that was another rebadged engel. I originally wanted a cfx75 dometic or national luna, but I was quite happy to pick up the pair of fridges for a total of 350 bucks!
so back to the engine swap, the engine is a decent fit one the body lift is done, the automatic in it is a big tight fit though. we barely managed to get the thing in there with the angle shown below.
The 4m40 engine mounts need to be about 4 inches forward. this required cutting the mounts off the frame and moving them forward. I actually did this with the engine in as it was such a pain to install it. I managed to get the engine decently mounted, but failed to have the ac compressor installed when I welded the mounts in. I ended up making the engine a tad too low so the ac compressor bumps the steering box. I will have to raise the engine maybe a quarter inch eventually to fix it. I'll probably do this when I manual swap the gearbox.
After this, I welded in a winch plate between the frame rails. I ended up just buying a harbor freight winch plate and cutting it up and welding it in as it saved me a lot of time. The arb bumper also took a lot of cutting and welding. It is welded onto the frame, and I still need to do a few more little things before I think im 100% happy with it. I am happy how it turned out though. The welds may not be pretty, but I did it myself, and I never claimed to be a professional. It's not going anywhere and thats what counts. I can barely snake the talon winch in. I had originally planned on low mounting it into the frame or arb, but the thing is too wide for either, I had to cut a lot out of one side of the arb bumper to fit it, and after the body lift I had the arb up so high just to make it look proper. It actually turned out awesome I think, I have amazing front approach angle
imo. I also bought some 3/4 plate steel to torch out some recovery points, but I havent got around to installing those yet. THe factory hook on the passenger side has proven to be extremely strong
as of now the engine is in installed and temporary wired up, I can drive it around, but I still have lots of work to do. I have a second battery mount I have to cut off a friends parts first gen pajero and weld into my montero. I also need to decide if I wanna try and front mount the intercooler, or run the top mount. I believe I have a scooped hood I can get for it, but its pretty beat up.
other small things I had to do, was replace the tank pickup with a diesel one. I think a carbed model may have worked, but I used a second gen pajero diesel one as I had it laying around. fabbed a small mount for the fuel filter in the engine bay, installed a second gen pajero diesel radiator .
I have wired up the trans wiuth the ghetto switches yet. I bought a arduino mega to try and make a push button shifter from dxcontrols off speeduino, but I havent decided if I will even bother with that. I really just wanna manual swap it and get rid of the automatic junk. Trying to get a trans controller from a late pajero or challenger to run this is gonna be a pain.. Thats also big money as I have to ship somet hing over from the uk most likely.
I still want to mouild a rear bumper, install a dual jerry can holder. I need to put my old extended yakima roof rack on, install a 3rd house battery. I'll probably do a 100ah lithium. I will be doing some sort of solar. I need to build some drawers and a bed if possible. all the fun stuff hasnt even started yet as I still need to gnt a rear winch and buet it mechanically right. I'm also going for a TJM air locker for the front, and maybe down the road a few years, I will build a front sr axle based off toasties old design he was wanting to do on the wire years ago if I feel its needed.
The end goal is something I can sleep inside and tour/offroad in.
Oh!, almost forgot, but another small upgrade was a set of aisin manual hubs I installed. I also have second gen torsion bars if needed down the road due to weight.
I dont think I can type anymore for now. Heres a bunch of pictures, and on top of that i tossed in a few pics of my 1985 l300 4x4 van I bought thats it australia right now waiting for me to go do some touring over there.
\
Last edited:
