A Cheap and Cheerful Build - Geoff

[coffeegoat]

No worries, it sounds like it's going to have everything I need, it'll certainly shorten the ordering list.

When it comes in I'll get all the parts written up for the next guy.

 

[KarmannMarco]

Love the organized and documented way of doing your work! Im in the market for a 3rd gen to add to my collection. After doing all this work on my 2nd gens twice I think I'll bring my future 3rd gen to you since your a short hour and a half drive from me lol.

 

[Swift_45a]

2001 Montero Limited with 95k for about $3750 (feel free to tell me I overpaid, this way hopefully the next guy won't ).

That's actually very reasonable, even cheap, considering the low mileage. The interior isn't that bad and can be remedied with a few hours, I ripped the interior on my SR after giving up trying to repair my sunroof leak. Ended up just removing carpet and covering with tarp.

Gen 3s with 150K+ still go for 3k+ around here, I decided to just keep working on my 96 SR as a surf truck/overlanding and got a Q45 as a daily and couldn't be happier; I'm not fond of daily driving these large trucks on the streets anymore given how bad people drive (especially in Denver!) and my inability to maneuver out of the situation without risking a flip-over or some other wreck. I'd hate to go down Sheridan or some other major street in one of these with a lift and 35s.

Nice truck, I look forward to seeing what you do with it.

What kind of engineer? I met a lot of mechanical and electrical engineers in various forms of motorsports, and its always a schadenfreude(r) pleasure to see how OC'd they get above every little detail. I remember one EE blowing countless hours tracing a wire short (on what would be a race chassis in less than a year) just so he could get the OEM rear light up on his 25 year old stereo only to replace it soon after with a modern on.

I saw your part list and your mileage; I'm not too familiar with the 6g75 (is that when they went in these cars? or is the SOHC 6g74?) but valve stem seals are a must on these trucks, you're likely to fail visual in Denver just for the smoky idle, I know Boulder will fail you for that alone.

We should go over landing if I bring my truck to CO, too many jeeps on the trails over there for my tastes. :bike_rider:

 

[nwoods]

I didn't see a replacement EGR valve on your list. They are $7. Get one.

I didn't see spark plugs either, or a alternator and battery. These are things that have a limited lifespan....

 

[coffeegoat]

Spark plugs are on there, denso 5303, and I already did the battery (Oreilly Super Start Platinum).

The EGR valves I saw are like $55-60, am I looking at the wrong part?

I'm a confused engineer, materials/mechanical/welding by training, Fuel Cell Engineer by current employment, you should check out my pressure brake bleeding system if you're curious how OCD I am :Wow1: Who knew all you needed to bleed brakes was an old mountain bike tube..

 

[coffeegoat]

Got the Gasket Kit in the other day, here's the parts list for the next guy:

MD975370 - Gasket Kit, Engine Overhaul Includes:

1 MD183239 Gasket, Oil Screen
1 MD302514 Gasket, Oil Filter bracket
1 MD188352 Gasket, Water Pump
2 MR561678 Gasket, Intake Manifold
1 MD149764 Gasket, ERG Pipe
1 MD199282 Gasket, Surge Tank
1 MD308723 Gasket, ?
1 MD308724 Gasket, ?
2 1305A176 Gasket, ?
1 MD372249 Oil Seal
1 MD372251 Oil Seal
2 MD372536 Oil Seal
2 MR281721 Something in Japanese...
2 MD342390 Gasket, Cylinder head
1 MD050317 Gasket, Oil drain plug
1 MD075834 O-Ring (9)
1 MD161631 O-ring
1 MD030763 O-ring, Water Pipe
2 MD030764 O-ring, Water Pipe
12 MD184303 Seal, Valve Stem
6 MD198128 Oil, Seal
12 MD307342 Seal, Vlave Steam
2 MN176208 O-ring
2 MD303148 Gasket, Rocker Cover


Hopefully no typos..

 

[coffeegoat]

It's done! Well mostly anyways - I've got an oil leak to track down, but more on that later.

I stripped the truck all the way down to the block:


And all the way back together:


I replaced most of the seals (camshaft front and back, head gasket, exhaust manifold, manifold-cat, front main, valve, etc etc etc), as well as lapping the valves, cleaning the entire heads(including lifters, replaced the tensioner/waterpump/timing belt, plugs-wires, fan belt, etc. Basically the whole shebang. Overall the process went relatively smoothly, there were a few things missing from my engine overhaul gasket kit, I'm not sure if I can count how many times I went back to the auto parts store, and the whole process took about 1 month working nights and weekends when I had time.

I've got a full write up in process with dozens of pictures that I'll get uploaded here soon, but generally, if you're a mediocre mechanic like myself and you're willing to be paitent and meticulous it's entirely possible to do all the work yourself. The only experts I brought in were a muffler shop to weld up a crack in my exhaust manifold.

I've got two outstanding items that I could use some help on if anyone has any ideas:
1 - I've got an oil leak, it's on the drivers side, and appears to be somewhere behind the AC compressor/power steering pump. From what I can see, all of my seals are dry (front main, front cam shaft) and I don't see any leakage around the head gasket so I'm not exactly sure where it's coming from any ideas/diagnostics would be welcome before I tear into it again to try and find it...
2 - I've still got a minor lifter tic, I cleaned all the lifters, replaced one broken one, but everything else seemed ok. My plan is to drive it for a bit and see how it does, perhaps it'll be fine, if not I might be pulling everything again to fix it, I'm also not looking forward to that...

In other news - new tires are due to arrive Thursday, some Toyo 265/75/16 Open Country, hooray for new rubber.

Oh, if you want a sneak peak of the in progress write up, the raw stuff is here.

 

[coffeegoat]

Just ordered some Bilstein 4600's from 4Wheel parts - $405, originally I thought they had a crazy deal at $269 but they called me back and apparently the front struts are ridiculously expensive... oh well.

And the new tires are on, Costco now mounts/balances tires for 15/per, which is better than I found elsewhere.

 

[bryAWD]

Nice work and I took a peek at the write-up. Very impressive and it will be much appreciated years down the road to keep these trucks alive. Glad to see more Colorado Montero guys on here!

 

[All-Terrain]

Just ordered some Bilstein 4600's from 4Wheel parts - $405, originally I thought they had a crazy deal at $269 but they called me back and apparently the front struts are ridiculously expensive... oh well.

And the new tires are on, Costco now mounts/balances tires for 15/per, which is better than I found elsewhere.

Which part numbers did you order?

 

[coffeegoat]

I got:

2 x BIL24-062725
2 x BIL24-062718

 

[DSouth]

I'll look forward to hearing your thoughts about how the 4600's ride.

 

[coffeegoat]

OK, so I know I have a bunch of updating to do, suspension to install, and pictures to post etc... But I didn't feel like working on the computer so I finally got around to changing my transmission fluid with SP-III last night.

HOLY COW - what a difference! I know it shifted rough before, and the old stuff looked pretty gross, but I would have never guess the tremendous and instantaneous difference. I mean when you change engine oil the engine usually sounds a bit happier afterwards, but this felt more noticeable than my full engine rebuild.

I think it's going to go on my list as the best cost/performance improvement item you can do to your monty.

 

[coffeegoat]

This is the end of the refresh tutorial hopefully will cover everything all the way down to the head gaskets hopefully I don't run into any major problems. You can find to original google doc here, and my parts list here.

Specialized tools we'll be using:
Large Torque wrench - the crankshaft bolt requires a ton of torque, way bigger than anything I had in the garage
Small Impact drive - technically not required, but it sped the process up dramatically

OK here where we start, this is a 2001 Mitsubishi Montero, 96k on the odometer and relatively good mechanical shape. I'll be replacing the timing belt, water pump, head gasket, valve seals and anything else we find.


First thing is to pull the battery, easy, couple of tire downs and out of comes.


Next up is the air box and filter assembly. Again, pretty easy, looks like my filter hasn't been changed recently...


Pulling the air bad really opens up the passenger side of the engine bay. Notice you'd need to pull the battery and air box to replace the front suspension.


The intake and throttle body are pretty scummy, whenever I disconnect the battery and the computer is recalculating I get the stalling problem at low revs. Hopefully, cleaning this up will solve this problem.


We're going to have to pull the radiator in a bit, well technically we don't have to but it will make life easier, so we'll want to drain the system. The valve is beyond the driver's front tire, so pull it and open up the valve. Unfortunately, the handle on mine is broken off. I grabbed it with some pliers, I'll glue a new game on before I put it back in. The valve doesn't need to be fully removed to drain, but you do need to pull the radiator cap.

The correct disposal technique for coolant is actually top flush it down the toilet. Ethylene glycol is poisonous to animals but biodegradable in conventional water treatment plants.


Pull the radiator grill, again -not necessary but convenient. It's held on by a number of little clips, they work like electrical connectors, squeeze the lever and carefully ease the panel off.


Next, pull the radiator hoses top and bottom. I found that lineman's pliers work very nice to squeeze the hose clamps. Be prepared for a flood after you pull the hoses, there will likely be a bunch of coolant in them.

Next pull the top radiator brackets and disconnect the blower shroud. The blower shroud is actually in several pieces and can be disassembled in place for removal.


Disconnect the transmission heat exchanger lines to the bottom of the radiator. Drain them into a suitable receptacle for safe disposal. The radiator should lift straight out easily, it's going to drip oil and coolant everywhere though, so put it on some cardboard or something.


Next disconnect the engine fan, you can pull the blades of separately from the hub or you can just snake a wrench behind the blades and pull off the assembly. I just did the assembly...

 

[coffeegoat]

Continued -

Tada, the fan belt, and it's only taken 30 minutes so far.


OK, we've made great easy progress, now comes the tedious bit - disconnecting the wiring harness. Get some painters tape and a paint pen and start labeling and disconnecting. Pick a method and stick to it, I numbered paint pen and tape separately, I wish I just did a single numbering approach. That way you could tape one end and write on the other end. Take your time, this was a tedious hour of my life I'll never get back.


Hooray, everything is disconnected, and a only broke one connector, be careful and you might get away without breaking any. I'll put the connector splicing repair at the end of the document.


We're in a section where you can pull a variety of things to move forward, I picked pulling the thermostat housing, again prepare for a small flood.


Use a half inch ratchet to un-tension the fan belt and remove it carefully.


Pull the top of the air intake, mine looks pretty dirty, I may have a bad egr valve. Be sure you label the vacuum lines, there are a bunch of them.


Pull the next section of the air intake, vacuum as you go, my engine had a bunch of wire wrap pieces and crap scattered around. We don't want that stuff in our intake.


Pull the fuel injectors and fuel manifold, be careful with the electronics, the injectors and the fuel lines. I disconnected the fuel lines up near the firewall, it will leak gas so be sure you have a way to catch it or plug the lines. Pull the coolant line that goes to the back of the engine, it is held in by an o ring and will drain coolant everywhere again...


Pull the last section of intake manifold, more all the crap between the cylinder banks, clean this up so you don't get it in your engine.


Pull the spark plugs wires and label the cylinders so you don't miss write later.