bryAWD's Gen 2.5 - 2000 Endeavor

bryAWD

Observer
It's been a month or so since my last update, so here goes!


My CarFax states that the camshaft seal(s) were replaced about 8,000 mi. ago, but I'm thinking it was the front one because my rear ones were leaking like crazy.

I started out by replacing the passenger side, which was easily reached from the top of the engine with the air intake pipe removed for elbow room. The driver's side had to be done with a combo of below and above the truck, but mostly from below. My forearms are still a bit sore from being so squished between everything. I was able to do the driver's side without removal of anything else.

I purchased some OEM Mitsu seals from the dealer, $2.09 each with commercial pricing.

I believe they were the original seals. Pretty dry-rotted and cracked. The Mitsu seals are very nice and soft and feel well-lubricated. Definitely higher quality than a standard O-ring.
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I cleaned up the metal housing the o-ring sits in and put a fine bead of black RTV on the round flange to ensure a good seal. Same goes for the other side. No more leaking cam seals! I also did an oil change when I got the truck using Valvoline Maxlife, and it was making the lifters tick like crazy. I got some awesome Brad Penn partial synthetic oil that I run in my other Mitsu and it has quieted it down dramatically!

---

With that done, I decided to pretty up the engine bay a bit, so I turned to the plastic engine cover that had oil stains, scuffs, and a peeling OEM sticker with leftover adhesive.

A buddy of mine at work has been experimenting with hydrodipping, which is basically water transfer printing. It's like vinyl wrap, but it can be applied to nearly anything. The engine cover was going to be my test project!


Cleaning the piece

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Scuffing and sanding

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Plastic primer and tan base coat

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The pattern that I will be using for the cover... Wood grain son! It's very thin, like tissue paper

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Here is right after dipping it, no clear coat or "touch ups"

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I used good ol' Ace Hardware brand Enamel Clear Coat

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I had to make the MITSUBISHI pop again, so I layed red vinyl on the diamonds and black carbon fiber vinyl on the lettering...

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After letting it all dry for a few days, I installed it back onto the truck.

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I also signed up on Fuelly.com and have been tracking the gas mileage. I've been getting 16mpg in city, with 31" tires! I'm pretty happy with that, and I think it will rise a little bit from there!

Oh, here's a video of a piece getting hydrodipped at a professional location. I did it in a tupperware tub with warm water and a spray can of the "activator".

 
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dorifto-san

Creeper
ENGINEBAY.jpg

Kinda off topic, but I just noticed on your intake manifold that this vacuum nipple leads to somewhere, on my montero it is just pinched off! Do you happen to know where this vacuum line leads to? Thanks!
Also, where in Colorado are you? I think I've seen you around the springs before!
 

bryAWD

Observer
Kinda off topic, but I just noticed on your intake manifold that this vacuum nipple leads to somewhere, on my montero it is just pinched off! Do you happen to know where this vacuum line leads to? Thanks!
Also, where in Colorado are you? I think I've seen you around the springs before!

That should be the vacuum line to the fuel pressure regulator. That's what it shows in the factory service manual: http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x406/brytsi/vacuum-lines-montero_zps37639299.gif
 
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dorifto-san

Creeper
Well crap.

I'm pretty sure that is important. -____-

Yeah I think I've seen you around Motor City before, your montero is super clean! See ya around man!
 

bryAWD

Observer
It has been a while since I've made any updates to my thread on the progress of 'Monte, so here we go!

The diagram on the fuse box cover was completely faded away so I wrapped that in some carbon fiber vinyl. Little touches. Did this back in Dec. 2014.

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Decided to take my running boards off before the trails did. I had some silver metallic vinyl that was a perfect match to the factory paint to cover up the holes left behind. Late March '15.

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All polished, shined, and sealed for the upcoming rainy season. Early April '15.

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Finally got around to replacing the wheel seals, rotors, and pads on the front. Went with Wagner ceramic pads. Ordered the Wagner rotor to go with it, but the holes for the ABS wheel were not even tapped! Went to the auto store and bought "BrakeBest" rotors which had the threaded holes and honestly a much better surface finish also.

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Lots of rain and hail this Spring. Monte wasn't phased.

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Little bit of offroad and camping action. It was my first time with Monte out on the trail, and the truck performed very well!

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That's all for now, I have a couple more things, but I'll save that for another post. ;)
 

bryAWD

Observer
My driver's side halogen headlight bulb burnt out a few months ago and after reading billygoat's HID retrofit thread, an upgrade was definitely in order.

It's time for bright light with a proper cut-off! These pieces from HOT SYSTEM are very nice, the glass is very smooth and crystal clear and I tested the solenoid function on both many times to ensure my high beams would work.
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The Innovited kit came with everything I needed except for a wiring harness to connect to my battery. Sorry for the blurry pic! The ballasts are super slim and come with nice little brackets. I modified this one so I could mount it how I wanted.
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Removed headlights and seperated the housing from the glass faces. I used a headgun and kept it moving, evenly heating along the seam. Mitsu has the toughest butyl glue I have ever seen, when it cools, it hardens to cement! Also, unscrew and remove the factory halogen "shield" from the housing, only two screws.
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Painted the chrome projector shrouds black
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Here it is, all threaded and mounted into the factory headlight. No drilling or gluing required. No instructions included with these projectors, but I found a video from TRS on how to install this type of D2S bi-xenon projector fastening system.
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Now with the shroud installed. Make sure to take your time and align the clips on the shroud with the opening. This was a little sketchy, but they clipped on using "gentle force".
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You can order LED angel eyes and they will fit in the little trim ring if you want. I did not.
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Time to seal it back up with 3M butyl. This is a thick roll, so I just pulled it out nice and thin to make a thinner bead. Scraping the old stuff out is a bear, use heat to help. I scraped *most* of it out of the track, but definitely didn't get it all. You can see here my butyl bead is already put in and ready to be re-heated evenly. Once nice and warm all around the perimeter, I pressed the glass back on and locked in the clips.
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Mounting them in the truck, I modified the factory dust boots to fit the larger D2 plug. D2R, D2S bulb systems are considered the true HID bulb and ballast system.
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Back in the truck, but I couldn't actually use them at this point. I needed a harness that connects to the battery to the rest of the system! I called The Retrofit Source and they offer a premium harness that is designed to plug and play into everything else I bought.... *except* the high beam solenoid plug that comes from the HOT SYSTEM projector. I just soldiered the connections together. This harness eliminates any studdering, flickering, dimming when using turn signals, etc. for completely smooth, reliable power and function.

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Here you can see where I mounted the "MotoControl" box, part of the battery harness. This is what ensures smooth, flicker-free operation. You can also see where I mounted the driver's side ballast. I ran the harness wiring to the passenger side along with the factory harness in front of the radiator so you see nothing when you open the hood.
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Aaand they work! The little plastic gear stripped out on my headlight adjusters, so I had to take them out each time and twist with pliers until I got the beam just right. Here's a shot at the cut off from the truck 26' away from the wall. Very sharp, especially once I got it dialed in.
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I'm very happy with the end-result! No problems seeing at night now!

Here's the list of stuff I used to switch over:
Innovited AC 35W HID Xenon Conversion Kit (I chose 6000k bulbs)
HOT SYSTEM H4 Projector Adaptor with Shroud
3M 08620 Window-Weld 1/4" x 15' Round Ribbon Sealer Roll (did not buy, I had some on-hand)
MotoControl Bixenon: H4/9003 Battery Harness
Helpful projector install video, about 2 minutes into it. video from TRS.

Pretty fun mod, but I'm glad its all done and together now. :)
 
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nwoods

Expedition Leader
Wow nice job! Would you be willing to create a new, seperate post for "HID Conversion" for easier search in the future?
 

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