Pajero Mk2 SWB MIVEC Build

[CharlieNorth]

Nice progress Charlie, I bet you are glad you cut that header . I love the speed wrenches BTW. Keep up the good work!

Yah, I like the old school wrenches, especially when dealing with rusty threads. Over the year some welded in nuts rusted up and easy enough to feel the warning and run a tap through to clean stuff up. Once clean I either use an antiseize or Locktight to preserve the threads.

I almost welded the header back in a few months ago. Damn glad I have not done so. A few days ago the AC condenser was interfering with the back side of the bolts that was retaining the panel, it was a good time to pull the panel and get a better view when fitting this condenser. Three of it's mounts got changed and determining what needed to be done was a whole lot easier being able to look down from the top.

 

[CharlieNorth]

A bit more today, starting to get the front end closed out.

 

[CharlieNorth]

Long day, I disassembled the front bumper structure. The left side is all young parts, the frame bracket has a part lable on it still as do other pieces. I think the right is original. Whoever worked on this in the past has never heard of antisieze compound. I chose to either brake 10mm fasteners or cut them with an abrasive wheel if I could get at them. In particular the mounting brackets I then mounted in the Bridgeport and bore down through the bolts with an end mill followed with chasing the threads with a tap. Guess I should have snapped a few images.
But I have everything hung in place, I feel I need to move the left headlight inboard a few MM, the corner light does not want to click into place.
The aging but wonderful Hella 2000 are just clamped in place where the factory fogs originally mounted. The fogs will be mounted under the bumper, hope to start those brackets tomorrow.
I am going to reinstall the grill guard, bull bar back on this now that it's mounting is restored, it is out in the snow, I will bring that in tomorrow. Once it is set in place I will trial fit the driving lights outboard a bit, need to see where I want them.

 

[CharlieNorth]

Still a few hours before sunrise but I have one fog propped in place. I kind of like it but I can not run the factory under guard with them here, well unless I rework the guard around these.
It is my intention these get removed for off road driving. I am going to look at mounting them outboard of the frame.

 

[CharlieNorth]

Now that the sun is coming up here I am seeing the light, all right I'll shut up.
I did a trial fitting with the fogs outboard a bit, A few issues, past experience when running rallys the lights in front of the wheels can not be kept clean.
Other issue I see is they are mounting lower and in the case of them being in the inner of these positions they are well below the underside of the chassis. Granted in recent years the state plows to roads during a storm where in the past they waited till it stopped snowing till they came out. This made going out to dinner enjoyable since I got to drive in 12 to 18 inch snow, generally rutted from a few semi rigs that are still out.

Other issue is the factory wiring for these lights will not reach these outer positions.

 

[PacS14]

Maybe gen 2.5 bumper end caps that have the fog lights built in and then just replace factory fog lights with better aftermarket units that fit?

 

[CharlieNorth]

The 2.5 fogs are just toys, too small, granted projector type could be retrofitted. These amber fogs are factory original to this rig and were originally mounted top of bumper where I originally placed the Hellas.
I have mounted Hella projector driving and fogs on BMW motorcycles, They are toys compared to these lights. The projector driving light put light out a hundred feet or so, these lights I run light up a half mile ahead. These Mitsu fogs cast a superb flat beam, as good as any light from the seventies.
I still have a number of new projector lamps on my shelves, unless I gave them away.

 

[Toasty]

The 2.5 fogs are just toys, too small, granted projector type could be retrofitted. These amber fogs are factory original to this rig and were originally mounted top of bumper where I originally placed the Hellas.
I have mounted Hella projector driving and fogs on BMW motorcycles, They are toys compared to these lights. The projector driving light put light out a hundred feet or so, these lights I run light up a half mile ahead. These Mitsu fogs cast a superb flat beam, as good as any light from the seventies.
I still have a number of new projector lamps on my shelves, unless I gave them away.

The 2.5 fog lights are projectors but good luck finding any without the broken outer glass, have you used the Wagner yellow glass sealed beams Charlie? I'd like to French a pair into my front bumper, they're readily available and cheap to replace when they ultimately get broken just don't know if they're actually useful for seeing the stripes in the rain.

 

[CharlieNorth]

In all honesty I have never bought a sealed beam light for a vehicle. That is in 51 years I have never bought a sealed beam.
If I were to do as you are thinking, I would look at buying a pair of gen 2.5 headlights in France. They might have a yellow guard over the bulb, but then I have a number of yellow H1 and H4 lamps that I bought on ebay from an oversea seller's closeout. I have seen yellow HID bulbs, these were clear glass but put out a yellow spectrum.
Myself. I run white lights, even my fog lights of choice as seen on my road car. This has all 100 W lamps with very good beam patterns. The world is daylight a half mile in front on highs.

 

[CharlieNorth]

I need to scan photos from the film days, My Turbo monti ran the driving lights that are going on the Pajero now but with these spot lights up on the Thule rack overhead. These Super Oscar spots put light a mile down the road. I loved them when I used to run highways all night at high speed. They sure did not work when plowing.

 

[CharlieNorth]

Adam, as a followup on your thought of French headlights, those will more than likely not be sealed beam, they should be rather good quality replaceable bulb lamps with a very good beam pattern. Probably work very well for your need.
Some of them ran a yellow capsule over the bulb.
Do a search for "yellow h4 bulb 100w" Look for Hella, Osram or one of the other top level bulbs. Try these in your factory lamps, preferably G 2.5 lights. Probably be $50 or less with no fabrication needed.
FWIW all my vehicles run additional relays allowing full voltage to the bulbs. This Pajero build has fan cooled LED bulbs as my wife's Galant VR4 is running now. Her car will light the night as well. Euro headlights and Cibie drivers.

 

[CharlieNorth]

Here is where I intend to mount the winch relay. After having a relay fail to the on position many years back that smoked the winch as well as the SR's battery, Luckily the alternator survived but towing a new to me boat home three hours in the dark only on the alternator is not a heartwarming feeling. Especially with the fuel gauge swinging lower than I have seen it before and an hour to go with no other gas out there.
So this time I will utilize a cutoff switch to the winch and jump cable connector that will be up front as well. The power cable for these will be off the starter since I do not want 5' of cable wrapping around behind the engine.

The brackets for the Hella's are now bolted in place, these well come off and get cleaned and preservative applied so they will be happy for another 20+ years. Not that I will last that long.

And I solved the poor fitting corner light, Removed the outer headlight bracket and moved in inward 6mm, welded, then painted and the light fits sweet now. This looks to be the finish of the swap from round lights to the 2.5 lights. My reasoning is there are no longer any real good 7" round lights on the market.

 

[Toasty]

Thanks for that info, diving deeper now.

 

[CharlieNorth]

Starting to power some systems up for the first time, oh it is nice to have good hand warmers again.
Even clicked the starter for the first time.

 

[CharlieNorth]

A bit more done, I am at a point to get the wiring back in my mind, it is nice to be checking systems and circuits out. I setup, propped up both of the factory fog lights and plugged them in for the first time, these will be nice.

Got to check things like the transmission safety switch, some previous high caliber mechanic welded the shift arm onto the transmission shaft. I have no clue if I have a good transmission or not since I consider it too risky to drop the valvebody with the transmission not on a work stand. But the switch works in all positions, best I can tell at least. And dang are the little backup lights in the tail lights underwhelming. I have a plan for this though.
One aspect I like under the hood that I truly do not like in our Monteros is the battery location. This Pajero had dual batteries and I chose to use the rear battery tray. I intend to use the hardpoint for the front battery to mount the air compressor.

I am now at the point I need to get serious and start building the headers for this, ahh I can finish the radiator first though.