Pitchblack Rally Recce Raider Build

[irish44j]

Headed back to my (almost empty) office today since I'm one of the 4 senior analysts, and we're taking 2-week turns for a pair of us to cover for our 50-person department. So took my "essential" (hah) letter from the government and headed into the totally-strange DC beltway rush hour commute this morning..Hmm my speedo must be broken since I was definitely not going over the 55mph speed limit

A few little things this evening:

Replaced the front light bulbs for the parking lights and turn signals, cleaned up the housings, put some weatherstrip seal on them, and epoxied the tabs that hold the screw clips in, which were all cracked...

Was cleaning up in the garage last night and came upon this old Bazooka Tube that I got in like 1990 for my old Integra......so period-correct (with a turquise Jensen amp!) and i think it may have to go in the Raider lol

Oh, so decided to try to disassemble the exhaust, which I took off in one large piece, basically (this exhaust came off the crappy Blue raider, and is in better shape than the one off the black Raider). The bolts, of course, all seized....got a couple off with heat, PB blaster, and big impact gun. Had to snap one stud off and drill it out, which was annoying..

Cleaned all the threads on all the sections once it was apart...

One of the exhausts had a pretty-new O2 sensor (must have been pretty new because it wasn't rusted on, and I was able to get it off easily with no heat or PB....so I'll just use it).

So, that's all apart. My plan will be to use the stock front section and cat, and fab up a muffler that has a bit more growl than this stock-ish one.

 

[irish44j]

Got a few parts in today I was waiting for to (almost) get this engine ready to drop into the truck in the near future.

Rockauto had a closeout on various belts so I picked up a few of each for about 10 bucks total.

And a new clutch slave cylinder hose since the old one looked ready to die.

Also my fuel injector refresh stuff came in. I already tested all six of these (the matching set from one of the engines) and they all seem to work well. Did a light cleaning as well. Then put on all new seals, etc.

and installed on the rail

and installed the rail on the lower manifold

So here's something interesting. The IM gasket in my rebuild kit appears to be correct - everything lines up.....except two of the upper IM bolt holes (the actual intake openings and the other 6 bolts line up correctly). ******?? Looking at where they are, I just cut them out a bit to fit correctly, so should be good to go. But that's pretty annoying.

Also got new idler pullies for the alternator belt, so got those installed. Then scrubbed the nasty fan and it cleaned up really well. The action "feels" correct. Eventually I might switch to electric fans but this will do for the moment. So installed that stuff and the alternator belt. I'll install the AC later once the engine is in the car. More room to work with it out of the way.

And put together all the stuff up top

So that's (mostly) a wrap on the engine build. Also cleaned up the old wiring and connectors in the engine bay just because I was standing there and making sure all the plugs were correct (they are). Still need to get my hands on one or two small things - in particular the two heater hoses at the back of the engine, which are tough to find online in this country and way expensive to get from overseas. Normally I'd just go search the local auto parts stores for something close, and then improvise, but that's not really how things are going with the COVID around at the moment. So, we'll see what I do with that stuff once the engine is in.

 

[PacS14]

Good progress as usual man! Congrats! I finally got everything I need to do the valve guide seals without removing the heads, so a week of leave is order soon...weird saying that when I telework from home.

 

[irish44j]

Thanks for the tip, will give that a try!

So made some good progress today, doing things the hard way.

First, transmission up....my trans jack is at someone else's house so had to do it with floor jacks, which wasn't fun. On my small cars, I can usually just "bench press" the transmissions up into place. This thing ways a freaking ton and thanks to the transfer case offset it doesn't balance well either.. I actually used two floor jacks and a big mallet to move them.

So with that in, figured what the hell....pulled the engine off the stand and installed the rear-end stuff

and here we go....

Once again, this was a giant pain in the ass doing it solo, trying to get things aligned, etc. I probably got under the car 100 times today, then back up, then back down, and so on. After much muscling things into place, prying things into place, and using a big wood block and a mini-sledge to ********** things into place, the engine is in and hooked to the transmission, mounts are bolted down, and so on...

In retrospect, probably putting the engine in first and then the trans would have been easier, since the engine can't reall "slide back" easily due to the oil pan kind of wrapping around the front diff.

So there's the rear end of things

And with the rear driveshaft on

Some scrapes on my shiny paint, easy enough to touch up

Hooked up some stuff and pretty much called it a day

So one little issue. The rearmost mount, on the transfer case (driver's side) doesn't seem to line up with the mount bolts on the case. I think I must have the mount from the automatic that was in this truck and can't seem to find the one from the Blue parts truck (probably tossed it into the scrapyard run, thinking I wouldn't need it), but apparently they're different. So I'll have to figure something out.

Tomorrow all this big heavy stuff heads back to the shed to get some garage space back. I really hope this drivetrain works well, so I don't have to do this again anytime soon!

 

[PacS14]

For heater hoses you can buy some barbed plastic fittings to suit your needs, it does create more potential leaks though. I have also use a long piece of hose and do a full loop to make a 90 degree turn into the firewall without collapsing the hose...240 Ingenuity lol I was a young and broke E-3 back then, but it worked.

 

[irish44j]

For heater hoses you can buy some barbed plastic fittings to suit your needs, it does create more potential leaks though. I have also use a long piece of hose and do a full loop to make a 90 degree turn into the firewall without collapsing the hose...240 Ingenuity lol I was a young and broke E-3 back then, but it worked.

Yeah that is my current plan just wanted to see if there is an easier solution!

 

[Montynv]

I been following your progress through your build, waiting everyday to see what you did next...WOW Great job!! Well done!! I also had to go thru the same process with my build. FYI...for the rear heater hoses I picked one of them at Autozone and had to trim a bit but it fit.

 

[irish44j]

I been following your progress through your build, waiting everyday to see what you did next...WOW Great job!! Well done!! I also had to go thru the same process with my build. FYI...for the rear heater hoses I picked one of them at Autozone and had to trim a bit but it fit.

Thanks, good to know a few people are following along

I usually would just go to the auto parts store and browse the hoses, but with all this COVID stuff I'm guessing they won't really want me just walking around touching all their backstock haha....

 

[irish44j]

Spent a while this afternoon hooking up electrical wiring, figuring out where it all runs, where the clips attach, etc. Plenty of stuff (especially smaller wires) that look frayed or crushed, so taking the opportunity to cut and splice good wire in so I don't have to chase electrical issues as much later. Like this oil pressure sender wire

Also got back under and installed the starter and its wiring

And decided to install my cleaned-up PS pump instead of using the one still attached to the vehicle, which just looked gnarly. I replaced the two O-rings on the high pressure fitting so hopefully everything seals up nicely. I made a mess on my garage floor, but that's nothing new...

old pump on the left, new one mounted down on the right

And a replacement part for my broken windshield wiper assembly came in from a Montero USA group member, so put that all back together and now the wipers work correctly.

So.....

Then I decided to test my future plan for the wheels, by using my spare. After sanding and cleaning them up, hit the wheel with black primer and a few coats of Duplicolor bronze wheel paint and clearcoat (black primer makes it darker, light primer makes it more goldish color). Since this truck has a brown/tan interior and the rest of my exterior accent stuff will also use some kind of brown/tan motif (TBD), wanted to stay with something that matches. For a while I considered doing white wheels and white roof, but just not the look I'm going for.

So, here it is (well, one of them). Someone on the FB group coined them "BROMZ" (Bronze + Poms aka pomegranites).

 

[irish44j]

So, let's get into this afternoon/evening's effort. First spent some more time getting wiring and stuff hooked up (everything in the engine bay is hooked now), and setting up the ground wires (took some figuring out). Also put the battery in (need to buy a tie-down of some sort), and cleaned up all the battery connectors with the wire wheel (they were pretty rusty and oxidized).

Then (speaking of the kids) I got my 12-year old to help out with brake bleeding, which went pretty well overall. It's nifty that for the rear there's only one bleeder (on the passenger side) that bleed both rear drum pistons at once - though it took a while for all the brake fluid to get all the way through the system before it ran clear (some old stuff still in the lines was pretty nasty).

Ran into one issue where the front left bleeder screw was clogged. I tried to blow it out with air but no dice, must be rusty inside. Then remembered I had my old Sequioa 4-pots in a box nearby, so grabbed one of the bleeders off of that and got it done. Unfortunately, can't really test them yet.

Also bled the clutch line/master/slave cylinders solo, using the "loop" method since all components were new and empty (this method is putting the hose off the slave bleeder and looping it back to the master so it basically just circulates fluid via gravity until all the air is out.

After some adjustment of the pedal linkage, the clutch pedal feels pretty good - though it's a pretty light pedal compared to the heavy clutches I'm used to on German cars. Reminds me of my old Integra from long ago

Next up, heater hoses. I keep on not finding the correct hoses when ordering (so I have several wrong hoses). I did manage to improvise a bit and make one of the hoses fit, but I still need to find a replacement for the longer one. Also, apparently some prior owner really liked to clamp down his hose clamps, because the heater outlet/inlet pipes were pretty mashed up.

To get them back to (pretty much) round I found a stepped socket in the right size (3/8ths, I think) and basically tapped it into the pipes until they were round again.

So, hopefully they don't leak. If they do, may have to figure something else out or just slather it all with some sealant or something, IDK....

Attached the intake "elbow" and got the air filter all set up (with new filter) since I think I'm done with stuff on that side of the engine bay, and a few other little things. Still gonna be a while, as I want to get the radiator rodded. The old-school Montero experts say the stock radiators are best (they're 3-core, apparently, and they're brass, so once stuff starts opening up again I'll look into how much that will cost me (I have two radiators). I'll probably at least test the engine before then with the one I've flushed pretty good, but dont' really want to drive the truck much until I have a top-condition cooling system, as these engines like to overheat, apparently.

Also installed the front driveshaft.

 

[PacS14]

You are getting close man! Congrats!

 

[irish44j]

You are getting close man! Congrats!

oh no, lol....I mean, maybe getting close to running the engine (maybe in a couple weeks) but not really that close to finishing this build. First order of business is making it drive and be reliable, then will hopefully spend some time on some more "custom" stuff (nothing too crazy, but I have some ideas). But yeah, will be good to have it move under its own power as I transition to more interior, exterior, and cosmetic stuff!

 

[PacS14]

Yes that's what I meant. I've been busy with work, kids and clearing the brush around the house that I'm actually looking forward to when I get to wrench on the Montero, I got most of the stuff I need already except for one thing, I ordered the Beck&Arnley valve cover gasket, I was pleasantly surprised that it was made in Japan, then I saw that only included one side... didn't pay attention when I ordered from Rock Auto so I had to order another one, that's the hold up at the moment. I have had so much bad luck with felpro, and other two gaskets that I have tried and they all don't seem to fit right, hopefully the extra expense was worth it.

 

[irish44j]

Yes that's what I meant. I've been busy with work, kids and clearing the brush around the house that I'm actually looking forward to when I get to wrench on the Montero, I got most of the stuff I need already except for one thing, I ordered the Beck&Arnley valve cover gasket, I was pleasantly surprised that it was made in Japan, then I saw that only included one side... didn't pay attention when I ordered from Rock Auto so I had to order another one, that's the hold up at the moment. I have had so much bad luck with felpro, and other two gaskets that I have tried and they all don't seem to fit right, hopefully the extra expense was worth it.

My engine rebuild kit by Mahle came with the valve cover gaskets and they seemed to fit very well. got to make sure you put a little bit of our TV at the corners where the cam caps go, since that is recommended by the FSM and is probably a leak area.

 

[irish44j]

On to today....

First order of business was fabbing up an extension bracket for the pitch/torque-stop thingy on the transfer case. I thought it would just bolt up, but apparently the ONE thing they did on the actual chassis for the automatic vs. the manual was to move the frame bracket by 3-4 inches, so it doesn't align with the manual transmission bracket. So, that was mildly annoying, but nothing a chunk of steel can't fix...

After some measuring, and re-measuring, didn't want to make a mess with the angle grinder, so just slowly cut out with my jigsaw (it was very slow, since this stuff is reasonably thick)

Then a bit of welding

painted up and installed...

So that's one less thing. I put on the transfer case skidplate while I was there (no pics of that, but it's a big slab of steel).

Next up, the transfer case shifter. So the lower boot had a tear in it - not terrible, but would definitely let gunk in. I tried to get my hands on one from my Korean Parts go-to (Korean because the Hyundai Galloper uses the same) but no dice. So I left the old boot on and used some heavy-duty plastic, cut a small hole in it, slipped it down like a boot, and ziptied the top and bottom with some slack in the plastic. Should work just fine, and nobody sees this anyhow.

Then scrounged up a hose that seemed close enough to modify a bit to replace the other old heater hose. Old on the left, new on the right

So after cutting to length, it works just fine.

So that brought me back to the radiator. I have two OEM ones - the one that came out of the Blue Raider I had already totally flushed (it had the chocolate milk in it) but it was overall just pretty sad condition, and I know the P/O didn't take care of the cooling system (obviously). So went to the shed and pulled out the one from this Raider (which was well-maintained overall and didn't have overheating issues that killed it (that was a spun bearing). Cosmetically in much better shape, so decided to flush it out with the hose. Came out pretty much clear, so that's a good sign. I had considered getting one of these rodded but I don't think that's a good use of money - I'll give this one a go and see how the temps look, and if it's not sufficient I'll find something aftermarket. So did a bit of deeper cleaning to get any additional junk out of there.

This stuff did clean off some scale (it was visible when I flushed it) and the radiator seems to flow fine, so we'll see. Then I cleaned it up and did some painting. Decided since I have three cans of this wheel paint (and it'll only take two to do the whole set of wheels), let's use that for the radiator and the shroud (which I spent some time wire-wheeling and scotch-briting). And this cap isn't gonna cut it...

Shroud painted

Radiator painted

And installed with the fan, which seems to have the correct resistance

And finally, went ahead and loaded up the diffs with gear oil. The rear has an LSD, so I just grabbed some Mobil1 LS 75w90 and used that (I have tons of gear oil here, but most of it is 140 weight since that's what I use in the Porsche and the rally car). Filling diffs is about as exciting as watching grass grow. Thought I had a good setup to do it mostly hands-off, but the funnel slipped about halfway through and dumped a good bit on my garage floor, dammit (no pics of that......)

Then did the front, with some non-LSD stuff

Oh, also cranked up the torsion bars to get the front end back up, since it had a pretty substantial rake to it. I do love how easy it is to raise and lower the front end of these things a couple inches basically just using an impact gun.