Project Brento-Box

[brentonodon]

New nozzles finally arrived and I got them assembled into the housings. These old mechanical diesels are interesting beasts.

The old nozzles had worn in a really interesting pattern that I thought might have been part of the design but after comparing to the new ones it's not.


Took all the shims out and measured them. The shims help set the pressure that the injector begins to open which affects your timing. Too high and you've got a retarded injection, too low and it'll be advanced. So tonight I've gotta take each injector and throw them on the tester to see what pressure they open at. I believe that since this is a naturally aspirated 4D56 the opening pressure should be right around 125bar. When I eventually sort out the turbo I picked up for this I'll have to move that to I think 140bar.

Here's the injector parts pre-assembly.

 

[Toasty]

Be really careful with those nozzles, I broke one torqueing it to spec. Blew the end right off, I ended up lowering the setting slightly for the rest and they were fine. It's also possible my torque wrench was inaccurate because back in those days I didn't have my own and always had to borrow one from Autozone. Anyway, if it feels like too much it probably is

 

[brentonodon]

Thanks @Toasty. Got them installed yesterday between all the rain showers we've been having. Running so much better now. No smoke, no knocks. All of them were set to right at 12MPa. I've got a nearly complete turbo kit just about sorted and I'm sure I'll have to reset the cracking pressure but for now it's time to work on some other things.

I've been futzing with the busted inclinometer on this thing for some time. By far one of my favorite little gems of the Montero but after buying one from a guy on FB MP and receiving another busted one I've opted to update the little instrument.

Picked up one of those Autool GPS inclinometers since it will do the job, is about the right size, and will also give me a bit more info like GPS location, altitude, trip stats, etc. It's right about the same size as the inclinometer and I think it'll adapt right on in. Spent some time last night tearing down the board out of the housing to model up a new housing for it. Here's what I've got.

The old and busted one that allegedly was fine before it shipped but totally caputzed by the time it got to me.


Comparing the old gauge with the new. I don't like the housing it comes with but that's easily fixed.



Here's what the new housing assembly will look like. Uses the same mounting locations as the old gauge. Also uses the screws from the original housing so I don't have to buy any hardware.


The new gauge has a push button so I made sure to support the PCB under that section. Otherwise it locates the same as it did in the original housing.


It's being printed this week then I should be able to get it installed this weekend. Wiring is pretty simple, just need a key switched 12V and gnd and voila!.

 

[Toasty]

Thanks @Toasty. Got them installed yesterday between all the rain showers we've been having. Running so much better now. No smoke, no knocks. All of them were set to right at 12MPa. I've got a nearly complete turbo kit just about sorted and I'm sure I'll have to reset the cracking pressure but for now it's time to work on some other things.

I've been futzing with the busted inclinometer on this thing for some time. By far one of my favorite little gems of the Montero but after buying one from a guy on FB MP and receiving another busted one I've opted to update the little instrument.

Picked up one of those Autool GPS inclinometers since it will do the job, is about the right size, and will also give me a bit more info like GPS location, altitude, trip stats, etc. It's right about the same size as the inclinometer and I think it'll adapt right on in. Spent some time last night tearing down the board out of the housing to model up a new housing for it. Here's what I've got.

The old and busted one that allegedly was fine before it shipped but totally caputzed by the time it got to me.
View attachment 767568

Comparing the old gauge with the new. I don't like the housing it comes with but that's easily fixed.

View attachment 767569

Here's what the new housing assembly will look like. Uses the same mounting locations as the old gauge. Also uses the screws from the original housing so I don't have to buy any hardware.

View attachment 767570
The new gauge has a push button so I made sure to support the PCB under that section. Otherwise it locates the same as it did in the original housing.
View attachment 767571

It's being printed this week then I should be able to get it installed this weekend. Wiring is pretty simple, just need a key switched 12V and and and voila!.

Not that I have the parts or intend to do anything but just in case, sell me one?

 

[brentonodon]

Sure man. Let me test out the prototypes first then we can sort something out.

 

[Toasty]

Sure man. Let me test out the prototypes first then we can sort something out.

Deal!

 

[brentonodon]

Sorted!
Definitely some design flaws which I could/should fix going forward. For now, the thing is in and works pretty well. Noticing the unit restarting every once in a while. Not sure what that's about. Could be vibration induced. Hard to say. But overall it works.



For now (read it's just going to be like this forever) it's wired to the cigarette lighter. Also, this is before I did the angle calibration which is actually easy as. Just park on a flat spot and hold the red circle button.

 

[MontySquareo]

very nice! i wish they keep the old incline meter and gauges for the gen 3 monteros. all i get is a temp gauge and warning lights.

 

[brentonodon]

All sorts of things slowly coming together right now.

Rear Axle Swap:
- Welded up the correct u-bolt skid plate setup and will paint it likely tomorrow.
- Brake line tubing coming in Monday. Need to sort out a flare tool......I think my buddy has one.
- Still need to figure out what to do with the input flange or modify the driveshafts. Do any of y'all know if the splines are the same for the SR's as the gen1? Seems unlikely to me.
- Got some wiring and connectors sorted to plumb up the air compressor for the locker. Should be working on that while waiting on other parts but you know how that goes.

Instrument Cluster:
- As done as it's getting

Engine/Exhaust:
- Most of the bits are here for the turbo install though I'm waffling around on that since it'll take the truck down for a while and I really want to actually use it sooner rather than later.
- Building a big ole exhaust to help this tiny little motor breathe a little easier. 3" may have been overkill but I had some ideas around an engine swap later. Another reason for the exhaust is that the previous owner put on some muffler that is rattling apart. It makes the most god awful sound when you start the truck up until it warms up. Muffler arrived, tubing should get here today. Need to sort out some kind of bellows or isolator from the motor to the rest of the system I reckon.
- I think the new injectors are good and working just fine.
- Wondering if I'm still sucking air into the fuel line somewhere but will just have to keep an eye on it for a while.

 

[Toasty]

Pinion flanges between the 8" and 9.5" are splined differently, you have a driveshaft for an 8" and installed a 9.5" correct? You can turn down the 9.5" pinion flange to work with the stuff you have assuming you don't have a '94 SR axle, that one is odd and fits nothing I've found.

 

[MontySquareo]

any new updates? have you turbo'd it yet?

 

[ArmyRover]

Yeah, Toasty, OSHcut is pretty reasonable. Their prices don't include shipping so make sure you keep that in mind. A link to the sendcutsend page would be cool. I've been debating on just getting 5 or 10 kits cut by oshcut to save on packing and setup fees. It knocks quite a bit off an order.

ITTOG, you can draw flat patterns on their site if you want. If you're keen, let me know and I can run you through how to do it.

Salonika, yeah, it's to test fit the bumper. The scan is cool and all but it's not that accurate. I found that the bumper needed to be widened a little and that the height was a bit wacky. Definitely cheaper and faster to test these out in cardboard than steel.

Don’t suppose you ever decided to start doing the kits? If so I might be interested

 

[plh]

Did you share the incline o meter print file?

 

[brentonodon]

Hola brochachos. Long time no posts. Been a hectic bit for me recently with some family issues and job stuff. But just got in some parts for the turbonification. One thing I'd been concerned about was the fuel "mapping" with boost as my injector pump doesn't have any boost/fuel compensation so I bit the bullet and bought a 4d56t injector pump from fleabay. It arrived from Greece a few days ago. How they do free shipping from the other side of the planet I'll never understand. But hoping to get in to the turbo setup soon. To be honest the lack of chooch from this motor has really damped my desires to go all out on other upgrades so I'm hoping an extra 20 ponies or so will help inspire some more work on the rig.

@Toasty you're correct. I've originally got the 8" rear and am moving to the 9.5". Well, that's the soft plan at least. I have been toying with doing the LSD upgrade front and rear. Hard to say. The wider rear axle when I put it in on my test fit is going to make the rig super goofy until I do something about the front. So better to LSD front and rear or go full ham and HAVE to SAS the front? time will tell.

@ArmyRover I'd be way into selling these as kits. Especially without the tubing sections as that is a bit of a bear for me to fabricate at the moment. I've been slowly formulating a company called Dungie Designs and Fabrication that will be where that goes through. Still lots to figure out there though. On the flip side, I have been toying with doing the 50mm body lift which would mean it's time for a new bumper to match the new geometry so this one might end up for sale mid year.

@plh the files haven't been shared. back to that new company I'm working on it might be one of the products for that. Files or printed parts. Will definitely keep y'all posted.

 

[brentonodon]

On the fun side I did do a little camping/fishing trip during the holidays up to Lake Berryessa. Good times up there. Jonesing for a trip up to Snow Mountain, Knoxville OHV Park, or even up to Indian Valley Res someday if any of y'all are around these parts.

Another fun add-on to the brento-box was a new stainless rug hold down trim piece for the back. Cut one out on the waterjet based on the original but apparently I couldn't read the dang tapemeasure for the hole locations.

Poked a few new holes and updated the cad. Looks pretty good installed.

The previous owner was a surfer so the back end trim was super rusted along with the rear skidplate. Oh well.