Sedole's Gen 1 SWB

[sedole]

Boys and girls, after a brief 1 year hiatus, we are back in a Montero! Meet my new girl: a 1989 Dodge Raider V6 manual with the 4.63 gearing, LSD rear end, and a bouncy driver seat! She's got 181,xxx miles and is overall in fairly good condition.

Not unlike my first gen 1, this one will not pass emissions currently and the overall goal for the build is a fun, light-duty off roader w/ some sweet retro looks.

Before I slowly get into tinkering on this thing, just wanted to highlight my previous two rigs.
The girl that started it all and that I deeply regret getting rid of:

And the girl that took me everywhere...and that I also deeply regret getting rid of:

And in that interim period, this is what I was and still am driving:

The 4runner is a great truck. It just works. I've literally only opened the hood twice. Once when I bought it, and just last week to refill the washer fluid. Try going a whole year like that in a montero haha.. It's so common idgaf and just take it to a quick lube place for oil changes lol. It's got all the power and brake ability and comfort offroad that my old gen 3 never would have had, but it just doesn't scratch that itch... (hence another montero ) Right now I've got it lifted 2.5/1.5" on bilstein 5100s and have some 33s on it. At some point once the used car market calms down I'll sell this and plan to get into a 2017+ Nissan Armada -- what I view as a more modern gen 3.

 

[sedole]

So back to our regular Montero content..
First thing I did was start to rip off the gross purple tint and the garage door seal-looking "flares". I also found a new old stock window latch and replaced that at the same time. I did find a little rust under the "flares". This bit is the worst of it. As for the frame, there's some light surface rust here and there but that's it. Not too bad considering this has been a CO truck most its life. I also took this time to lower the torsion bars as the previous owner had cranked them to the max and was riding the upper bump stops. And replace the missing front swaybar endlink.

Now for passing emissions...I've got 3 issues, a leaky fuel fill neck, a bad O2 sensor, and oil smoke out the exhaust when idling for long periods. The first two are easy replacements...The third likely means my valve stem seals will need replacing at some point. My current strategy for that is run some cleaner through the fuel and then get the truck as hot as I can before the test.

New oem hose in. The old basically disintegrated in my hands as I pulled it out. And new denso O2 sensor.

As far as testing, 3rd time was the charm and we got a pass! Even though emissions aren't as strict as in CA, I still get nervous every time I go in haha. Also peep that new Mitsubishi badge on the rear! She will be getting a full set of Mitsubishi badges at some point.

Change of ownership in CO means new plates. And since it's been so warm here, decided to spray the grill black while I was at it.

Picked up some other goodies around the same time as well: This neat 3D-printed cupholder that somebody graciously made a file for and a set of 4 poms to replace the current wheels.

Now we're all caught up on what I've done so far. The previous owner daily drove this for the last 5 years and kept a pretty good maintenance record. There's a few things I will still need to catch up on though.
Things I currently noted I need to fix include:

• Leaking coolant from somewhere
• Leaking power steering pump
• Small oil leak (in addition to the smoke -- which I will ride out a bit longer)
• Tachometer doesn't work
• Voltmeter doesn't work
• Oil pressure gauge doesn't work
• Manual driver window crank doesn't wind up smoothly
• Needs carpet in the rear
• Broken exhaust mounts and heat shield
• Rad fan runs constantly from the moment you turn the truck on
• Rust
• Remove the poorly done trailer wiring
• cracked windshield

Thoughts so far on mods:

• Steel bumpers front and rear
• Rock sliders (maybe)
• Skids (it currently is missing all of them)
• Off road lights
• Swap sealed headlights for something better
• Shocks (currently has garbage KYBs)
• 31" tires
• Sound insulation all throughout
• A better headunit and better (actually working) speakers
• Roof rack
• Wheel spacers for the poms
• Gen 2 front seats
• Gen 2 rear trailing arms (assuming they fit on the SWB)
• Clever storage system on the inside for recovery gear
• Muffler for that sweet sweet 6g72 sound

That's all I've got for now. I'm sure both those lists may change as I dive into things.

 

[sedole]

For tires I decided to go with the same goodyear wrangler authority in a 31x10.5r15 that I did for my previous gen 1. I was very pleased with them then and walmart happened to be running a sale so snatched up a set of 4. I brought the loose wheels and had walmart mount them, and then I installed them at home. Pleased with how they look! Although I'm already kind of thinking I should have gone 33x10.5 this time around..maybe next time!

Unfortunately, a quick drive around the block threw off half of the clamp on style weights that walmart used...like seriously who even uses those anymore? I only mounted at walmart cause it was dirt cheap. I'll bring it by my normal tire shop and have them re-balance them all soon.

 

[DailyDSM]

Looking good. Glad you're back in the Mitsubishi game. I was sad to see you sold your Gen3. You last thread is a wealth of info for DIY Gen3 upgrades.

 

[lordtrunks]

Nice rig

 

[sedole]

Wow, it's been a very slow start to working on this rig for me. Life's been a mess lately and this pig has just been sitting for the last few months. Fortunately I just started a new job where I'm not only being treated better, but I'll also only be working 4 days a week (instead of 5-6 days) and making more, so things are looking up and I'm much more motivated to get back to work in the garage! (And actually have the time to do so)

Starting with an old pic of some fun snow driving from a few months ago. This thing is a hoot to drive in the snow!

And a bunch of small things. I really should be focused on fixing all the leaks (literally everything leaks), but I'm just not motivated to do that so here's what I have done:

• Finished removing the rest of the old tint and adhesive.
• Removed the red pinstripes and debadged the rest of the raider badges + rebadged with some fresh mitsu ones. When I removed the raider badges on the side, some paint came with it. Krylon fusion gloss black ended up being a half decent match. Would've looked much better if I made some effort to blend it, but oh well. I'm planning on putting a vinyl flag decal over it anyways so should look pretty subtle.
• Took a heat gun to refresh some of the bumper end cap plastics..and wow, what a difference!
• Fixed the horn which decided to get stuck on last week. Straightened the steering wheel since it was previously cocked way to the right going straight.
• Wheel spacers for the flushness.
• Finally installing a washer reservoir for the windshield. Super needed out here in CO winters. All I did to mount it was knock off the factory reservoir bracket, cut some of it off, and weld it back on so I could bolt the new washer reservoir bracket to it. Clean quick and easy install.

Coming up soon I'm excited to work on the front bumper and exhaust. Parts are ordered!

 

[sedole]

Being in the painting spirit still, decided to move onto repairing the rusty patch. But first I slapped on the flag decals. Don't look great, but don't look too bad either. Definitely better than before.

And a quick reminder about how the rust was before we dive in...

First hit it with the angle grinder and flappy sand disc to remove all the rust down to bare metal. Surprisingly the rust was not as bad as it looked and I only ended up with one small hole. Then I threw on some body filler, sanded, primed, and finally top coat. I definitely could have churned out a might higher quality finish if I threw on some glazing putty and sanded more after priming, but given how little time I put into this (like an hour), I'm pretty pleased. Again, she's far from perfect, but ain't too bad at all. 1000% better than the rust that's for dang sure. And I'm sure once she's all dirty you wouldn't even notice unless you got close!

 

[sedole]

So ever since I got the truck the driver side manual window regulator has not worked well. It's falling apart and slips teeth and with some rattling, you can lower the window from the outside...not ideal. Finding a new regulator online is pretty unobtanium and even a used part is very hard to come by these days. In my searching I came across regulators for a dodge ram 50/mighty max which looked incredibly similar to the one used in the montero. And for only $25 delivered to my doorstep I figured why the hell not.

I neglected to take a picture before installing it to test, but everything bolts up perfect and the window rolls up and down as it should. BUT the half moon gear thing is in a slightly different position so the stroke is off. The window will roll up all the way which is fantastic and it will almost go all the way down, but stops with about 2" left of the window exposed. Not bad. Livable even.

The gear is the exact same size, it's just offset an equal amount in the wrong direction. I figure at some point I'll either A) find an actual montero one or B) might be able to remove the spot welds holding the gear on and weld it back on where I want it. For now it's gonna work just fine for my needs. Just the fact that the window doesn't fall down on it's own anymore and it rolls up and down smoothly makes me content.

That's it for now...I've also got in the new magnaflow muffler and spare cluster. Hoping to get the exhaust welded up (just need to get some new hangers) and see if the new cluster solves my non-functional tach issues this holiday weekend.

 

[sedole]

A fellow montero community member helped me get my hands on a new cluster to hopefully help fix my tacho.

I kept my fingers crossed for sure since this unit was a little beat up, but plugged her in and sure enough, she works!

Swapped the guts into my cluster and cleaned up the cover a little in the process. This little blue capacitor seems to be the culprit of why mine may have stopped working.

Back in the truck and working as it should! Happy to have a working tach again!

 

[sedole]

Forgot to add this photo when I was buttoning the door back up. This was completely unnecessary as the old plastic was still fine-ish, but there's just something so satisfying about going the extra step and putting in some new plastic.

And started up on the exhaust. This go around I went with a 1.75" ID magnaflow oval instead of a 2" ID small cylinder like my previous gen 1 thinking it might be slightly quieter than my last setup. Most magnaflow oval mufflers tend to have an "S" shape on the inside. Neglected to grab a pic, but this one is straight through like the cylinder. Oh well, should still sound good. ?‍♂️

This is a far as I got as we ended up spending some time with some friends that came out to visit this weekend. Chopped the old can out, cut the hanger off of it, and welded on the axle-back portion. Booger-welds galore. My little fluxcore machine does not do well with thin metals and butt joints....and I may or may not have been a little tipsy from the day's July 4th freedom festivities. Don't tell osha haha ?

The forward end will line up good enough once I get some longer hanger donuts to hold it in place while I tack it up properly in alignment so couldn't finish that. And at the back end, the flange leading to the terminal section was rusted to crap so I just lopped that off too. I'm debating dumping it out to the side again or keeping it out the back. Haven't decided yet. In either case, new flanges will be on order.

Last time I did not reuse the existing pipe. This time I did and I'm glad. So much easier to clear the axle this way. Also, reduce, reuse, recycle, amiright? ?

 

[rxinhed]

I'll bite. Why wheel spacers? I've never understood this.

Nice rig, jealous but in a good way.

 

[sedole]

I'll bite. Why wheel spacers? I've never understood this.

Nice rig, jealous but in a good way.

Thanks man!

Honestly looks are the primary reason for me lol. I really like the poms but wanted a better looking, wider "stance". The added benefit of a significantly more stable feel due to the wider 2" track is nice too on such a narrow truck. I'm definitely no expert, but I've had no troubles with using high quality spacers on my trucks or cars for the dozen or so years I've been driving and wheeling. I think a lot of their bad rep comes from people using inferior quality parts or not installing them properly.



Finally got some time to finish up the exhaust yesterday. Sounds pretty slick as well! Very similar sounding to my previous gen 1 (which is great) but much more tame. More booger welds, but they were getting better towards the end as I kept welding. I'm a bit out of practice for sure.

Also spot welded the dangling cat heat shield back in place while I was in there.

 

[sedole]

Sneak peek of what's coming next!

Like my other 2 monteros this bumper is also made for a jeep. Though this time I'm using an XJ bumper instead of JK like the last two.

After some cutting of the bumper and frame horns I was able to do a half decent mock up. It's going to take quite a bit more cutting of both to get it sitting proper but I think she'll look great. This is also going to be a bit more tough to mount than the JK bumpers but I'm sure I'll figure something out.

 

[z168]

Looking good. Glad you rebadged them the right way

 

[sedole]

Finally had some time the last couple weekends to finish up the bumper. Overall it actually wasn't too much work. For the bumper all I had to do was cut off the light mounts for the square lights and cut some length off the frame mounting points. For the frame of the truck I cut off about 2 inches, cut, shortened, and welded the little factory uprights that usually hold spot lights to support the bumper at the height I wanted. And added some extensions to the frame to meet up to some holes I drilled into the bumper mounts for mounting. Also had to trim some of the front apron to allow more clearance.

Doing it again I'd probably spend more time to design a better fitting extension. Or I may go back in and lop off the little corners that stick up and aren't welded and weld in a piece to close that gap. Also, the frame is all 1/8" but the little upright pieces are slightly thinner. I originally wasn't planning to drill holes to access the welded nuts but then decided I kind of like that look for the bumper. If I were to do-over I'd re-make these out of 1/8" -- or I may go back in and reinforce a bit. Aside from looks, having 3 bolts per side helps I'm sure!

Finished in krylon satin black.

Overall I'm quite happy. The lines of the bumper actually ended up matching the body lines quite well and the bumper looks subtle but adds some aggression to the looks department. Should look sweet with some big ole spotties mounted up front!

Not sure how much the stock bumper weighs in at (~20lbs?) but this one is only 45lbs so not too bad.