Sepstero's 2003 Montero Build Thread

[Sepstero]

Hey everyone! Super long delay here, but it's been a mostly awesome last six months with the Montero. I'm writing from Salt Lake City and have traveled ~19,000 miles with the Gen 3 since August.

Some updates (sorry for the ramble):

• Dmitriy’s work at Stellarbuilt

Really impressed by Dmitriy’s work at Stellar Built. I gave him vague direction, and he ended up fabricating some great stuff. He made a hidden winch mount, propane tank and jerry can holder on the rear, attached some trailgear sliders after powder coating them. Did an awesome job fitting in the 2nd battery, three mount points for the battery box, all different height metal to get it all at the same height. He put on my new shocks and springs (OME HD and KYB Gas-a-Justs).

Some pictures that show the work:

• Got major service done

Check out the baselining tab of the spreadsheet (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vgWXb0LTfz-dCXn01dgEQ5w-Aa7xPteKHkrIYo9BgfE/edit?usp=sharing. Included doing all 4 O2 sensors after I was getting some O2 sensors throwing and figured I’d take care of all of them at once. A+ Automative in Daly City seemed solid, really nice and quick work. I think it was $1050 for all labor.

Major trip breaks down to three legs -

First Leg (San Francisco - Washington, DC. Aug - October)
Second Leg (Finishing grad school applications around DC and some traveling. October - January)
Third Leg (Back on the road for ~6months. January - July)

 

[Sepstero]

First Leg:

Beginning of the big trip
Drove up to catch the solar eclipse with friends outside Sisters,OR. Stopped at Bend on the way to pick up my Freespirit Recreation rooftop tent. Guys there were great, and getting the tent up was quick and easy. Snagged two sets of cheap aluminum crossbars similar to EyeintheSky’s and they’ve worked great. As of today I've spent >50 nights in the tent. Passed back through Crater Lake, but it was pretty hazy with the smoke from a couple different fires.
Brief stay back in the bay and worked to pack everything up and finish last minute work. Got transmission flushed, used SPIII, and got the sleeping platform in.


Disaster Strikes
I headed out to Montana to meet my friend for some backpacking in Glacier, with friends in tow who I was going to drop off in Idaho. We made it out to a BLM campground outside Winnemucca and everything was looking rosy. Started the car the next morning and disaster struck. No power brakes, alarm that I later found out was the HBB alarm ringing nonstop, and a full Christmas tree of lights. Started pulling codes on the OBD2 but only got a couple minor ones. Brought it into a shop and got the brake ECU codes read and it returned something like ten different codes.

Woof.

Closest mechanics that were comfortable working on a Mitsu were back in Reno ~250 miles away. My friends caught a train and after a couple nights hanging out in Winnemucca (this happened on a Friday and the repair shop wasn’t open until Monday), I made the drive back to Reno, earplugs in, using cruise control for almost all of the way, and standing on the brakes when needed.
Ended up the whole Brake ECU unit went…not fun with having to get a $1900 part. Oh, and both cv axle boots were torn. Got it all replaced, but had to have parts shipped in from Sacramento. Spent three days in Reno bumming around, and blew through my yearly maintenance budget. $3300 all in for maintenance

North Cascades
Back fixed and on my way up to Seattle to meet with the friend who I was supposed to meet in Glacier, but re-routed to Seattle due to my mishaps and the forest fires.
Spent a great five days in the North Cascades. Camped out in Snoqualmie NF and Baker NF, and the awning proved it’s value here as it rained and/or snowed all five days. Having a covered space to cook was invaluable. I attached it using the ARB universal mounts plus some carriage bolts that I fit into some extension 80/20. The rails underneath the RTT are close to 30mm 80/20 but not exact. I used some connectors and then epoxied over the connector plates. Ideally would have welded them, but this has stood up well thus far 6months later.



Overall, the rooftop tent has worked out pretty nicely. Very comfortable, built in solar panel to run the motor to open/close that uses a battery with USB outlets accessible within the tent. A little snug for two people, but very close to my two person backpacking tent so no real problem. I added a string of low power LEDs, a good sleeping bag, and I was set. Great being able to keep bedding and full pillows up out of the car. One issue though - with the way the tent folds closed, if the material is wet, half the mattress gets pretty damp. I figure this is likely the case with a lot of tents, anyone have any good ideas on how to deal with it?

And now a brief summary of remaining events, let me know if anyone wants to see some pictures:

Back to the bay for a wedding
Headed to Colorado (brief stop in Oregon overnight)
Alpine Loop, bailed out to Gunnison NF
Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP
Crested Butte, bailed out to Moab
Grand Staircase Escalante
Moab (Arches, Canyonlands, BLM land near Dead Horse Stake Park)
Denver
Wedding on the East Coast
Pecos Wilderness
Stopping outside Amarillo Texas
Ozarks NF
Smoky Mountains
Bailing out to friend’s beach house in Delaware

 

[Sepstero]

Second Leg
Least interesting part as I was mostly based in DC finishing grad school applications.

Made a trip up to Michaux State Forest in PA where a friend dove his JK into a mudpit so we could test out my winch. Worked great. Otherwise got some time in Philadelphia, California, and Hawaii.


Third Leg (current)
Visited schools on the east coast and then headed west and South. Spent a few days driving most of the daylight and then crashing off forest roads in national forests, many of the pullofs were uninteresting but served their purpose, and looked like this:


Made it to Padre Island National Seashore and spent a few days camping on the beach. Awesome spot:



Next up was Big Bend NP, which seriously surprised me with how great it was. Fantastic hiking, and tons of 4WD roads. Stayed at Robber's Roost, definitely recommend it if you're headed there and trying to figure out which campsite to snag.



Then made my way over to the Phoenix area to hang with friends, had a good time camping in Tonto NF.

Stopped over in Moab briefly on my way to Salt Lake, and got a diagnosis that I have a torn ball joint and messed up strut mount. $46 in Moog replacements from Rock Auto that I'll be getting fixed next week. Have had really good luck with Point S Tire there.

Really enjoy staying in Lone Mesa BLM campground outside Moab, right by Dead Horse State Park


Camped in Manti-Sal NF before getting to SLC, awesome sunset:


Doing some skiing up here, and then heading back down to Moab, and then Phoenix to travel to a bunch of interviews.

Big next step on the Montero is new larger and more durable tires after getting a slow leak in each rear tire. One outside Moab in September, and one in Big Bend. Going up a bit in size, durability, and off-road orientation (LT 265/75/16). I've done a ton of highway miles, and plan to do a lot more, but I hit dirt/gravel most days to camp and am planning on doing more offroading. Right now I'm leaning towards a bit unconventional, Nokian Rotiiva AT Plus's in E , but also considering Goodyear Duratracs in C, and Yokohama Geolander A/T G015 in E.

 

[haolepinoy]

Thanks for sharing the report, Sepstero. Same year and color as mine. Aside from the Brake ECU issue, glad to hear that the '03 has escorted you so far for so long.

 

[codename607]

Awesome! Road tripping at it's finest. I wish I had your drive when I was younger.

 

[rhoyle]

FWIW, my 2003 came with 235/85R16 Duratracs and I replaced them with 265/75R16 BFG K02s. They ride like a dream now. Night and day difference.

 

[Sepstero]

Thanks guys!

And awesome rhoyle, was tempted by the duratracs, but think I'm going to try something different and go with the Nokians.