The build of Abigail. 1996 Montero SR

[zukrider]

Picked her up in Chicago, 1/8/16, @ 148,450 miles. Belgium Green Pearl.

In the 1000 mile road trip home to Denver, I found it needs some front end/steering parts, no surprise there. since home, and driving it to work, its starting to burn oil, so valve seals are due. The t-belt is at 8k, so thats a plus.

Forth coming maintenance includes:

-Oil change
-Full general inspection
-Coolant drain, flush, fill
-ATF drain and fill
-Steering parts, i.e. pitman, idler, tie rod ends and adjusters.
-Suspension parts, i.e. ball joints, control arm bushings, trailing arm bushings, panhard bushings

Forth coming mods include:

-2" body lift from 4crawler.com
-35" tires, possibly wheels
-Rear corners trimmed up and capped off
-Sliders
-Front winch cradle, eventually a full bumper build
-Full skid plates
-CB install
-Stereo upgrades
-Cargo shelf/dog barrier build
-Roof rack build
-Rear bumper build
-Plastic trim color change
-4.9 diff regear with Sport front housing and ARB


Most of these will happen before May, as i have a Moab trip to make.

Longterm Mods down the road:

-1UZ-FE V8 swap
-NP 203/Atlas 3.8 swap

 

[TheMole]

Welcome aboard, looking forward to the motor swap!

 

[PacS14]

Welcome! That's a nice truck to start with! I was looking for an SR but found a 99 and bought it. They sure are getting harder to find. Keep us posted as progress goes.

 

[PajEvo]

Way to go Joe. Looks like a great base to start from.

Welcome back! How long since your last Monty?

 

[earljuic3]

I dig this color a lot, welcome!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[grandpa]

Good luck with your build. How did you arrive at the name Abigail?

 

[zukrider]

Way to go Joe. Looks like a great base to start from.

Welcome back! How long since your last Monty?

Bought 2/11, scrapped 9/13.

 

[zukrider]

I dig this color a lot, welcome!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanx, i do to.

 

[zukrider]

Good luck with your build. How did you arrive at the name Abigail?

Truth be told, I dont have an answer for that. It just fits her personality! I name all my autos.

 

[zukrider]

Well, today was a success! She passed emissions! Always a good thing not having problems with that crap. But, alas, I have a few questions for you Mitsu pro's.

-I have a weird electrical bug. More often than not, the tach doesnt work. Sometimes the battery light and 2 other red lights, not sure which at the moment, will flash. now, when they do this, its extremely faint. It gets brighter and brighter as loads are applied, but never quite reaches 25% of normal brightness. The flash is also a steady cadence, and does not increase with engine rpm. Engine rpm is the only thing that will bring the light back down. again, only sometimes, and not in the last few days. tach started out sporadic, and is really common now.

To add, my initial thoughts were failing alternator. While this may be the issue, the alt puts out 13.9 within 1/2 second of start up. Also, with this issue, the top gauge cluster has a volt meter in it. It takes between 15-20 seconds for the gauge to read actual voltage. Is this normal?

So what ya think? If i ever have some time, Ill pull the instrument cluster out and check for loose connections.

 

[Swank Force One]

My voltage gauge is super slow on my truck too. Depending on outside temperate will show anywhere between around 12v and what looks like it might be about 13-13.5v if i had to guess.

The gauges in that secondary cluster are pretty awful and i wouldn't put any stock in what they say.

 

[SONICMASD]

The gauges in that secondary cluster are pretty awful and i wouldn't put any stock in what they say.

Why do you say that, is this something you've noticed among lots of Monteros?

 

[SONICMASD]

Love the color combo of this truck!

 

[zukrider]

My voltage gauge is super slow on my truck too. Depending on outside temperate will show anywhere between around 12v and what looks like it might be about 13-13.5v if i had to guess.

The gauges in that secondary cluster are pretty awful and i wouldn't put any stock in what they say.

Good to know. Thanx. I think im going to swap them out anyhow. Which brings me too........

 

[zukrider]

Does anyone know if the 2nd gen ever came without the top gauge set? was there some type of block off? Or a coin tray or something?