The Resurrection of Monty

[Fefrank]

Some of you might remember me from a few years back.

My 2005 Mitsubishi Montero had the dreaded piston killer issue where one of the butterfly valves on the intake manifold fell inside the engine causing catastrophic damage to the engine’s internals.

Unfortunately, due to the scarcity of 3rd gen Montero’s in the Midwest USA, I could not find a Montero that was newer than a 2002 model which did not have the new 4x4 system, so I decided to give up the search and explore other options. After careful consideration of lots of options I decided to get a 2013 Toyota Tacoma and I was rear ended a year later which totaled it. Ended up with a 5.7 hemi 2008 Jeep Commander after that which I’ve owned for the last year, but I keep comparing it to the Montero and it falls short on a lot of aspects (small interior space, weak electronics, rough ride quality, small gas tank, terrible gas mileage)

To finish rambling, I have finally saved enough money to resurrect Monty and bring him back to life. Last week I found a reputable engine rebuilder that works only on Mitsubishi engines that is willing to rebuild the engine, the engine will be coming off in 2 weeks and sent to them For rebuild, in the mean time I will be replacing suspension components, and adding more quality of life improvements to it.

I’ll be posting my progress here as I go, starting with a picture of Monty as it is right now. Hopefully by the end of summer it will be a different beast.

 

[nwoods]

Cool color! I’ve had a similar journey. Rebuilt my 2002 Gen3 engine, then recently it got rear ended, just spent the past three months salvaging parts from junk yards and rebuilt it. It’s almost done, but it is back on the road.

I’m currently in a 2006 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7, and yeah, the gas mileage is a real factor when thinking of longer trips, but I greatly enjoy the front and rear lockers and slightly improved suspension travel over that of the Monty.

 

[Fefrank]

Nwoods- I love the Quadra-drive II system! The automatic lockers are great. But I find myself running out of gas just when the fun begins. I live in Utah and love to explore new sites and far away places. Unfortunately, the 40 to 50 miles more that I get with the Monty makes a big difference in my adventures.

I also haul a lot of stuff for camping (1-3 Kayaks, big tent and supplies) and usually have my wife and 3 kids in the back of the vehicle. The monty destroys any Jeep in the market when it comes to interior space. I'll tell you what, I'll miss that 5.7 hemi a lot. But I bet that a newly rebuilt engine in the Monty will give me descent power and MPG. NOT looking forward to timing belt changes.

How did you rebuild your engine?

 

[nwoods]

How did you rebuild your engine?

I watched a couple YouTube videos and had a knowledgable buddy who lives a few miles away come over and laugh at me a few times during the process.
I bought my 2002 as a "mechanics special", as in, non-running. I was hoping it was just heads such as a bent valve or something, but I couldn't turn the crank with a breaker bar, so I started disassembly. I was quite surprised to discover one of the pistons was completely missing, and presumably, wedged into the crank below:

At that point, I figured it was a throw-away, so I started sourcing engines online, after loosing thousands of dollars in scams, I got "smarter"? and just went to a junkyard and pulled a motor from a recent roll-over donor vehicle. I then torn that one down, sent the heads out for refurbishing (best money ever spent), and then piece by piece cleaned and/or replaced all the wearable parts and rebuilt the donor and then installed it back in the vehicle. I spent about$ $600 in tools, and took my time. Because I lost a lot of money in scams trying to source an engine online, the rebuild took a long time because I was doing it with lunch money. It didn't take long to do physically, but I spent about 9 months saving up for parts after being ripped off by not one, but TWO "verified" shippers.

Old engine out, waiting for new:

"New" engine from junkyard:

Turns out, the "new" engine" wasn't in great shape, but I figured it was at least running before the vehicle rolled, right? Here is what I found when I pulled the heads off:

I sent the heads to the machine shop, and they came back in amazing condition, like new, maybe better than new. Started the rebuild process. I can tell that rear coolant pipe is MUCH easier to do out of the vehicle instead of when its wedged up against the firewall. It was a genuine pleasure rebuilding this. I am not mechanically inclined. I am a master of cross threading anything and I can drop bolts into magic crevices that make things disseappear for ever. Sometimes I get stuck on a bolt for 2 or 3 hours, and then my son will come out and wave a wrench around the air in the general vicinity and hand me the bolt after 30 seconds of work. I hate him sometimes. But rebuilding the engine was something that was fun to do after dinner. I really surprised myself at how much I enjoyed doing it. Here is a shot of it going back together:

Because of the financial pause, there was a LONG time between tear down and rebuild, long enough to forget where all the myriad fasteners and widgets go, but it all came back together pretty naturally, and I did not have anything left over. However, it didn't run right when I completed it, because I had hooked up a vacuum line to the cruise control thingie and the engine would start and race to 9,000 RPM immediately. That will get your heart going. Once I solved that, I only needed to adjust the idle a little bit, and everything worked perfectly. 3 years later, my daughter drives it as her daily and its the best running car I own. I still can't believe it. Since then, I've done a few other major engine projects, and am lining up to do a head job on a Toyota 4Runner V6. It takes a professional mechanic 23 hours, with all the right tools and a lift. I figure two weekends for us. Should be fun.

 

[nwoods]

Nwoods- I love the Quadra-drive II system! The automatic lockers are great. But I find myself running out of gas just when the fun begins. I live in Utah and love to explore new sites and far away places. Unfortunately, the 40 to 50 miles more that I get with the Monty makes a big difference in my adventures.

I also haul a lot of stuff for camping (1-3 Kayaks, big tent and supplies) and usually have my wife and 3 kids in the back of the vehicle. The monty destroys any Jeep in the market when it comes to interior space.

I completely agree on space. The only thing that compares well to the Monty on interior space is the Land Rover LR3 or the Lexus GX470, or something like a Suburban/Excursion, but that is a whole different class of vehicle. The Monty is great in size, but I am making the Jeep work for me because my kids are grown and I've been able to remove the second row seating and build a storage platform. That has helped immensely,

 

[CharlieNorth]

Any of you Gen 3 guys do away with the 3rd row seat and use that space for storage?

 

[plh]

Any of you Gen 3 guys do away with the 3rd row seat and use that space for storage?

Yes, When I had mine, it was stuffed full of tools, air compressor and recovery gear. Made a nice basement.

 

[Michael Brown]

Any of you Gen 3 guys do away with the 3rd row seat and use that space for storage?

I took mine out and put it in a back room. I keep a tool set, recovery gear, first aid, and a jumper pack in there. I'll post a picture later.
I mount the 3rd row if I need it, but I have to keep it inside the house when not in use...

 

[Fefrank]

Wow Nwoods! that is amazing information. Thank you! My montero has a 3.8 instead of the 3.5 but your experience has given me confidence. Stay put for more information on the build.

Thank you all!

 

[nwoods]

They are virtually the same engine. Minor differences in throttle body design and the front accessory plate, but otherwise, very very similar. It's the same engine, just slightly bigger bore and newer engine management system.

 

[MontySquareo]

My 3rd row seat lives in the garage or folded down but not into the floor
Its cubby hole is my tool box