Howdy been busy and haven't been around much. Well, sad news. A tweaker in a stolen car fleeing from the police took out the montero as I was driving it to work on Tuesday. Hit me on the driver's side at the bottom of the doors/base of the B-pillar. Total loss. Impact went all the way to the frame, wrecked the body mount and dented the frame, but didn't seem to bend it. The whole Driver's seat is pushed tightly against the center console. Oddly only a crack in the front windshield, all other glass was undamaged. Didn't damage any driveline components either. Drover the car home. When he hit me, I was almost stopped, but it launched the rear end into the air and spun me around almost 180 degrees. The right, passenger, rear hit a stop sign and broke the 4x4 post it was mounted on in half, so the right rear quarter is toast too. I got bounced around, hit my head but walked away with a egg on my left temple and swollen knee. I only needed a few days of Tylenol and the knee is fine and the headache gone. Wrong place at the wrong time but lucky it wasn't worse.
Montero will be totaled for sure. I'll inquire on buying it back for parts if anyone is interested. Everything worked exactly as it should (sunroof, locks, windows, A/C, transfer case, locker etc....everything worked correct) I only put about 10k on it since all the reconditioning I did of engine, suspension, brakes and steering. Tires are nearly new still. Let me know if there is any interest in it for parts.
Of course there are some pics but they aren't loading well at the moment. I'll try to get them up soon. There is also surveillance footage from the house it happened in front of. I'll load that up if I can. It's a pretty wild video.
