Joinin' the Montero Club with a Gen 2.5

[jlocster]

Hi all, just wanted to introduce myself and share my story. I recently purchased a Gen 2.5 Endeavor back in the beginning of January after exhaustive research on this site, 4x4wire, ih8mud, etc. Just wanted to thank everyone publicly, especially offroader, eurosonic, grasscat, laoutback, kirk, grandpa and all others who have shared their experiences, info and expertise on the forum.

I'd never owned a 4x4 before and spent probably a year reading up on 4x4s and overlanding in general before ultimately narrowing down my search to Troopers (96-00), Monteros (2.5 Gen), FJ60 Landcruisers and diesel Suburbans. I was looking for a stout expedition base vehicle that was "international" and would have support not only in the States and Canada, but south of the border as well if I ever dared venture there. I eventually crossed Troopers off the list after reading too many reports about engine (oil burning) and auto trans weaknesses (GM 4L30) and not being able to find any decent manual trans specimens. Decent Landcruisers were simply too expensive for my $5000 budget, don't have airbags, and get horrifying mileage in stock form. Suburbans I decided were just too big for my tastes and the Chevy 6.2/6.5L diesel motors, which I liked for mpg's sake, while not rare in the US, are a bit of a wildcard internationally...just not common enough. Plus I was never able to find any good, lower mileage examples anyway. This left the Montero and its stout auto trans and transfer case, and reliable engine (save for maybe the balancer bolt issue which has been resolved). Also its large enough to sleep in but not Suburban huge, gets decent hwy mileage, and is a world car.

Soooo, I finally bit the bullet and bought a 2000 with 113k miles off craigslist in San Diego for $3500 after watching the seller come down from $5500 to $4000 over a few weeks.


The only receipts the guy had were for an oil change, coolant and trans flush, and a new teeny tiny battery. Though the mileage is fairly low the car is not pristine. The dark green paint has the common clearcoat failure on the hood and roof and then in 2 spots on 2 different quarter panels as well.


The drivers seat leather is badly worn and the passenger seat is starting to crack...but nothing a seatcover can't hide.


The truck obviously was baked in the sun quite a bit.

Continued in post #10...

 

[eurosonic]

You made the right choice! Welcome to the crowd.:ylsmoke:

If you want a locker I have an entire axle laying around in my back yard.

Btw where are you from?

 

[off-roader]

witout pis, this is just a nice work of fiction LOL!:ylsmoke:

 

[jlocster]

Thx, Eurosonic, real nice of you to offer. Does your extra locker have 4.27s? I'm in Los angeles, BTW.

Uh oh, you found me out off-roader, I really bought a pink Miata . Wait, can I get a snorkel for that?

Haha, I'll provide evidence this weekend.


--Josh

 

[eurosonic]

Thx, Eurosonic, real nice of you to offer. Does your extra locker have 4.27s? I'm in Los angeles, BTW.

--Josh

yeah, they are 4.27s out of a 98

 

[grandpa]

Sounds a lot like my 2000. I think you will have a good solid Montero with all the maintenance you have done.

 

[Blighty]

Sounds great and a wonderful justification for me pulling the trigger on one too. I have seen a nice 2000 Safari model locally at a good price with one owner that I am thinking about. I have about the same budget as you right now too.

Out of interest did you follow any good tutorials for your maintenance?

Good luck with the build.

Definitely in for pictures too!

Cheers

blighty

 

[jlocster]

Thanks all.

Blighty...I've been real satisfied with the Montero purchase so far. I'd say if you're on the fence, and you're looking for a full size SUV, there aren't many downsides to the Gen 2/2.5. It's a lot of vehicle for the money.

I found a lot of answers to maintenance questions on 4x4wire.com, in the Mitsubishi section of course. It's an awesome resource and a few ExPo guys are on that site as well.

Also, I downloaded the shop manual for a 1998 Montero from mitsubishilinks.com. There are two volumes available and they are worth their weight in gold.

For the timing belt and spark plug changes I found two youtube videos super helpful, both by "Jason Pez." One is "Montero Sport Timing Belt Replacement," which although depicting a Montero Sport, shows virtually the same procedure used on a full size Montero Gen 2.5 being the engines are the same. The second video, "02 Montero Spark Plug Change," was also very, very useful as the Gen 3 Montero in the video also has the 3.5L Mitsubishi engine, just like Gen 2.5s. Believe me, watching these videos is almost like cheating if you're about to do either of these jobs.

FYI, the timing belt change does require you to make/buy a few Mitsubishi specific tools.

One is a spanner wrench to hold the crankshaft from rotating so you can remove/replace the harmonic balancer bolt (easy to make for $10-15 with supplies from Home Depot).

Not pretty but it worked (1/4" bar stock, 5/16" bolts for pins, 3/8" bolt for the pivot).


Made it long for leverage.


The other is a special socket necessary to set the timing belt tensioner pre-load correctly ($12 on ebay, search "mitsubishi timing belt tensioner tool").


Fits a 1/4" ratchet/torque wrench.


Another specialty tool is needed to remove/replace the front hub assembly which must be detached to pack/replace wheel bearings/seals and remove/replace rotors. The hub assembly is held onto the spindle by a round retaining nut that necessitates the use of a spanner socket. As luck would have it, you can use a GM 3/4 ton 4wd front axle socket and shave off four of the six pins. I found one at O'reilly's for $10.

Part# W1270


Shave off 4 of the 6 pins so that the 2 left are directly opposite each other.

 

[Blighty]

Thanks Blighty...I've been real satisfied with the Montero purchase so far. I'd say if you're on the fence, and you're looking for a full size SUV, there aren't many downsides to the Gen 2/2.5. It's a lot of vehicle for the money.

I found a lot of answers to maintenance questions on 4x4wire.com, in the Mitsubishi section of course. It's an awesome resource and a few ExPo guys are on that site as well.

Also, I downloaded the shop manual for a 1998 Montero from mitsubishilinks.com. There are two volumes available and they are worth their weight in gold.

For the timing belt and spark plug changes I found two youtube videos super helpful, both by "Jason Pez." One is "Montero Sport Timing Belt Replacement," which though involving a Montero Sport, shows virtually the same procedure as a full size Montero being the engines are the same. The second video, "02 Montero Spark Plug Change," was also very, very useful as the Gen 3 Montero in the video also has the 3.5L Mitsubishi engine, just like Gen 2.5s. Believe me, watching these videos is almost like cheating if you're about to do either of these jobs.

FYI, the timing belt change does require you to make/buy a few Mitsubishi specific tools. One is a spanner wrench to hold the crankshaft from rotating so you can remove/tighten the balancer bolt (easy to make for $10-15 with supplies from Home Depot). The other is a special socket necessary to set the timing belt tensioner pre-load correctly ($12 on ebay, search "mitsubishi timing belt tensioner tool").

Excellent update. Thank you for that. I think I may be sold! Looking forward to the thread.

 

[jlocster]

...continued from post #1

Other issues are a non-functioning fuel gauge, a drivers door lock switch that doesn't unlock, and a wiring harness that some pesky mouse chewed to high heaven in a few places and will not be fun to fix.


Did I get a smokin deal? Hmm, I dont feel like I did, but I don't feel like I got ripped off either. I feel like I may have overpaid by $500 or so but the mileage sold me and I was ready to stop the hunt and finally buy something. I should also add that it would be nice to have the rear locker, which being a year 2000, mine doesn't have. I could remedy that in the future if need be, but it would've been nice if it already came with one stock. In any event, after reading about them for so long, I'm really enjoying finally having a Montero to call my own.

Tools? Check.


Worklight? Check.


Locker? Hmmm.


Anyway, after bringing it home I promptly removed the running boards and installed a a set of Hankook Dynapro ATMs in 30x9.5.


I then got it aligned, drove to San Francisco and back and averaged 19.5 mpgs. The tires rode real quiet on-road. As for off road, not sure how they'll do, I haven't done much of that yet. A lot of folks are running bigger tires which look sweet, and it was very tempting to follow suit, but I decided to go conservative with a smaller tire size more suited to overlanding rather than crawling. Should I have gone bigger? I don't know, we'll see what happens.

Then for 3 agonizing weeks after work I started baselining the car by replacing:

Timing belt, tensioner, idlers, front/rear cam seals/o-rings, front crank seal, water pump, thermostat, all coolant lines, intake plenum gasket, valve cover gaskets, plugs, plug grommets, plug wires, most vacuum lines, pcv valve, egr tube gasket, both front axles, all upper/lower ball joints, all tie rod ends, front stabilizer end links, idler/pitman arms, all front wheel bearings/seals, front/rear pads and rotors, all shocks (KYB Gas-A-Justs).

At that time I also found some junkyard Aisin hubs and rebuilt and installed them. More info here.


The job was definitely a bear but came with the benefit of me becoming familiar with the truck. The suspension and steering also tightened up noticably. I think I spent about $1500 on parts between rockauto, the dealer, and the mom n pop shop down the street from my house. Btw, the new valve cover gaskets still leak, ugh!

Most recently I replaced a broken power antenna with a non-power unit from a junkyard Gen 2, and the cargo door plastic latch with a bar stock fabricated one after a junkyard replacement I pulled disappeared into the black hole that is my garage.


Also moved the seat heater switches to a more accessible location since I don't have the adjustable shocks (idea courtesy of Eurosonic).


Anyway, that's all for now...thanks for indulging me with a long and rambling 1st post, I'm just happy and excited to finally be part of the Montero crew here on ExPo.

More mods and pics to come...

--Josh

 

[jlocster]

The bulb on my compass burnt out.


So I picked up a replacement at the dealer (Part# MR283314).


It looks like this. **Note: The compass uses 2 of these bulbs.**


Info on replacement here.

 

[jlocster]

Paint Issues

I'm trying to decide what to do about paint. Maybe I shouldn't care but I do (that's my vanity speaking). As I mentioned before I have clearcoat issues so I went by a couple of body shops to ask about refinishing the hood, roof, and 2 quarter panels all of which have peeling clear. I asked about getting stock green on the fenders, a white roof for cooling effect, and flat black hood to minimize reflection. Both places quoted $1000, or $2000 to shoot the whole car.

Since I plan on keeping this vehicle for a long time, part of me wants to just do it the right way and forget about it. The other part of me says that kinda money can be put to better use and its just gonna get scratched up anyway.

So I got to thinking about other more homebrew solutions like getting some Bus Kote or even Henry 275 Roof Coating and just rolling it on the roof and then rattle canning the hood flat black. Only problem with this plan is there's no going back to a regular auto finish in the future if I do it. The price is right though.

In the meantime, I decided to smooth out the afflicted panels to keep any more clear from coming off. I ended up going through the color coat in a few spots unfortunately. Then I put a healthy coat of wax on it for now.




Also ended up painting the wiper arms when I installed new blades.


Then I pulled off the drip rail moulding in order to de-bling.


Any thoughts on the importance of proper paint on an overland rig?

 

[eurosonic]

I wouldn't worry about it. Leave it as is, it will only add character. After a few trips to the sierras you'll be looking like this.

 

[jlocster]

Thanks for being the voice of reason Eurosonic.

 

[jlocster]

Party Lights

I decided to switch to red LED lighting in the passenger compartment.

I bought 5 of these festoon lights online. One for the rear dome, 2 for the front dome and 2 for the map lights. I'm still trying to decide if I should get two more for the front door step lights. Although the LEDs are a bit wider than the bulbs they replaced, they still fit the fixtures.



Party Time!


...I also decided to remove the weathered wood laminate from around the center gauge stack and vents. I congratulate Mitsubishi for developing foam tape with the most herculean grip yet known to man.

Before


After