Big Blue - 1991 LWB

[Sedole]

Scored some yakima 1a racks on offerup for $25!  Already putting them to use:



Peep the ADD sticker for that extra hp ya feel 

[poormansporsche]

Very cool build man and I dig the direction you're going. I know what you mean about pulling speaker wiring. I found it easier to pull the fenders off and run it through the door. Otherwise it was just a complete nightmare. 6.5" speakers meant chopping up the door skeleton. Wasn't a fan of doing, but I was less a fan of the speakers in the lower dash.

I'm considering getting my seats recovered in Landy Sorrel Brown, which appears to be a similar tan color that you used. Is that the paint code?

cheers

poorman

[Sedole]

I'm considering getting my seats recovered in Landy Sorrel Brown, which appears to be a similar tan color that you used. Is that the paint code?

Thanks man, I still have a lot of plans (and a lot of parts sitting in bins in my garage) for the truck, but school has gotten super busy so it's hard to find the time..

They are land rover's bahama beige.  The seats are actually quite a bit lighter than the picture portrays.  It's a great color though, and looks super cool imo with the black piping!  I'll probably be trashing these current seats for some manual adjusting gen2 seats though.  LR leather just has not stood up to the test of time and the CA sun..

[Sedole]

Well I don't have a ton of pics to show for it, but I've been busy with the Montero these past couple weeks!  The didactic portion of dental school has died down so I finally have more free time to do things other than study and cry myself to sleep after school each night!

The biggest thing I've done is give the 'tero a slight suspension lift:  gen2 springs in the rear, cranked torsion bars up front to match, and bilstein 4600s all around:







Impressions of the lift:  loving it!    Gen2 rear springs have so much more comfort (in addition to the added height).  The 4600s are superb too.  From the facebook group posts I was expecting these to be a bit softer, but they really are a perfect blend of street-ability and off road ability.  On the street the truck is much more comfortable on my back yet only slightly more lean in the corners.  Off road is a huge difference.  I let her stretch her legs on the dirt path next to the railroad tracks near my house and it's night and day!  Where I previously had to go 15-20 mph to not rattle my teeth off, I now fly by at 40-45.  Comfortably!

I was also going to align the truck myself, but after seeing how much a pain it would be to get the fronts done, I decided I will take it to a shop in the next week or so.

I neglected to take after pictures of the truck, so I'll have to get those later.



I was also stranded by my truck for the first time ever.  Driving into school and I noticed my electrical accessories acting weird and A/C not blowing as cold.  After a few minutes I realized my alternator was likely not charging, but there was no parking at all so I was still circling with the traffic in the garage trying to find a spot.  Fortunately the truck finally died on a downhill slope into the covered section of the garage so I didn't have to scorch in the SoCal sun waiting for AAA to pick me up.

Naturally the AAA truck couldn't fit into the garage, so me and Carlos (my AAA driver) had a fun time pushing it around and out 3 stories of the garage by ourselves..

It indeed was the alternator.  I ended up having it rebuilt by M&M alternators in San Bernardino, CA for $60.  It seems like they did a good job, but time will tell.  They gave a 24mo warranty, so that's good.





This (above) pic was after I had done just the rear springs and shocks.  Look at the difference!  That rear wheel gap used to be about even with the fronts. 



Clean and shiny 



Also picked up a curt hitch from a Gen2 and plan to shorten it at some point to improve departure angle.




Other things I've done:

I'm chasing some CELs.  Currently getting an intermittent 11 and a constant 24.  Haven't had time to pull the cluster and replace the reed switch (my guess for 24).  And 11 I'm not sure.  I put in a brand new O2 sensor during the process of getting the truck to pass smog so I'm assuming that hasn't gone bad and it's likely injector or air intake related.

For some reason I'm having constant power to the license plate lights and the rear hatch door sensor is slightly tripped so it sends (a dim) door ajar light on the dash.  I've unplugged the harness to the rear door for now and just don't drive the 'tero at night.

Fixed some broken exhaust hangars.

Added a little dash cubby pocket below the stereo.

Got a new hazard switch to replace my grenaded one.

Chased an oil leak to maybe the rear main seal?  It's pretty small leak (not even a noticeable amount on the dipstick after 500 miles, so I'm not too concerned about it right now.

Chased a coolant leak to I think the throttle body.  The hoses had enough slack to cut about 1/2 inch off the ends of each one, so I just cleaned off the corrosion on the nipples and reattached.  So far so good.

Deleted the nonfunctioning headlight washer.  I've never ever used them in other cars either so I just capped off the plug and hose in case I ever change my mind.  Now it's got me thinking about what to do with all the new real estate up there. 

Also an update the to speaker install.  Previously I was not that happy, and it's still true:  listening to FM radio leaves a lot to be desired.  But I have since tried hooking my iphone up to it via usb and boy what a difference!  It actually sounds pretty dang good!  Subwoofer plans to come!

Lastly I've slowly been adding in noico sound deadening material.  I've only done the hatch floor area so far, but man, what a huge difference in road noise and exhaust drone already! 


That's it for now, but there's still lots more to do!

[Shovel]

Man!!   Team Bilstein and Team Noico at the same time?!     

Moving up in this world, nice looking Montero!

[Crumb]

 Yeah dude, bad ass!

[Sedole]

Thanks dudes! 

Team Bilstein and team Noico all the way!!  Some of my fav mods so far!


Well today I started fiddling with a factory gen2 transfer case skid that I picked up a long time ago.  I'm happy with how I modified the rearmost part of the plate to bolt up to the truck, but not so much with the front.  It's weak and I know it.  I think I will pick up some 1/8" steel tomorrow to double up the front and add some bends and a carefully placed gusset here or there.  I did very minimal prep and painted it as I had planned to just run the plate for a little while, but it's really bugging me how weak the front is.  The plate is also just slightly too short for the gen1 mounting points, so this will give me the chance to make proper mounting holes.  I can also then do away with the giant spacer/washers I added to the front bolts to gain some of the clearance I needed.





Started working on a new radio bezel today as well and hope to finish that tomorrow.

Also forgot to mention before that I ended up picking up 2 more yakima 1a racks cause more racks are better racks 

[Sedole]

Went wheelin Saturday at my local spot in San Timoteo canyon.  My friend wanted to test out his new-to-him Raptor, and who am I to turn down a wheeling trip.    It was also a great chance to test out my new Bilsteins!

They did not disappoint!  I of course could not compete with the Raptor, but I could easily keep up with my other friend in his 2nd gen Tacoma.  Last time we went out there I had to air down and stick to 20-25 mph to keep from rattling my teeth out on the straight flat out section, but this time I held 60+ in all but the most rutted sections...with comfort!    They of course handled the slower crawling great as well!









This was the most difficult obstacle I attempted. I really need to trust the tippyness of the ‘tero but my gosh I about poo’d my pants lol I really thought it was going over this time. With some spotting and my friends pushing up on the low side to get through the deepest portion, I then stacked a few rocks and a tire that someone had left in the ditch before me to finish getting out. At the point of the picture facing the rear of the truck, I was teetering on my two passenger wheels and at one point the body was resting on the side of the ravine.  Hence the pushing from my friends.

If I had aired down I think I would’ve gotten through a little better. A front LSD or locker would’ve gone a long way for me as well--and, I'm willing to admit, more experience too.

Rest of the trip was pretty uneventful.  I did go through more obstacles than the other two trucks solely because of the dimensions of my own truck and the tightness of the trails.  I did need a tug out once though.  Steep hill climb, inclinometer was well past 30 once I got stuck.  Montero was chugging up like a tank until I hit a soft patch of dirt midway through.  LSD kicked in and slid the back end to the right causing me to get hung up on my rear diff.  Not enough power to get myself out forward or backward so I had to radio in for help.  Also it was really steep and I was puckering the whole time hah.



Sunday I ran to the LKQ pick your part to grab some stuff from a gen 1 and ran into fellow SoCal montero owner, Christopher Leon.  Great guy and had a fun time chatting with him as we both pulled our parts.

Today I finally got back to work.  After beaching my rig Saturday I decided the skid plate should really get finished.  Decided to extend my front mounting point with some 1/8 steel sheet.  Bent the leading edge up to match it, and bent in the corners for extra strengths.





Corners bent in (previously rounded the internal corners--I think that's a strength thing?)



At this point I was ready to drill some holes and throw it on, but the little man on my shoulder convinced me to reinforce the plate now and not have to do it later.  I went with 3/16 flat bar stock.  I had 1/4 laying around as well, but figured the 3/16 plus the 1/8 would be good enough.



After getting the reinforcement on I realized I should have done the reinforcement before modifying the front of the plate so I could have extended it further forwards, but whatever, if it breaks I'll fix it later!

Rounded off the front and bent the edges inwards a little to prevent snagging, drilled some mounting holes, and threw a couple coats of rustoleum satin black on and called it good to go!







Fitment is pretty good, especially considering it wasn't even originally meant for this year of Montero.  It sits a tad lower than I think I'd like, but I'm sure it will receive a more "custom" fit as it gets used on the trail haha.






I've also been working on a new radio bezel these last few days.  It's pretty much done, but I'm probably going to nitpick at it a little more with my dremel to make the cutouts a little straighter.  It will eventually get 4 bolts, 1 in each corner, to hold it on, but I bought the wrong ones for the little fastener nut thingymajigs I have, so that will come later.  It fits pretty good and stays in place without it, so here it sits for now.  Used 1/8" ABS sheet.




Lastly, I tried to mimic previous photos of the truck to show a comparison, but it's too hard to get the angles right.  Sooo, here's a pic of my truck as she sits!  It ended up about an inch taller than it was.

[Crumb]

 Truck looks tough dude! makes me want that blue one at JBFP's even more!

[Sedole]

Thanks dude! Maybe she'll get onto your level some day haha


Finished up the radio bezel.  Decided to attach the little trim piece that came with the stereo for a more finished look. I wanted black hex screws but couldn't find any locally in an appropriate size and thread pattern.



Snagged a new reed switch and swapped mine out.  Mine did not look broken, but there were burn marks on the glass (similar to when a lightbulb or fuse blows) so I put this one in.  I also realized that when I first brought my truck home, I didn't have any CELs, and since my #11 code is intermittent and my investigations on the truck have been fruitless, I decided to put my old O2 sensor back in.  My #24 code is also intermittent.  So far neither one has come back yet, so fingers crossed..



Finished up the Noico on the back cargo floor area.  Planning to also do main cabin floor area, doors, roof just behind windshield, firewall, and inside the rear quarter panels.  Already noticing a huge difference!

[MrGalantguy]

Great work on your Gen 1 man!

I have been itching to get a Gen 1 lately.

[Crumb]

Get one! I need to Noico mine, i want to go way overboard on my little build but i also don't like black cars.

[Sedole]

I really recommend the Noico!  It does add some weight of course, but IMO it's worth it.  I am in the dental field though, so take that with a grain of salt.  I'm listening to hand pieces and suctions all day in the background, so my ears readily welcome a reduction in driving noise!


Warning:  If spacers ain't your thing, look away now!!

Installed some 1" spacers today.  Got the affordable ones recommended by ADD from amazon.  They're only lug-centric, but my Montero is only lug-centric to begin with so they should do just fine.  Spacers seem great quality out of the box, so hopefully they hold up well!

I got them for the looks of course, but as an added benefit it should fix my rubbing of the sway bar up front.



Quick wire brush of the hub and studs, blue thread locker, and torqued properly.







And, before and after:









I'm super happy with how she sits now, it looks so much more tough!  I wasn't going for a poke sort of look, just flush in line with the fenders, and the 1" turned out just about perfect for that.

I'll have to grab some better pics tomorrow in the daylight.

Planning to take her for a little drive tomorrow and then recheck all the nuts to be safe.

[Shovel]

I like this build, set up for the long run with clean quality work.   

They're only lug-centric

With the front axle locking hubs it's not really possible to fit a bore-centric spacer there.  It would be possible in the rear (as long as the spacer is more than about 14mm) but then  you'd be buying two separate pairs of spacers.     I think with six conical lubs there's not much opportunity for run-out to exist. 

[Sedole]

I think with six conical lubs there's not much opportunity for run-out to exist.

Thanks, makes me feel more confident about them!

Updates!

Drove out to Victorville to snag some decent looking cloth seats from a 97 LS at the LKQ.  I wanted to get the trailing arms as well while I was there, but by the time I finally got the first one off it was 5:50 and the yard was closing at 6:00, so I'll have to grab another one at some point.



They are in good condition but are pretty dirty and have some questionable stains, so they'll be getting blasted by my carpet shampooer before they go anywhere near my truck haha


Truck started smoking a ton from under the hood on the way to school one day--right at the light to the parking garage.  Pulled into the parking garage and shut her down and got out to take a look.  Turned out one of the coolant hoses by the firewall popped right off causing the truck to puke most its coolant.





The hose (and all the others on the truck) was still nice and supple and not cracked, but the clamp was very loosely attached so it was probably bound to happen at some point.  I'm just glad it happened 2.5 miles away from home instead of off road somewhere in the mountains!  Home is mostly downhill from school so I was able to limp her home just fine without getting her hot at all.

Anyways, cleaned off the corrosion and got a new hose just in case.  Went through the rest of the coolant hoses all around the truck and double checked all the connections and made sure they were all tight.  Drained the residual coolant and filled it back up with a 50/50 mix.  Was planning to do a coolant drain and fill at some point anyways so at least that's one good thing about all this!


One thing that has always left me wanting more is the headlights on this truck.  The stock sealed beams are just grossly inadequate.  So, in comes some Rampage H4 halogens and a universal ceramic relay harness from all star truck parts on amazon.  I chose the rampage lights because they had good reviews and I like the look of the clear lenses, especially since I plan to add halo rings at some point.  The harness was just chosen cause it had the best reviews as well, and it turned out to be an absolutely perfect fit for the G1 montero!

Before:



Low beams:



High beams:



Layout of how I ran the harness.  Literally a perfect fit!





Tucked the wire right in front of the radiator underneath the radiator support next to the harness already running through there to get to the other side.



Take off the grill and headlight surrounds, pop off the chrome rings, and pop the new headlights in!  Plug and play, no modification required!





Bam!  Love the more modern look these give off!  Unfortunately one of the bulbs was cracked from shipping and I didn't notice until I installed it and the driver headlight started filling up with gas.  Got some new 55/60W H4 bulbs from hella.  Will have to clean it off when I open them up for the halo install.

These give off SO MUCH more light, I can actually drive the truck and SEE at night now!  These crappy iphone pictures don't do it justice, but it's like I'm driving a vehicle with modern headlights instead of 99cent store flashlights hooked up front as headlights.  With the low beams I now have light one lane over each side and with the high beams its about 2+ lanes over on each side.  Of course the distance and light output is vastly improved too!

Low beams after:



Highs:



Lows:



Highs:



Highs and spots.  Spots throw a ton of light, especially up front, so the iphone has trouble shooting it, but here's the pic anyway:



Loving them!  So bright!