1989 Mitsubishi Montero (Monty) SWB Project

Welp, picked up this gen 1 Montero off of a buddy and figured I'd start a build thread. irish44j's Radier build was a pretty big inspiration for me buying one of these things. It's the 3.0 V6 / 5-speed manual everything model. Basic, minimalistic, and easy to work on. My friend had done quite a bit of maintenance to it already, replacing the valve guide seals, swapping out some lifters that weren't pumping up, replacing a whole front wheel spindle that someone had buggered the threads on before us, putting fresh fluids/oils in everything, etc. There's some age related issues, a rust hole in one of the quarters, paint fade, but it's in great shape for being over 35!

It was running and driving great, although it liked to leak a bunch of oil, so I dove right into fixing that. It turns out the cam seals were all hardened up.

And while I was in there doing that, might as well toss on a new timing belt, water pump, front main seal, and do the crank bolt upgrade. It's so much easier to work on this thing than an E36. Tons of room, no special tools or hardware required. I even found out the engine is non-interference when I accidentally let the cam slip while taking the sprocket off, which was a huge relief.

Now that I had it all sealed up, I had to test out just how well it would work as a camping rig. It's pretty small inside, I don't think I'll make a sleeping platform like irish44's did, but I'm pretty content with a tent or hammock. Besides, this is my usual camping rig, so the fact that I can bring a nice chair and a beer cooler is a huge luxury to me:

So I loaded up my gear and mtb and headed out to Lenior to go ride some trails around Wilson Creek.

I found a little spot at the end of a FSR and set up for what turned into a WINDY night. Could barely sleep with all the trees creaking and the wind gusting. 

The next morning on my way back down the mountain, I found a little 2-track with a steep-ish climb at the entrance. This little thing got up it in 2wd no problem! I was able to make it maybe 1/2mi before some fell trees blocked the path, but the other benefit of the SWB is that I could do a quick 5pt right there on the trail and get out. 

I'm still not sure about my future plans with it. I'm really liking it in its stock form, but I wouldn't mind putting a body lift (suspension lift on these is far tougher to make work with the IFS setup unless you wanna go through the work of swapping in the whole gen2 front setup) and larger tires on. I definitely want to add a proper roof rack so I can get an awning on it, and some stiffer rear spring are a requirement. With a dirtbike on the back this thing nearly sits on the bumpstops.

It's not in nice enough shape to warrant preserving, so drilling on some flares and cutting a hole in the fender for a snorkel won't really hurt my feelings either. 

I also snagged a deal on a pair of the 3.0's from a mighty max guy. They're the same 6G72's as far as I can tell. One is seized, missing a cam, manifolds, valve cover, and will only really be worth using for parts, but the other is complete and rotates free and seems to make good compression. I'm planning to rebuild it to have a spare engine ready it go in since these seem to be problematic with headgaskets and overheating.

If anyone is familiar at all with these things, I'm open to suggestions for mods and parts to look into.

No suggestions but I really like it. I always like a good montero build. 

I love the picture with the motorcycle on the back.  With that picture, my first thought is you need some tractor style, front bumper, suitcase weights.  

Nice looking rig! I didn't know you could get the 6g72 with a 5 speed in these, I'm off to feed my Marketplace algorithm now.

In reply to John Welsh :

You're not too far off with that tractor, the front has some positive camber from when I cranked up the torsion springs, it's practically a likeness to an old row-crop now. Perhaps I'll add a front hitch so I can carry 2 bikes and balance it out some.

In reply to RacetruckRon :

Yes, the V5MT1 was used in their v6 and diesel versions. I think any v6/diesel 5 speed mitsu from 1988+ (mighty max, montero, delica, etc) all used a variant of that transmission. It's beefier than the ones in the gasser 4cyls, though a bit harder to find in the states. I read they're different between the auto (23 spline 6 bolt standard flange, similar to NP2** cases from jeeps https://forum.expeditionportal.com/threads/montero-transfer-case-swap-info.139546/ ) and manual versions and are not interchangeable. The auto boxes were considered 'bulletproof' at the time, so not a terrible choice to go with either, if just not as engaging to drive.

If i ever decide to go to bigger tires, I would want to change the transfer case ratio out. Currently it's a 1.9:1 reduction, however an Australian company makes a 2.85:1 gearset that you can swap in. 

In reply to HaddaLayerDown :

Good to know on the beefier transmission, the KM132 isn't well known for it's durability in the Mighty Max world.

In reply to RacetruckRon :

No idea if it mates up to the 4cyl though, you'll need to look into that. It's possible the bellhousing swaps. 

Small update: I tried some upgraded rear springs to deal with the extra weight of the motorcycle in the back. I couldn't find anything specific to the short wheelbase, but I was hoping the standard height LWB springs would do the trick without absolutely jacking up the back when unladen. I found a set from Lovell that were no-lift and the same length as factory.

Welp, they absolutely jacked up the back of this thing by like 3". Darn. Tossed the stockies back in and am now considering used factory LWB springs. 

Finally tore into the spare engines I picked up. The seized one was first. As I drained the oil pan, about 10qts of water came out before maybe 1qt of nasty milky oil. One head was missing a valve cover, cam, and rocker shaft but the other was still all closed up. Popping off that cover revealed a nasty, rusty mess of milky oil and neglect. I knew this engine was trash, the guy tossed it in for free when I bought the other one, but I wish I hadn't taken the offer, this thing stunk up the garage.

Pulled the heads off and was greeted with this:

I could not get the pistons to move at all, even with a hammer. The other bank somehow survived in decent shape, I was able to access all the hardware and pulled the rod caps and pushed the pistons out on that side. The nasty side took some time but I was able to get all the rod caps off, hammered the studs out of the rods, unbolted the main girdle, and finagled the crank out with the other 3 pistons still stuck in place. 

All the main and rod bearings were in great shape. The singular cam was pretty scored though, as was the cam journal and the rockers had a lot of rust. Crankshaft seemed ok. I'm going to keep all the salvageable parts at least. 

The block was DONE. That rust had eaten through a significant amount of cylinder material, not to mention how bad it looked inside the water jacket. At least a few parts were salvageable.

Love this truck!   Following!