Monty sqareo build thread

[MontySquareo]

It is the 5 speed, the bolt pattern is the same but the xls transfer case is 4 inches shorter, so I had to get a driveshaft from a xls too.

 

[MontySquareo]

I've had a misfire at idle the whole time I've owned montysquareo so I decided to do intake gaskets, valve cover gaskets and spark plugs while i had the engine apart. when i took the lower manifold off i got some coolant in the runners, and while turning the engine over to pump the small amount of coolant out of the cylinders i noticed compression leaking past some intake valves. i popped the valve cover and rocker arms off and with no rocker arms the valves seated fully. i took out the valve lash adjusters for the affected cylinders and i couldn't compress them with a vise, so i figured they were stuck. a little bit of hammering broke some of the adjusters loose, and most of them just broke apart. (some of them came apart before i had them out of the rocker arms) anyhow i figure valves stuck open would cause low compression and misfires. while i had the engine apart i tested the injectors with some brake cleaner, and all the injectors have a nice even spray pattern. also for some reason the intake valves have quite a bit of carbon on them, i thought they would be cleaned off by the injectors. the intake valves that didn't close completely are a lot cleaner than the ones that did seat fully. engine has good compression with rocker arms removed, so i don't think I have any bent valves.


redneck injector testing


bits and pieces


good lash adjuster vs one that fell apart

you can read in the eclipse and 3000gt forums about lash adjusters sticking and bending valves or ticking like mad.

 

[MontySquareo]

some chunks missing from about 1/4 of the old lifters, mostly on the exhaust valves. this picture is the worst looking lifter. hopefully I'll have the Montero running by tomorrow night. what do you think could have caused this? the engine did jump time once, but ran smooth even a tooth off.

 

[MontySquareo]

Had time this past few days to start on the bumper, these pics are plates that bolt to the frame and will support the rest of the bumper and a hitch receiver for a winch. The lines on the plates are where the bumper skin is gonna go. I'm not building a winch into the bumper because I already have a trailer hitch winch that can live in the cab where it won't get crusty and one winch can go on the front or back.

 

[MontySquareo]

got some more work done on the bumper. the final peices to install the transfer case came, but I need a driving car right now so that project is on hold for a while.

 

[MontySquareo]

took the Montero out for a lil adventure a few weeks ago, i forgot how capable these trucks are. trail was mostly sand. I haven't replaced the t-case yet so I did the whole thing and drove home in awd because the transfer case wouldn't shift back to 2h
i should do this more often, even though it costs like $30 in fuel

 

[MontySquareo]

made some more progress on the bumper, the structural part is basically done

 

[MontySquareo]

finished the middle of the bumper and ripped out the super select case, no more blinky lights for me. xls transfer case ready to go in

 

[MontySquareo]

manual transfer case is in! and it fit perfectly! the truck works fine without the 4x4 computer. you need to ground out one pin to unlock the front driveshaft disconnect. (it locks by spring pressure and the vacuum system unlocks it)

 

[MontySquareo]

ok here's the information for the manual transfer case swap. (orange flashing light delete) you need a transfer case and rear driveshaft from a 2001-2003 Montero XLS. remove the rear driveshaft and transfer case, and the center console. measure and cut your hole in the floor for your shifter, and install your new transfer case and driveshaft. the xls transfer case is shorter than the super select case, so you need an xls rear driveshaft, which is longer. the front driveshaft is the same size for both cases. you will also have to cut a hole in the transmission shifter, because it is a large plastic plate that covers the whole floor pan on the 5speed limited. my transfer case didn't come with a shifter, so I made one, details are in this thread somewhere. once you have your manual transfer case in, unplug the 4x4 computer, (green plugs on the lower computer, the upper one with blue plugs is the tcm i think) put your transmission shifter back in, fill all the fluids, and take it for a test drive. on the xls transfer case there's only a speed sensor that needs plugged in, just zip tie the other plugs out of the way for now. don't worry about the 4x4 switches on the new transfer case either. if the test drive goes smoothly, and all the gears work in the transmission and transfer case, you're ready for the next step. print off a few copies of AT2.jpg. the pinout diagrams are pics of the computer connectors, and are mirrored if you're looking at the wiring harness connectors. to unlock the front axle disconnect you need to ground out pin 41, connector E-104. the axle disconnect is normally locked, and when you ground out pin 41 it unlocks and the front driveshaft no longer spins. i used a switch from the junkyard to ground out pin 41, and made it fit in one of the blanks in the center console. i also cut a hole in the center console and glued a parking brake boot in from another car for my transfer case shift lever boot. engine noise will come through the hole in the floor, so I sealed it with a universal fit power steering boot and duct tape, and I insulated it with stuffing normally used for quilts and stuff. it's still louder than before, and now I can hear a faint whine, probably from the rear differential or transfer case. i used gl5 in my transfer case because that's what I had, but you're supposed to use gl4. i also cut the boot for the 4x4 shifter too small so it pulls on the shifter in 4low. the whine and the engine noise from the hole is drowned out by wind noise above 60mph. my transmission has started flaring on the 4-5 shift but it's probably unrelated to the transfer case, and if it is it's probably because i unplugged the tcu and its wiring harness and may have caused a bad connection. i forgot to take pictures of the finished product, those will come soon. the transmission didn't flare on my test drives, just the last time I drove it, and the flare slowly went away as i drove, so it could just be the transmission doing it's thing.

 

[MontySquareo]

here's the finished center console. the 4x4 lights on the dash don't do anything anymore. the switch that sticks up by the ashtray is for the front differential clutch.

 

[MontySquareo]

4-5 shift flare dissapeared, car drives just the same as ever. the speedo gears in the transfer case are different, so 47 on the speedo is 55 on the GPS and 60 on the dash is 70 on the GPS. i wonder if this effects the odometer reading.

 

[MontySquareo]

I can say for sure that the speedo gear change does affect the odometer reading. I went from 325 a tank to 280 a tank (14.5 ish mpg to 12 ish mpg ) according to the odometer, under the same driving conditions. if you multiply 60mph*1.16 you get almost 70mph, if you multiply 280gal*1.16 you get 324.8gal. 3500 miles with limited super select transfer case is about the same number of driveshaft rotations as 3000 miles on an xls transfer case. i wonder if the xls Monteros have more wear from the same amount of miles, as most of the drivetrain is spinning faster (but also transmitting less torque)

 

[Toasty]

Are you going to install the 4.90 gears from the XLS as well?

 

[MontySquareo]

Are you going to install the 4.90 gears from the XLS as well?

probably not. my current plan is to just drive the Montero the way it is. if i ever went bigger than 265/75/16 I would definitely get the 4.90 gears and probably also a locker for the rear, but first I want to use the capability it already has. i see no point in spending money and upgrading stuff for offroading if I never actually go offroad.