1991 Montero Revival & Build

Hey guys, I thought I might document the revival of this newly acquired 1991 Montero 4x4. I picked it up yesterday in some out of the way place in South Dakota. It was one hell of a drive but totally worth it. It currently runs and drives but has zero brakes. The emergency brake cables are cut and the brake lines seem to be broken. Its got a decent interior but it definitely needs a good cleaning along with the engine bay. It seems some mice decided the v6's spark plug holes and valley were a great place to live for awhile. Thankfully they never got into the interior of the car and I can only find one wire they decided to munch on.

Overall its in good shape. It starts up, the engine runs well, the steering is tight, and the four wheel drive works awesome. It has some minor surface rust but no full on rust, in the pictures you can see what looks like rot but that is just surface rust mixed with moss LOL.

Anyway on to the pictures. I'll be working on it today and starting a list of parts it needs.

Love these trucks. I remember when I was 10 years old and we were living overseas we had a short wheel base Pajero with a diesel. My dad sometimes let me steer it while he worked the pedals.

In reply to Run_Away :

That is awesome! I've always liked these things and I've looked for one for quite awhile. This one even has a pretty cool story behind it. The guy I bought it from got it from his father in law, and he got it after finding this guy broke down at the end of his driveway out in the middle of nowhere. He went out to find out if they were ok and come to find out the rear differential had broken. The guy who broke down was a pilot and he drove this Montero around when he was in the area. The father in law pulled it off the road for him and said it could stay in his yard till he knew what he was going to do with it. Fast forward a week and a letter came in the mail and it included the title. The pilot had decided it wasn't worth it to him to fix so he gave it to the father in law. Years later he gave it to the guy I bought it from.

Nice! We used the 2 door versions and some 4 door versions as Pajero in SE Asia and S Africa for the UN missions 

Looks like a solid truck, what are the plans? 

My father had one of those. Bought it new. It had the most bizarre habit of breaking the bolt that held the crank pulley. Did it three times (and had to be drilled out and replaced) before he decided he'd had enough. Never figured out why it did it, and don't recall hearing of others with the same issue (but then those were the days before the interweb).

Assuming yours doesn't do that, it should be a solid truck.

I remember test driving a $500 one back when I was in high school. I swear it had a horizon indicator on the dash, am I crazy?

Ended up buying a Cherokee instead. 

In reply to orthoxstice :

Monteros used to offer a Inclinometer. 

In reply to Gunchsta :

Yeah it's in pretty good condition for its age and especially what I paid for it. The plan is to fix it up and get it running reliably for a daily driver and then to make a few modifications and fabricate a few things to make it into a camping / exploration rig. I plan on keeping the gas mileage good and it's not going to turn into a crazy "overlanding" rig. Just some simple tasteful modifications.

In reply to 02Pilot :

Wow that is quite an odd thing to break. I can tell you I've never heard about anyone else having that issue with these so I don't expect that to pop up. If it does though I'll report back haha.

Love it!!  We bought the same spec white RS LWB a few years ago for my oldest sons first car. It needs head gaskets, and we've torn it down, but lost my mojo, and time, so it sits unloved now. I really need to get busy on it. Great trucks!

speedyquest said:

In reply to 02Pilot :

Wow that is quite an odd thing to break. I can tell you I've never heard about anyone else having that issue with these so I don't expect that to pop up. If it does though I'll report back haha.

The 3.0 v6 has a known issue of the crank bolt backing out or breaking. There is an updated bolt and washer for it. 

Mine backed out and thankfully I caught it before it completely fell out and the crank pulley fell off. I bought the updated bolt and put it back together. 

I wouldn't say it is a guaranteed failure or even that common but it is known to happen. 

In reply to EvanB :

That is some great info, I'll definitely check that. Thanks dude!

Ditto on the crankbolt. I regret ever selling my first gen, it was the cockroach of my fleet for years and I still troll the web daily in hopes it will come back to me. I used the 4x4wire forum for most of the information that helped me when things needed attention.

Cool truck. I have an 87 SWB and used to have a 94 LWB. The 3.0 is a good motor. I too have experienced the crank bolt issue, it is definitely not made up. I never looked into it far enough to find out what the root cause is. 

Is that a 15 or 16" wheel on it?

In reply to Vigo :

Thanks man! The wheels are 15" but I might change over to something else when I pick up tires for it. Its not super easy finding 15" AT tires.

In reply to speedyquest :

You can find pretty much any AT tire in 31x10.5x15 and it is the perfect size for these.