A few months ago, I believe it was on the older currently dead site, someone posed the question "What would your dream truck be, ordered from the factory?", or something like that. I've been thinking about that lately, and I have a dream truck in mind now, and am more than half-heartedly thinking about a 2g Montero driveline swap to my 87 D50. As long as I'm dreaming it, I'd love to swap the 3.5 V6, along with the front and rear axles, to take advantage of the bigger front brakes, rear disc brakes, 4.63 gears, and the coveted upper A-arm-for-more-lift swap. I've got a line on a 95 Monty in a local boneyard that has everything on it. I can get the complete axles for $75 each, the motor for $150, complete wiring harness for $50 including the ECU. I'd like to go with a 5spd manual over an automatic, but if I can't find one I'd go auto.
Has anyone here done anything similar, or heard of anyone doing it? I absolutely love my truck, but I would love to have the benefits of all that torque and other upgrades that the Monty's got. It may sound loony, and I know it would be a helluva lot of work, but I still want to do it. I'm not interested in a turbo swap, 4g63 or Starion set up-I use my truck as a truck in my construction business, and I'm not looking for a racer, just a workhorse. I don't want a full size truck, I want my D50 with the gear that should have been offered in it, and probably would have, if Mitsu could have stuck it out amid the competition. I'd end up with a very unique vehicle, I think, with incredible reliability and functionality. I rebuilt my current 2.6 in april, and it's been perfect for 15,000 miles since then, and I've got plans for it as well. Something to do with a 72 or 73 Colt, like my first car when I was in High School.
Didn't the Monty's also have an option of a rear E-locker? The one I'm looking at has the center diff, but I don't think it has the rear locker.
I invite opinions, criticisms, ridicule, ass-kicking-it's all good. Thanks