Hullo all. New '88 Mighty Max Sport owner here.

[shadowfax]

Needed something to haul stuff for the house/yard. Could have gotten a Chevy or a Dakota, but that would be boring, so I went looking for a Japanese mini truck. This is the first one I found that wasn't absolutely eaten by rust, so I picked it up. Needs some work, but nothing too bad. Probably the worst job will be cleaning the interior. I don't know how the previous owner got old grease smeared so evenly on the entire headliner, but he managed it.

Anyway, I'm a noob to trucks in general, and Mitsubishis specifically, but I've been wrenching on Hondas and Toyotas for something like 20 years now, so this should be a fun new challenge. I'm sure I'll have a lot of obnoxious noob questions for you guys, especially about adjusting the carb, but I'll try not to be too irritating about it ;)

[lush90]

Welcome! First thing I've done with each of my trucks is to remove seats and carpet and hit them with a pressure washer. It's amazing how much dirt comes out and how well everything cleans up. The carpet gets hung on the clothes line and wash down from the top, repeating a couple of times, you'll be surprised. Haven't had to do a headliner, though , good luck!

[geezer101]

I'd be hesitant to pressure clean the seats intact - but you can skin them and give the upholstery a serious scrub and pressure clean if it's cloth (it would inevitably cause the seat frame/chassis to rust). Use a pre-wash stain remover like you'd buy for laundry and go to town on it. Pressure cleaning the carpet works miracles but go easy on it during the process as you don't want to blow holes in it (obviously...) Give it a bit of a beating first to loosen up all the fine stuff embedded in it.

[royster]

Welcome, Shadowfax. We older guys ask dumb questions, too, so don't feel lowly. Also, be sure to visit the thread http://www.mightyram50.net/vbulletin/showthread.php/3278-To-the-New-owner-here-you-can-find-what-people-recommend-you-do-first-and-do-it-ASAP for some pointers on preventitive maintenance. The worst thing these trucks have been subjected to is lack of proper, comprehensive maintenance.

I had very good results using an upholstery cleaner attachment for the carpet machine in getting the headliner clean. I caution you that its base material is egg-carton fiberboard, so be careful not to soak it or it will turn into oatmeal. It pops out fairly easily (you have to remove the rear-view mirror and sun visors) once the plastic rivets are out if you want to cover it with material or even paint it.

Enjoy your little truck: give it the full measure of your attention and it will reward you with some very wonderful motoring.

[Lem Forder]

Nevermind... Posted in the wrong place.

[shadowfax]

Thanks for the tips, all. The plan is to attack the rust and the interior this weekend, as well as fluid changes. We have pets, which means we also have a very good carpet machine, so it'll get a workout. I'm toying with the idea of just pulling the bench seat out and maybe setting it on fire so it doesn't spread something ( ;) ) and swapping in a couple of bucket seats, but I'll probably just give it a thorough scrubbing without using too much water and then put a seat cover on it.

Fortunately most of the rust is just surface, so a weekend with a wire wheel and paint should take care of that. It'll rarely if ever get driven in the winter so I don't expect the rust to get too much worse.

The other "do it now" stuff will wait a bit until parts come in, but it won't be driven much until then anyway so it shouldn't be a problem. Is the 2.6 an interference motor?