sweet truck, and those are the same brand spindles I scored on CL
sweet truck, and those are the same brand spindles I scored on CL
Here are a couple quick pics I snapped before heading back down to San Diego this week (I travel back and forth all the time).
Interior - extremely dirty and blue... Gotta color change it eventually.
20140203_084835.jpg
And the current 8 Valve lifter ticking engine that could
20140203_084913.jpg
I was excited to get back and pick up my rotors that made it in. I was a little bummed that I was out of town when they showed up. Either way - here they are next to the Tacoma rotors
20140204_142944.jpg
This is the part that totally sucks!
20140204_143512.jpg
I figured the thickness difference may be able to be squeezed, but no, not on these rotors. They don't squeeze between the caliper brackets. I'll just get rid of these and grab some 4 pot VR-4 calipers when I get a chance. That will solve it and upgrade me even more.
The 276mm Brake upgrade (small rotor) will work just fine since the Montero Sport rotors are the same thickness as the 276mm Diamante rotor. This "big rotor" was a gamble but it absolutely can be modded further to fit the 2 pots as a bolt-on. You will need to shave the rotor about 3mm (1/8th inch) and the caliper brackets can be done the same. Just remember to take off equal amounts from each side.
Example: 1/8" needs to come off the rotor. Remove 1/16" (1.5mm) from the front and the back. Total removed = 1/8" or 3mm and the balance remains the same.
You can also try to find a different 314mm rotor with the correct offset.
so uh what are you doing with the stock engine?
Getting rid of it once I finish building the new one.
Speaking of engine..... I was able to get the valve cover done today. We modify valve covers for high performance engines all the time, but if you ever wanted to know how it is done - here is a quick picture how to.
20140205_150418.jpg20140205_150746.jpg20140205_151520.jpg20140205_151530.jpg
Simply measure, mark, cut/drill, and glue (epoxy). You need a very strong, high strength, high heat, 2 part epoxy to make aluminum stick for ever. We use an industrial formula bought in bulk, but there are probably some over the counter brands that will do the job.
It's very easy to mod, only takes about 10 minutes. After the epoxy cured, I wrinkle coated it and stuffed it in the curing oven for a heavy wrinkle. I did end up with a couple blemishes, but they are very easy fixes.
20140205_162435.jpg20140205_162656.jpg
I have to run back to Vegas again tomorrow to take care of a couple clients, but I will be back Monday and will get a couple shots of this on the engine. I'm anxious to see how well it blends with the gold.
well i need a computer and a head for mine
It could be a couple months before I get mine swapped. There are a bunch at the yards though. I'm sure I can make a call or send one of my guys down to grab one.Originally Posted by Redneckmoparman
if you could get me a cali ecu that would be awesome cause idk if the federal i had in the truck was causing any issues with the truck being a cali model but ill take care of the head locally since shipping would kill any benifits of it and idk if im going to keep it 8v or go dohc 16v
Just slap a G64 head on and call it a day. It's a bolt-on for the most part.
On another note, I serviced a set of lifters, gave it a full tune-up, drove it around for a bit, smogged and tagged it, and now I'm good to go. Not bad for a days worth of work and the truck runs better than ever. I'm kinda liking this little 8 valve.
I mean G63 head.
yeah thats the debate but i kinda wanna see what i can get out of the 8v head i mean i know ill get more out of the dohc but so does everybody
Anyone ever turbocharge the 8v just cause you have it, any weak links, I know if you limit boost it will live but any other things to note?
In my opinion, if you are going to build something, build it. Basically pick a build and stick with it. If you plan to do a DOHC swap, make that your build instead of building 2 different engines. Of course if you have the money to blow on whatever, go for it, but it sure takes a lot longer to accomplish Build A when you are doing B, C, D and so forth.
The 8 valve has been boosted many times. It can squeeze out some ponies, all dependant on your set-up, but there is no denying a dual cam will squeeze a bit more on the same setup. One example would be my last racecar. I built a '93 Dodge Colt 4G15. Nobody builds that engine seriously lol. But i was able to squeeze out 396 HP with a supercharger, turbo, alcohol and N2O. Any bigger swap would have put my little 1.5 to shame with the same mods. You can turbo virtually any engine out there. Just about every engine can handle 6-10 PSI on stock guts. Many NA Mitsu's can be pushed up to 15 PSI reliably, but it's all dependant on your setup, tuning, use, etc.
I agree the 8 valves have been boosted since the early 80's by mitsubishi and others
I couldn't help but notice the flowers on the seat covers. Don't tell me...your wife picked them out or it came with them?
Those brakes look real nice that your doing. As well, the valve cover is looking good too. Will the wrinkle paint hold up to petroleum products possibly getting on it and not softening the paint? I know the epoxy should be fine, atleast with my experience of using a 50/50 epoxy paint on RC Nitro boats.
I want to paint my valve covers on my MR2 and the wrinkle paint looks pretty decent.
Thank you. Wrinkle paint is rated to 350*F and resistant to the usual paint killers like oil, grease, and de-greasers. I have seen them fail, but I am about 99% sure the reason was incorrect application of it to the piece coated. I have never had a failure with wrinkle coatings personally and I have definitely abused many of them.I couldn't help but notice the flowers on the seat covers. Don't tell me...your wife picked them out or it came with them?
Those brakes look real nice that your doing. As well, the valve cover is looking good too. Will the wrinkle paint hold up to petroleum products possibly getting on it and not softening the paint? I know the epoxy should be fine, atleast with my experience of using a 50/50 epoxy paint on RC Nitro boats.
I want to paint my valve covers on my MR2 and the wrinkle paint looks pretty decent.
The key is following the "principal instructions" like cleaning, coating according to instructions, baking the coating one, etc. They are rather flexible though. I sand blasted this, cleaned it, heated it, primed it, cleaned & scuffed the primer, heated everything up before coating, laid 4 very heavily misted coats (about 3 misted passes per coat) 5 minutes apart, let it sit for about 10 minutes, then baked it for 12 minutes at 325* on our coating oven (you can use a household oven too). This process was modified from the VHT instructions, but the principal instructions and prep are the same.
I use epoxy paints on chassis components because it resists impact and corrosion extremely well. Nothing bugs me worse than seeing a ton of paint work with chips and scratches in it after only being driven for a week. It's a lot of work to put into something that doesn't last. Industrial equipment enamel works great for chassis parts, but it takes about a week to fully cure, and the prep work is more involved. Epoxy coatings are just quick and easy. I've never really used them on anything but chassis and suspension bits.
Those pretty seats are no longer in the truck
The last owner could tolerate them more than I can. The way they mounted the buckets pushed them forward about 3-4 inches. I am 6'2" and hugging the steering wheel isn't my style. I was lucky on this one because the owner still had the bench seat. There is no way in hell I could drive that thing back to San Diego with my knees on the dash, so I tossed the flowers and put the bench back in.
20140207_154819.jpg
I also cleaned up the interior a little bit. It is really messy and a bunch of stuff is ghetto fixed/modded/rigged. I really hate seing half-assed work. There is absolutely NO REASON at all to not take an extra 30 seconds to run a wire under the sill panel instead of stretching it across the floor.
Most of the beginning stages of this build will be "clean-up work" - or better yet - fixing shit right that should have been done right the first time. I spent about an hour crawling everything over making my fix it list. Some things I can skip since we will be doing a bunch of swapping and re-arranging, but one thing I can't skip on is the steering. This steering is shot! When I bought the truck, I noticed the outer tie rods were trashed. I figured that the reason for all the play in the steering (though excessive doesn't really describe it - it's more like ridiculous). Turns out the pitman arm is trashed, idler arm bushing is trashed, and the outer tie rods are trashed.
The inners and the idler itself all check out fine -BUT, lets really look at this.... why only do half of the work? It's senseless. So, I ordered everything for the steering. New Pitman arm, new idler arm assembly, new inner and outer tie rods. They should be in sometime this week. What I did do for the safety of things is buy a bushing kit for the idler arm locally before I drive back to San Diego. That tightened it up a little bit under braking and cornering.
Hey Merril, I was thinking about the master cylinders and had a question. I was wanting to jump up to the 1" or 1 1/16" master cylinder from the 3000gt or Montero, but I see an issue with the brake lines that come out of the front port on the master cylinder. On a mighty max the lines come out of the side of the m/c and have a distribution block. Well by looking at the Montero/3000gt m/c the front line comes out on the top of the m/c in front of the reservoir. how were you going to run the front brake lines with one of those m/c's?
I can't imagine yours is much different than mine, but the front port goes immediately into a distribution block which mounts via a banjo bolt to the top of the MC. The ports are in the exact same spot, just different attachments.
If anything, just re-route your lines to mate up. It's very easy.
Out of curiosity, why do you want a bigger MC? Without bigger brake components, all you really gain is a very touchy pedal.
Remember I am doing the 3000gt 4pot + huge rotor swap, It is pretty much done on the pass side, just need to make a bracket for the drivers side.
Oh.... gotcha. Well, it should be exactly the same. Just swap it over. If it is different, just reroute the lines accordingly. Very easy stuff.
I'm not planning on swapping to rear disc for a little while(6mo-year) do you think the 1 1/16 would still be fine.
Should be ok. You may end up locking the rear brakes easily, but it should be fine.
It's been a little bit of time since my last update. MP gets really busy this time of year (tax season), so my progress is not extreme like I usually do. However, it's not terrible
I have spent a bunch of time cleaning this thing up. There was an awful lot of short cuts to repairs and maintenance done on this truck, and I am not happy about it. These are the little things you don't find when you initially check it out to buy it. The further I get into it, the more I find missing screws, household wiring (solid wires for AC voltage), a bunch of 10 mil and electrical tape, wire nuts.... the list goes on. The new joke here is placing bets around the shop as to exactly how many drywall screws I will find holding parts in place. So far, I have been the only one right. I usually spend about 10 minutes on each job in the hardware bins finding correct fasteners.
So the first thing I absolutely had to correct was the steering wheel. The top center of the OEM wheel was worn out/missing. Of course I intended to replace it with a different wheel at some point, but this was just annoying me. One of my warehouses distributes NRG products, so I grabbed a wheel (that doesn't match anything - yet), a hub, and quick release. This will do for the time being.
20140211_180431.jpg
The last owners installed the "winker" golf cart mirror, and I've gotten used to it. They left out the OEM rear view and since I can't find a replacement in the yards, and the empty space was bugging me, I made a steering wheel hook for the hell of it.
20140216_174658.jpg
This truck (like many) does not include many "luxuries". It is a truck after all, but I like the little things. First I changed all the crappy lighting in the dash, HVAC panel, ashtray, and dome out with LED's. The pic sucks, but it is very bright and I can actually see when the door is opened.
20140216_175602.jpg20140216_180225.jpg
My extra amenities are a cigarette lighter that has an illuminated face ring, and an illuminated key ring.
20140217_164326.jpg20140216_195404.jpg
The lighting in the truck is now better described as "brilliant". Everything is so crisp and clear while avoiding the "overkill" limit. It's the little things that make a ride more comfortable. At the moment, I am working on a delay timer for it so the lights stay on for about 10 seconds after the door closes unless the ignition is turned on. I just have no time at the moment to play with it. Customers come first.
For the front, I will swap to the 93+ front end because it looks a thousand times better. The headlamps are the same, so I snagged up a set of clear projector lamps from the warehouse while I was there. It was cheap so whatever...
20140211_185255.jpg
Now on to some good stuff. I rarely ever cut springs. However, I am drafting up the coilover setup for the new chassis right now and I see no reason to spend money on something I do not intend to use. Cut coils will do fine until the coilovers and the rest of the suspension gets built. I took off 1.25 turns (about 2 inches off the spring from the bottom). In the ass end is a 3 inch block. It looks 110% better.
20140220_163619.jpg20140220_170607.jpg
We did make a slight change to the build schedule. The plan is to do the 5 lug swap with the narrowed Ford 8.8. It is not scheduled for a while but I want super lows on my truck. All out slammed is the way I am headed, but I need a bigger set of wheels for the drop spindles to clear so for now, I will try to find some 16" steelies until I get to the 5 lug swap. I'll just have to eat the price of tires twice.
The chassis and suspension was first on the list but everything had to be changed around when I measured the chassis based on the 5 lug swap. I need a ridiculous set of wheels (which don't exist in the offsets I need). I've built custom wheels before by ordering barrels and centers and welding them together. It's not that hard but it does take time to get all this worked out and coordinated with the rest of the chassis build. So the build schedule was slightly modified and I will be working on the engine first with a few "look good" mods.
Speaking of engine.....
20140212_124620.jpg
I really wasn't sure how well the gold/red combo was going to work out so I took a chance at the risk of losing time if I didn't like it. I love it! Once that valve cover slid on, it put all the pieces together and I think it looks awesome. 5 out of 6 original naysayers agreed it looks awesome after the valve cover went on, so I think that is enough for me to keep it this way. Opinions are welcome (good or bad - I'm not offended either way).
Questions, comments... whatever - post up.
More coming as it happens!
Looking good, can't wait to see more progress on this.
I pulled my bump stops today. I didn't bother searching to see if the bolt size is listed somewhere, but it is 12mm x 1.25 x 40mm. Make sure you get a washer for the bolt to hold the strut rod down as well. You can reuse the nuts and split washers that hold the bump stops in.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks