My "New" latest addition, MACRO

[fushigikaze]

I have done it. Found it on Craiglist not too far from here. Paint has had better days, so do some other parts.
I missed out on a white MM earlier last year with a broken tranny but a good engine less then 100k miles ( My tranny was rebuild 20k miles ago but my engine needs work ). Then this bigger edition showed up for me. A Mighty Max extended cab ( Or MacroCab as the label indicated ). Now mostly refered to as "Macro" since I got 2 MMMs now.

Its a 1991 registered ( 1990 July build ) Mitsubishi Mighty Max MacroCab. 4G64 engine 5 speed manual with only 1 factory option ( to what I have found of them, my single cab had 3 options : AC, Digital clock and "fancy" rims ). The AC.
Its got 123k miles on it and aside from the timing issue engine sounds all right. Has the knocking of the valve adjusters like the single cab does but that is easy. Seafoam it, oil change and take them off like I did the single, if it persists. Replace adjusters. I may just do that anyway, not like they are 100 per piece. The adjusters are probably going to be the "cheapest" part to replace.

I bought it from a family that needed a larger car due to kids. He bought it from some kid what was going to "hot-rod" it. He ripped everything out of the rear of the cab and was going to put some fancy sound system in it. Meh, no seats or benches there anymore but it sure give space in there for when you need to take items with you that can not be in the bed. Its got an after markt alarm in it and yes. it has NO SPEAKER holes in the doors :D:D:D
The door panels got redone and not in a bad way either. I like how it looks, the work could have been done a little neater bit I like the idea. Probably going to do that to the single cab to.


Issues noted at time of purchase :

- some kind of timing issues. The shops he took it to all said timing belt. We shall see, the shops replaced almost everything electrical already. Engine runs but has almost no power. Drives and in due time ( on a flat road ) was able to make it to 55 but has only just over 0 for acceleration power at this time.

- front end allignment needs done. Toe end of the tire on the inside is gone past the steel. I hate this work on older cars because of the rust. Easy job if you know what to do though and all the bolts and nuts can be moved freely.

- The "Hot-Rod" kid hit something rather hard on the rear left and did not want it anymore when he put the dent in. It can be fixed, given tools, space and time are at hand. Someday in my life time maybe...

I picked it up early December last year with a college and it has been parked at work since. Boss does not quite know it yet, we have a car shop next door so it does not really stand out yet that there is yet an other car on the lot. But with the addition of the rented space there I have some options of pulling the truck indoors to work on it. Boss does not mind us techs doing that when we need ( or want ) to.
I am a little late posting this little truck and I have already done things with it.

Still, here are some pictures.

The "For Sale" Truck is from the car shop next door.
The ford van to the right is a company van in need of work and the car mechanic is to dang lazy to fix it. That is a whole different story not for this forum.
And center are both my Mighty Gals.
Front left is the new addition Macrocab
In the back on the right ish side is my single cab daily driver Mighty Max. Link to my introduction and what I so far have done to keep her going.
http://www.mightyram50.net/vbulletin...shi-Mighty-Max

DSC_1759.jpg
Lots of flaking on the front, single has the same issue but not as bad yet.
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The "nice" rework the fool did to the left side of the bed.
DSC_1761.jpg
Cant miss a shot of a nice rear :D
DSC_1762.jpg
The hood needs a paint job. I thought it was mostly dirt and part of it is. I do not seem to be able to "wash" it off with anything.
DSC_1763.jpg

Well. I have an other post to update and shall post more, maybe even later today.

[geezer101]

Bet the ECU is bad (explains no power but still runs in limp home mode). If you find the seafoam doesn't work as well as you'd like, try my engine flush technique. It normally silences everything but the worst HLA's and lifters. The paint is probably just dead and needs a wax. Won't be perfect but it was never going to be. The macro is great when you need the extra space for hauling stuff. Soooo... what is your vision with your new toy?

[Salteen]

i love it. my hood has done the same thing, but its gray so it doesn't look that bad.

is that ANOTHER ram 50 in the background?

[fushigikaze]

geezer101 Bet the ECU is bad (explains no power but still runs in limp home mode).

Big surprise, the car shop was right about the timing belt ( Probably only because they replaced almost everything else already that could cause it ).
B-belt failed and got stuck in the main timing belt causing that one to slip. Re-timed with the same belt ( Have not ordered a replacement yet ) and its running nicely again.


Salteen is that ANOTHER ram 50 in the background?

Almost :D
The black single cab is my daily driver 1992 Mighty Max
I know, they both black and both MINE. They both run and drive and both need some work. Like I don't have my hands full enough yet with my wife



So currently it stands

To pass inspection I need :

- Find out what the lights done come on ( Probably the switch )
- replace the 2 bad tires
- Put the timing covers and other components back on that I removed to get the cover off. Preferably after I do the timing belts.

Things I have to do to:

- Replace both inner and outer tierods
- replace idler and pit arms
- Do an oil flush/seafoam cleaning or borh ( Probably both )
- After the seafoam I will probably have to replace all the lower oil gaskets and seals. If the seafoam wont force me to do that, blended oil will.
- new filters. Air, oil, fuel. No other ones to my knowledge. aside from maybe clean the interior air filter
- Check the ECU condition
- Anything else? If so, I do not remember at this time. Shall find out when I am at work since its still parked there.

[geezer101]

Really lucky these engines aren't interference design valvetrains or a blown or jumped belt would be disastrous. And being belt drive you don't have to strip a third of the engine to get to it. The hot rod kid probably panicked and thought something major had gone wrong with the engine - your gain, his loss. And you got it before he did anything really stupid to it and ruined a basically good macro.

[fushigikaze]

Hahaha, yeah. Its a nice feature of the V8 editions.
Got the guy I bought it from in a nice panic when I told him I was going to drive it out anyway, even if it is ( and it was ) a timing belt issue. Worse case my buddy would have to tow me :D
I got taken to my destination, only issue was that I could not accelerate at all.

Here are some more pictures.
The engine bay after I re-timed and did a small test run. I know, no fan but at near freezing a short drive wont harm.
Here I also installed the larger altenator ( Think these are front he V6 models ) The grove is larger and it has 2 bolts for tension instead of one and it a little larger but fits just fine. I drove 10 ish miles with it on a bad battery so it works
DSC_1771.jpg
Here an other engine shot
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The interior was altered, painted all black and dark. Windows got a tint also. Needs some more fine tuning and such but I say it still looks nice.
DSC_1773.jpg
The door panels have been taken out to install the auto lock/un-lock. The panels got done with a black cloth of sorts. The space from the window to the start of the solid part of the panel got cleaned up and left "blank". I say it looks nicer without the cover of fabric or other something material on there.
DSC_1774.jpg

The last picture I may also do with my single cab. I like the doors better that way, maybe I will also add a item holder to the front of the door when I do that for ice scraper of other things that I used to have in the doors.

[fushigikaze]

Wow, I only just now read my error in my last post, its not a V8. LOL
its an 8V or 8 valve.
The 16V IS an interference engine ( dual or single cam does not matter here )

[geezer101]

Looks good Simple black door cards, sports wheel, dash recolour - a lot like the way I've decked out my Gen 1. I do believe it's electric thermofan time! If the ECU is solid you can have a crack at giving it a dynamic engine tune - easy to do and is free horsepower once you nail it. This truck would be nicer with sports buckets. It would make getting to your crap behind the seats a lot easier (maybe a storage box or some phat beats )

[fushigikaze]

Ahh, I had some time the last few days to work some more on this little one.

Installed new timing belt and idler rollers. now makes a squeeking noise, have yet to find the location.

Found an oil leak ( and will probably find plenty more ), oil sensor exploded. Ordered and installed replacement already.
Also found 1 of the squeek causers. The idler roller for the main timing belt from the brand new kit has a bad bearing in it. Put the original ( old ) one back on and that is resolved. Listened to all other bearings that I could get to easy and it sounds like the oil pump bearing may also not last very long anymore.
Drove it home for the weekend and noticed I still have a lack of power.

2 things to check now. Timing and ECU.
I removed the ECU and unlike the repairs on the single cab, this one is clean. Also had a lot less damage from the leaking capacitors than the single cab does. Checked timing of the belt again just to make sure its good. All marks still align.

Well, time to check the actual timing of the spark. about the same as the single cab at around -8. The single cab EGR is out though so Macro should be earlier still. Changed to -15 ish, there is no more scale on the belt cover at this time so its a guess. Vrooooooom. Sounds like power is back. Took her for a spin ( literly ) with the weather and wet parking lot I was able to spin the rear with ease. Could not do that before the timing change. Did some road driving and fast accels. Seems -15 is not totally the sweet spot but sure is a lot better then before. Drove it home after again and this is when I noticed how bad both my rear tires and the roads are around here in Texas. Not even trying, I pulled up from a red light turned green and stood still. Slow clutch up and no throttle. Sad thing that the single cab also does that and she gots new tires.....
I am among the taller folks and the extra space of the macro sure is nice, 2-3 more clicks to push the bench back and movable back piece. Nice and comphy.

Think I am at least set for inspection this month and then switch over to Macro for a while. Single needs a lot of oil seals and gaskets replaced, along with a rather large list of other things.

Time to enjoy some time off from anything with the wifey for now. Hope you all have or had a good weekend

[fushigikaze]

Here I am again.

Not had the time to do a whole lot on the Macro so far.

I have not gone in to change the tires yet but drove it up to inspection anyway. I wanted to know what would not pass aside from that before really working on it more. Things are a little difficult at this time with the pandemic.
Well, want to know something?

Passed inspection........
The inside of the rear tires is worn past the steel. Meh, I don't really care at this moment. What ever one I will be driving will get the good set of wheels. Just need them both to be able to hold air to move them around on the parking lot at work.
Time to get a hold of the insurance company and switch that over to the Macro for a while.

Question about these ECU's. I took this one out last time and the soldering job looks "clean" and no broken or missing parts that I could see on the ECU. The "Maintenance Needed" light comes on and will not go off. How do I find out what code is causing this?
The volt meter or test light way only seems to pull up codes that cause the "Check Engine" light to come on.

All right folks, you all be safe and healthy where ever you all may be.

[geezer101]

There is a little switch under the instrument cluster. Where it is exactly - I dunno but it's there (hopefully a member will post something if you can't find it in a specific thread/post) This thing is triggered by the odometer tripping it off and can be reset by flicking the slide over. This little light has been a source of confusion as it isn't connected to the ECU and only reminds the driver of the engine being due for a service. Not the end of the world, just the end of the oil life lol.

[Ram50-Newb]

There is a little switch under the instrument cluster. Where it is exactly - I dunno but it's there (hopefully a member will post something if you can't find it in a specific thread/post) This thing is triggered by the odometer tripping it off and can be reset by flicking the slide over. This little light has been a source of confusion as it isn't connected to the ECU and only reminds the driver of the engine being due for a service. Not the end of the world, just the end of the oil life lol.

In the Gen 2's (at least in my '87), the switch that Geezer is referring to in under the right-hand corner of the instrument cluster. Mine had a block off plate that you had to pop out, and then you could see the switch tucked behind it. Required a screw driver to flip it.

[fushigikaze]

Ha, I read over your posts a few times but it made no sense at all at first....
After the light also came on on my "Single", I went hunting some more about the light. I was not very successful. At least not directly as to why or how the light even turns on. I was able to find a place on this forum ( somewhere ) that talks in more detail about the light and where to find this "reset switch"

Under the steering you have the hazard light switch to the left, on the right you have the same space for a switch just like it. The right side is covered by a blank cover though. Remove the cover and if you shine a light in it, you see a tiny little switch in the upper right ish corner rather far back in the space. You either move the switch to the left or right depending on what location you find it in.

So, now I have both "Single" and "Macro" running without any warning lights. I do think that the "hot rod" kid changed some of the cluster lights with LEDs......
damn they are blinding at night. Why does everyone like the rediculus ultra bright ( I am going to blind you ) lights.....
I will be pulling the Marco's cluster out and putting normal lights back in or if I go LEDs, at least something of the normal light brightness range.

Sure has been quite on here the last few weeks, probably due to the virus.
Hope you are all healthy out there.
Say hey sometimes :D ( I should probably read the forum more also :D )

[geezer101]

Hmm. LED's are good but the dimmer on the cluster isn't working? The LED's are polarity sensitive so either hotrod put them in the wrong way or they've blown (which would be disturbing if the warning lights are all on long enough to cook them), or possibility #3 there's a fault with the instrument circuits (great...) Change the LED backlighting for coloured LED's and leave the warning lights white (just an opinion and something I've done myself). Regular blue or green instrument backlights will be a little more subdued and less fatiguing to look at (ice blue might as well be white). I really don't like BMW's red factory backlights (it's like the entire car is trying to tell you something is wrong lol)

[tortron]

LEDs are not compatible with with dimmer switches

[Fordubishi]

https://www.autometer.com/led-lighting-dimmer.html I use this for LED dash conversion

[geezer101]

The dimmer will work if you have a few of the incandescent bulbs left in the heater controls and lighter etc. The incandescents will still put enough of a load on the backlighting to compensate. I've replaced all of the instrument backlights in my Hung Dog and the dimmer function still operates normally.

[fushigikaze]

Meh, LEDs....
These little pick-ups are from before those days and NEED good ole bulbs!
I was able to find the larger ones locally here at the store, no idea if the little ones can still be found. Have not had any luck with them yet. Currently the dash does not blind me anymore at night while still keeping everything noticable on there.
I happy.

I have an other interesting question for the board though.
As most of you probably know. I am the happy owner of 2 of these pick-ups. A black single cab and a black also Macro cab. with the exeption of the cab they are identical. They both had and still have different issues I still need to tend to.
Currently though there is one thing of an issue they have in common and on both I have done the same work.
I did both there timing belts ( JDN kit ) and on both I have replaced the whole distributor with ( Spectra Premium MT07 Distributor ).
This work is what got my single cab back on the road last year, the original distributor has a failing crank sensor. Somewhere along the line it even made the engine run backwards. I did over 10k miles on it after that so must not have caused too much harm.
Anyway though I not have the issue with both that I have to set the timing way off for the engine to have any power at all. both are not at roughly -15 where the specs say it is supposed to be between -3 and -7. I did a trial with a few settings on the Macro but anything away from that -15 give the feel that the engine is drowning in gas and has barely enough power to stutter along.

I must have missed something somewhere with either timing belt of distributor ( or both ).
Distributor is at 7:00 on TDC 1
I used the timing marks on all sprockets. Some manual talked about using the split between the engine and cab shaft cover but as both have a timing mark there is also talks not to do that in that case.
Timing marks are checked several times not and have not moved or anything.

Is there anyone either smarter then me ( that be easy ) or with more knowledge of the 4G64 engine?
My current thought is that I skilled a tooth somewhere on either cam or crank but I have checked them for there marks.

Any help shall be much appreciated in resolving my little mystery.

[claych]

Reads like t/belt is 'off' by a tooth...simple checks first, recheck just for giggles
& not to be rude, is the firing order correct?

Credit to member finalfighter for the below info-

"you need to set your timing how i have it in these images. the pic with the distributor in it is how the rotor will sit when setup right. it will be ahead of post #1 by just a tad bit. set it like in the photo. the next cylinder to fire will be cylinder 3, then 4, then 2 and back to 1. good luck."
IMG_20200713_085342.jpg
IMG_20200713_085431.jpg
IMG_20200713_085304.jpg.

[fushigikaze]

Figured lol check again. ( not mend to be rude or anything, just sounds typical of the Spectrum or TWC customer service. Have you checked the router, unplugger it, .... garbage that 99% of folks do before they even call in in the first place )
Anyway, there was my last rant for the year. Time to start fresh for 2021

Thanks for the pictures. Weather permitting I shall pull the fan shroud, fan and covers off again and post picks. I shall try to do with both MMMs.
My guess is also that the Tbelt is 1 tooth miss somewhere. Just need to find where.
Only way to do that.
You guessed it.

!!CHECK AGAIN!!

For now though, its still dark and raining and I also have no cover or garage so it shall have to wait just a little longer.

[fushigikaze]

All rightly.
I hope you all have a good year pass over and made a nice looking light show int he sky. We sure did here!

!!!HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

I have not pulled the covers from the Macro yet since I do need a running car that can take me places. Single is parked in the drive way only hauling when needed so I pulled the covers from that one first. I may have enough time to pull covers and put back together on the Macro over the weekend.

I gots pics but forum not permitting me to upload them.

Everything on the belt side lines out still. My distributor is off. initially I thought this is from me going -15 but comparing it with the pic you send the distributor may be 1 tooth off. I messed with this before. I did attempt to just pull it and put if back in shifting it 1 tooth but that did not seem to work with it. I shall attempt to upload the pics again later today. Right now I shall pull the distributor on Single again and just shift it a tooth again.

Thx again for the pics. 1 pic speaks a 1000 ( or more ) words!

Happy new years for those that missed it!

[fushigikaze]

ok, I messed with it some more and the only reason my distributor seems off is because its at -15 instead of -3 ~ -7
If I put it back around default it matches the pictures you posted.

Still having issues with the pictures. Not sure what its doing. Its only telling me the upload failed.

[fushigikaze]

Wow, its been that long again that I last been on here. I have to find these pics again and attempt to put them on here still.
Macro still having issues with timing and lack of power. Some other things also. I need to find the time to pull the motor out and do a good job cleaning and rebuilding.
At least one of the bearings in the block somewhere is grinding.
Figuring before I bought it, it must have sat somewhere for years. Still, 22-25 miles per gallon is not horrible but Single can do 27 ish for the same trip and has way more power ( and miles ).
Time to see if I can find them pics still now I have a few moments to spare.
Also less relevant to this forum but I received a 1993 Saturn SL2 last week from a friend of my old boss. Was his parents car and they passed away. Little blue/greenish car with a while whooping 19k miles on it. Very likely with more idle run hours when miles and driving hours.

[fushigikaze]

Ok, still have issues putting pics on here.
This keeps popping up, any idea's anyone?

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The following errors occurred:

DSC_2025.JPG: Upload of file failed.

[tortron]

Image file is too big