Emmet, my '03 Monty Sport

[hove102]

Well, the search is over...I finally have my own rig! After being let down by the Montero and two Grand Cherokees I looked at yesterday, I went to bed feeling defeated but looking forward to the future. This morning, I woke up with a good feeling, thinking that today might just be the day I find my truck. I made calls on a few ZJs, going as far as to make plans to see one in Oceanside. Right before I was done searching, an ad popped up on the top of the Craigslist feed under "montero". A 2003 Montero Sport with 170K miles and pretty solid looking paint. The interior looked gorgeous in the photos too, so after consulting my dad, I decided it was worth a look. I wasn't particularly a fan of the Montero Sports before, but I figured I'd give this one a look since it was pretty new and good-looking. After getting a hold of the owner, my dad and I made the drive to south Orange County and rolled up just as the Montero arrived at our meeting point. I wasn't sure what to think at first, but upon closer inspection, I was impressed. The interior was in great shape, with none of the seats torn, and everything was there. The guy was the original owner who bought it off the showroom floor in '03, and had babied the thing ever since, with oil changes every 3K and regular maintenance. He was thinning his fleet of vehicles (not enough space), and had posted it that morning. I guess I sent him a text less than 30 mins after he put the ad up! Thank goodness I was the first person he showed it to...it probably wouldn't have lasted long.

Anyway, after driving it and realizing how tight it still was, I knew I had to drive it home or I'd be passing up a great rig. So, after a little negotiating with the owner and with my mom, I made it my own and took it home. The previous owner had installed 31"s, but they are Kelly A/Ts, and possibly the world's loudest all-terrains. They do look pretty sun-baked, so fitting replacement tires is definitely the first item on my list. Other than that, I plan to drive it, figure out what it needs (TIRES), and hopefully get out and tackle the wild soon. Oh, and his name is "Emmet", after Emmet from the Lego Movie...childish, I know, but I think the name kinda suits him.

I have one photo, and I would have taken more but it started to rain. I'll snap some more once the weather clears up. Also, if anyone can think of anything I need to look at while the truck is still "new" to me, let me know. Does anyone know how to tell if your Monty Sport has an LSD in it? Here are the basic specs on mine:

2003 Montero Sport
Munich Silver w/ cloth interior
3.0 V6
4-Speed Auto
AWD/4WD t-case (is this Super-Select 4WD?)
15" alloys
31x10.50 Kelly Safari A/T Tires



Basically everything I need and not much I don't! I look forward to getting out there and meeting some of you guys on the trails!

 

[jhill15]

Nice! Congrats on the new rig! I would look at the rear diff and see if it says hybid lsd oil, if so then yes. Theres always the the ol jackcthe rear end up and spin a tire by hand, if they both spin the same direction then yes lsd but if they spin opposite then open diff.

 

[hove102]

Thanks jhill! I didn't even think about checking the tag for the rear end. I'll do that when I wash the truck for the first time.

 

[steve c]

Looks good dude!

It's not raining now, where are the photos?

 

[hove102]

Working on it! If I can get some tomorrow, I will...I will say that I've been driving him a bit and I'm definitely happy with my purchase.

 

[PirateMcGee]

Yay another Sport! I highly doubt it has a limited slip since it doesn't have fog lights or the 3.5l

 

[hove102]

Thanks Pirate! The Monty Sport guys seem like a tight-knit group...I'm excited to be part of it! I've yet to crawl under and check, but that's what I figured. He's such a low-optioned rig so I'm not expecting to have it.

 

[hove102]

Photo updates.

So here are those photos I talked about way back when...he needed a good wash and to have the running boards removed. Compared to the photo in my first post, he looks way better now!





















No limited slip for me?


The mighty 3.0.


One of my favorite features on this rig. Just a nice little detail those engineers over in Japan thought of.





My other favorite feature on the truck. This thing is a practically a Swiss Army Knife!


And plenty of room for my 6' frame!


These are soon to go. The loudest, hardest all-terrains I've ever come across. They are 31x10.50s, which is cool; I think I'll stick with this size.


He may not be perfect, but he cleans up well, and I'm ready to hit the trails!

Merry Christmas!

 

[redraif]

Nice!

Congrats on the find. It looks way nicer then ours! You got a good one!

We just stepped into our own as well. Made the decision Saturday to keep the one for ourselves that my Dasghter bought and changed her mind on. Ours is a Alpine white 2001 sport XLS.

 

[JordanM/S]

I love the wreath, the wreath is awesome

 

[hove102]

I love the wreath, the wreath is awesome

Thanks! I've been doing that since I got my first car 4 years ago. Just one of those traditions I have I want to go get my wreath dirty though and go on a holiday trail run!

Congrats on the find. It looks way nicer then ours! You got a good one!

We just stepped into our own as well. Made the decision Saturday to keep the one for ourselves that my Dasghter bought and changed her mind on. Ours is a Alpine white 2001 sport XLS.

Thanks redraif! I've been following your thread, and I gotta say you guys certainly have a lot on your plate. From what I've read though, these things are tanks if you take care of them and keep up on maintenance. Once you guys get yours fixed up, I'm sure it'll be awesome! I do wish I'd gotten the 3.5 V6 like yours instead of the 3.0 in mine. I'm happy with it for just putting around, but I could use a bit more power.

Also, for anyone who happens to be perusing this thread with some knowledge, does anyone know if the full-size Montero t-case lever bushings are the same as the Sport bushings? Mine seems a bit sloppy...since I haven't had an occasion to put it in 4WD yet, I'm not too worried, but I know they'll need to be swapped out at some point.

 

[hove102]

Bumping my own thread a little bit...but I figured I'd put some updates on here.

So far I've run about 3 tanks of gas through him, and he seems to be running pretty well! I'm getting about 15mpg in mostly around town driving...the 3.0 is pretty grunty, but I can tell that the AWD is a bit much for it and that's what's killing my mileage. On the highway, I'm sure this thing would probably get about 18 or 19 easily! So far I haven't spent a lot of time on the freeway, but this thing has a lot more passing power than my old Volvo, and my Monty has (or had when new) 165 horsepower, so that's saying something.

I took my truck to a local Mitsubishi specialist on Wednesday because the rear brakes had decided to start to complain very audibly that they were worn out, and almost $600 later, I ended up with brand new rear brakes and a clean bill of health on the fronts. Of course, the real reason I took the truck in, to get the get the front diff cover seal changed, didn't even need to be done in the first place. Fortunately, I now have new fluid in all 3 diffs, so I feel a lot better about those now.

Unfortunately, the mechanic pointed out some leaks that I need to keep an eye on, namely the rear cam seals and oil from the heads. The guy who runs the shop said not to worry too much about them, but to keep an eye on my oil level and make sure I don't let it get too low, which is something I'm used to since my Volvo burned a bit of oil as well. Is my mechanic right? Should I not concern myself unless the leaks start to get bad? Any easy solutions to keep them from getting to that point? My power steering pump is also a bit noisy, and I'm not sure if that's just par for the course or if I should start looking for a replacement.

Emmet still hasn't touched dirt yet, but after this last service I'm itching to get him on the trails. I'm going to be putting Bilsteins on the truck next month, which it desperately needs, but the tires (which it also needs) will have to wait until May. After a lot of debate, I think I'm going with the General Grabber AT2's. It seems like there's a lot of positive reviews about them and for my price-point there's nothing else out there that I'd even consider. Are there any other easy/inexpensive offroad mods people would recommend be done to one of these things? Does anyone make sliders for them?

Hopefully I'll see some of you guys out on the trails soon. Shameless thread bump over. :wavey:

 

[hove102]

It's here!!!

Gotta love Amazon Prime. After hemming and hawing for a month about which compact CB to decide on, I finally pulled the trigger on this little Uniden beauty with a magnetic 24" antenna to go along with it. Both of these purchases were based on reviews and cost effectiveness...I got the whole pair, shipped to my door, for $60! Of course, the delivery driver couldn't find my house, so they got delivered a day late, but they're here now.


I think this thing is pretty cool!



Here's where I want it to live. I'll probably wire it into the fuse block like I've seen a lot of guys do. The mic mount will go somewhere on the dash, not quite sure where yet. Obviously I'm going to pull that little cubby out so that it sits more flush in the dash...I think there's enough space back there for it.

The antenna is pretty straightforward.




CB starter kit a la Amazon


Next up is my 4 Bilstein 4600s which should be coming in through 4 Wheel Parts any day now. The fronts were special order direct from Bilstein so that's what's taking my order so long. Pics of the install to follow.

 

[PirateMcGee]

You'll love the Bilsteins, helped immensely on my sport.

 

[jhill15]

^ Agreed! I put some bilsteins on the xterra that I had prior to my montero and loved em!