hey guys, i need some help from the mitsubishi crowd.

i am looking at buying a 97 montero sr off a friend of ours. its in descent shape for its age. its been sitting for the past 5-6 years at their house used on and off when the main family cars were down. so its only got just over 80k miles.

my plans for it are just a simple family camping rig that i can dd to work. so a set of all terrains and maybe bumpers. think more of an expo rig....

i really like that its got a factory rear electric locker in it. but i dont know how strong the rear axles are. is there anything i need to pay atention to when looking at it.

the other problems with it are the sunroof is stuck cracked and not shut all the way. so theres a little water damage on the headliner.

stock bumpers are kind of banged up

when you start it the rpms drop way low for a few seconds then it picks back up

and the worst thing is it was smoking a little out of the exhaust while idling.

but they say it runs and drives great.

so for about 3k should i worry about the burning oil?

Sounds like idle speed motor needs to be cleaned or replaced, the smoking could be from sitting and letting the valve stems dry up a bit. I'd drive it around a bit and see if it stops burning oil otherwise new valve stems. As for axle strength the IFS is only good to about 37's out rock crawling but the idler arm bends when you hammer over obsticals, the rear will take whatever you can throw at it (forged shafts = 31 spline, 33.5mm diameter, ring = 9.5" diameter) just don't engage the locker while spinning tires it can shear the teeth off of the actuator. You can engage it while moving no problem and i've only ever heard of shearing the teeth off from someone who was smoking the tires and pushing the locker button. The locker is a Mitsubishi air locker kind of like the Mitsu units they put in the Jeep rubicon, they operate at a very low psi ( 6 psi i think) so don't charge it with the ARB compressor.

Other things you should know; don't break a timing belt, 5k RPMs is ok, 33's will fit stock, your truck likely has the highway gears 4.27's but you can get 4.63's really cheap or free and 4.90's are inexpensive as well, throw your sway bars in the garbage, your montero AW3 is very similar to your jeep AW4 but the montero trans is heavier duty, the montero t-case is geared really high (1.90:1) which is great for hauling ass but that can be changed with a gear set from australia or jeep t-case, dana 300, atlas (write ups on 4x4wire.com). Any thing else just ask

sweet, thanks.

i tried to look up specs for it online and all the places said it came with the 4.63 gear ratio. i didnt see anything about the 4.27's.

there is a silver plate under the hood with some specs on it
for the gears, it would read something like "4 636"

most montero sports came with 4.90 gears
98-00 gen2.5 with a dakar style fenders came with 4.272s

You'll surprise us if you destroy a CV or rear axle.

sunroofs never seem to work...

I'd drive it a while and see if it stops smoking(my 2.6l smoked for about 2 months and stopped??) see how you like it. Replace the Timing belt soon.

Don't let it overheat.

crank the TBars and add a coli spacer for 2" lift

only bumpers I know of are ARBs but you could fab one

aussie or arb front locker available

2" bodylift and crank the torsion bars and throw some 35s on it with a fullsize cargo rack :smokin:

Most 97's with 3.5 SOHC i've seen had 4.27's in them. I could be wrong so lets hope you got 4.63's:D

Ohio, did you join the Mitsu club, or what???

:mr-t: