Mitsubishi Mighty Max

[Jeff V.]

Looks good. I'm glad to see my garage isn't the only one that's got a lot going on in it

[DCIV]

Nice! I am going to be doing this soon myself, what size are you working with?


Coop

[ChargerX3]

[quote=""Jeff V.""]Looks good. I'm glad to see my garage isn't the only one that's got a lot going on in it [/quote]
Yea it didn't look so bad until I had to move my parents out of their home. I inherited a lot of random things. I hate how busy it is in there now. I also keep tripping over your parts. Brought home some boxes to ship your skid plate. None fit. Lol.
[quote=""DCIV""]Nice! I am going to be doing this soon myself, what size are you working with?


Coop[/quote]

My bench is 8' long. I picked up four 23.75 W, 12.5 D, and (36")? high cabinets. Ended up fitting quite well. Also the price wasn't too bad at $69 per cabinet. Better units than what Home Depot had and for less.

[DCIV]

and what size garage?


Coop

[Jeff V.]

I finished the bench harnesses for the ECUs. I'm not happy with the 3-plug one though. I'm going to build another one before I send them over.

Do you have a 12 volt power supply? Worst case you can just clamp it to a battery for the 2 minutes it takes to dump. But if you want to do any bench programming, you'll want something a little neater. I've got some suggestions if you don't have one.

[ChargerX3]

[quote=""DCIV""]and what size garage?
Coop[/quote]
I cant recall atm. Its a decent sized 3 car garage. Here is a pic from when i first purchased the house.

[quote=""Jeff V.""]I finished the bench harnesses for the ECUs. I'm not happy with the 3-plug one though. I'm going to build another one before I send them over.

Do you have a 12 volt power supply? Worst case you can just clamp it to a battery for the 2 minutes it takes to dump. But if you want to do any bench programming, you'll want something a little neater. I've got some suggestions if you don't have one.[/quote]
Does a car charger count? I have a couple of those. I should probably pick up a power supply from a computer unless you have some better ideas.

[Jeff V.]

I'd be worried about voltage spikes when using a car charger. Think of it like using a chain saw to trim a small bush.

I use one of these with an old PC power supply.

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12867

[ChargerX3]

I like that kit. Hmm would a laptop power supply be sufficient as well?

[Jeff V.]

It should work, but not with that kit. You'd need something with the correct barrel connector to match your power brick. Or just strip the wires and connect them directly to the power and ground leads on my harnesses.

[ChargerX3]

Update:

The project lives on. Weather has been very cold lately, so not much progress until this last week. I went to the junk yard to get some more parts and ran across a 2003 Kia Sorento. Popped the hood and guess what. Same 3.5L DOHC V6 found in the Mid 90's Montero SR's. Even mounted correctly too.


Hadn't seen one of those in a while, so i figured I would take a look underneath. Best decision i made all week.

Might not look like much to a 3s guy, but there are a couple things going on in this picture. First it has the same solid axle 8" front diff and location as my MM and monteros. Secondly that oil pan was designed for the 74/75, and was made to clear said 8" front axle. What does that mean? I dont have to fabricate a new one out of an existing Eclipse or Montero pan. All would require significant work. Finally it also has the proper transmission bolts (something the Eclipse didn't).

Here is a pic of the clearance. Might be hard to see but there is a notch and hump built in to perfectly clear the diff.



Also not as important, but the rear diff looks to be a 9" just like the mightly max. Even a solid axle. Only difference is its coil sprung. Does have rear discs though. Side note. If this all goes well I might go wild on a Sorento for my next project. Its literally a Montero in sheep's clothing.


So how well does this Sorento pan fit? Wouldn't the bolts be different, or have clearance issues? It fits perfectly with only two bolt holes (sadly the two that are right next to each other) on the passenger side not lining up. One I can fix by drilling another hole about an inch down the pan to line up with the bock. The other hole sits inboard and the pan doesn't follow that contour. I can live with that though! Only 1 bolt not working.Pic of it being test fitted:


Test fitting it to the trans:


My last obstacle with this pan is the front steering arm on the MM. It will come within 1/2" of hitting it. Those are measurements based on the bottom of the block pan surfaces being in the same location. Im pretty sure they are the same, but who knows with SOHC 72's and the 74/75 blocks? I do like that I get the added capacity as its a large sump.

This was my largest obstacle and it looks to be solved. Next up are exhaust manifolds (have drivers found, need to weld up passengers or find new), exhaust pipe tie in, Accessory bracket, AC tie in, Power steering pump line routing, ECU electrical, and a few other things, but all manageable.

[vr4]

Yes the Sorrento is very similar to a gen 2 Montero sr. They can be found with a 5 speed. Something the sr never got

[Jeff V.]

Next up are exhaust manifolds (have drivers found, need to weld up passengers or find new)

Is there a reason you're not just using Montero or Sport manifolds?

Yes the Sorrento is very similar to a gen 2 Montero sr. They can be found with a 5 speed. Something the sr never got

The overseas Monteros got 5 speeds all the way into the 3.8L engines. V5M31. There were no US applications, so you'd have to import one.

I thought about trying to get one of those Sorento transmissions. I even found one locally. But it's got some wonky electronically controlled on-demand transfer case. That killed the idea for me.

[Monochrome]

Very cool!

[ChargerX3]

[quote=""Jeff V.""]Is there a reason you're not just using Montero or Sport manifolds?



The overseas Monteros got 5 speeds all the way into the 3.8L engines. V5M31. There were no US applications, so you'd have to import one.

I thought about trying to get one of those Sorento transmissions. I even found one locally. But it's got some wonky electronically controlled on-demand transfer case. That killed the idea for me.[/quote]

I picked up a non cracked drivers 72 Sport manifold last weekend. I have yet to find a passenger one that is not cracked. The one out of my 01 Monti is in pretty good shape, but still has about a 2" crack running through it. I would need to grind it down and re-weld the crack before installing. I guess im not a big fan of re-welding cast iron parts that have already been through a lot of hot cold cycles. The metal gets pretty brittle. There are ebay china knock offs, but I hear those are guaranteed to crack. They look pretty craptastic anyways.


On the Sorento trans, is it possible to separate the TC and mate ours? That would fix any unnecessary electronics.

[Jeff V.]

On the Sorento trans, is it possible to separate the TC and mate ours? That would fix any unnecessary electronics.

It's highly unlikely. On the V5MT1, the shift lever and transfer case lever are attached to, and pass through, the transfer case. The transfer case connects to the transmission via the transfer adapter. It's the bottom part in this diagram:



The V5M31 doesn't use a transfer adapter. The transfer case bolts directly to the transmission. So the odds of a 3.5L Kia even having the part, let alone having it be compatible to a V5MT1, are pretty much zero.

I think I've mentioned this before, but if not...the T in V5MT1 means the trans was built by the Fuso truck division. That probably explains the cast iron gearbox. If you're going to look at oddball manual transmission swaps, they'll probably come from Fuso.

Or just go with an automatic. Mitsubishi used Aisin for that, so there's a ton of options.

[ChargerX3]

I see your point.

I did however find a rwd based transmission for the Sorento. Ive got some great ideas brewing in my head...

[ChargerX3]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/04-05-06-KIA-SO ... qr&vxp=mtr

Link to Transmission.

[Jeff V.]

Gonna just give up on 4WD?

[ChargerX3]

Not at all. I love this project.

I've always wanted a 6g7* Sarquest though. Then there is the idea of doing a lowered rwd max. Just some fun ideas in my head.

[ChargerX3]

Update:

Worked on the engine some more over the weekend. Really starting to come together.

-Timing sensor on head and cog on crank swapped over.
-Updated the rear part of the water pump for the smaller montero tube. Rear crossover installed as well as piping back over top of engine to water neck.
-Installed 6g72 accessory bracket off sport. AC bracket nudges the oil pickup. Ground it to fit.


Before the accessory bracket.

Side view


Top


Getting very close. Accessory installed.


Still need:
-Upper timing covers. Not sure if the Sports will work.
-swap lower oil pan with Sorento
-exhaust manifolds. Have the one that i need to clean up and install. Have a passenger one that still needs welding, or find another.
-Stock TB will not fit with valve covers. Either hack back the top tube, or make sport stamped steel ones work. That will require some modification to the steel.
-Finish AC mount. Need washers in one spot.
-Make gaskets for oil pickup tube and filter housing. I ruined the originals.
-and so on...