Betty's "I want to be a mule" progress log thread

The new turd mobile. 2000 Mountaineer v8 awd.



The bad:

Was living it's prior life on a dusty road. Must tear out interior and deep clean.
Driver window off track "or something" and will not roll down. It tries but the rear part wants to stay up.

3 out of 4 door handles have issues. I have 4 new outer handles on order.
Cracked passenger side tail light housing. ( Ebay for some cool tail lights)

Compass-Thermometer thingy lit up and went out--idunno bout that yet

Door locks seem sticky, probably has to do with the handles.
It has a funky purple color trim with red metallic ( you'll have that every now and then)

The good
Gas tank was full
109k miles
I am the 2nd owner!!
Is from the local area, which means no salt!
The undercarriage is fairly clean
No dents to underside panels
Good rubber
Camber shims already installed
Looks like good service records, all recalls were completed.
Clean carfax believe it or not.

The "maybe" bad

The original owner, told the dealership it had a bad "heater core" however I have run it for several cycles, over an hour each idling in the driveay and see no leaks.
However, there was evidence of a windshield leak or the like,I saw condensation on the inside of the windows this AM. The moisture smell is that of water only-no anti freeze smell. I am thinking it could also be a cowl drain which is clogged???? but she did say the passenger carpet got wet.

I tried to get heat, however it is an auto climate control. Being 90 degrees outside, I doubt it would have given me heat.The heater core hoses were hot, and the coolant bypass valve does operate. AC blows Ice cold.

Maybe she meant to say "heater door"???

Anyway--here are the pics.



My intent is to drive this and use it as a tow rig for a light weight off road toy. Mods will be minimal. Edit: This plan did not work out so on to plan "b"

Current visual status

Progress pictures

Now, let's clean it up a little


Herculine'rd rocker panels. Rock sliders installed

BW 4406 True 4x4 Manual transfer case ( AKA Mouse entry point) installed 8-27-2012
Installed newer Tcase from a 2003 11-14-15

Saw a rainbow in Colorado so yeah, time for a picture

And here she is, on top of the highest pass road in North America. Careful tire placement a must!!!

2-2-2013

Changed "color scheme" of the Dick Cepek DC1 wheels. New Falken Wildpeak AT 31x1050x15

Then I decided Maroon washer on the wheels would look better

Update 6-6-2013

New bumpers, winch and Pro LED light . Front Bumper from RLC, Skid plate from RCI, rear bumper from Kert307

Rear anti sway disconnects

Update 9-2-2014
A cracked radiator at 70mph led to engine failure. Replaced with a freshened up a bit 80k mile engine starting on page 23

Found another rainbow in Kansas.

 

[gmanpaint]

Lets do this!

I left this morning Dan, too late! LOL!

 

[Turdle]

 

[vroomzoomboom]

set up a web cam. wish i could have gotten there for this. but being off work for a month and a haft with no pay has left me pretty broke. that and i know i wouldnt have survived the drive down there

 

[rizzjc]

You guys have fun, and avoid any trips to the emergency room.

 

[Benjam]

One day when I have more money than school I'll have to make the 10 hour drive down there. Maybe with some goodies on hand for powdercoat . Good luck men!

Benjam

 

[TekMan05]

Take lots of pics! Can't wait to see and hear about the fun going on.

 

[Turdle]

Welp, ol girl choked up her engine with a little fight but it's out. Funny, i don't remember having to drop the front dif to change motor mounts but you do. Pics soon

 

[TekMan05]

Welp, ol girl choked up her engine with a little fight but it's out. Funny, i don't remember having to drop the front dif to change motor mounts but you do. Pics soon

Did you completely drop it or lower it? I remember we did have to do that as well on mine. I hope to never have to do that for a long time but having a rock a bye engine now I have no clue how long the mounts will last for. We did replace them at the time too.

--And Jon you're not gonna use this chance to throw in a little bump stick in the donor engine??

 

[CDW6212R]

....

--And Jon you're not gonna use this chance to throw in a little bump stick in the donor engine??

Good thought, someone should have come up with an HO cam at least.

 

[Turdle]

New engine in place and trans bolts all in. Time for food!

 

[CDW6212R]

Excellent, now for fireworks, BOOMSDAY; http://boomsday.org/#/home

We've got rain here.

 

[Turdle]

Bro in law, sis in law also changed the intake gaskets intheir Mountaineer, so pictures are all mixed up.

\

 

[CDW6212R]

Well done guys, that looks like a blast. The large shade is a great idea, and the huge fan helped a bunch I'll bet.

 

[Turdle]

And, it's back on it's feet too!

And, it runs! Took it for a spin up the street and back, no leaks all is good!

More remarks later, gotta get cleaned up.

 

[Rick]

So awesome!!

I remember that driveway

 

[MrQ]

Awesome!!

 

[vroomzoomboom]

i bet you had a ear to ear grin on your face you couldnt slap off! job well done men, job well done.

 

[rizzjc]

Wow, you guys got in there and got 'er done! Nice work!

 

[Turdle]

[MENTION=50756]Twiztid[/MENTION] Showed up early Saturday, after setting up the tarps the wrenching began. Several obstacles were overcome during the day. [MENTION=53464]dkchrist[/MENTION] showed up and really got things rolling. By this time we had 2 projects going on in the driveway, a huge fan with a mister blowing and the following people doing way more than yours truly who was chasing squirrels.

Twizted ( Steve)
Gmanpaint ( Gregg)
DKChrist (Daniel)
Brother in law Kevin
Sister in law Tammie
My lovely Bride Sheri
Joshua showed up Sunday

And last but not least My Friend Jimmy and his girlfriend Shannon ( who used the excuse that she had to go cook something)

We were having a good ol time, the transmission bolts all came out and the engine came out with much fuss. However, it did come out without removing the AC as I knew could be done.
Then came the motor mounts. Dropping the diff on each end wasn't so bad I guess but the access to the MM bolts was still a PITA. Then one of the diff attaching bolts cross threaded but Steve fixed it up after a slight time delay.

Getting the "new" engine back into place was hindered by the new mounts. After further thought it might be best to leave them loose until the engine is sitting on them .

Ok, Once the mount issue was solved and the trans bolts were all in it was decided to eat dinner. Much pineapple discussion ensued, and a chocolate lasagna was indeed delivered.

Day 2

We got a much earlier start and things started progressing quickly. Daniel was bouncing around from engine to rebuilding my front drive shaft and back to the engine. We're all wrenching and still discussing the posibilities of pineapple when Steve asked where the new radiator was. I pointed to the box, got back to what I was doing and he asked where the right radiator was. Un uh. no way I said. We bought that way back in March and I lost the receipt. Aw crap.
This one was clearly a v6 radiator with no provision for mounting the ac condensor. Well, I sent Joshua and Sheri up to Autozone to exchange it for the correct unit showing them what to point out to the clerk there.

We went on doing other things, Sheri and Joshua returned saying they would not exchange the radiator because it was the correct unit according to their computer. Unfortunately I had a 1 1/6" open end wrench in my hand which immediately went for a distance record right into the gate on our fence. I then went into an immature rant and rage in front of everyone while trying to get my head around how stupid the Autozone clerk was. Just because the cutomer is a woman with a 16 year old does not mean they do not know what they are talking about. He din't even listen to them.

So, after regaining my composure a bit Sheri and I made another trip to Autozone while the others carried on with the wrenching. Mind you it is a 10 mile trip to the next town---

We walked in the door and the first thing the clerk said was " you're going to educate us I bet"

I then showed him the difference. he went to his computer. "ah! I typed in 4wd when I should have typed AWD"

I said " I told you v8 when I bought it. My wife told you V8 when she tried to return it. Joshua told you v8 when he was with her. All v8's have this radiator"

His response" our computer asks for driveline before engine size"

"I can have the correct one here at 3:00 pm "

I wanted to jump across the counter and wring his neck, instead saying
" oh thanks so much!"

So we returned home for the 2 hour wait. Worked for a while when 3:15 rolls around with no phone call from Autozone.

I called them " Hello, thanks for calling Autozone"

" Hi, this is Jon from Humboldt"

" oh yeah, we were trying to call you. I am training a guy how to make long distance calls"


Moral of the story. If you want to make 4 trips and drive 80 miles to get a correct part. go to Autozone. Never send your wife there though.


After this magical 4th visit we finally had a good radiator we could use. Oh I am so pleased with Autozone right now I could poop on your counter---





OK, back to the engine. It's in. Got all the fluids in, started it up and boy --hmmm, knock knock and a dead mis. Hmmm. Not good.

I cannot explain why but I said I suspected the #2 cylinder as it was the one with the new injector. As I was feeling for a clik on it, Steve pulled the #2 spark plug wire, got zapped, pu it back on and the engine went Whirr--nice and smooth.

Try to get your head around that one. The engine went from sounding like junk to sounding like brand new by letting a spark wire arc. Stuck valve??? I have no clue but I do know it now sounds great and leaks no fluids at all. Bell housing is clean of any drips so I assume the new rear seal has in fact sealed!


Daniel had to leave for other commitments --long drive but was able to get the front drive shaft rebuilt. He and Gregg found a couple issues in there, the center ball was gouged and the u joints had some broken pins with skip wear marks on the crosses.

We trudged on re routing the spark wires and installing the fender liners, and throwing the tires back on. I found out the new black powdercoated lug nuts were incorrect for my wheels and just used the old keyed ones.

Another evening was spent talking late into the night, much past Steve's bed time, so he fell asleep on the couch while Gregg, Jimmy Shannon, Sheri and I talked on the back patio. About 4:00 AM as it was raining good it hit me I had left a bunch of parts laying outside so I went to get them to a dry spot. Got settled from that about 4:10 or so when Steve's phone alarm went off. I didn't know what to do with it so I went back to bed, as he was sleeping like a baby through it. I assumed it was going off for a normal Monday.
About 4:30 I heard what sounded like our front door being shut. I came downstairs and Steve had ridden off into the sunrise ( I couldn't say sunset because it was early AM) without saying good bye. But he's kinda like that-shows up to help anyone and then leaves before it gets all mushy.


This AM was spent doing some more talking with Gregg, picking up the boxes of assorted lightweight trash material which I left in a big cardboard box next to the trash can. It was now scattered all over the county--
Every spark plug box, water bottle, pop can or paper towel we threw away was now giving me some exercise. The pan of trans fluid was now a full pan of pink looking soup. ech


Steve sent a text to Gregg saying he made it back home at about 9:30. There are still some things left to do to Betty, but I asked if we could please just take the day off I can get the front shaft and skid plate in later. I will tackle the transfer case skid plate-trans mount issue on another day also. He agreed and after trying to delay him, he finally left about 12:15 or so headed back to St. Louis.

If I had not had this help I could not have pulled it off. I am not certain if I will be able to but I want to pay it back. I do know this though. I don't ever want to swap n engine in one of these things again.

 

[MrQ]

Damn, I missed all that. I'm glad you got the engine in and its working. Props to all the guys that made it and helped him out.