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.

 

[CDW6212R]

Funny... isn't yours a dry heat like out west?

We've had rain almost once per day or so, and my coworkers at 3AM in the morning like to prop the bug doors open. It's cooler outside, they say. I'm sweating each day, inside, after about ten minutes, but it's not hot.

 

[Dan Whitaker]

Funny... isn't yours a dry heat like out west?

We've had rain almost once per day or so, and my coworkers at 3AM in the morning like to prop the bug doors open. It's cooler outside, they say. I'm sweating each day, inside, after about ten minutes, but it's not hot.

No it gets damn humid here in the midwest in the summer. Last year was a fluke with the draught. The last week or so the humidity has been right around 60%

 

[CDW6212R]

That is dry, that would be our low side, we see 80% or more usually. It's probably 60% in the PO where I work, in the mornings. By the time afternoon comes, the AC has removed the moisture that the moron clerks let in from the morning.

 

[Turdle]

And she wasn't even mad about it.
4000 lbs and then some

Kert0307 um, your bumper did great! Talk about a fly with it test run!!

I would not recommend towing this much weight like this. Please do not try this at home!!

 

[kert0307]

And she wasn't even mad about it.
4000 lbs and then some

Kert0307 um, your bumper did great! Talk about a fly with it test run!!

I would not recommend towing this much weight like this. Please do not try this at home!!

Glad to here you're still happy with it It's basically a bumper built around a receiver hitch, so as long as all the bolts are tight on the frame you should be good

 

[CDW6212R]

Glad to here you're still happy with it It's basically a bumper built around a receiver hitch, so as long as all the bolts are tight on the frame you should be good

Yeah, the bumper and a hitch mount to the same points, with most hitches having an extra hole in the frame that they attach to. I was long ago planning to add some angled cross bars to add strength to the hitch I have, but it would be a bit complicated to do it given the other parts around there.

 

[Turdle]

Pulled em down with the winch.

Tow strap used instead of chains or cables.

You guys should know, there was about a 20 foot area between our porch and the decorative hedge post fence in the second video. Didn't even hurt the bushes.

 

[2TimingTom]

I think the humidity was like 5% here the other day. That's a little drier than normal, but for the most part, it's very dry here.

 

[CDW6212R]

Well done, and I need to borrow one of those buckets, and the crew with truck.

 

[Turdle]

Just posting this link for future reference.

http://hpwtx.com/product/strs5206/

 

[delexploder]

You looking at them fancy shocks or the holly parts at the bottom

 

[Turdle]

Yes

 

[CDW6212R]

I like coil over shocks, get some.

 

[delexploder]

Cool I wanna see!

 

[4rd4life]

Hey been absent a little while. You've made some great improvements with the truck! Bumpers came out awesome also. I just kind of browsed through your page but what are your next set of plans? i dont know if you remember but you had sold me a 410 front diff last year i should have had you powder coat lol, You do great work

 

[Turdle]

i dont know if you remember but you had sold me a 410 front diff last year

Dohp--why did I do that? Seriously. Why? :roll:

Thanks for the compliments.

 

[4rd4life]

haha Im not sure why. Which Im actually in the process of putting in btw But seriously you got a nice looking mounty there.

 

[Turdle]

Amazon Prime had Bosch SPark plug wires for 37 bux, so I said get em and a set of plugs too.

Changed them out today and found a heat split n the #4 plug boot, along with tell- tale white carbon on the manifold. We can't have this.

We'll see if the gas mileage improves. I think this has been an issue for a while now, Sheri had pulled in after driving it one night and it was throwing a 304 code, so I threw on an older wire I had on the shelf. This is the one which was now split open.

 

[CDW6212R]

Amazon Prime had Bosch SPark plug wires for 37 bux, so I said get em and a set of plugs too.

Changed them out today and found a heat split n the #4 plug boot, along with tell- tale white carbon on the manifold. We can't have this.

We'll see if the gas mileage improves. I think this has been an issue for a while now, Sheri had pulled in after driving it one night and it was throwing a 304 code, so I threw on an older wire I had on the shelf. This is the one which was now split open.

COP's may be an answer for the wiring issues, assuming they could route any better straight down etc. (Coil On Plug ignition)

 

[Turdle]

Got a message from Kert0307, he said " I have some tail light guards laying around--want em?" And I said " Let me ask Puff about it".
So, I went out to ask if she was afraid of backing into a tree and cracking a tail light, she said " Well, only with you driving" , so I kicked her in the bumper for being so fresh.

Then I limped back into the house, put an ice pack on my toe and sent Kurt a message begging him for the light guards.

Just now she said " I don't know why you keep me around, blah blah--"