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.

 

[Turdle]

Did a few more things to ol gal yesterday and today.

Thanks to @toypaseo I have a good working left side rear glass hinge installed. The passenger side hood shock was leaking so I replaced that, now I have good working hood and rear glass. Rejoice

Today I dug into the instrument cluster to address the moody tachometer and dome light-dimmer switch. I cleaned up the large white connector socket on the rear of the cluster, and took apart the dimmer switch to clean it up. Seems to have worked well, time will tell.
I also used this opportunity to clean out the layer of dust behind the instrument cluster window. Just little stuff that took a bit of time.

I didn't break my Pernindle either. Those always break when you get in there-I got lucky

 

[gmanpaint]

I have to tear my cluster apart and swap the new pod for the faulty temp gauge.

Not wanting to do it, will you come over and do it for me since you practiced today on yours?

 

[Turdle]

I have to tear my cluster apart and swap the new pod for the faulty temp gauge.

Not wanting to do it, will you come over and do it for me since you practiced today on yours?

How about bring the wheels and we'll do it here. I mean, yeah I would but I can't haul my oven over there.

 

[gmanpaint]

How about bring the wheels and we'll do it here. I mean, yeah I would but I can't haul my oven over there.

That would be nice, but just got back from vacation. lol Pretty crazy busy with work, and no idea when I can take that kind of time off. Might have to wait until fall when it slows down.

 

[Turdle]

I was on the phone with @gmanpaint this AM ( well, it was actually noon but he was still eating breakfast-slacker) and discussed how I was beginning to notice more noise out of this rigged rig.
The other car I drive is actually very quiet, so my reference point might actually be a lot of the problem.

Anyway, he suggested I rotate the tires front to rear before doing anything. so, I proceeded to jack up the truck, lube joints, make some tea, chase a squirrel, change my grease gun tip to a nipple, lube some more joints and then check ride height up front. All before rotating the tires because I just wasn't feeling like dragging out jackstands.
I checked the ride height because I saw right away I was getting some inner tire wear. Sure enough, it sagged down about an inch from where i had it previously, which would cause a bit of "toe out".
I cranked the bolts in a bit, got it up to where it was after a few driving cycles to settle them in. Then it hit me I can get free rotations at the tire store.

so, off I go to the tire store for a free rotation as was suggested by Gman. and since the tires were bought there they did a free alignment check. It was back in spec.

It does seem to be less noisy now.

wish I could afford a coilover swap package. I think the added weight of my bumper, skid plate and winch is just too much for the torsion bars.

 

[gmanpaint]

Good thinking there with the tire rotation Jon! (slacker backatcha)

If it helps you any, I just happen to have a brand new set of Eibach 12"x2.5" x 650lb coils just sitting here in a box.

 

[Dan Whitaker]

Just get yourself a 1996-2002 KIA Sportage and be done with it

 

[CDW6212R]

Just get yourself a 1996-2002 KIA Sportage and be done with it

Phht, no crashbox/deathbox for me thank you. I would take a new 2017 Lincoln turbo 3.0 MKZ though, the AWD with 400hp coming soon. I think those must weigh 4000+ pounds too.

 

[Dan Whitaker]

Don't knock them until you drive one. I've owned my 2002 for almost 6 years. It's much more fun than my Mountaineer was.

 

[Turdle]

Here is the story of:

The Little Amp That Wished It could

Well, today Betty got a new subwoofer. If the amp didn't suck so bad I would have held out longer to get a real good one, but as it is, thru my own testing, it doesn't really matter what you put behind the stock sub amp, it'll still sound pretty lame. So, I got a Boss Chaos off Amazon for 17 bux. Believe me, it is better than nothing.

Barely. But it sounds as good if not better than the stock woofer ever did. The end.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

now you can be roll'n while play'n your gangsta rap.

 

[ahodges]

lol. how many RMS watts does it claim to be?

 

[Turdle]

lol. how many RMS watts does it claim to be?

The stock subwoofer amp- "supposedly" 85Wx1 @ 2% THD

The driver itself is rated at 400w ( 150 RMS)

However, I used to drive 2 -12" 4ohm dvc image dynamics subs in 2 ohm stereo ( each sub's voice coil wired in parallel) with an old style punch 60 amp, rated at 30W per channel. The difference was astounding to say the least. This was in our aerostar van.The windshield wipers would bounce off the glass, about 1"


I then tried the 2 subs wired in 8 ohm mono, ( all 4 voice coils in series) connected to the factory sub amp in the Turdle wagon, believe it or not there was very little difference between the dual 12" subs and the stock 8". That is how poor the stock sub amp really is.

Today, the Image dynamics subs still pound hard in a friends pickup truck. I'd say they are about 20 years old now.

 

[CDW6212R]

Find an old PA amp(Nakamichi), those have THD in the .003% to .005% range. You get every watt out of those since you don't hear any distortion at full volume. The HU becomes the limitation. They do cost almost as much as when new though.

Here's a good example on eBay of the PA 350 that's a 35W x4 amp. $125 is typical, almost low for used and promised to work. They are 30-35 years old, but well taken care of are excellent, and as good(or better) as anything else of any age.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nakamichi-P...595569?hash=item2ef20f77b1:g:XuQAAOSwdzVXkrbp

 

[Turdle]

Well, cooler weather is here. The first sub 40 degree morning came along with a change of plans. I turned Betty's key and she said "Eff it buddy" .

I think she even giggled when I went to the garage for the battery charger and extension cord.

So, thinking it "might" have just been bad cables or dirty posts, I tried everything but eventually after 3 dead mornings came to the realization that i had to give Walmart 100.00 more bux for a new battery. Sure enough, when they scanned the "old" one it had just turned 5 years old. I mean, it was 1 week past the 5 year pro rated warranty date.

Have I really owned this truck 5 years? Man, getting old sucks. Things that happen years ago seem like just the other day----

 

[Turdle]

Oh, and a new set of Michelin windshield wipers, along with some purple washer fluid, because the blue stuff is just so common these days.

 

[Dan Whitaker]

The only washer fluid I use is Rain-X washer fluid.

 

[CDW6212R]

The only washer fluid I use is Rain-X washer fluid.

I too only use Rain-X, but I squirt it on and spread it by hand. I need the cheap blue stuff for the first thing in the morning, a few swipes to clean off the minor dust etc.

Jon, do you have any trickle chargers? I like those for cars that don't get driven much. You just have to deal with the cord a lot, and not trip on it.

 

[ahodges]

I can't even believe you have had your current truck for 5 years! I still remember drooling over Turdle (which gave me inspiration to build my truck).

 

[traveler]

Wow, thanks for the reminders! I need to check the anti-freeze in the Explorer and the Tbird, and I need to get a maintenance charger for the Campers deep cycle battery. So I guess I can blame this loss of funds on Betty huh? hehe