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]

The top of the timing cover is dry, normally when the bypass hoses leak it wets the top of timing cover. The highest point I can find wet is the bottom of the water pump shout

Which would also explain the wet spray appearance on the top of the skid plate.

I'll get new hoses also though.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

I’ve had one issue with a water pump and that it was cast wrong on the bottom side causing it to hit the damper when it was turning in a certain spot.....causing the damper to move from it’s spot.....causing it to be out of balance....causing me to buy a new crank and have the entire rotating assembly to get rebalanced......

 

[traveler]

I hate pretty much any job that requires me to drain the radiator! That always means more work ahead.
Seriously though... Have a very Merry Christmas.

 

[Turdle]

well, she drew blood

Sorry for the rusty table top background, but here is a picture of water pump bolts in their proper orientation, tips toward proper hole

easy to get em mixed up

Who's happy they used anti seize on these? This guy, that's who.

Who's unhappy he has worn hood shocks? same guy.

I bumped my prop stick, then the edge of the hood smacked right on the bridge of my nose. I was unable to find a suitable thing to kick so I had to just bear it through the tears. Yes, tears. Prolly have 2 back eyes, and couldn't even muster a fudge to go with the kick I had planned.

view of bottom leaky area of water pump

and even some moisture from the top weep hole

Until next time,

And yes,
I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas. Hope to be back before then with updates.

Thanks @traveler

 

[ahodges]

Merry Christmas Jon!

 

[rizzjc]

Ooh! Those hood struts! Just replaced mine after getting tired of dodging it for the last year. Glad you didn't knock yourself out!

Could be worse. You coulda fixed a non working EXTERIOR door latch on a Honda, with a zip tie, and now have a door that won't open from either side, and have to take half the darn car apart to try to get the door panel off without opening it.

BTW, what would this midlife crisis be? Mustang? Charger?

 

[Turdle]

Ooh! Those hood struts! Just replaced mine after getting tired of dodging it for the last year. Glad you didn't knock yourself out!

Could be worse. You coulda fixed a non working EXTERIOR door latch on a Honda, with a zip tie, and now have a door that won't open from either side, and have to take half the darn car apart to try to get the door panel off without opening it.

BTW, what would this midlife crisis be? Mustang? Charger?

well,
I did just do my exterior rear hatch handle 2 times because i cheaped out and bought aftermarket handle. Kinda the same thing , especially when the 1st replacement is bolted on.
I feel your pain

We got a Chrysler 300s with a 5.7 liter Hemi v8, 8 speed auto. It's RWD and won't do snow if I can help it

 

[CDW6212R]

I hope the next WP never needs replacing, those are very much not fun. At least you did the bolts right, the anti-seize is smart.

 

[Turdle]

Well, had a lot of other things going on at the same time but managed to get this all buttoned up and re filled with coolant. I have burped the system and run it up to complete warm 2 times. Now, let's see what a cold night does.

I put a large piece of cardboard under her in case she pees overnight.

depends.

 

[Turdle]

The cardboard trick worked! No pee spot this AM!

 

[gmanpaint]

Congrats, your now free to deliver presents up north.

 

[Turdle]

And now for the post which will cause a certain member's PM box to explode.


@RockRanger sent a Christmas package to Betty.

The big part of a big mod, and the quality is of top shelf excellence.

She, MLB and I shout out a great big Thank you!

I was going to powder coat them before taking or showing a picture, but you need to see the craftsmanship first

This is as good as awesomesauce gets.

 

[gmanpaint]

Hell yeah!

Betty won't know what to think, with her new super powers.

 

[WormsExplorer]

That is awesome. Can not wait to see the finished product.

 

[Turdle]

That is awesome. Can not wait to see the finished product.

Well, you might want to make a sandwich or something because this is a multi day warmer weather project. If we can get a weather forecast for high 40's or 50's for a few days------

Goes with this, which just arrived via gmansantapaint!!!!

Plan is to use these springs for fitment unless they work out. lol

 

[vroomzoomboom]

is betty slowly turning into turdle minus a stroker?

 

[Turdle]

is betty slowly turning into turdle minus a stroker?

Funny how you should say that, also funny how long it took me to figure out wimmens.

As in, if they find out on their own why a modification is desirable it happens. Living on a rough road for a week last summer, and the few trails we drove on around Moab officially put a smoother ride on the to do list.

If you just spring it on them they only want to know the price, which is never a good way too look at it.

And now that she has a kinda fast car, and likes to compare apples to bananas, I swear she better not complain about a slow truck or it's to the moon alice.

 

[CDW6212R]

Time for a motor refresh, anyone have some spare internals, what she won't see?

We've got 70-75 degrees today, with storms coming in tonight. Tomorrow it's supposed to clear up and be in the 50's, weird weather.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

I swear she better not complain about a slow truck or it's to the moon alice.

i can help with that! i just may know of someone that will have a eaton m112 supercharger that fits our trucks for sale possibly in the summer!

 

[traveler]

Very nice! I must admit I've been giving a set of coilovers serious consideration myself. Eddie doesn't ride that bad, but losing the torsion bars means two less things hanging down getting caught on rocks.