Hi everyone! I will be looking at a 1990 Montero LWB tomorrow. I've always loved the way they look but I've only seen one up close once briefly and I know next to nothing about them except the little bit I've been able to read over the past couple days. I've seen buyer's guides for vehicles on other forums but I didn't see anything like that here, so I was hoping maybe you guys might be willing to give me some advice.

All I know about this vehicle so far is that it is from Colorado so it has no rust (which is a GREAT thing here in Wisconsin), has a dead battery, and the freeze plugs need to be replaced (all of this according to the owner). It supposedly runs well otherwise. He said it leaks coolant too bad to run for very long due to the freeze plugs, so I probably won't be able to run it long enough to see if it smokes due to valve issues.

Aside from the stated problems, is there anything in particular I should look for when I check this Montero out tomorrow?

Thanks in advance! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

Well i'll tell you this given the problems you have stated that it has DO NOT PAY MORE THAT $500 FOR IT! I can almost bet the farm that the head gaskets are blown so expect to be pulling the hole motor out and taking it apart. The age these trucks are at prepare to revamp the suspension aswell if he didn't care for the motor i doubt this dude did much of anything else. So keep that in mind when you buy this thing. Any lazy <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/butwiggle.gif" alt="" /> can run a vaccum across carpet and take a rag to the dash clean inside beat to <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/evil.gif" alt="" /> under the hood.

So if your looking for a project get it if not keep looking.
<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

He's asking $700 and I don't think he's willing to deal so I'll probably just pass on it.

Thanks for the honest input!

700 not too bad. He will probably come down to 500. Not gonna find one of these things out there ready to take cross country for 500 bucks. If it's a runner that you can at least check the drive train out, and you don't mind spending some money on the top end of that motor might be worth taking a chance on.

#1 motor runs and doesnt sound like its like it's about to blow.
#2 Tranny shifts out OK and doesnt sound like it coming apart on you.
#3 not a rust bucket.

Buying a non runner is high risk. Better have about 1000 bucks worth of parts easy and better not pay more than 400 for it.

If I were to buy it I'd definitely expect to have to work on it, which doesn't bother me at all.

Here's the vehicle in question by the way:
http://appleton.craigslist.org/cto/5143634966.html

The pictures don't show much, but from what I can see the body looks pretty straight and clean. No idea what the interior looks like though which can be scary.

I like how it says no rust but there is clearly rust on the bumpers, if you go check it out look on the inside of the inner fenders the rears always seem to rust out open the doors and look at the bottoms and check for rust there, and check the front body mounts next to the radiator rust forms around there commonly aswell. if the rust is only surface and the inside looks like its been kept up like the body/paint has i'd go for it even if it needs a motor, but i'd knock him down to $500. Needs work to motor needs new bumpers make a list of problems you see and bring that up if he refuses to go down. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

Well I was going to let him sit on it for a little bit so I could work the price down more but it looks like someone else bought it Oh well. Thanks again for your guys' help! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

Well I am the one who bought this Montero that you guys were discussing. It definitely needs work but ill take care of it. Fairly rust free truck, I will be removing the engine to do the work on it, I will do all of the necessary work that it needs to be road worthy. Important thing is that I heard THE THING RUN, after not running for 3YRS it started pretty quick!.

Here is the list of things that I will be doing to this truck.

LIST:
Remove engine

remove the heads and have them rebuilt ( because its never been done)

Timing/water pump job

All gasktes

freeze plugs

newer tires and wheels

Magnaflow muffler with larger pipe.

Possibly other stuff that will come up while in tearing into this truck

I'll check the suspension when I get to drive it.

Removing the engine is probably a lot of unnecessary work, the bottom end of these engines is really strong and seldom needs rebuilding. Pulling the heads to have them freshened up makes sense though - if the head surface is machined, check to make sure your head bolts aren't going to bottom out in their holes when it's reassembled.

Also, if you're planning on a larger exhaust system, keep in mind that increasing the diameter more than 1/4" over stock will reduce the engine's torque with no significant gain in high-end horsepower. Install a high-flow converter and the lowest-restriction muffler that meets your personal noise requirements and you'll have wrung out all the performance you can from the exhaust system.

The reason why I am removing the engine is because the freeze plugs that are on the trans side of the block need replacing. Kind of hard to do that job with the engine in.

Also I am not planning of disassembling the entire block, the bottom end will be not touched just the top end will.