The Mitsubishi Pajero Owners Club®

[haylands]

Hi

I have been looking back at all the old photos of my Mk1 and realised how far it has come, I thought I would make a thread about its transformation and then update it as it goes along…. A bit like jetskidave’s with his amasing General Lee build… so here goes… sorry to those who have read all this and seen the pics already but I wanted to put it all in one place…

I wanted to find a cheap 4x4 that I could use at weekends for playing and use during the week to cart stuff around, I wanted to do it as cheaply as possible as I’m a southerner who has moved “up north” and it’s rubbed off on me!!!

It all started back in February this year when I finally found a Mk1 SWB 2.5 TD Manual with no arches… I like the look of these and wanted a manual as I’ve always had autos as off roaders and the one thing that annoyed me is the inability to tell if you are wheel spinning or not… I found this one on E.b.a.y. it was up for £699 and unsurprisingly it sat there all week with no bids… the guy put his number on it so I rang him when the auction had finished and offered him £500… he said he would accept £550 and he would leave the 5 months tax on it!! So the deal was done…. Problem number one… the car was in Cornwall and I was in Hull…. The guy offered to drive it up and offered C.O.D. as he had to go to Manchester the next week so my mind was put at rest about its condition as he wouldn’t have offered to drive it the 300+miles if it had problems.
I got a train ticket the next day and went to pick it up…
Here it is as I first saw it



I drove it to a friend’s house nearby and by the time I got there it was pulling violently to the right and it smelt very funny….
I crashed for the night and the next morning went to a local garage where they found this…



It had got stuck in the calliper and had melted and jammed the sliding mechanism… it took well over an hour for us to get it all off… no permanent damage and I set off for my Mother’s house in Bucks, it drove nicely with no obvious issues… just a crashing sound if you hit a pothole…

Stayed at my Mums for a couple of days and took off the rather heavy looking bull bar and spots and gave it a good check over, the guy also forgot to mention the 5 brand new BFG A/T’s that had been fitted..



Then drove it home to Hull. Had a good look underneath and noticed an oil leek had developed, it was the oil pipe that lubricates the alternator vacuum pump, it had been made by someone and the crimped on end had worked loose. I fitted a new replacement from the dealers… also found out what the clunk was… no front shock absorber lower bushes… managed to find some suitable lumps of rubber and replace them. Also took off the side steps. Changed the oil in the engine, gearbox, both axles and the transfer box, changed and flushed the coolant, changed the cam belt and balance belt, also the brake fluid and put new front pads in. Changed all the filters as well and had fun finding the 14,349 grease nipples!!!!!!!



Next job was to replace the viscous fan, the original had some very bad cracks, the plastic had just got old and you could rub bits off with your fingers…. I fitted a cheap as chips electric fan and thermostatic control, it was cheaper than a second hand original fan…



Next job was a roof rack, if it was going to work for a living it needed to be able to carry items longer than 6ft… I kept an eye out on that site and found one not too far away, the ad just read roof rack for Pajero and I got it for £70… I was very pleased when I saw it as it’s a genuine rack and beautifully made, unfortunately it was for a Mk2 so I had to find some feet for it, found a set of Thule cast alloy roof bars again off that site for £5 so modified them to work…





Tried out the roof rack when I picked up a garage door…



I wanted a winch for the front and won one for £69 in an unknown condition… well it turned out the motor was goosed but the rest was OK… as luck would have it I found a motor at the Sodbury Sort Out from a smashed winch and paid £10 for the whole thing, then put the gearbox from the smashed winch on e.bay and got £26 for it, so the winch cost £53… then set about making a mount from old pieces of scrap… I did buy a new wire and hook and some stainless bolts and paint so it came to about £100 all in.





Fitted a voltmeter and turbo boost gauge instead of the temp and altimeter and also a self dimming rear view mirror… found out the boost was well down, so adjusted it up to spec and adjusted the fuelling and it went a lot faster..





Got some LWB rear springs and cranked the torsion bars to match, got 3” of lift from that



Fitted very bling tow ball, it’s for a small trailer and is easy to remove for off roading, having said that I’ve never actually used it yet!!!



Found a set of 750/16 muds on chrome rims for £65, just too cheap to miss, so fitted them in place of the BFG A/T’s which are OK but not very good in mud… slid sideways into a tree and did this to the bumper



These new tyres were absolutely brilliant in mud but you couldn’t hear the radio on tarmac and when it was wet it didn’t go around corners!!!!! I also had to fix the bumper as it hit the bigger tyres… very handy to have a winch and a skip…



A before and after.



Next job was to fix the ring gear, the starter used to skip on the ring gear and not mesh, it always started eventually but was getting a pain, then the rear main crank seal started leaking so out came the box and I replaced the seal and had read that you can turn the flywheel so the starter uses a “new” piece of ring gear, this worked for some time but it is starting to do the skipping again so I will have to save up for a new ring gear… £110 and a new starter cog… £15



I decided I wanted some proper Mud tyres as the 750’s were positively dangerous in the wet, so I stuck the 5 original chrome wheels and BFG A/T’s on that site and got £300 for them… well pleased.



I wanted to use 16” wheels so I could get some 235/85/16 tyres which work out at just over 32” but are narrow enough (9 ½”) for the “unarched” Mk1… I saw these on e.bay and bought them for £60, they are genuine shogun steel rims from circa 1990’s and are 16”



They had Michelin tyres on that still had the nobles on but they were A/T’s so they went back on that site and I got £100 for the tyres on their own….. At this point I thought I’d change jobs…  and start buying and selling wheels and tyres… I sold the 750’s as well and made £30 on them so I had enough to buy five brand new 235/85/16 Maxxi Mudders….



Whilst all this wheeling and dealing was going on I had also bought the top from a Defender snorkel for £18 and made that fit the Paj







Got bored one evening and decided to make some white dials as you can’t buy them for the Mk1, I scanned in the originals then photoshopped them, and printed them on photo paper, cut them out and fitted them, also did the three centre dials and the heater control

Before



After





Made a carrier for the high lift jack to mount it on the spare wheel



Got another cheapy off fleabay… a body lift kit for £20 guy had bought it and never fitted it, it even came with the 2” spacer for the transfer lever but I had to extend the gearstick as well… Also removed both anti roll bars, there is only a slight increase in body roll on the lightweight SWB, the LWB does suffer if you remove them apparently....



Then fitted the body lift





The Pajero is now 7" higher than when I bought it, 3" suspension 2" body and 2" on the tyres.

The rear seat that came with the car badly let it down it was ripped and didn’t have any headrests, I had been looking for headrests to fit, in blue since buying the car, then this set came up and I got the whole lot for £12.50.. so I used the whole back seat and also changed the passenger seat as the frame was splitting at a weld…



The Mk1 Pajero doesn’t have an electric fan for the air con radiator and mine was getting too hot and switching the air con off… I found another electric fan from a Legacy that was a two stage fan, so now one side is wired into the radiator temp switch and the other is wired into the aircon compressor, if either calls for the fan it comes on and if both want it it goes so fast I swear the car speeds up!!!!!



I’ve also recently fitted a Bluetooth hands free kit that mutes the radio and works through the cars speakers, also changed the bushes in the rear bottom arms…

And today I have just finished fixing the heater hoses, it appears they were stretched too much by the body lift and split, so I  used new hose and made some longer ones.

Here is my favorite pic so far.... taken whilst off roading in Wales with Jo (idratherbesurfing) and others...



I still have loads of ideas in the pipeline, the next big jobs are custom made bumpers and sill guards…

I will update this post as more is done….

If you have read this far, well done, I am sorry that some of you will have seen this all before…

Another amasing thing happens when you buy a Pajero, you come on to the internet and find a new family waiting for you, a friendly helpfull bunch who really do care and make you feel welcome, I have met some of you face to face and can't wait to meet more of you... as the man said

A stranger is just a friend you haven't met yet...

Thanks

[Google]

[DawnH]

wow pete!!!! it isn't till you put it all together like that that you appreciate how far your truck has actually come on!!!!

it's a real credit to you mate!!!!!  well done!!!!!!!      

[idratherbesurfing]

That has got to be the best looking mk1 I have ever seen  

I'm not a huge fan of the Mk1's, but if I had to have one on the driveway, Id have that one in a shot  

she's a credit to you pete!

[Jimbro]

That truck is a credit to you Pete and what an evolution

[nezzy]

looking good pete, mk1's rule

how you finding the mudders as alot of guys down here run them as a member of the local laning club does them for us at cost, and i popped a 33" last night  was toying with 35" creepy crawlers.

[nick the nurse]

Brilliant write up Pete  

[denjo]

Cool truck    Well worth all the effort you`v put in
And i can testify, It will go were disco`s cant     Or was that down to a very determined driver

[rcottam007]

Looks great mate! Good write-up!  

[haylands]

Hi

Thank you all for the kind words...

Nezzy

The mudders are very good on tarmac for a mud tyre and pretty quiet, they are very grippy on wet rock and excellent in mud.... pretty good all round really, they also seem to be very tough but I haven't given them much real abuse yet.... I read lots of reviews on tyres and people were saying they last a long time to... which helps when I'm driving all over the country to try different Lanes... I would buy them again

[El Ricko]

pete that's a lovely picture of you on the river bed.. pro could not have set that up better!

[haylands]

Hi

Thanks.. sad I know but I have it as my desktop wallpaper....

Changed it's identity today, when I bought it it had A8 AHY, my daughter is called Abigail and our surname begins with H so it's ideal for her, she has just turned 16 so she want's the registration on her car when she gets one in a years time (we will be buying a cat c write off in about 6 months time and rebuilding it, we did a Yaris for her sister last year) She reads it as A8 = AB and AHY as Abigail H**** from Yorkshire. So the number has been put on retention

I have had 597TBH for over 10years now, it was on an old car I bought and I've just kept it... it doesn't stand for anything although when people ask I say it's That Bast@rd H***** I've had it on retention for quite a while and it was going to cost money to extend it so I thought I may as well put it on the Paj...

So that's the story incase anyone was wondering about the new number......

[neverwet]

     
absolutly brilliant pete what more can you say a credit to mk ones
alittle miffed about the chrome wheels i would of bought them for mine
i was enthrolled in the reading and the photos were good
you must be very mechanicaly minded to do all that

[haylands]

Hi

Sorry you missed the wheels, I did advertise them on here with a % to the club funds but you must have missed it...

Anyway, everyone else here is out tonight and there is nothing on the box so I got playing... came up with a new icon for my Tomtom... so now I actually have a Mk1 Pajero with the highlift on the door, it's even got mud tyres on it but it's a bit hard to see on the photo....

I am getting sadder by the day.... now where did I leave my anorac...........

[nick the nurse]

PMSL       Brilliant Pete      

[DawnH]

i'm loving the icon Pete!!!!!!