With the homemade anti-rotation tool still in place, I proceeded to install the crank pulley.

I measured the pulley in case I need to ever make the tool to hold the pulley.

I installed the revised crank bolt with a new washer and torqued to spec.

The new style bolt is much shorter with an enlarged length bolt head (still 22mm). If you search the net there are reports of broken off bolts in the crank. Not sure if the failures and revised bolt are related, but I chose to replace the bolt.

 

I chose to install the power steering, alternator, and fan belt while the engine was removed as access was great.

I used Gates belts.

A single belt drives the alternator and fan and it is installed first as it is most reward. Then the power steering belt was installed. The AC compressor belt cannot be installed at this time.

I do not have a belt tension gage so I did it by feel.

 

Time to install the engine.

I attached the hoist leveler chains as shown in the pictures. I used a different pick point on the passenger side compared to what I had used to remove the engine. The pick point at the power steering pump creates an awkward tilt that cannot be accommodated with the leveler. The revised passenger pick point results in perfect vertical plane of the flex plate.

I put a floor jack under the transmission and tilted it upwards. I rotated the converter such that one bolt hole should align with the access hole under the drivers exhaust manifold, shall see if this works.

As the engine was lowered into position I paused and bolted the AC compressor into position as access was great. The ground strap connects to the lower rear compressor bolt.

Proceeded to drop the engine into the bay, shifting for/aft to get the block dowels into alignment while the engine mount alignment pins engaged the frame. Once the dowels were aligned, the transmission jack was lowered to parallel the faces of the bell housing and block. The engine was then rocked towards the transmission which allowed the fitted bolts to be installed at the 3 and 9 o'clock positions which pulled the bell housing fully into position. I proceeded to then install the remainder of the bell housing bolts and torqued them to spec followed by the engine mount bolts.

Big day!

 

There are two access points for the bolts, one under the driver's exhaust manifold and the other at the bottom of the oil pan. I had used the bottom one at disassembly and had decided to use the one adjacent the driver's exhaust manifold thinking it provided better access. Accordingly, I had left the driver's exhaust manifold off.

Do yourself a favor and install the driver's side exhaust manifold while the engine is out. The torque converter bolt access really is worse as it is more difficult to install a wrench. Further, installing the driver's side exhaust manifold after the fact requires the engine mount to frame bolts be removed, engine jacked up, removal of the oil dipstick, bending the transmission dipstick tube towards the fender, and removal of the EGR pipe from the manifold all just to get the manifold on. Then tightening of the manifold nuts is difficult due to poor access, some of which I reached thru the wheel well.

I purchased new torque converter bolts MD713228 as during removal, some of the corners on the thin heads had been wrung off. I wound up using an impact socket on my 3/8" ratchet wrench to tighten the bolts. The impact socket was slightly longer than a normal socket so I was able to fully engage the bolt head. The smaller ratchet head cleared the oil pan. When I removed these bolts, I had used a normal socket, a swivel, and extensions which resulted in the damaged bolts; don't do this.

I was not able to use a torque wrench as the wrench head interfered with the oil pan and I could not engage the socket. Instead, I tightened an unrelated bolt to spec, then used my smaller 3/8" ratchet and torqued that bolt until it budged and then applied that amount of force to each of the bolts. Not real scientific, but nothing else to do. I had a breaker bar on socket on the crank bolt to keep the engine from rotating.

I kept track of each bolt that was tightened so I knew all were done.

Lastly I put the access covers back on.

 

I was working on replacing exhaust manifolds today and had a chance to take a look at the engine/transmission connection on my '01 Montero (full size). It looks like it has only one access point for the torque converter bolts and it is the one under the driver side exhaust manifold. There is no access spot in the lower middle portion like in the case larry4406 is working on. The oil pan has a different design and it drops down right in front of the transmission. The good thing is, you don't need to remove driver side manifold to get to the side access panel for torque converter bolts, you only need to remove the Y-pipe. That opens up a lot of space and makes working there more comfortable.

 

Finished the last loose ends yesterday morning and pushed it out of the garage. Filled radiator with water, topped off power steering pump, checked and topped of the oil .

Disconnected the crank and cam sensor plugs on the top of the engine, cranked the engine over with the key. Reconnected the sensors, and engine fired right up. Runs very smooth, no knocks or ticking, no vibration, nice idle. Had a coolant leak at one of the hoses to the heater core; readjusted the clamp and solved it.

Check engine light came on (need to buy a code reader). Engine had a code before the rebuild so who knows.

I have a fuel leak at the rear of the engine that is spraying on to the top of the transmission bell housing and leaking down. I suspect it is associated with the rear pipe that connects the fuel rails together. Will try to get in there with an inspection mirror. Hopefully I can resolve it without removing the plenum (same effort as changing the plugs). I'm hoping the code is a low fuel pressure associated with the leak.

Engine has only been run maybe 10 minutes...

 

Climbed on top of the engine while it is running and inspected the rear fuel line that jumpers between the fuel rails - no leaks.

I can see fuel dripping/draining down the interior of the V of the block on the drivers side at the rear by cylinder 6. See photo markups. I installed the intake gaskets proper as I can see the "gasket ear" is in the proper location from before and after. Also torqued the bolts in accordance to the manual in both sequence and value.

I did find a vacuum hose disconnected from the EGR valve, reconnected it and the check engine light did not recur during the brief time I ran the engine.

Any thoughts before I start going back into this thing?

Edit
Been pondering on this. Thinking I might have a leak between the top of an injector and the fuel rail. There is an o-ring that seals this connection and I used the o-rings that came in the Fel-Pro head gasket kit. A leak at this location would likely not affect the engine performance but would rain down on top of the intake manifold and the open gaps between the intake runners would allow the fuel to run down to the V of the block. Visual inspection not possible due to the plenum being installed. Thinking of buying an inspection camera from Harbor Freight and snaking it under the plenum while jumping the fuel pump to run without starting the engine.

 

I think you are right about the leak at the injector (between injector and the fuel rail). It is possible that the o-ring got pinched, moved or even that it has a crack in it. Since you have to dig in there to resolve it, I'd take off the plenum and then jump the fuel pump relay. This way you will have a good view of what is going on and you'll be half way there to fixing it once you have a final diagnosis.

 

I did exactly this yesterday. Took about 20 minutes to get the plenum off (a lot easier now that I am intimately familiar with this engine!).

The manual shows that the fuel pump relay is located behind the passengers kick panel (US models with left hand drive) and is the relay closest to the body.

With the connector removed from the relay and the connector's snap lock in the up position, Pin 1 is upper right. I used a scrap piece of 14/2 romex wire, stripped the insulation from the black wire exposing about 1/2", and pushed it into Pin 1 being careful not to damage the connector. With the ignition off and the battery connected (both terminals), I touched the other end of the black jumper wire to battery positive to energize the pump. The pump came on (audible from engine compartment) and within seconds, fuel was spraying from the fuel rail at Cylinder 4 injector and running down the manifold into the V of the block.

I ordered a new intake to plenum gasket and injector seals from NAPA which should be available today. My plan is to disconnect the fuel supply line from the front of the drivers fuel rail, remove the jumper line at the rear which connects the rails, leave the passenger rail intact (no leaks that side), and remove the drivers fuel rail and injectors so as to replace the leaking o-ring on Cylinder 4. Once the fuel rail is reassembled, I will jump the fuel pump to confirm no leaks prior to reinstalling the plenum.

I will reuse the metal gasket that seals the EGR tube to the plenum as NAPA does not carry it and no dealer near me. This gasket is easy to replace later should there be a leak.

 

Followed the plan outline above.

Cylinder 4 was found to have a fuel rail o-ring that was bulged. Not sure why or how, it was lubed during install. No cracks, splits etc. Replaced the o-ring with one from NAPA (Made in USA!), replaced the intake to plenum gasket (NAPA made in Japan) jumped the fuel pump and no leaks.

Installed the plenum, topped off the radiator (you loose coolant with connections to throttle body), and she runs sweet!