recently acquired a 91 montero for chump change, have owned two of these in the past. this one i need to gradually bring up to road-worthiness. first thing i need is a gas tank as current one is filled with rust and deposits that have made their way through the whole fule system and injectors. problem is i live in pittsburgh, PA and have no known sources for salvage or used parts. ALSO wondering if any enthusiasts out there know of any good places to look for light racks, brush guards and the like ... not having much luck in the usual online places. thanks!!

 

You will have a hard time finding a gas tank for your montero 91.

remove all the fuel and clean the tank by scraping the rust out of it. Inside the tank should be fine but check it anyway with a Flash light after you removed the gasoline from the tank. Grit 80 will be fine to sand the outer layer of the tank and patch any hole you see on the tank.

Paint the outer layer of the tank with black paint and spray with anti rust.
I am sure the inside of your tank is RUST FREE if not I'll be damn.

replace fuel filter and use fuel injector cleaner. do this every time you PUT A FULL TANK OF GAS. DO THIS UNTIL YOU NOTICE THE CAR IS RUNNING smooth.

 

Shipping may be a small inconvenience but I keep recommending this place near Sacramento: http://www.msrecycling.com/mitsubishi/montero.htm

As you can see they have a number of Series 1 parts trucks. (note that the one on the far right, 2nd row is a '91 with a brush guard!)

Most are CA cars and we usually don't have problems with rusting gas tanks out here. Sorta makes up for the taxes, earthquakes, fires, mudslides, wackos, etc. - NOT!

Ron

 

And here's a guy closer to you (VT) parting out (maybe) a '90. Gas tank listed at $40.

http://burlington.craigslist.org/pts/1328945275.html

Ron

 

great lead for that truck in VT!

already looked inside the tank. no hole in it, but i think previous ownders dunked it in their boating endeavors, and water got in it somehow, which wore away the coating, which comes off and floats in pieces and strips, and now also is rusting the bare metal. could have it re-coated...but i'm holding out for that VT truck.

as for the MSrecycling place, i had found them earlier and checked there first...no tanks (really?!?) but i will check for brush guards and the like.

 

Hard to believe they have no tanks. I didn't realize they were a high failure item.

Interesting how the guy in VT is testing the water on parting vs selling. Seems that he could get a lot of parts offers, then start to dismantle and find that many or even most people have changed their minds.

Maybe you can make him an offer to take the whole thing off his hands (think of the time and labor he'll save), build yours with the best of both and then sell the leftover parts. (assuming of course that his gas tank is solid)

Good luck.

Ron

 

Here are some more interesting finds from around the country:

Ron


http://flagstaff.craigslist.org/pts/1325988670.html

http://orangecounty.en.craigslist.or...326987897.html

http://medford.craigslist.org/pts/1321557451.html

http://sandiego.craigslist.org/ssd/pts/1320654397.html

http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/pts/1319562651.html

http://lasvegas.craigslist.org/pts/1310334043.html

 

Found a good site for ordering hard to get Mits parts:

http://www.rchillmitsubishi.com/parts/index.htm

 

I won't sweat it out for 91 car.

if know it is a pain but the only way you can do it is clean the tank.

it will Cost you less and please don't buy anything that is $150.00 over for a 91 tank and you buy it you might have other problems so save the Mula.

 

thanks for everyone's input--i think i'm going to pursue a good used tank from one of the craigslist postings, considering i'll probably land one for $50-100, which is going to be cheaper than having the existing tank professionally re-coated. but if i can't land a good used tank, the clean and recoat is my next close option. incidentally, in response to jrmdir's post, would a tank from a 92 or 92 with the 3.0 still fit the 3.0 on my 91? they were in your list of craigslight postings, so i thought perhaps you kew that going in.

to the other side of the inquiry: are there any places left that sell the brush guards, roof racks, ladder racks and the like? when i owned one of these about 4 years ago, there was a bunch of stuff available--now i see nothing, just 92 and up models. am i just looking in the wrong places?