I finally decided to roll up my sleeves and take on the dirty job of wire-brushing, sanding, de-greasing, and painting the frame on my 1994 Montero. I have a couple other Monteros which have terrible rust issues on their frames, so I am hoping to preserve this one and get another good 25 years of use out of her. Here are a couple pictures of the damage done to another 94 Montero: (These pictures are disturbing and may make even good mechanics get heart-burn):



In this pic, you can still see the white-colored traces of that toxic road salt used north of the Mason-Dixon line:



After rinsing off real good outside, and spraying the round frame "tubes" out (had alot of sand and dirt in them), I got her jacked up and ready to go:



Pics of frame before......some surface rust, but in great shape compared to the rusty Monties I have:





Will continue in next post:

 

I decided to take out the front inner splash guard and mud flaps to see if there were any rust issues going on up inside:



Removing this did allow me to finally locate those sunroof drain tubes......you can see the rubber tube comes out behind the splash guard. Im not sure why Mitsubishi just let the drain tubes dump water right on the metal rocker panel. It had about 3 inches of dirt and debris packed right on the metal rocker panel. Im planning on extending the tube and run it out below the rocker:



Dirt and crud packed on top of rocker.....compliments of that sunroof drain tube:





Here are the plastic clips that hold the plastic fender panel......phillips head, but plastic, and easy to strip-out. I found that prying under the screw as I attempt to unscrew it helps it come out and not just turn/strip. I did find replacements on ebay, along with new metal screws for the mudflaps:



I got lucky on the rocker panel......after cleaning the crud out, the metal was still in perfect shape......I guess that Mitsie factree primer/rust paint did its job:



More pics in next post:

 

For those who want to know whats under that inner fender panel, here are a few pics:



Headlight washer container, antenna motor:



And that "horn-looking" black thing to the right of the washer resevoir is the air intake.....it connects to the air box under the hood:



In my opinion, this seems like a super restricted area for the engine air intake. Has anyone else decided to cut the air box and make another air intake tube? I also plan to add a piece of metal screen over this "horn" to keep the rats out:



And here is the front portion of what is behind the plastic fender liner: You can access the turn signal bulb here, but I found that the entire assembly can be removed from above (fender panel can be left in place) by popping loose that spring, and removing one screw:



More posts to follow:

 

Climbed "down under" and wire brushed/sanded/scraped/degreased the pumpkin/diff:



Very cramped quarters working in front of that rusty pumpkin:




Ready for primer:





Got the primer hand brushed on: (Rustoleum oil based primer)

 

Question to Montero owners: If you look at this pic, you see a row of pre-drilled factree mounting holes above the frame in rear fender well. Are these made for an inner splash guard? None of my Montero's have a splash guard here, and I am going to make my own to keep water/road salt off the frame and top of the gas tank....as the tank top seems to have rust issues with those metal gas lines. Splash guards here would keep alot of crud off the tank and frame.







I will post final pics after I get the black coat on.

 

WOW, that's a project! I'm so glad I moved out West where we don't have Rust.

Thanks for taking the time to post pics. You and Larry are a great resource to the group!

 

Are you going to try to repair that massively corroded piece of frame on the first few pics?

 

Sjeff.......Yea, kinda a dirty project but so far, "no runs, no drips, no errors" as Johnny Bench would say. Hey, if you dont have rust out West, then just buy one of these "rust buckets" and drive it to your western home......then you can have the enjoyment of climbing underneath and doing this fun task.

Thanks for the thumbs-up.....I just add some information/pics whenever I get a chance, hoping it will eventually help others. At the same time, I ask questions and get alot of good advice from others on this site.

Hunter........Those first pictures of the rotten frame (with that geological layer of white salt.....Greater Jurrassic period I suppose) are from my other 94 Montero. I bought it last year, and amazingly some how it had passed their state inspection in Maryland the year before, and was being driven on the roads like this. It is totally unsafe, with the rear load forces going straight down on a frame that is 75% rusted away. I had thought about "trying" to remove alot of components (including gas tank), and trying to weld new steel around the rot.......but if that never happens, I have a real nice parts Monty. Here is the outside pic........hard to believe she is so nasty underneath:

Hunter.....Hey, have you ever seen inner splash guards installed on the inner fender wells of these Monties.....like in the pictures above, there are pre-drilled holes and a spot to mount them......and it sure would cut down on the rust on top of the gas tank and those gas lines?

 

Hey Studebaker, it is definitely hard to believe that such a clean Montero can have such a rusty frame under it. I guess they don't do the under body inspection to pass the safety. On the plus side, you got all the engine parts plus the body parts for your other (is it now 4) Monteros.
As far as the splash guards. They definitely keep water and salt from getting up into the wheel well area of the body. They also do like to accumulate dirt in the bottom corners (just where you found your deposits). Overall, they do a decent job of protecting the body and fuel lines from corrosion. I have seen some posts and pics of fuel filler line getting very heavy corrosion behind the guards. I don't have an explanation for why that would be the case. As far as importing your rust Westward... I think I'll pass...
Just to be an ***, one of these days I'll take a picture of the belly of my 20 yo Montero to make you jealous

 

Hunter.....Yep, plenty of nice parts no doubt......but such a shame to steal parts "if" I can manage to do those frame welding repairs. I will have to see how it goes. Also, this one has the somewhat rare manual 5 speed tranny......first one I have seen on these Monteros. Yep, Im up to number 4 on these Monties, and if I find another for a steal, I might be tempted to snag it.

Splash guards.....Yep, all of mine have the "splash guards" behind the tires, and that is a good spot for dirt/trash to build up like I showed in the pics above. But I was wondering if any Monties that you have seen also had some type of splash guard attached to those pre-drilled holes on the inner fender, with the splash guards hanging down over the frame itself. Pic: See the pre-drilled holes in the blue metal....like a hanger ready to mount a splash guard:



Yea......post a pic of the belly of your old Monty, and show how it is supposed to look, from an owner who has taken proper care of it. Most people seem to never take the time to spray off the underside and get all that road salt off.........and like Niel Young would say, "Rust never sleeps". ha ha