We took our time and finished up everything except connecting/wiring the air pump and replacing the brake pads. We figured we'd let the old brake pads scrub the rust off the rotors before doing the brakes on it.

No real issues getting everything back in. Driveshaft length was perfect, parking brake cable tucked up just fine even though it's longer than a SWB would normally have. Of course we used the front trailing arm bushings from the SWB and I kept the Gen 2 bushings for my SR.

I measured the spring wire thickness with my caliper and the SR springs are about 2-2.5mm thicker. Sure enough, the rear of the truck sits a bit higher even though the unladen height of the springs is less. We'll throw a few cranks of the torsion bars in to level it out a touch this afternoon.

You have to look closely to tell that the track width is greater with the SR axle. I was sure it would be more apparent, but it's not really obnoxious at all. Oh, and we left the rear stabilizer bar out. I even showed Jorge to grease the lower spring perches so they don't squeak. We had previously bled the brakes so we didn't have to go very far with that to get clean fluid out of the rear bleeder screws. Took about a quart of gear lube to replace what I spilled when I changed out the pinion flange.

I personally haven't driven it yet, but I will today and we'll report back with another exciting update I'm sure you all will race to your screens to read. Man, we have to get a trailer over here to get rid of all this scrap metal!

John B.

OMG, if you haven't done this swap, DO IT. First off the springs. The ride is soooo much better with these. It doesn't sag in the back nearly as much and it feels like a Cadillac going over bumps, large and small.

The brakes freaking ROCK. We didn't even swap out the pads from the ones that came from the junkyard. The rotors look good, but they were rusty, so we left the old pads in to scrub, and they did that and more. We tested around on surface streets, then out on the highway on exit ramps. Night and day difference.

If you have a Gen 1, get the springs, however you can. If you can get the axle, do it, as you'd get the stronger trailing arms (as stated before, I think this one was already upgraded), the springs, the locker and man-o-man, the brakes. Great mod, and thanks for the help and advice, everybody. World of difference.

John B.

Ummm, is this the right Aussie locker for this '89 V-6?

Aussie Locker - Doesn't Say It Applies To An '89 V-6

Because, maybe, Jorge might be into this...

John B.

It'll work for all gen 1 V6's auto or Manual tranny diffs. here's a little fun fact for you guys all the US made aussie lockers are splined from axles i gave them. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> So as your sticking your shaft in that diff remember my shaft was in there first <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/ignore.gif" alt="" />

If anyone has questions on which diff they have feel free to shoot me a pm i'll give you some instructions on how to find out what diff your truck has. toasty has found that not all Gen 2 auto 3.0 V6 have the small 4 cyl diff and axles so if you own one of these and want a locker up front there maybe some hope without having to swap a diff.

We still haven't hooked up the locker pump in Jorge's '89. Hopefully today. He found a cool switch at Radio shack with an always-on LED in it that glows green when off and red when on that we'll use.

We did finally get the bump stops trimmed and the front end raised up to level it out. Looks much better than the annoying nose-down look it had, especially after the '96 springs went in.

Jorge bought himself a rockin' stereo set-up with a Sony head unit with Bluetooth. I can't believe how feature packed stereos have become for the price paid, $129 gets you a LOT more than ten years ago. Crutchfield helps out by including adapters and stuff, so we're hoping the previous owner didn't hack into the old harness.

He also got some new 6.5" speakers for the mid panel, 3.5" for the dash and a pair of 1" tweeters for up front somewhere. For some low end he piled on a Bazooka that'll sit on the driver's side wheel well in the back, out of the way. Those things are pretty cool; I have one in my '95, and as long as you don't let them get loose and flop around, they work great.

So, there's more work to be done, again. He did make himself a rule, that being he can't buy anything else until he sells his Honda Accord. Then he's looking at some Mickey Thompson aluminum wheels and Firestone Destination M/T's in 33x12.5-15. That's like $2K. Ug, glad I don't have to do that again for a while.

John B.

O.K., so Jorge hasn't sold his Accord yet. That didn't stop him from going to Space Age paint and buying some color-correct black for (WTF?) painting the underbody with his new HVLP gun from Harbor Freight. He hasn't started anything yet, though, since I told him he still needs another regulator at the gun as well as a filter/drier before his last hose. He also has to find a place to paint, so there's that.

I ordered him a replacement/used ECU for his '86 today, Federal emissions-specific, manual transmission-specific, all based on a hunch. Hunch confirmed tonight when I pulled his old ECU and extracted the circuit board. Upon careful examination with my half-century old eyes, I could see a tiny river of contamination sluicing across several circuit paths in the middle of the board. Score!, at least as long as the ECU that Lordtrunks linked us to is good (a $55 gamble). This is my first contaminated board out of all the Monteros I've worked on, so I figure the odds be at least 50/50 on the replacement. A bad ECU explains everything we'd been seeing on this truck, as explained ad nauseum, in previous posts. I'll keep you posted, or at least bored.

Oh, and Jorge's stereo in his '89 rocks the house and his locker works as advertised.

John B.

New used ECU. Set timing. Set idle mixture screw at two turns out from full seat. The truck idles at like 2K rpm and I can't kick it down (might be linkage-related, it was dark). Then it runs out of fuel and dies. Still haven't figured out where the air bubbles in the fuel line are coming from, apparently there is a coolant leak between the back of the head and the block on the passenger side (it's not from any of the heater hoses or the coolant tube) and the rear brake hard line off the frame side will not seal to the flex line, meaning all the brake fluid leaks out after a day or two.

Why is this thing being such a B!tch?

Sorry, just venting. Been sick all week, too.

John B.

you may need to cap off each end of fuel lines then on one end pump a bit of air in to pressurize the line, harbor freight has some hand vacuum pumps that will work for this they have a gauge on them as well so you can see if its one of the hardlines leaking and if so you can take soapy water in a spray bottle and soak down the lines and you should find the hole pretty quick.

The brake line will likely need to be reflared (double flare)