Hey folks, all of my Montero questions lead me back to this forum, so I figured I'd sign up and say hello! I picked up an '88 2.6L SWB Monty about a month back off of Facebook. 155k on the odometer, fully stock save the Weber carb upgrade, and no rust. After a short test drive and quick inspection, I was sold. I'd been on the hunt for a well-maintained Montero to daily drive for close to two years, and with a full file of service documents and records (and with the opportunity to be just the third owner), I didn't want to pass this one up.
https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipMiciN0mCvnUV0tptvMostTg1ZYHD4702qy219JUnfortunately, my problems began almost immediately. On the 50 mile trek home, the needle on the temperature gauge started rising, and by the time I parked in my driveway, I had steam coming from under the hood. A quick test revealed that the head gasket was blown. The seller told me he knew nothing about it, and there's not really any recourse, so now I'm going through the process of getting this thing fixed and back on the road.
I disassembled the engine down to the block this past weekend. Looks like the cause of the leak may have started with the exhaust manifold; it has a crack at the neck by the fourth cylinder that I didn't catch in my initial inspection. I believe the stress of that 50 mile drive caused the gasket to fail as the exhaust was not properly exiting off of that port, thus building up heat on that cylinder. I can't be 100% certain about that causation, but the gasket failure definitely occurred on the fourth cylinder, so all evidence points that way. I'm taking the head to a machine shop for inspection. Fingers crossed the short amount of time it was hot didn't warp it to crap.
At any rate, I'm also in need of a new exhaust manifold/headers. I've been looking around and keep running across the
PaceSetter headers, so that might be the direction I go in. The only thing holding me back is that they allegedly only fit '83-'87 Monteros, but that doesn't seem right to me. Was there a major shift in the exhaust manifolds and systems from '87 to '88 on the 2.6Ls? It seems unlikely, but I haven't seen any other threads that address this, so I figured I'd ask. Also, with the PaceSetters, can anyone vouch for or steer me away from them? Are they a bolt-on affair, or do I need to get the torch ready? If anyone happens to have a stock manifold lying around, you may have a buyer.
Lastly, the previous owner installed the Weber, but didn't bother correctly sealing up the vacuum lines. If you've completed this conversion, I need some help. Did you cap all of the lines that ran to the old air filter and carb? Through some perusing on here I found the original vacuum diagrams, but it'd be great if someone with a Weber could post a photo of their engine bay so I can get an idea of what I need.
Hopefully I can give back some of what I've already gotten from this forum down the road, but for now, any and all help is much appreciated. Thanks y'all!
Jay
