Three days after arrival of the engine I commenced the RWD conversion, Granted I had swapped the intake and valve covers around already, these two shots show a Gen3 Montero rear plate and flexplate installed as well as the crossover water return manifold. All of our big motor SOHC components swap on directly.
This motor being the later single valve MIVEC control system things are easier to convert. Most all I had to do so far back here was rework the crossover oil pipe for the cam position actuators.
I will however need to weld on another heater hose outlet on the water crossover to feed the rear heater.

Next step was to swap the oil sump over to a Gen 3 unit, off came the eclipse sump and pickup tube and change to the later Montero bits. One thing I found is the oil tube mounting to the pump is clocked a bit different, WTF, I had sealant in place but then had to cut the tube and tig the flange back on. Grrrrr.


And here the Gen 3 sump is in place as well as Gen 2 engine mount brackets.

Man, this is the stuff that just gets lost in that black hole known as Facebook.

And it has, I had posted a project introduction on Farcebook when I started this project. It was a picture of the engine sitting in place with full mount cushions and the engine was way up too high. Still could close the hood especially due to the 2"body lift. Every EX-spurt out there was saying stupid ship that it would need a big hood scoop or other crap.
Simply posted that shot since it was the first time the engine was in place. In only a day or so I stopped visiting the post, lost track and lost interest. Not sure I could find the posts if I tried.

The only reason I have been on Farcebook recently is I had been talking with Bill Mcvicker last fall about projects and he stated there was this Pajero on FB, Turned out it was Shaun S selling it. He bought it for the 4M40 that was in it to swap into his Gen 1.
I bought the roller from him And now I present the project that has been dwelling in my mind for some years. My original intention was to cut and section one of my 95 SR down to a SWB, not an easy task but well within my ability. Now working with a real SWB is so much nicer.

This post dates back to work done last Sept 29, this being 15 days after the Pajero rolled off the trailer here and 8 days after the engine had arrived.
With the engine partially converted to RWD with Gen 3 components I wanted to do the first true trial fitting to determine oil sump clearance as well as general fitment. I set the engine on the non factory brackets from a previous 4M40 conversion and found it only wanted thin wood spacers to set where I want it.
Here is the first look from the left,


And from the right,


Now for what I really want to see, the gen 3 sump to gen 2 driveline clearances.




As this sits I like it, granted I have yet to delete the axle disconnect BS.
One thing I note here is the oil filter has decent clearance to the diff cover compaired the the 3.8 DOHC in my SR. But this is real early and there is no transmission in place to set a proper angle.

Where have my recent posts go?

Test since I have posts go away,
Two of my posts have disappeared with no message or known reason, so I will try this one with a few images.
After a successful trial fitting it was time to convert the front of the engine to RWD. I started with stripping the front down as far as needed to get the water pump assembly off.




I did not take any images of the few changes as this went.

What I did in here, I had a rear half of a Montero water pump, I removed the Eclipse pump assy, swapped the back half off from the FWD type to the RWD and reinstalled the assembly. No trickery involved.
Here is the front end back together.




And one more with a Thermo housing, Now I come to realize the DOHC thermostat is wider then a SOHC assembly. I am looking for a SOHC 24V t stat assy if there is one available?

Now the fun part begins, playing with all the pretty colored wires. I had started with the transmission before the Pajero had arrived. The first step was to repair for shortening the transmission to vehicle harness. The Gen3 utilizes an electrically shifted transfer case, something I have little faith in. The transmission is shifted by the engine computer. The wire harness originally passed up through the floor under the drivers seat, over to the center and forwards from there. Better part of 5' long harness.
My application, the new style PCM will be under the hood mounted against the firewall at the left cylinder head. In this vehicle right next to the battery since I have the option cause this had been a dual battery vehicle. I for once can easily do away with the damn battery that is in just the wrong place. My future Gen 2 LHD build will have the battery against the firewall right over the starter.
As stated I started with rerouting the transmission, T case wires.


Then on to the rats nest of connecting the transmission to the engine harness. A few of the connectors such as the input and output shaft sensors of the Eclipse needed minor rework to reach this transmission's location.
The rest of the wires needed the connectors re-pinned and spliced. Talk about a "rats nest" This was back in early October, only a month after I started and now in early April this is still a joke.
What is not shown here is every wire on the engine needed to be changed. The direction the harness came from the computer is different when converted to RWD as well as the electronic throttle is over the belt end rather than the bellhousing. There are 153 wires connecting to this PCM, very few did not need to be spliced. Overall I am near 300 splices, all solder and heatshink, no crimpy crap in here.

OMG... wires... wires everywhere hahaha.