You want to put a blower on it? Geez 345hp not enough in a 2 door Montero?

---------------- 4 -------------------------------------
Floor

This is the picture of the very first piece of floor cut out, later I had to cut out at least twice as much


After putting engine and drivetrain in place, making drive shafts, building exhaust it was time to start making a new floorà I have to say that cutting something out is much easier than building a new one (surprise, surprise), but building a new one is much more enjoyable. Every piece of sheet metal youÆre putting in is going to stay there and getting you closer to the final result and you see it!

There were a few things to keep in mind when making a new floor:
1. Possibility to remove exhaust afterwards <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />. Funny, but elementary that sometimes can be forgotten. The biggest obstacle was the frame cross beam where torsion bars were attached.
2. DriverÆs seat position had to stay original.
3. Possibility to tilt passenger seat forward. If tunnel was getting wider in front and were close to the seat, it could not be done.
4. Should be built strong enough to carry driver and passengers on hard offroad trail
5. Pedals position, especially gas pedal position, as left side exhaust was at its original position instead.
6. Had to have enough room between floor and exhaust for being able to fit heat shield in there.

Again, there was no ideal solution, but compromises. The biggest problem was pedals position. I had 2 ideas: shift all pedals to left or move gas pedal closer to driver and higher. In both cases I was concerned about driverÆs right leg position. I didnÆt know what was worse: driverÆs legs moved to left and him sitting sideways relative to driving direction or sitting straight and having knee touching steering wheelà
I remember in Europe, I was driving a few times with Opel Vectra (Opel belongs to GM), that in some unknown reason has pedals not straight, but shifted left. It was weird at the beginning, but after a while didnÆt even noticed it û so maybe not so bad idea.
On the other hand it was more difficult to shift all the pedals, so I decided to keep the clutch and brake pedal at their original position and see later how to fit throttle pedal. In case throttle pedal position would have been very uncomfortable, I had to move all the pedals.

I started the tunnel by fitting two 1ö square tubes as the tunnel top reference. It may look easy, but actually it was a bit time consuming, as I needed to put seats in and out several times to see how they fit, change position, remeasure, check level and be sure they were approximately symmetrical. Next was driverÆs seat position and attachments. Seat stand (or whatever it is called) was made lower and then seat attachment higher from its original position.



Then it was a few days only cutting and welding. 1.5 mm (1/16ö) sheet metal was used. Seb was mostly cutting and me welding.








The tunnel on top of the gearbox was made removable, to be able to access some bolts and wiring. Also when installing and removing the tranny it was possible to lift it from the top.
[img]http://i81.imagethrust.com/t/711735/floorcutweld8.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i82.imagethrust.com/t/711736/floorcutweld9.jpg[/img]

Almost ready? Not yet, drivetrain and exhaust had to be removed for being able to paint the floor underneath. I used some kind of 3M rubberized paint.
ThatÆs how it looked underneath before painting
[img]http://i81.imagethrust.com/t/711745/floorunder.jpg[/img]

à And then the best part û painting the floor from the topà
[img]http://i81.imagethrust.com/t/711746/floorpainted.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i81.imagethrust.com/t/711747/floorpainted2.jpg[/img]

Later heat shield was put underneath between the floor and exhaust. Unfortunately donÆt have any pictures of that.

Conclusions
The removable tunnel piece has been extremely useful when installing or removing the transmission and attaching wires. Seats are at their original position. Gas pedal position is not really good, but OK. It doesnÆt matter in short distance drives, but is a bit annoying in long distance. Maybe if seat could be moved a bit more backwards and steering column made longer, it would be betterà, or cruise control would be handy <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />.

Nicly done. Who showed you my patented cardboard cutout trick!?!? haha thats great.

Looks really good man. I am gonna start my shopping for a NV4500 now. Bolts up to my junk..... even though Id have to relength my Driveshafts, and move my crossmember mount, and .... awh hell. I need a new truck! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

....wow.

Incredible amount of work!!!

Just curious: wouldn't a body lift have saved you a LOT of work??

- I have always preferred manuals and thought they have more advantages than disadvantages (also for offroad applications), but now having a big engine combined with trucks 5speed I'm not so sure anymore. Big transmission has a lot of rotating inertia and for gear change it takes time for synchros to equalize shaft speeds. If you want to shift quickly, you have to put a lot of force to shifter and it's still slow. I've heard that from '96 NV4500 has different synchros, maybe they got it a bit better... Sure, this tranny is made to last and reliability is more important than quick sporty gear change, but still I don't like the "truck's tranny feeling" when having over 300hp - it just doesn't fit... On the other side I have to say that reliability has really been great and maybe I have forgotten priorities when nothing have broke...
I've seen also some aftermarket synchros with bigger coefficient of friction, but I don't know how long would they last.

First off, I love the professional work you've done. Nice work, no, Awesome work! Wish I had half the knowledge you did.

One thing I do have to agree and hate to admit on, a body lift would have helped. Its cool that you tucked the tranny in nicely, but if you do a body lift later, it would defeat the purpose you had in the begining by raising it in the cabin area. Best of luck <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" /> Oh, and let me know when you bring my Monty by for the same swap. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Angelo

I was thinking about body lift at the beginning... The thing was that 2" lift would have not been enough, so some of the floor needed to be cut anyway. Also it's so much easier and saves a lot of time to fit tranny, make the brackets and build exhaust if you can do it from the top. Look for example driver's side exhaust, can you imagine building this from underneath, where front driveshaft and t-case are on your way. In overall cutting all the floor out and building a new one later I think decreased work load, increased quality of all the parts that I was able to built from the top instead of underneath and new floor looks cool <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />. The floor may look a major part of the project, but actually it took about 3 days to build it. Never done a bodylift, how long would it take?
Also I'm not a big fan of the principle of bodylift - it doesn't increase much offroad capabilities, but does lift Cg (center of gravity)

Prove me if IÆm wrong.

don

I looked your website...got some good ideas for bumpers and rock sliders...

thanks

(edit, I type slow, so missed your kind compliments: Thanks!)


..prove you wrong???

Well, proof is not likely to happen.

Without a bucket-load of engineering math to back up my comments, I will make a few observations based on experience...

The center of gravity is definately altered by the body lift. Since the body (and contents) probably weigh less than 1/3 of the total weight of the vehicle, I would estimate the C.O.G. will be raised only 1/3 of the total body-lift height. So a 2" lift would probably be only about a 2/3" COG effect.

BUT:
Don't forget the effect your new engine/drivetrain will have as well, as it is likely heavier than the Mitsu parts you have removed, so this will probably lower the new COG a bit...

AND:
The greatest effect on COG will come from taller tires. Nearly the full height gain will translate into equivalent raised COG (some loss to the incresed tire weight.

AND:
The since larger tires are usually mounted on rims with reduced back-spacing, the stance of the vehicle becomes wider which makes a sideways tip-over more difficult. This would tend to compensate for the increased COG.

From my hiway driving experience, the greatest handling stability my rig has ever had is with the larger tires on the wider (and reduced offset) rims. Compared to the stock tippy feeling, it's a real improvement. Very noticable even to the passengers.

From my off-road experiences, the larger tires are everything, and the increased clearance opportunities (raised rockers, liftable fuel-tank) offered by the body-lift are very, very desirable. The raised COG has never been an issue that I've been aware of.

Overall, I haven't yet been hit with any situation where the COG became an issue or limiting factor. I've seen it as a problem on vehicles with very flexible suspenseions with increased suspension travel. On those rigs, the COG is very important.


Now having said all this, please don't take this in any way as negative comments on your project, I think it's incredible, and will join in the line-up to come and take a look at it!

Regarding ease of workability, without the lift, cutting the floor boards is certainly going to improve access! With the lift, you may have found cutting the floor less necessary. Hard to 2nd guess that one! I know I had a lot of fitment issues to deal with getting the driver's side down-pipe through the t-bars and the frame. Even considered sending it out through the front wheel-well!

When I put the 4.3 in, one of my goals was to keep the interior looking close to stock Mitsu. I wanted to keep the center console intact, and the A/T's shifter is easier to keep remote from the trans. The 2" lift allowed me to leave the interior intact, so I went that route.

Oh, of course you would have to cut the floor, i was just saying that so you would have to cut "as" much. But the thing is now that you have everything in place, if you ever decide to do a body lift, there will be a gap between the tranny and the new custom floor line you made. But if you decide to do a SAS, then what I said wont matter <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />

Great work!
Angelo