Mitsubishi Pajero MK1 shorty restoration

[mubeen.chohan]

after disassembly the parts needed to be washed and cleaned.

[mubeen.chohan]

cleaning the diffs, and flushing them inside out to give them a brand new look, and also replace the bearings and inspect the gears, hopefully the gears were in good nick.

also the tube and other parts like control arms and leaf springs were stripped of old pant and rust was removed.

pictures attached

new

look

[mubeen.chohan]

i opted to paint some parts red for aesthetics, and all other parts black to keep the look classic, and yes i bought new hubs including the rotors and calipers these new hubs are not exactly new these are foreighn used known locally as "kabuli" and just for my peace of mind i would change all the seals and bearings on these hubs for longevity in life and preventing frequent breakdowns.
also the hubs came with auto locks. one of them was jammed and will be taken apart later and fixed.
pictures attached

[mubeen.chohan]

all the new goodies are here, the bearings, o rings, seals, bushes, boots and everything. some pictures attached,

the balljonts, steering ends and other such oarts are already replaced, wasnt able to take pictures. .

[nuwair]

Can you share location of workshop plz, as want to visit for same like project of Suzuki sierra 1996

[mubeen.chohan]

yes , you are welcomed anytime. you can whatsapp me on 03187804057, and we are situated near Islamabad international airport, on Fatehjang-Tarnol road , whatsapp me and i will share a pin with you .

[mubeen.chohan]

the one locking hub that was stuck was disassembled completely . cleaned of all the gunk and re assembled and pocked with grease, and that made it as good as new.
note: the locking hub has lots of small parts like locks, springs and couple of interlocking gears, if you do this by yourself keep track of everything like what goes where.

[mubeen.chohan]

now is the time to put everything back together,some bolts needed replacement some just needed cleaning, and everything was carefully attached with the frame. some pictures attached.
Enjoy the final result

[mubeen.chohan]

after we were done with the frame it was time to work on the body shell of the vehicle, the body was badly rusted in some places and needed proper attention, and overall it wasnt in pretty good shape, here are some pictures of the body before we started working on it,
we wrapped the frame up and put the body back on it to straighten it out and prevent deformation when we cut the rusted parts out,
the body can easily deform if we cut it or remove any panels when its not tied on a FRAME or a JIG

[mubeen.chohan]

here are some pictures of the wrapped up frame,, we wrap the frames up so that they wont get damaged and maintain the finish while we work on the body of the Pajero,.

[mubeen.chohan]

after inspecting and marking out all the rusted panels we began cutting them out one by one ,, rust is like cancer to cars, and if left untreated it can spread rapidly to all the nooks and corners and once it goes beyond a specific point no matter what you do you cant get rid of it, we tried out best to remove all of it and give this baby a new life. this is one hell of a job.

pictures attached

[mubeen.chohan]

there was lots and lots of examples of how not to repair a rusted panels as you can see in the attached pictures, there was sheet metal welded over the rusted panels instead of replacing it, and there were multiple layers,, this made it hard for us to identify where the factory panel ends and is spot welded so we can shape out our new panels, but in the end we were able to remove most of the rust and shape up the panels pretty good, more updates will be soon uploaded.

[mubeen.chohan]

okay, well after lots and lots of working hours we were finally able to remove most of the rust and the vehicle was clean enough to repair and replace those panels with new ones. the floor pans and other pieces that we removed were fabricated and bent as close to as the factory piece , and then came the tiresome process of welding those in,
the rocker panels were painted inside out before welding them on,, this is what we do on every vehicle we restore, this helps alot in preventing rust on new panels and increases their life. other wise these new panels would start rust to rust from in inside, and within no time you would be seeing rust holes.

pictures attached

[mubeen.chohan]

OKAY NOW, well here again with the update,
after patching up the insides and support beams/panels of the rig we started to work on the exterior of the Pajero, the areas that needed the most work were the wheel arches they were deformed and someone previously really did a very bad job shaping and patching them up,

now the first thing we did was find a decent vehicle to take measurements and make stencils that would be used to properly shape our wheel arches, and yes we found one, and a guy generously lended one of his fenders for a couple of days so we can properly work on the fenders of our rig and compare or match it with it,
we also replaced of the doors and fixed the other one properly and also fixed all the rusted and dented patches on the exterior

pictures attached

a small trailer under progress along with our pajero,
we also got the engine bay painted while working on the exterior , pictures will be shared in another post.

BEFORE WE STARTED WORKING ON THE EXTERIOR, there was lots and lots of bondo to cover the rust holes and dents , it took a lot of time remove all that and properly fix that.

[mubeen.chohan]

the body work on the pajero is almost done and now was the time to move towards painting the shorty,

after patching up all the necessary pieces on the pajero and finishing up with floors, and the roof, and then finally we got the wheel arches to proper shape, and removing all the dents we loaded the vehicle on low bed and shifted the vehicle to the paint shop.

[mubeen.chohan]

the paint was to be done in two or three phases, first phase would be to paint the engine bay, and then cover it up to prevent overspray from the exterior, the engine was thoroughly cleaned and sanded, and then seam sealer was applied to all the seals to seal the properly and give it the same factory look,

the welded panels were grinded smooth and filler applied to cover the minor imperfections, after sanding the engine bay clean and smooth we applied a primer coat and inspected the bay for imperfections so that they can be removed and treated, after that the basecoat was applied and then finally painted.

the final look after the paint, and yes the final result was worth the hassle.

[xenerking]

This is remarkable job being done, please keep sharing the updates, the usual pakwheel response might not be available as many people have left using it.

[mubeen.chohan]

thanks for the kind words, appreciated, and yes i will keep sharing updates,

and yes you are right, activity on the forums is not like before,,, miss the old days.

[mubeen.chohan]

after painting the engine bay, it was time to move towards other places, and first thing that we do to all of our complete restorations in to re-seal all the sills that are damaged and prone to rust and let water in,, this sealing of the sills prevents water entering the sills and causing rust issues in the future,, some pictures are attached, and yes some of the over applied stuff will be sanded off during the prep work for paint.

the new floor pans will also be sealed properly from inside out on a later stage, .

[mgalaxy3]

Dayem this is truly amazing.

What a great job done so far! And I’m sure the end result would be remarkable as well. Considering the effort being put in!

Is this your own vehicle(as hobby) or you’re doing it for a client? @mubeen.chohan