New Here With My '88 Mighty Max

[Yosemite_Sam]

Hey all, I'm new here but not new to cars. I'm in school to be a mechanic and have worked in a German independent shop for a couple years now. I've also been maintaining and modifying my '91 E30 BMW 325i for a long time. I just picked up this '88 mighty max with 140k and a bunch of recent maintenance for next to nothing.

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The only catch was the transmission. What the PO described as "Grinds going in to 3rd and 5th" turned out to be that 2nd, 3rd, and 5th were gone so I will be on the hunt for a rebuilt or known good 5 speed to replace the KM132 (that's what the firewall plack says) that is in there. That being said, this little beast made it the whole 100 mile drive home in 4th gear; I'm already starting to get attached and I've only had the little guy for a little over 24 hrs.

I'm here to try and learn a bit about my new truck and hopefully get it ready for DD duty when my E30 goes under the knife for an engine rebuild. Any input as to where I might find a decent rebuilt transmission would be of great help.

[pennyman1]

there is one on ebay right now for $300.00:http://www.ebay.com/itm/322047452009?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

[Yosemite_Sam]

Tempting, I was hoping to get a rebuilt one though. I may just have to rebuild it myself.

[geezer101]

Guys charge silly prices for rebuilt transmissions. If you can do it yourself there are plenty of full kits available on eBay and they're relatively cheap.

[Yosemite_Sam]

Do you know if these transmissions require any special tools to rebuild?

[maxdsm]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/200515738672?lpid=82&chn=ps&ul_ref=http%253A%252F%252Frover.ebay.com%252Frover %252F1%252F711-117182-37290-0%252F2%253Fmtid%253D1588%2526kwid%253D1%2526crlp% 253D145811628850_324272%2526itemid%253D20051573867 2%2526targetid%253D452680280392%2526rpc%253D0.23%2 526rpc_upld_id%253D83247%2526device%253Dm%2526mpre %253Dhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.ebay.com%25252Fu lk%25252Fitm%25252Flike%25252F200515738672%25253Fl pid%25253D82%252526chn%25253Dps%2526adtype%253Dpla %2526googleloc%253D9010670%2526poi%253D%2526campai gnid%253D672333334%2526adgroupid%253D37869816647%2 526rlsatarget%253Dpla-452680280392%2526gclid%253DCjwKEAjwj92_BRDQ-NuC98SZkWYSJACWmjhlqhkvGVkm-6ocnN7pqR1n58yC4IuULN6_A3oFbe035RoCi-rw_wcB%2526srcrot%253D711-117182-37290-0%2526rvr_id%253D1106098721341&ul_noapp=true

[Yosemite_Sam]

So one more question. I have been thinking about what direction I want to go in long term with this truck and I came across this:

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I can't find much info about it other than that it was a pikes peak racer. If anyone has any info or knows where I can find info on it I'd be quite curious to find out what they did to this truck mechanically and where they got that front airdam/valence under the bumper.

[pennyman1]

that was one of the factory stock class mitsu trucks run by the Archer brothers back in the late 80's. The ran in a racing series and were quite successful. There are threads on here about the trucks - search for race trucks.