Chester's 88 GQ

[chester]

G'day all i joined this forum last night and posted a thread in the intro section and must say thanks for the warm welcome.
My ride is a 88 GQ wagon brought it about 3 years ago it is my daily driver as i somtimes need the 4wd at work mainly in winter.At the moment it has a TB42 on gas,but i have been thinking about changing to either a TD42 or doing a V8 converson.
Things i have done to the old girl are:
5 inch efs lift
8000 pound low mount winch
33" muddies on 15x8 globe mags
Duel batteries
Crane cams electronic ignition
Roof rack with awning
IPF driving lights
Reverse lights/work lights mounted on the rear wheel carrier
3" Stainless snorkel made by me and a mate
Tripe flow radiator
Heavy duty diesel clutch
Things i want to do are:
Front diff lock
Change the seats and steering wheel
Change the very rear seat to a single one out of a GU
And as said above do a engine change when money allows
About 12 months ago i cracked the head on it,i came across a complete TB42 for 600 bucks so i just did a engine swap.
It does what i need it to do like have a bit of fun and take my family(wife and 4 boys) on great camping trips.

[chester]

Having trouble loading pic's will put them up once i work it out.

[nowoolies]

welcome on board chester
heaps of laughs and bucket loads of info here enjoy
nowoolies
Paul
p:s piccies we love piccies hahahaha

[GUtsy ute]

Looking foward to the pics too Chester!

[chester]

Finally i got them

[Finly Owner]

THanks for sharing pics

Tim

[AB]

Great looking rig chester, thanks for sharing!

[chester]

Gave the old girl a birthday present this week,just fitted a new set of tyres,made a table for the back door and pick up some VX commodore front seat's for it.Hopefully fit them tomorrow after work.

[Airstrike]

Hi mate. once the seats are in post some pic and let us know if you ran into any problems.

Ryan

[growler2058]

Nice lookin Q chester. I put vx seats in mine took about 30min per side

[chester]

Nice lookin Q chester. I put vx seats in mine took about 30min per sideThanks mate,was it much mucking around to do the seats,it don't look to hard,ive measured the bolt holes and seem pretty close.

[chester]

Got the drivers seat in last night was a bit of mucking around, but mate it's improved the ride 100%.Had to file the bolt holes to fit the nissan runners,only drama is the i had leave the adjusting knob off as it hit the B piller.Mate who is a welder is gunna help on the passenger seat next weekend,if we can get it sitting closer to the centre of the patrol,i will pull the RHS out and redo it.But like i said it's now very comfy to drive.
I wil post pic's when the LHS is done.

[chester]

Here's one seat too lazy to do the other one yet

[chester]

Painted my bulbar the other day,it was gloss black now it's charcoal in a hammertone finish.
It looked great on the shed floor but once i fitted it back up it did'nt look like i expected it to, but it is starting to grow on me.

[nowoolies]

Painted my bulbar the other day,it was gloss black now it's charcoal in a hammertone finish.
It looked great on the shed floor but once i fitted it back up it did'nt look like i expected it to, but it is starting to grow on me.

looks good i recon

[chester]

I have decided to put a V8 in the patrol have'nt done much but here's a pic of the doner car and the new engine,i,will keep you all update as i do things.

[growler2058]

Beauty love a good build up thread:-)

[chester]

Finally got my backside into gear and got the V8 out,it's now at my brother-in-law's place ready to pulled down and rebuilt.
One step at a time can't rush these things.

[Clunk]

looking forward to seeing this one take shape mate

[chester]

bleFinally got around to stripping the motor last night,the crank is in excellent shape as are the bores,the heads have seen better days but are fixable.

[AB]

Let the fun begin mate!!!

[chester]

Just a Quick update,Went and got the engine builder to check a few things,now it's getting new pistions and a bore,new cam,new lifters,the heads will get a light shave and ports polished as well as new valves and seats, and the normal stuff like rings,bearings etc etc.
Once i get my tax return done i will start to order what i need,holidays are booked so i can do the job.
Im like a kid at christmas time, now it's getting closer i can't wait!!!!!!!

[chester]

A mate of mine has just fitted a V8 the same as mine to his GQ race car,he is leaving on friday to compete in the cliffhanger event,once he returns he is pulling out the manual and putting a auto behind it.

So guess who get the conversion kit? ME!!!!!

It will have everything, flywheel,clutch and pressure plate, bellhousing adaptor and anything else to do with a manual gearbox.

And its all at the right price, SCORE!!!!!!!!!

[threedogs]

neat looking and very capable no doubt, welcome and look forward to more pics

[GQSWB]

cool looking ride :)

[mtnranges]

Tuff looking wagon there matey. I thought the LWB used to look weird. Not now :)

[chester]

Ok so the freshen up has turned into a full rebuild,it's now getting the heads done a bore,new cam,new pistons,arp race rods,new lifters crank cleaned up and new timing chain,and new extractors.
It was one of those things, while it's apart we might aswell do it.

[big bell]

haha that always ends up being the case it never turns into being just a freshen up ;)

[chester]

And it has started goodbye 4.2 petrol.Just got a few things to tidy up in engine bay and finish putting the new motor together.

[chester]

Ok well busy day today,went and picked up the motor and gave it a spary,finished welding in the mounts,and a quick paint,and then fitted the motor.
Just waiting on the intake manifold and a few other things.

[chester]

And it's alive,hit the key last night and first shot she fired into life and ran the camshaft in then it sat there idleing just nicely.

Just need to fit the power steering and finish the wiring.

[Sir Roofy]

and it's alive,hit the key last night and first shot she fired into life and ran the camshaft in then it sat there idleing just nicely.

Just need to fit the power steering and finish the wiring.

excellent mate might get to hear it go past sometime when your up this way again

[chester]

excellent mate might get to hear it go past sometime when your up this way againI have to run the engine in mate so good excuse i reckon.

[Sir Roofy]

i have to run the engine in mate so good excuse i reckon.

got a couple of coldies let us know when

[chester]

Got her back on the road and man it hammers.So far everything is ok no major issues just yet,one thing for sure you can't beat the sound of a V8.

[chester]

Ok so here it is almost done,just a few small things left to do such as relocate and refitt my 2nd batteries,make a airbox to suit the snorkel and just a genral neat'en up of wire's and hose's etc.I got a 308 block to use as a dummy to positon the engine mounts and weld them in place.
The motor was machined by Powerhouse engine's and rebult by my brother-in-law BD.I fitted the engine myself then trailered it down to my other brother-in-laws workshop.I did the fitting of fuel pumps and the surge tank which was built by a mate of mine Silk.The wiring and fittment of the computer was done by my brother-in-law John"wotto" watson of WOT AUTOMOTIVE in warragul(He is one cluey bloke).So far so good fitted a speed senser to it today so that should help with the fuel usage.The main things i noticed is the power increase i feel like im crusing not driving it like i was,the trans tunnel does not heat up anywhere near what it use to and the low range is now a lot lower then it use to be.

[chester]

The power steering was set up was done by John at wot automotive,we used the same idea as on Forced Offroad's patrol only done it a little different.We used a 3litre pump and mounted it upside down which made it fit into the orginal 5 litre power steering bracket just trimed it up abit.All in all it fitted very neat the only thing is the patrol pulley is wider then the 5litre one so the belt runs down in the pulley.

[healy]

Nice work mate what's the rwk gonna be like?

[chester]

Nice work mate what's the rwk gonna be like?Sorry mate brain not working real good today,what did you mean??????

[Silver]

not sure, but could be rear wheel kilowatts???

[chester]

not sure, but could be rear wheel kilowatts???Hahaha can tell i break rocks for a living LOL,thanks silver.
Not real sure yet mate,when it's ran in and i put the gas back on ill have it dyno'd and find out.The cam is bigger then i thought it was gunna be,but it's only been bored 020thou over standard.And heads and manifold only had a whisker taken off them.So it should'nt be to bad well it feels like it won't be.

[Forced Offroad]

Nice one mate. Top job..
Wish I could have done the engine swap myself, would have changed a few things...

[chester]

Worked out how to get the pics from my phone on to here,so i know there a bit late and the bulid up is back to front but ohwell it happens LOL.

[Winnie]

Had a look through some of your photos on Facebook, awesome stuff!

DIAL-A-TAP

[chester]

Well the under bonnet mods are done (for now anyway) cut out and reshaped the inner gaurd to fit the new airbox and 2nd battery,i used a airbox out of a Im sorry to say and 47series cruiser due to the bulk air and easy air flow they have,modified the box to suit the snorkel you will see in the pic the battery tray behind the headlight,the steel we used to replace sections was 6mm thick so the gaurd is stronger then ever.

[chester]

Got new tyres last week,bigger engine needs bigger boots haha.She now sits on 315/75X16 Pro comp Xterrians :)

[Wayne P]

Looks great m8.

[Winnie]

Need pics mate!

[chester]

yeah yeah once I find the camera that somebody/Mr nobody lost ill put some up.

[Safari Njema]

Thanks Chester - great pics.

[threedogs]

@ Chester no over heating issues ??
X 2 cant beat the sound of an angry Chev belting up a hill
Did you retain air con ?

[chester]

@ Chester no over heating issues ??
X 2 cant beat the sound of an angry Chev belting up a hill
Did you retain air con ?No mate not so far,i fitted a mechanical temp gauge in it,it would go up to 100 then went down straight away and sat on about 90 which was good but I didn't like the way it would spike to 100 so I changed the thermostat and it now spikes to 88 and sits on about 80-85 even in the bush :).
I did have all the air con on to start with put I pulled it all out.

[chester]

Couple of photo's with the new boots.

[chester]

Brought a little ute to run to work in so the patrol is no longer my daily drive :). So it now will sit in the shed and only come out for bush trips, let the mods start LOL.

[Winnie]

Brought a little ute to run to work in so the patrol is no longer my daily drive :). So it now will sit in the shed and only come out for bush trips, let the mods start LOL.

Best thing I ever did to my Patrol was get another car... Lol

[Petrolling]

I just bought an 88 myself, had a cracked head so I got it pretty cheap and fixed it myself.
Stills needs a bit of work, come into some carby trouble.
Not as nice as yours but you have given me some good ideas.

Thanks mate

[chester]

Well I have some bad news, went for a snow drive on sunday got stuck on a hill and managed to get up. Got out for a smoke while waiting for the other's the patrol was sitting there idling nicely when it stopped, just stalled.
Fair enough I thought hit the key nothing, was like it had a flat battery,thought it might be in a dead spot turned the crank by hand and BANG she locked up, turned the crank the other way done a full 360 then BANG locked up again.
So after getting towed home through the snow which was a bit hairy LOL dropped the sump off and no metal was found. After a few more test's decided to rip a head off and found a chunk of metal in number 8 cyl.
Result stuffed piston and rings and that's it. Lucky it happenend at idle and not under rev's other wise it would have 10 times worse.

[chester]

Well well well turns out I may have been abit heavy on the loud pedal, bit more work then just a pistion and rings LOL

[Winnie]

Well well well turns out I may have been abit heavy on the loud pedal, bit more work then just a pistion and rings LOL

You hoon. Haha, what is the verdict?