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Thread: Intro and advice.

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    "Bessie" the 89 GQ.

    Hey guys, just inherited my father's 89 GQ Tb42 after he was taken from us too soon. I remember the day he brought it home nearly 30 years ago.

    Have loved and wanted the car since I was young but in the last few years it wasn't looked after as well as it used to and it needs a bit of work.

    The whole top layer of clear has come off and I don't know what route to take with that. Two tone blue/silver.

    It runs duel fuel but is super inefficient. I did a heap of searches and everyone has their ideas. Is there an engine conversion I can do that will give me good efficiency for a daily driver doing 100+ for work? LS1, TD42, VL Holden, or just give it a good tune.

    Love the car and don't want it out of the family but I can't drive it when it costs sooo much to run.

    Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
    Mitch.
    Last edited by Birdman85; 13th September 2017 at 01:52 PM. Reason: Rename thread

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    Patrol Guru Irish's Avatar
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    Hi and welcome to the forum,

    Sorry for your loss mate.

    The main options people seem to be going with are:

    TD42 swap - definitely better fuel economy, very straightforward swap, but can be hard finding a good donor engine and ancilliaries for a reasonable price.

    LS swap - better economy than a stock TB I reckon, power, torque. Engines are cheap but the conversion is pricey to do right.

    6.5 Chev swap - Torque monster for days, but pricey to convert. Not sure what the economy is like.

    Turbo your TB. Cheapest option I reckon. You could go straight gas turbo which will remove the need for emissions testing. Easy enough to convert too.
    Or you could go straight petrol turbo with either carb or doing an efi conversion if you don't like the idea of getting stuck in woop woop with no fuel.

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    Legendary GQtdauto's Avatar
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    Welcome to the forum mate , likewise sorry for your loss , fuel economy and big 4wds don't seem to fit in the same sentence unfortunately, newer fourby builds are lighter and have smaller motors which scream their heads off but get good economy but downside is most are too lightly built and no good on the fun stuff .
    GQ are basically a truck underneath and hard to destroy .

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    Condolences mate and welcome here!

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    Legendary dom14's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Birdman85 View Post
    Hey guys, just inherited my father's 89 GQ Tb42 after he was taken from us too soon. I remember the day he brought it home nearly 30 years ago.

    Have loved and wanted the car since I was young but in the last few years it wasn't looked after as well as it used to and it needs a bit of work.

    The whole top layer of clear has come off and I don't know what route to take with that. Two tone blue/silver.

    It runs duel fuel but is super inefficient. I did a heap of searches and everyone has their ideas. Is there an engine conversion I can do that will give me good efficiency for a daily driver doing 100+ for work? LS1, TD42, VL Holden, or just give it a good tune.

    Love the car and don't want it out of the family but I can't drive it when it costs sooo much to run.

    Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
    Mitch.
    Mitch,

    You need to give us some figures of that inefficiency.

    If you're getting around 5km/L, either on petrol or LPG, it is not bad.

    Being a nearly thirty years old dual fuel rig, it may need a fair bit of tweaking to get the
    fuel economy up to scratch. But, assuming it is a carby TB42, it may need some work on the
    LPG delivery system(mixer, converter, etc), carby, ignition system etc.
    Most folks go for Pertronix or similar electronic ignition unit upgrade to replace the stock
    mechanical points breaker system in the distributor.
    It is a worthwhile upgrade from what I've heard so far.

    Either way, Patrols aren't that great as daily drivers in terms of fuel economy if you're doing lot of K's to get to work etc.
    But, that's my opinion. IMO, there are better options like maintaining a little bomb or bike to get to work, but all depend
    on the type of work you do and the travel distance.

    By efficiency, it you've meant power, you can consider turbo conversion. VL Commodore engine's are usually RB30 engines.
    Rarely folks convert a TB42 to an RB30 afaik 'cos you'll be looking at gearbox & diff swap as well, as well as some electrics.
    Not worth the trouble IMO when you can buy an RB30 equipped Patrol.

    TD42 is a totally different sort of animal, and sure the conversion is well worth it if you can source a good TD42.
    But, stock TD42 aint' gonna give any power boost over stock TB42 afaik.
    Turbo TD42 is a totally different animal.

    I would give it a good tune after tweaking things as above before considering bigger engine conversions.

    Sorry to hear the passing of your dad. Life's tough and never fair.
    RB30, some 2-3 inch lift auxiliary LPG tanks
    Few more mods on the way
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    Thanks so much for the welcomed advice gents.

    At the moment it's not too bad as I do have several motorbikes. I also have a ford laser and my partner has a mitsi lancer. But keeping rego and maintaining all these vehicles is expensive. Hence why I want to lean out the stables.

    So far I'm leaning towards a no extra service and fine tune. Thanks Dom14 for the info on the Petronix kit. Never even crossed my mind to bring it into the modern era of efi... Which would also make throwing a turbo on easier as I read its super hard to tune a carbi turbo.

    I'll look into the efi to start with thanks.
    Oh and as for 5km to the L. That's horrible compared to everything I've ever driven. I think I got 250km from a 40L tank of gas... If that.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Birdman85 View Post
    Thanks so much for the welcomed advice gents.

    At the moment it's not too bad as I do have several motorbikes. I also have a ford laser and my partner has a mitsi lancer. But keeping rego and maintaining all these vehicles is expensive. Hence why I want to lean out the stables.

    So far I'm leaning towards a no extra service and fine tune. Thanks Dom14 for the info on the Petronix kit. Never even crossed my mind to bring it into the modern era of efi... Which would also make throwing a turbo on easier as I read its super hard to tune a carbi turbo.

    I'll look into the efi to start with thanks.
    Oh and as for 5km to the L. That's horrible compared to everything I've ever driven. I think I got 250km from a 40L tank of gas... If that.
    Hey Mitch,

    Pertronix ignition unit is just an electronic replacement for the mechanical breaking points in the dizzy, not an EFI per say.
    EFI TB42 are later models, and obviously a better vehicle than the carby TB42.

    5 or 6km/L is the best you can ever get from a Patrol, either on petrol or LPG, including RB30 engine.

    250km/40L means roughly 6km/L. If that's the case, your Patrol is super efficient, and no need to tweak anything.
    I haven't heard of a 40L LPG tanks, so I'm guessing you're mistaking the 80-100L tank.
    So, I'm guessing again your LPG fuel economy is NOT 250km/40L.

    Cheers
    Dom
    RB30, some 2-3 inch lift auxiliary LPG tanks
    Few more mods on the way
    http://www.worldwildlife.org/species/tiger
    https://www.panthera.org/
    Cheetah Outreach

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    Nah I know it was 40L cause that's how much I put in haha.

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    G'day and welcome to the forum mate.
    2005 GU IV ST 3.0. Snorkel. Roof rack. Awning. Spots. Welded I/C. Dual batteries & VSR. UHF. Barn door hinge extension. Roof top spot lights. Rear drawers. 2" lift. NADS. EGT and boost gauges. Trans temp and water temp gauges. Provent 200 catch can. Rear ladder


    And crawling on the planet's face, some insects called the human race. Lost in time. And lost in space... and meaning.

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    Thanks 4bye4.

    Anyone tell me without all the extra stuff I've just crammed in on lobe sensors and flux capacitors which Pertronix kit to go for?

    Working on this big rig is definitely different than working on the Suzuki Jimny I used to own.

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