Hi All
I have been looking at purchasing a GQ Patrol as a project car for our family trips, just something about the look of the square shape and round lights.
I will not be doing and serious off roading with the GQ.
knowing very little about 4X4s i hit google and found this forum, full of great info that has helped steer me in the direction of which GQ best suits me, so thank you all for giving out information and experience so freely.
After reading and reading and reading it looked as though the TD42 was the pick of the lot and had my heart set on finding a good one that was well looked after and original, this seemed to be pretty hard (i needed the 3rd row for the family), i eventually found one and took it for a drive and was left a bit underwhelmed and unsure what to do next, stick with the GQ, look at other 4x4s other engine options in the GQ.
i parked the idea for a while and continued to read through the forum and something i read, 2 things actually, that stuck with me and that was some advice on the RB30,the first bit of advice was that they were not the most favored engine and therefore could be had for a good price and more often in original condition not used off road as the 42s were better at this. the second was that the RB30 can be found in R31 Skylines, VL commodores, with parts and advice aplenty on these engines.
so i decided to find a clean RB30 for a test drive, i found one in original condition that had not done any off road work, took it for a drive and was extremely happy with how it drove, under powered yes but revved freely, i made an offer that was accepted and i am now the owner of a manual 1991 St RB30
i have also purchased a running R31 Skyline to do an EFI conversion on the GQ for $350 that will sort out the under powered problem in coming weeks