Crankshaft's Red.

[Crankshaft]

Pretty much as it was brought with only the back sliding windows replaced and a bit of a polish. That paint gets chalky and looks a bit ordinary.
We have a fair few vehicles at home, many of them for farm use only, so we have to name them. So-- Say hello to Red.

[AB]

Hey mate, the forum cant handle over 1.9mb. Where the photos bigger than that?

To reduce the size have a look at: http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/showthread.php?1412-Picture-sizes-and-how-to-reduce-the-size.

[Crankshaft]

File size reduced pic

[AB]

Looks good mate, photos working fine too!!!

[Crankshaft]

The donor vehicle had a recently installed heavy duty clutch and the clutch in "Red" was starting to slip under full load.
So yesterday I turned of the life support for the donor (took out the battery that was on a trickle charger) I was then able to harvest the engine (lots of spray grease and in storage), the new clutch pressure plate and thrust race and the extractors.
Today I anethetised "Red" ( temporarily removed the battery) and am in the middle of the major surgery.

[Brendan56]

My favourite kind of surgery.

[Woof]

Hey mate, very nice..but why is Red called Red when he is Blue, or is it because he is Blue and should be Red that you called him Red................yeah you are correct, one too many..lol

[Crankshaft]

Across this rural nation of ours we have long called red headed people "bluey" .................. Not logical but ...... for that reason she is "Red"

[Crankshaft]

I "Red" have 140,000 original km (I was lost in a shed for about 10 years) and am in pretty good overall condition . I drive tight with no rattles or clunks, have LPG which as been a bit of an issue and have four nasty little rust spots. The biggest is 2" in diameter and all are easily fixed. My upholstery is good and so is the rest of my plastic with only a little dash discolouring.
In addition to the LPG I have a long range petrol tank, brand new radiator, a nice new Kenwood sound system, tyres still 80% and have factory power steering . But no air-conditioning.

I cant figure out why I'm called Red either but he did get me a donor vehicle that will keep me healthy well into the future.

[Crankshaft]

Red has LPG But....

the LPG has been a bloody pig and I am just beginning to get it sorted. It is OMLV and when I got it was seriously overfueling.. I have no idea why it didn't make a big bang with a correspondingly big hole in the ground. I imported and fitted a kit for the regulator and it would run and do so nicely until it got nice and hot and then it would overfuel again, so bad it would not run.
I eventually tracked it down to the hot air valve in the air cleaner leaking air into the manifold when the engine was cold.

But then it kept misfiring and popping and farting and It would not tune and I eventually tracked that down to the fact that when the OMLV venturi was installed on the top of the carby the installer drilled clearance holes for the securing screws not threaded holes and they we leaking air below the venturi.:furious:

At the moment I get bugger all torque at low revs. Over the next few days Red will get new plugs and points and when reinstalled re-timing.

[aussiemale]

Understand the blue red -red blue thing however I like to keep things pretty basic, my MQ will be called "tank" when I'm finished..because that's whats it's built like.
Keep the pics coming as I've got not a clue on what I'm doing and use everyone on here and their pics to give me half a clue, point by point instruction even better LOL

[Crankshaft]

Engine in and running very nice thank you. Thermo fan fitted but not yet wired. I want to put a hole in the front of the thermostat housing to mount the sensor so it sees the hottest water temp. Drill and 3/8 BSP tap but It would be nice to remove the housing and clamp it in the drill press but I cant find a gasket or any details. Does anyone know how thick it is? Will a piece 25thou gasket cut to shape be ok?
I will try anyway as soon as I weld up the petrol tank on the wife's car and get it back in.

[Crankshaft]

Red is back on the road and going rather nicely.
It took a bit but while it was out I did a bit of trying to work it all out and found that the L28 has two crankcase breathers, one at the top into the rocker cover and one at the bottom front bottom of the crankcase. This one goes through the PCV valve into the inlet manifold. That means the manifold sucks an unmetered flow of air through the engine and into the manifold.
No wonder I couldn’t tune it. A welsh plug replaced the outlet and a 1/4 brass plug blocked the manifold. Now the only air that gets into the manifold comes through the brakes or the carby. Plug leads, adjust the points, and re adjust the LPG and.......... SWEET.. Like it should ...
Smooth and now at last some bottom end torque. You can engage the clutch in first at idle and it wont stall. With the extractors a friend said it sounded like a race car engine.
Next –the suspension--

[taslucas]

Thats good to hear mate. Gotta be happy with that:)

[aussiemale]

Red is back on the road and going rather nicely.
It took a bit but while it was out I did a bit of trying to work it all out and found that the L28 has two crankcase breathers, one at the top into the rocker cover and one at the bottom front bottom of the crankcase. This one goes through the PCV valve into the inlet manifold. That means the manifold sucks an unmetered flow of air through the engine and into the manifold.
No wonder I couldn’t tune it. A welsh plug replaced the outlet and a 1/4 brass plug blocked the manifold. Now the only air that gets into the manifold comes through the brakes or the carby.--
Do you have any photos of the breathers so
1. I Know what I'm looking for (not a clue here remember), and
2. Final pics of how you fixed it.

Cheers
Bryan

[Crankshaft]

A couple of pics with more to follow.

The front crankcase breather hs been rotated in this pic . It was pointed directly into the hose. It is pressed into an unthreaded hole in the block. I just kept turning it with a pipe wrench while pulling hard and it eventually worked free.

The other pic shows the top breather. The open end goes into the clean side of the air cleaner
I will take some pics of the final result later and post them. I am a bit embarrassed by the welsh plug as it should have been 25mm not 1” and it is a shocking install job.

Cranky

[Crankshaft]

I have purchased the new tail lights for "Red"

I built a deck inside the back with some drawers and then decided I didn't like it so pulled it out and built another.. I will give it a while to see how it goes.

Made a light stand and welded it to the tyre carrier to hold one of those 27 w LED camp/reversing lights. :icon_victory: two stages and it goes up about 3 meters from the ground.

purchased and waiting on delivery of some cigarette lighter sockets to go at the back.

Re-plumbed the heater and LPG hoses with larger hose to improve the flow of water. Especially to the very essential heater.

and

Mostly removed the springs from "Parts" so I can start resetting them, Only 4 more ubolt nuts to go but it started to rain and I needed and excuse to rest my arms.:shivering:

aaaand BONUS the shocks on the donor are all in as new condition and are 57mm dia, long travel just with a shocking* coat of black paint??


Cranky

[Crankshaft]

Most of the required bits now taken off " Parts"

[Crankshaft]

Front and rear springs removed and reset and replaced.

I think I over did it a bit and had to put longer shackles on the front to stop them inverting.

I am looking for longer shackles to put on the rear to reduce the risk of inversion.

I used rear shackles with a spacer washers on the front and that worked well. The front is every bit as high as I want it and will still be good after the initial sag.

I used a pipe bender to do the re-setting and a couple of old spring leaves as trial to work out how far to go.

A mark every 100mm along the spring to get it even and bend to the same measurement on the rule

The shocks from the donor vehicle were too big in diameter to fit so I used a pair of random shocks I had in stock. I will have to get some better ones I think.

The sway bar had to come off and I may have to make some new bolts if I want to put it back on.

It took two days all together and I found I could do a leaf in about 4 and a half minutes but My neck and shoulders are saying "hello" this afternoon. I think a beer painkiller is in order. and thank god for rattle guns.



Cranky
(not really but it sounds good)

[77gze]

Good lookin mk mate

[Crankshaft]

I did the spring lift thing and I got the heights I was after and it all works well now however it took a bit of getting the death wobbles out of it.
I did new shocks, new bushes in the idler, caster wedges, stiffer 2nd leaf, Sway lock bar on extenxded shackles, and then eventually found out what causes it and fixed it. (there may be an aftermarket bolt on product in this if a manufacturer wants to contact me) Its great now and has done a few trips.
I have also fitted a front lokka and that makes a real difference. Its mostly going as I hoped and is seriously unstopable. the only issue left is to solve the overheating.
Low first and 2nd in steep country on a hot day and it boiled.. Refilled it and turned the heater on and that was enough to keep it from boiling but then I had trouble not boiling and needed lots of fluid.
I am researching the air flow over the bonnet and may end up putting louvres in the bonnet to let the hot air out.

the km are only slowly going on and its nearly up to 148,000.

[BigRAWesty]

Good write up mate. And sounds like a good bus.
Re the over heating, pull your radiator out and inspect between the ac condenser and radiator fan shroud. You may not see anything but if you've been in mud or even dusty conditions then it would be a suspect area.

Kallen Westbrook
Owner of
Westy's Accessories (http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/showthread.php?15134-Westy-s-Accessories.-A-small-back-yard-builder.)

[Crankshaft]

Thanks Kallen
I found a piece of flyscreen between the condenser and the radiator on my wife's Rodeo and removing that helped that one heaps but alas old red does not have air-conditioning. The radiator was less than a year old when I got it and it is running inhibiter so it is all clean and should not be clogging.

Perhaps some of the tuning I did to get some bottom end torque as added to the overall heat. I don’t want to lose that torque. I have removed and then added a new thermostat. I did some spot temperature measuring under the bonnet and found it all pretty warm and I think if I can get some of that heat away it might be enough,

I towed a 5 ton truck 20k yesterday in some hilly country and had to turn the heater on to keep the temp down. But that was all it took to keep it from boiling. I am reluctant to junk the radiator as it is new and so is the one from the donor.

The radiator has a single 16” thermo fan on the engine side and another option is to add to this. It all runs pretty cool until it gets lots of load.

More to do yet

[BigRAWesty]

Ok, I'd still be pulling rear shroud off, if fitted..
Radiator may possible be to small if youve modded the motor.

Be careful were you add vents, as sometimes it can reduce air flow at speed and create still spots.

So if it was me I'd just cut my losses and get a bigger radiator.

Kallen Westbrook
Owner of
Westy's Accessories (http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/showthread.php?15134-Westy-s-Accessories.-A-small-back-yard-builder.)

[Crankshaft]

The way they look at airflow on aircraft is to simply tape 6" pieces of wool to the surface and watch it. From that you can gauge a lot about airflow.
I keep getting told that louvers won’t work and won’t help but there is a lot of heat trapped under the bonnet. To get away it must be pushed down and under the car leaving a pocket of hot air under the bonnet and heating the rest of the floor. I can see why vents in the bonnet may not work in a performance car with a sloping bonnet and an air dam as that generates a negative pressure under the car and helps the airflow from the radiator and under the car.
But Red is as far different to that as is possible.
So I need to identify the low pressure areas on the top of the bonnet and I suspect they are on the side and then set up some sort of venturi extraction vent.
Hopefully better flow through the radiator and conductive cooling direct from the engine.
If nothing else it will be interesting..

[BigRAWesty]

The way they look at airflow on aircraft is to simply tape 6" pieces of wool to the surface and watch it. From that you can gauge a lot about airflow.
I keep getting told that louvers won’t work and won’t help but there is a lot of heat trapped under the bonnet. To get away it must be pushed down and under the car leaving a pocket of hot air under the bonnet and heating the rest of the floor. I can see why vents in the bonnet may not work in a performance car with a sloping bonnet and an air dam as that generates a negative pressure under the car and helps the airflow from the radiator and under the car.
But Red is as far different to that as is possible.
So I need to identify the low pressure areas on the top of the bonnet and I suspect they are on the side and then set up some sort of venturi extraction vent.
Hopefully better flow through the radiator and conductive cooling direct from the engine.
If nothing else it will be interesting..

Could you try spacing bonnet up at the rear so it gets sucked out as it passes over bonnet and window...
Save cutting holes..

Kallen Westbrook
Owner of
Westy's Accessories (http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/showthread.php?15134-Westy-s-Accessories.-A-small-back-yard-builder.)

[Crankshaft]

Update
It has taken a while but Red is going strong.
I lifted the back of the bonnet and used some tape to attach some bits of wool.
Interesting and not what I expected.
The air flow is down and back into the engine bay. NOT out and up the screen.
so I put the back of the bonnet back down again.

I have advanced the timing somewhat and it is a bit better and does not overheat anymore. BUT there is nothing in reserve.
When I am feeling rich I will get a bigger radiator.

[Crankshaft]

Old "red" got stopped on the side of the road 200k from home . Luckily in a good spot, but with a hole through the rotor button........... Sunday night on a long weekend

The missus was in the other car traveling with me so she towed me to a friends place only about 5 k away where we left it overnight.

Took a spare down this morning popped the cap, swapped the button, refitted the cap and drove it home.

Not sure if the gods were smiling or just teasing.

Cranky