MissRed

[Big Red]

Nipped up to Cairns Saturday morning 14-7-12 and picked up another GU Ute, just arrived back home on the Gold Coast after a 1800Km drive overnight and its all good so far, just a headlight bulb that stopped working.
sat on the speed limit [ish] and it got 13.8 L/100Km
Has a Nissan winch bar, towbar, Aerial to ?, radio booster,new battery, new tyres 265-70-16 fake BFG All Terrains, new cheap spotties and newly planked wooden tray ... thats about it

Its a 2000 model ST Coil Cab done 95,000 K's
Factory Turbo Diesel, electric windows, power aerial, bucket seats and console ...

Let the modifications begin :Yahoo!:

http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2012/08/197.jpg

http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2012/08/198.jpg

http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2012/08/199.jpg

http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2012/08/200.jpg

[Big Red]

the tray ...
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2012/08/201.jpg

parked next to Big Red
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2012/08/202.jpg

[Big Red]

Fitted Alloys and 33x12.5x15 Maxxis Bighorns ...
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2012/07/34.jpg

[Big Red]

Needed a power outlet for this weekend coming to charge video batteries etc so wired in a fuse block with the top connections soldered together.
plenty of room for future wiring ...
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2012/08/203.jpg

then fitted one decent power outlet in the bottom of the dash good enough to handle the 350 watt Inverter ...
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2012/08/204.jpg

[Big Red]

Turned into a Motorhome for the weekend :lol:
http://img859.imageshack.us/img859/6141/5sdg9946s.jpg

[Big Red]

Fitted slimline weathershields to the doors ... great things for wet weather in the tropics when you need a bit of fresh air.
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2012/08/205.jpg

[Big Red]

siliconed up the busbar to make it safe
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2012/08/206.jpg

also found a "Plug In Circuit Breaker" panel that has a built in busbar and can be used for separate circuits by using a spade fuse so i've added one of those near the main battery.
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2012/08/207.jpg

[Big Red]

Fitted an extension to the LH mirror so i can see past the tray.
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2012/08/208.jpg

[Big Red]

I raided the shed and found another suspension system for the wagon and swapped out the Kings KDFR-42HD front springs and KDRR-43HD rear springs along with the Koni 82-2347 front shocks and Koni 82-2348 rear shocks then fitted those to the Ute.

OE front shocks measured 292-478 mm
OE rear shocks measured 376-604 mm

Koni front shocks measured 340-514
Koni rear shocks measured 432-656

The front lifted 46mm and the rear lifted 75mm.
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2012/08/209.jpg

http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2012/08/210.jpg

[Big Red]

The Ute doesn't flex much with these firm springs and no weight but the sway bars really limit the flex that could be acheived.

In the Wagon this suspension seemed a little harsh so i adjusted the Koni's back to 1/2 a turn from softest before i fitted them.
I gave the suspension a good testing over the rough tracks around the park and it coped really well ... very happy with the way it works 8)

http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2012/08/211.jpg

http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2012/08/212.jpg

[Big Red]

This arvo's effort was to pinch the Vision X HID's off the wagon and fit in place of the spotties that came with the Ute.
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2012/08/213.jpg

One of the lights has not worked for ages and the connector looked a bit dodgy so i changed the connectors to spade terminals ... all good now :mrgreen:
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2012/08/214.jpg

[Big Red]

Changed the dash mat for one that velcro sticks to so i could mounts a board and screw the GPS to it as well as a few pockets for radios etc ...
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2012/08/215.jpg

[Big Red]

Being a shortarse in a GU Ute is a bit of a problem as i can't see the ground for 11 metres in front of that vast bonnet.
I was going to fit some Aftermarket seats but when i went to install them i realised the seatbelts are mounted to the seats themselves and the extra centre seatbelt mounts are covered by the console ... :roll:

So I fitted a set of MSA canvas covers and lifted the driver seat 50mm.

A piece of flat to extend the front mounts ...
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2012/08/216.jpg

A longer 10 x 1.25 HT bolt bolted through a piece of 50mm Sq RHS to lift the rear mounts ...
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2012/08/217.jpg

and of course the new seat covers completed the job ...
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2012/08/218.jpg

[Big Red]

Bought another mirror extension to do the drivers side, they are off a D21 Navara apparently ...
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2012/08/219.jpg

[Big Red]

finally got to use the Vision X HID's tonight ...
god i love them :)

there is a yellow sign at 1 Km, and a turn to the right with one of those big green direction signs at 2 Km
nothing much except recently ploughed paddocks on either side at the moment.
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2012/08/220.jpg

[the ferret]

the tray ...
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2012/08/201.jpg

parked next to Big Red
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2012/08/202.jpg

Those drums near the shed, I'd bet they are full of RED PAINT, or were lol, When you were a little boy, did you wanna be a FIREMAN?? haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Cheers, the ferret.

[Ed.]

loving this thread, keep it up mate!

[happygu]

I'm liking it too...but wish it was white, or gold, or black, or silver....:Yahoo!:

Seriously, it looks like a fantastic pickup....Just didn't know there were that many red ones out there.

Mic

[BigMav]

Yeah looks nice mate very clean rig, hope you got those seat modifications engineered and plated if you are planning to keep it insured. They are pretty big on that sort of thing especially if you have an accident.

[BARWICK]

nice build mate very neat

[Big Red]

I had a GU 4.5 petrol tray sitting here doing nothing so I fitted that this arvo ... had to move a ship load of stuff to make it fit as its not really designed for the 4.2 turbo diesel.

... anyway, I needed one for this weekend and I only have tonight to fit it.

Might leave it in to mount a compressor or something after I fit a proper tray .
The ARB looks like a better made and fitting tray so will get one of those soon.

http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2012/09/6.jpg

http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2012/09/7.jpg

[Bigrig]

Loving this thread mate ... top effort!!!

[Big Red]

Finished wiring the battery, fitted the solenoid and wired the solenoid to a simple on off swith on the dash.
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/images/imported/2012/09/14.jpg