2.8 to 4.2 turbo intercooled swap

[colegate98]

hi every one im thinking of swaping my 2.8 motor and gearbox for a 4.2 turbo intercooled and gearbox and was just wondering what else is need for the conversion, like are the engine mounts the same, tail shaft lengths is the any difference in the utes drivetrain to the wagons? and the are the coil front leaf rear any different to coil all round as i have found a wrecked 4.2 ute with leaf rear i may be able to get cheap.

cheers ashley

[YNOT]

I've never done the swap myself but I'll give what help I can. This is assuming you get the complete GU leaf rear ute.

*At least one of the engine mounts will need to be moved on the chassis.
*You should be able to keep the wagon tailshafts and bolt them up to the 4.2 g-box/transfer. All GU's use the same transfer case.
*The ute diff ratio's are probably 3.9:1 while your 2.8 wagon is most likely 4.6:1. If you want to swap to the 4.2 ratio's you can either swap the front diff centre or the complete diff.
*The ute (assuming GU because you mentioned coil front-leaf rear) will have a full floating narrow track H260 rear diff which will not be compatible with your wagon. A 3.9:1 rear diff centre to suit your wagon should be easy to get for around $3-400.
*The spare diffs-especially the front, will be easy to sell.
*As long as you get the ute complete the rest should be a relatively easy change over.

If you do go ahead with this PLEASE take lots of photo's and take notes of anything you find during the change over as this is a conversion we get lots of questions about. Having a good pictorial build thread with heaps of info would be much apprecieated by a lot of people.

Tony

[colegate98]

cheers mate this helps alot. if i was to keep the 2.8 ratios wich as you said are the 4.6:1 with this be to low or to high to run 35's?
cheers

[YNOT]

cheers mate this helps alot. if i was to keep the 2.8 ratios wich as you said are the 4.6:1 with this be to low or to high to run 35's?
cheers

4.6:1 is perfect for 35's so that simplifies things a bit more.

Tony

[colegate98]

yeah wasnt to sure if it would be to low for the 35's, what about throttle pedals and things like that as the 2.8 is electronic and the 4.2 i think are cable? its a 03 gu so im not 100% with all the details

[YNOT]

Factory intercooled TD42Ti should have an electronic injector pump so will need the fly by wire pedal from the donar car. It may be the same pedal as the electronic 2.8 but I'd be swapping it to make sure.

4.3:1 or 4.6:1 would be OK for 35's with a TD42T.

Tony

[colegate98]

ok. what are the fly by wire pedals like in the 4.2 because i know the 2.8 is very sensitvie and can be very annoying in the bush at times.

[YNOT]

I've never driven an electronically controlled TD42Ti so I don't know for sure, I imagine it would be much the same. Try putting a car wash sponge under the pedal when in low range.

Tony

[colegate98]

ill have to try that one. is there much power difference between the intercooled and non intercooled im assuming the non intercooled is mechanical pump?

[YNOT]

Correct, non intercooled had mechanical pump. All GU's with factory intercooled turbo diesels had electronic pumps.
No power difference at all between intercooled and non-intercooled, both rated at 114kw. Intercooled had slightly more torque but only about 5 Nm more, you'd be lucky to feel the difference.

Tony

[colegate98]

true i might have to take both for a drive see wich i prefer. can the electronic pump be tweaked at all or does it have to be done with a chip? because i know the mechanical pump can be wound up a bit and so on.

cheers

[YNOT]

Normally the tweaking is done just with a chip but I'm fairly certain you could still get a bigger plunger fitted to the electronic pump to increse the fuel flow further if you really want to throw some big turbo boost at it.
One advantage of the electronic pump is the computer can alter the timing of injection, mechanical pumps have fixed timing. My preference is for mechanical pumps, less to go wrong.

Tony

[colegate98]

Yeah i was thinking of going with the mechanical pump. What year patrol is the non intercooled in?
Cheers

[bexi]

why would the engine mount need modifying?
Surely all GU patrols ahve the same chassis/chassis mounts?
Wouldn't you be able to just bolt the motor in with td42 gu engine mounts?

[YNOT]

why would the engine mount need modifying?
Surely all GU patrols have the same chassis/chassis mounts?
Wouldn't you be able to just bolt the motor in with td42 gu engine mounts?

The mounts on the chassis are in different positions.

Tony

[bexi]

R u sure of this???
I find it so strange that Nissan would make different chassis' for their different powered cars... especially when there were 3 different diesel powered options and 2 petrol?

[YNOT]

I'm sure, it's a well known fact.

Tony

[bexi]

ok so would it matter if you used gq td42 engine mounts as opposed to gu td42 engine mounts?

[YNOT]

That I'm not sure of.

Tony

[bexi]

anyone think i should be greatly concerned about getting a GQ td42 engineered in a late 90's gu knowing that the motor is older than the car ... can they identify how old the motor is by the engine number?

[YNOT]

You may have some trouble because the GU RD28 was electronically controlled but the GQ TD42 is a straight mechanical engine. I say "may" have trouble because in 1999 you could also get a GU with a mechanical TD42. Check with an engineer.

Tony