Rockets Wagon

Took the Patrol for a run up to Newcastle yesterday to pick up my new caravan :) It was a big day. All the work in getting the Patrol ready and the excitment of the new van made for an experience that could deliver soo much goodnes, or could be bitter sweet.

Headed off through Sydney in the morning and got a good run through the traffic and made good time. Sat on around 105km/hr up the free way and the Patrol sat around between 6-8psi and about 230-250deg. Pretty happy with that. Any hill was takled in 5th with sweet FA throttle required, temp gauge never moved.

http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/...psoo1ujwyh.jpg

Got to Newcastle no worries and picked up the new van. It was all good.

http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/...ps4rbhnod0.jpg

Now for the trip home. Set off with the 2.7T trailer in tow. I could feel it was there but the Patrol picked up speed with the traffic from the lights with ease, then onto the freeway. Cruised up to around 90, no problems. Moved up to around 95-100km/hr in 5th, boost was around 10-12 psi and EGT's were around 300. Pretty happy. Small hills came and went without notice, some of the slightly bigger hills or slopes I used 4th to take the load off 5th gear. For those that know the Newcastle to Sydney Freeway, there are 3 big climbs along the way, out of Ourimbah, Mooney Mooney and The Hawkesbury. These were all tackled in 4th with an intial speed of 95-100 and came out the top at 95-100 using probably somewhere between 1/2 to 2/3rds throttle. Biggest numbers I saw was 27psi, 500 Deg and the temp gauge moved up a tad but still well within normal. Happy days!!

One thing though, under heavy load it does generate quite a vibration in the 1,900 to 2,400 rev range. It doesn't feel good at all, not sure what it is. It's happens when it's making bulk torque.

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Originally Posted by Rocket55

. For those that know the Newcastle to Sydney Freeway, there are 3 big climbs along the way, out of Ourimbah, Mooney Mooney and The Hawkesbury. These were all tackled in 4th with an itial speed of 95-100 and came out the top at 95-100 using probably somewhere between 1/2 to 2/3rds throttle. Biggest numbers I saw was 27psi, 500 Deg and the temp gauge moved up a tad but still well within normal. Happy days!!

One thing though, under heavy load it does generate quite a vibration in the 1,900 to 2,400 rev range. It doesn't feel good at all, not sure what it is. It's happens when it's making bulk torque.

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I have fond memories of those hills. Last time I drove down south, I was forced to show a pack of fully sick hilux's who's boss. They didnt catch me untill pennant hills rd :D

How bad is the vibration? Was it there before the new flywheel

Was the clutch and flywheel assembly balanced prior to fitment?

The lower the revs the worse the vibration at one point I backed off on it as I thought if I kept going it would surely break something (approx 2,100rpm). It's only there under load, magnified by towing the trailer. Light throttle there's nothing, heavy throttle as an empty car you can feel it but it's not too bad.

It was there before the new clutch and flywheel, seemingly exactly the same, although I never towed with the old clutch flywheel set up. No the new clutch flywheel assembly was not balanced as a unit before install.

How do your engine mounts look rod?

They didn't look to bad when I was under there before. There's no clunking or banging going on and I couldn't see and shiney bits on them anywhere to indicate metal to metal. In saying that I might have a better look with a pinch bar or similar tonight. Wagon has only done 170,000km.

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Originally Posted by Ben-e-boy

I have fond memories of those hills. Last time I drove down south, I was forced to show a pack of fully sick hilux's who's boss.

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Haha Love it!!

I caught another van about the same size as mine just north of Gosford. Followed him down the hill into Mooney Mooney at about 100km/hr, as the hill started up the other side, back to 4th and lean on it a bit. I started catching him at a great rate of knots, I'm looking for the outside lane when he moves left and I go straight past him easily carrying 20-25km/hr more speed (if not more). I look in the left mirror and he's disappearing at a huge rate of knots, never saw him again until, you guessed it, Pennant Hills Rd. He was in a 100 Series Cruiser, it was a solid overtake, I was pretty impressed with the mighty Nissan :driving2:


Although can't help but think there’s a tortoise and the hare analogy thing in there somewhere :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Rocket55

Haha Love it!!.................


Although can't help but think there’s a tortoise and the hare analogy thing in there somewhere :rolleyes:

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Not when you got the power under the right foot on tap there isn't. Well for me anyway. Lol
So its a good guess your impressed? Apart from the vibration.
Long shot but get the tailshaft looked at maybe if the engine mounts are good. Mine has a vibration at around 100 clicks, I know its my tailshaft, as from the whirring vibration, if you'd call it that (hard to explain), I reckon it needs to be balanced.
Next is a bonnet respray eh?

Yep, I'm pretty happy with it. It's really got effortless power when just driving around. I'll try and get to the bottom of the vibration over time. I just put two new uni's in the rear tailshaft as one was kaput. Bonnet gets sprayed on Monday.

hey mate apart from your mistake with cutting the bonnet did you have any issues getting everything to seal? My Cross Country Inter-cooler just arrived today just wondering if its a straight forward install.

Hi bigfish, the intercooler itself is a piece of cake to install. The bonnet bit can be a bit fiddley, although I must admit the second time I was pretty cautious as I really didn't want to cock it twice. Really it all went together pretty well and sealed up pretty good. You can adjust the cooler up a bit if you need to, I didn't bother. When setting the position of your scoop I set the back of the scoop 12mm from the back of the bonnet. This was based on some golden advice from Bob I think it was at Fairline who makes the scoops for Cross Country.

Little job for this evening, to replace my buggered steering damper. Out with the out Pedders POS and in with a nice little FOX Series 2 unit. Came up nice and made quite an improvement, tidying the front end feel up nicely. I imagine a set of these things all round would be pretty nice.

http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/...psvtjhhybe.jpg

Just read the last 10 pages or so,
Its a good feeling when it all comes together, diy and it pays off.
The support from this forum is awesome hay.
yes, they sure make fantastic tow vehicles tickled a little.
another happy chappy.

Thanks Robbo. It's very satisfying to build it yourself and learn along the way. You're right there's some very good and smart people on here that are willing to give up time and expertise to help people out.

Painted my bonnet white again after my little mishap. Looks much better now.

http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/...psaorgfjnf.jpg

Nice one Rocket, OOI do these scoops have vanes to direct air to the front of the Intercooler
or is all the air forced to the rear.

There's no veins in there John, it's just a hollow scoop.

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Originally Posted by Rocket55

There's no veins in there John, it's just a hollow scoop.

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Leave it with me I have an idea on how to get air to the front,
Im thinking it would make the IC more efficient too

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Originally Posted by threedogs

Leave it with me I have an idea on how to get air to the front,
Im thinking it would make the IC more efficient too

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Lately been thinking about this also,to make the most of my large cooler
arc have a nice bit of kit but expensive and only fits their scoope.

make a deflector with a right angle bracket at each end.
mount it top the bonnet under your scoope.

humm thinking thinking,
it could hang down a little below bonnet line to help stop air flow sneaking under and behind it.
some air bypassing under it could make a air curtain blocking directly behind it,
only way to tell would be to try different designs with a temp gauge on ic exit, to see what works best.

Here is what we did with mine to try to direct the air, I think it works ok

Attachment 63189

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Originally Posted by Stropp

Here is what we did with mine to try to direct the air, I think it works ok

Attachment 63189

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Now that's very inventive.
I like the idea.
Good one for those who don't have it.

We took the new rig for a quick spin down the coast over the weekend. Left Sydney around 3pm on Friday with a balmy 35 deg air temp. Everything was going well untill we hit a couple of the bigger hills just north of Wollongong, when the EGT's hit 500 and the temp gauge started heading north, time to back off and "float" it as best as possible to the tops of hills.

Van weights in pretty much at 3T.

http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/...psxidbylea.jpg

http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/...pstua3dhml.jpg

Had a great weekend and time to head home this arvo, much cooler, about 25 deg and nice cool wind. Everything was sweet, then we hit Mt Ousley, all temps went ape shit, EGT's 550 and water temp went out of the "normal" range on the Nissan gauge. Again backing off, and off, and off and cruised over the top in 3rd on bugger all throttle. I was running 3rd up the whole hill on about 1/4 to 1/3rd throttle at about 70km/hr, this gave me about 2,400 revs, give or take and she still got hot. This also occured for the next 3 hills over the next 5-6km, being Picton hill, Cateract ( spelling??) and Bellambi. On all ocassions it very quickly recovered once clearing the top, but it got way too hot for my liking and needs modding.

One thing I'm not sure off, when I towed it home from Newcastle I didn't have the bonnet protector on and the temps stayed pretty good, it was also a much cooler day. This time I was running the bonnet protector, maybe this was mucking up the airflow into the scoop and hence intercooler effeciency???

Anyway, time for a new radiator. 2 or 3 core, Alloy or copper/brass????? Any suggestions from those who have had success.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rocket55

We took the new rig for a quick spin down the coast over the weekend. Left Sydney around 3pm on Friday with a balmy 35 deg air temp. Everything was going well untill we hit a couple of the bigger hills just north of Wollongong, when the EGT's hit 500 and the temp gauge started heading north, time to back off and "float" it as best as possible to the tops of hills.

Van weights in pretty much at 3T.

http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/...psxidbylea.jpg

http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/...pstua3dhml.jpg

Had a great weekend and time to head home this arvo, much cooler, about 25 deg and nice cool wind. Everything was sweet, then we hit Mt Ousley, all temps went ape shit, EGT's 550 and water temp went out of the "normal" range on the Nissan gauge. Again backing off, and off, and off and cruised over the top in 3rd on bugger all throttle. I was running 3rd up the whole hill on about 1/4 to 1/3rd throttle at about 70km/hr, this gave me about 2,400 revs, give or take and she still got hot. This also occured for the next 3 hills over the next 5-6km, being Picton hill, Cateract ( spelling??) and Bellambi. On all ocassions it very quickly recovered once clearing the top, but it got way too hot for my liking and needs modding.

One thing I'm not sure off, when I towed it home from Newcastle I didn't have the bonnet protector on and the temps stayed pretty good, it was also a much cooler day. This time I was running the bonnet protector, maybe this was mucking up the airflow into the scoop and hence intercooler effeciency???

Anyway, time for a new radiator. 2 or 3 core, Alloy or copper/brass????? Any suggestions from those who have had success.

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I am using a 3 core copper radiator from natrad and it has helped keep my temps under control heaps.

Your old rad might just need to be externally cleaned. I would check this first before forking out for a new one.

2 core will be fine. As for material well that is up to you. There is so many for and against material types. I have had an adrad 2 core ally unit in mine for close to 4 yrs without issue. Use to tow a 5th wheeler float usually weighing in around 3t.

Yep I'd be dumping the bonnet protector for sure.
Noticed when I had one on, any leaves caught behind it would sorta fly up ( ark motion ) over the bonnet & hit the lower windscreen, very obvious protector was creating a air flow issue directly across the bonnet.

Std temp gauges don't have to move much to "make you think" there's a problem.
Fitting a after market temp gauge could be worth while.
And std temp gauges also have a reputation of being inaccurate.

Has the radiator ever been flushed internally?.

Shining a torch directly through the core can assist you to see how much garbage is trapped externally in the fins.
x2 cleaning the radiator externally, compressed air from the back to push garbage out the way it came in gets alot out.
Same goes for the air con core, it can be block also reducing air flow.

Hows the thermostat, ever been replaced?.

I'm pretty sure its the original radiator and thermostat in there. I'll get a new thermostat and while i'm in there tap out that 3rd 12mm hole to take the sender unit for another temp gauge, I'll check how clogged up the radiator is and will also look at the condition of the fan hub. Both my inner guard covers are in place and probably 90% of the foam blocking is in place, so good on that front. I'll also check out the air con core. Thanks for the advice guys.

Well, in the quest for a happy wife, that's not scared every time we drive up a hill and worried about this thing cooking itself whilst we are trying to go away and enjoy ourselves, I've ordered a UFI fan hub and a Rapid Cool radiator. I've also got a full set of engine and gearbox mounts coming to try and solve this vibration thing I've got going on. Looks like a busy weekend coming up.

What coolant are you guys running?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rocket55

I'm pretty sure its the original radiator and thermostat in there. I'll get a new thermostat and while i'm in there tap out that 3rd 12mm hole to take the sender unit for another temp gauge, I'll check how clogged up the radiator is and will also look at the condition of the fan hub. Both my inner guard covers are in place and probably 90% of the foam blocking is in place, so good on that front. I'll also check out the air con core. Thanks for the advice guys.

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I just purchased a adapter from Bursons to suit the unused hole in thermostat housing, $7.
sure it was 12.5mm (male) x 1/4 npt (female) , to suit new VDO gauge.
it has a very thin wall so tightening it was a bit awkward, but worked.
did spy a 14mmx1/4 but didn't want to buy a tap for 1 hole.
the 14mm had way more meat in the wall, if I had a 14mm tap that would of been my first choice.
Take a pic tomorrow for you.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Robo

I just purchased a adapter from Bursons to suit the unused hole in thermostat housing, $7.
sure it was 12.5mm (male) x 1/4 npt (female) , to suit new VDO gauge.
it has a very thin wall so tightening it was a bit awkward, but worked.
did spy a 14mmx1/4 but didn't want to buy a tap for 1 hole.
the 14mm had way more meat in the wall, if I had a 14mm tap that would of been my first choice.
Take a pic tomorrow for you.

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G'day Robo.I'm curious about this because I ran all over the town trying to find a 1/4npt female to m12x1.5 male , and nobody had one. Some even think they don't exist ?? Which is why I've now gone down the 1/8th npt sensor path. Even bursons as you mentioned, didn't have it.
Sorry about the slight thread jack. lol

I've also had a bit of a girls look and could find any either, but by no means did I have an exhaustive look.

Seeing as though I'm dumping the coolant anyway, I was thinking of just running a 1/4 NPT I think they are tap through it, no drilling required. Others have done it in situ, grease up the end of the tap to catch the swarf and as the coolant runs out it washes any escaping deris out with it.


Edit: 1/4 NPT.

I run Nulon longlife in a 50/50 mixture. Change every 2 years..
Ran it for 8 years in my TB45 engine and now use the same in my TD42T.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rocket55

I've also had a bit of a girls look and could find any either, but by no means did I have an exhaustive look.

Seeing as though I'm dumping the coolant anyway, I was thinking of just running a 1/4 BSPT I think they are tap through it, no drilling required. Others have done it in situ, grease up the end of the tap to catch the swarf and as the coolant runs out it washes any escaping deris out with it.

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Put the info & pics here.
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forum...l=1#post647940
cheers.

hey mate

when you got your airbox from Fatz did you get them to supply the pipe work to the turbo as well or did you source from somewhere else?

Cheers

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gubigfish

hey mate

when you got your airbox from Fatz did you get them to supply the pipe work to the turbo as well or did you source from somewhere else?

Cheers

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@ GF if its something like this I got the lot from ebay even the stainless elbows.
pretty cheap too

do you remember what you searched on ebay?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gubigfish

hey mate

when you got your airbox from Fatz did you get them to supply the pipe work to the turbo as well or did you source from somewhere else?

Cheers

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I got mine through UFI. I'm not sure if they make them up or Fatz makes them up, but it fit like a glove.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gubigfish

do you remember what you searched on ebay?

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Ill grab a link to the stainless elbow the clamps search for T bolt clamps
the other is just silicon hose, will put link here

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/76MM-3-OD...YAAOSwNSxU2bO~

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/3-0-inch-...4AAOxygj5SmDqo

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/3-0-Silic...YAAOSwQItT8cmB
Or you can use silicon bends with small pieces of 76mm exhaust pipe to join

How long is the proposed wait on your ufi gear this time?

Item was in stock and supposedly already on its way....

All this stuff turned up today.

2 x genuine gearbox mounts
1 x genuine engine mount (drivers side)
1 x Superior engine mount (passenger side)

http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forum...2015/12/99.jpg