Honey Badger the Y60

Hello everyone. This is the build topic, or rather, restoration topic, for my 1997 LHD wagon Y60. From what I have learnt online, the very last year of the Y60 series.

Patrols are pretty rare around where I live, but I managed to get ahold of one to call my own. It is LHD, so a bit weirdo for you good folks, but don't let that make you loose interest. It is SGL-D trim with the 3rd row seat (missing), over the top A/C for the 2nd and 3rd rows and the cooler box on the trunk. It came with a non-functioning blacktop TD42.

I would be lying if I said it has been beaten to death. If it had nine lives like a cat, it would be more appropriate to say it had been beaten to death eight and a half times... No rust though, which all in all, is a blessing. Also, at first impression, nothing worked, but it was absolutely complete, not missing a single bolt, which would help a lot a restoration project of a rare car since I didn't have the least chance to have another car to look and compare, nor to create parts or to discover what was supposed to go here and there. Whatever part was there, I would test it, if it worked, good, if not, I would go ahead and try to fix it.

This is how it looked:
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Every single panel need some sort of panel beating, some more, some less, some a lot... They manage to bend, crush or ding even the roof and the fuel door.

This is my very first attempt at car restauration, and having lost an opportunity to by a little better condition than this LC80, that is also very rare around here, I decided to man up and write the check. Loaded in to a car transport truck I have hired and drove back home to wait for the Patrol to be delivered and see what the missus and the kids would say about it...

I was told that, for absolutely pure negligence (aka stupidity), the engine has been run without the rad cap on.
At a first look I thought the engine was without the head, but at closer inspection it was without the valve cover and I could see no cam.

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Deep breath, let the anxiety fade away... kept looking around the car for bad surprises and actually had a good one. The valve cover was on the backseat, with all the rockers and whatnot inside.

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Back to the engine to inspect the head, and I figured it out... the cam was not overhead, so it was not missing. I had zero TD42 knowledge then. Also, the exposed top of the head was totally clean of dust or debris, just oil, and it was not dry. That reminded me to check the dipstick and the pan was full of oil up to the max mark. Good sign...

A whole lot of thoughts going through my mind as I drove back home...

While the car was still in transit to my location, I started to gather information about the car, the engine, etc. Downloaded the FSMs, started reading forum topics, etc.

I have decoded my VIN on Partsouq to learn that my Y60 color was actually "Dark Blue + Yellowish Gray". Searched for some references online and this is what my Patrol used to look colorwise when new:

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What a darn good looking color combo! Wow!

At some point in it's life it has been painted blue over the yellowish gray details and the decorative plastic stuff under the doors belt line (forgot how it is named) was painted plain silver. Not that it matters, since the paint was in super bad shape, sunburnt, clear coat peeling, etc, so it had to go anyway.

The truck driver, being a very conscious person, advised me to take with me in my car all the loose ends from inside the Patrol before loading it into the truck, to avoid the risk of losing small items during the transport, so I did it.

These arrived at home with me on the next day, two weeks prior to the Patrol being delivered:
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Being able to do nothing but wait, I decided to give the airbox a good clean, and was amazed with the amount of dust it was holding.
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With zero availability of parts locally, I started searching on nearby South America countries where Nissan have sold Patrols in a quest for either OEM or alternative parts suppliers. I knew I could always count with Aussie vendors, but being on the opposite side of the globe, shipping would be a major factor. Whatever I could find closer, would be a bonus. Right from the beginning I knew I would need at least an engine gasket kit, air filters and a brake booster/master cylinder. The later being for when I saw the car, I noticed the brake booster/master cylinder were adapted from another truck available in Brazil.

First thing I was able to source was the engine gasket kit, from an local parts supplier that was used to import parts for Toyota 4x4s. Not that he had it available, being a Toyota parts vendor, but he was able to find it with his suppliers. No-name gasket kit, but a complete kit nevertheless, with this car I am not in the position to choose parts brands, I have to take whatever I find. He would have nothing else, this was all of Nissan he could help me with.
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To be fair, it does have a name, PEACE GASKETS. :clownredpuff:

Later on, I got to know through a 4x4 online community of a bloke that owns an Auto Repair shop in neighbor country that from time to time have had helped some guys around here to find parts. He was available to quote parts in local (to him) stores and even on wreckers if needed for a fair fee. Through him, I was able to source a brand new non-OEM master cylinder, air-filters and an used brake booster. Yes, used... He searched around even in specialized brake places in his town and could not find a new booster, but happened to find a Patrol in a wrecker. That was good info also, there was the possibility of this parts car having something I may need in the future.
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The booster is still a bit of a mystery. It does look equal to Y60 brake booster pictures I see online, but it has a part number that I checked and belongs to a Nissan Frontier truck (which is available in Brazil, BTW). On Partsouq they are not the same part number though. Maybe it was already adapted on the wrecked car? Who knows... Maybe you good fellows can tell me about you being using Frontier boosters on Patrols...

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Car arrived a little bit less sad looking than it was on the yard, it probably liked it's new garage.
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Pretty dirty everywhere, a lot of dust, a lot of dirt, a lot of iron ore, a lot of spider webs.
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Cooled glovebox and a cooler on the trunk.
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Some decent amount of Kms on the clock.
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At this time I was mostly trying not to freak out and "see the beauty" behind that dirt mask.

With the help of the kids, we gave the car a good wash. Only laundry machine powder soap and pressure washer. No specialized products as I didn't knew any. Here you can see a good "before & after".
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All the grass on the area used to wash the car died on the following week... I thought all that iron ore was going to be "a mineral supplement" for the yard... bummer...

First time I saw a free wheel hub like this. I was used to either only manual or only auto hubs.
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Rotary injection pump.
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The day ended with some tears.
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Interior disassembly kept going for a few weeks.

A lot of dirt with some parts of the carpet also soaked in hydraulic fluid. They used to carry hydraulic pistons out of heavy tractors/bulldozers to maintenance in the car, carelessly leaking fluid everywhere.
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Found an rotten orange...
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Found out the reason for no handbrake was no handbrake cable... at least, the conduit was there.
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Some very nasty seats. Bear in mind that these are not of TAN trimming LOL, they were supposed to be light gray. :)
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Found out that one of the barn doors was poorly reinforced for spare tire weight or most probably bad rutted dirt roads. This was later all taken apart, fixed, mig welded.
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As my street is slanted and I live on the top of the hill, even without an working engine, a handbrake was on the top of the list of things to be fixed. With no Patrol reposition parts in my country, I am committed to use all the local resources I have available before importing parts.

Looking at the service manuals and at internet pictures of the handbrake cable, I decided that it was no big deal to build one. With the correct length, correct terminals and same steel cable diameter, it should be not that different from a reposition part.

I disassembled the handbrake drum on the end of the transfer case to take out the original handbrake cable conduit and found the remaining tip of the cable.
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With that at hand, I went to parts stores to search for a handbrake cable that had the same steel cable diameter, a length longer the the conduit I had, and with one eye connector already crimped on one of the ends. And I found this, the handbrake cable for a 1991 Fiat Uno, eye connectors on both ends and 2.8 meters long. I can actually make two handbrake cables with this and keep one as a spare.
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To do something faster then try and error to find the proper length to cut the cable, I printed the best picture I could find online that showed the complete cable unit and took measurements of that print and my existing cable conduit, to calculate a conversion factor between the printed image and the real part. With that, I have estimated the length of cable that should be left at both ends.
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Then it was time for the crimped fork holder at the parking brake drum end of the cable. After searching around for cable companies to crimp something similar to me, I didn't like the options I found. Only aluminium cable stoppers could be crimped, the smallest one was a bit bigger then the holes it had to go through to be installed inside the drum, and it didn't seem strong enough for me. I then drilled a hole in a steel solid bar I had laying around, drilled a countersunk drill on one of the ends, cut it to length and used it as my cable stopper. I have passed the cable through that steel stopper, untangled the end of the cable a bit to make it larger then the hole and welded the hole shut with some brazing material. Handbrake is working like a charm!
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With the handbrake now working, I have put the car on the street a few times to clean it up again and again and again. After a few weekends, it started to look somewhat decent and less of a bio-hazard.

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Ohh, what a feeling to stand behind the wheel of that thing... I would loose myself momentarily and imagine me driving it somewhere.
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Next item on the list were car keys. It only came with one broken key, where the broken part was still inside the drum (so you could actually turn the ignition on and off). I took the drum off and took it to a locksmith around the block to make one new key only. At this time, I had already found out that AliExpress sells a new key kit complete with new ignition + all doors drums for a reasonable price, so I was looking only at having the ignition drum sorted out to avoid the risk of it locking the steering shaft with the key tip inside it.

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Once I was there, I was surprised at how quick and easy (for him) the drum was fixed and a new key was made. Mentioned to the guy the whole dilemma of the car, and he asked me to bring him the door drums, so I went back home and grabbed those as well. For the price of only the two keys, he cleaned all the drums tested and adjusted them all to work nice with the same key. Total win form me, and he definitely got a returning customer, as I now send his way all the key and lock things I ever need fixing.

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I've just re-read most of your thread. It is going really well. Sorry to be a bummer, but I read that you washed your Patrol in laundry detergent. That stuff has a very high salt content, and it also not good with the rubber. It is best to find a good vehicle wash and wax. I have used Armourall wash and wax for many years, and it kept the rust to a minimum. It has only started to appear because I have been very lax in washing the Old Trol.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mudnut

I've just re-read most of your thread. It is going really well. Sorry to be a bummer, but I read that you washed your Patrol in laundry detergent. That stuff has a very high salt content, and it also not good with the rubber. It is best to find a good vehicle wash and wax. I have used Armourall wash and wax for many years, and it kept the rust to a minimum. It has only started to appear because I have been very lax in washing the Old Trol.

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Hello mate! Thanks for checking my thread!
Not a bummer at all, all advice is welcome. Didn't know about the salt thing and it being bad for rubber. Thank you for the info.

After the engine was rebuilt and I was about to finally enjoy driving the car, I took it to a car washer and they did a great job with all their task-specific products, like one for minerals, one for degreasing, etc, etc. Undercarriage came out mint. But those are pictures for the next chapters! :-)

Well, this has actually done when the car came back from the shop with the rebuilt engine, but since we're talking about car wash, here it is...
Took it to a car washer to finally get rid of all that iron ore crust on the undercarriage. The results were amazing.

Original frame powder coat looks top notch except from minor dots here and there (where hit by debris and small rocks) and on the front right bellow the master cylinder, due to most probably to break fluid leak when someone adapted a different booster and master cylinder.

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That OEM Carlsonic muffler looks so new on a 23 y.o. car that makes me wonder whether it is just galvanized or maybe stainless...

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Here you can see my frame is missing a bracket for the stabilizer connection rod.

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Also noticed that I am missing one clutch lever rubber boot.

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I can already admire the beautiful body lines with pride!

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Holy Moly BZ Mate, Top Pictures Added, LOVE IT, What a Clean Beauty [emoji106][emoji106][emoji736][emoji736]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That has come up brilliantly. Now its clean, have a good look at the rear spring towers. See it they have stretched up toward the floor or cracked at the chassis. It is a common problem for Patrols, especially if they were used for towing on rough roads. There are kits that can be fitted to strengthen them.

Nice build. Watching this post. Here in Jamaica, we have Patrols, but they're not that common here. We have a Nissan dealer here who we can get some parts through. Sometimes we have to do special orders to get parts. However, I do have a network of Patrol owners here who makes it easier to get second-hand parts.

Some years ago, there was a parts seller here who used to get parts out of Panama. Apart from that, some Nissan vehicles will have shared parts. The Nissan Civilian and some of the Nissan trucks will share engines. The gearboxes are similar with some differences. Right now I have a brake master cylinder from a Nissan frontier as it seems the booster wasn't original. Some of the interior bits are the same as in some of the cars, such as the lighting switches. If you check on Amayama or Partsouq, if you check alternative parts, you will be able to see what other vehicles share that particular part.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lawrence

Nice build. Watching this post. Here in Jamaica, we have Patrols, but they're not that common here. We have a Nissan dealer here who we can get some parts through. Sometimes we have to do special orders to get parts. However, I do have a network of Patrol owners here who makes it easier to get second-hand parts.

Some years ago, there was a parts seller here who used to get parts out of Panama. Apart from that, some Nissan vehicles will have shared parts. The Nissan Civilian and some of the Nissan trucks will share engines. The gearboxes are similar with some differences. Right now I have a brake master cylinder from a Nissan frontier as it seems the booster wasn't original. Some of the interior bits are the same as in some of the cars, such as the lighting switches. If you check on Amayama or Partsouq, if you check alternative parts, you will be able to see what other vehicles share that particular part.

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Hi Lawrence.
I saw some of the other vehicles that shared powertrain parts like the trucks and the Civilian (which is a bus) but none of those were sold here. Here on the 90's we only got the D21 minitrucks, Pathfinder (some people may know it as Terrano) and super small amounts of the Sentra.

Please do sing out if you Two Top Blokes get stuck for unavailable parts needed Overseas [emoji106][emoji106]
We’ve recently helped a British Bloke convert his Japanese Safari MQ/GQ Firetrucky into a full powersteering Tradesman ute [emoji41][emoji106]
Haven’t heard back since, unfortunately 🥲🥲


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That is nice from you to offer mate! Will keep that in mind!

Searched around for a old school mechanic that would not be picky about dealing with this car. Diesel pickup trucks (UTES for you guys) and SUVs over here are all 4 cylinders (with the F250 being the only exception) so this was really the job for a truck mechanic. Finally found one that for decades only works with trucks and buses, had a conversation with him and he was solid in his speech. Showed him some pictures of the car and he said, 'that is from Australia, right?'. Well, Japanese, but I'd say he got it almost bullseye because it is almost Australian automotive history. He told me that some 10 years ago, he worked on similar vehicles from an Australian mining company that was prospecting on our state, and curiously enough, instead of renting 4x4s locally, they brought all their machinery with them for the job.

What could I say... he knew at least the car make/model, that made him an expert already! :smile:


Finally, it was time send the car to the mechanic, so we said goodbye over a beer. :smile:
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The Honey Badger needed a horseback ride.
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Once there, the mechanic borrowed a battery from another truck, checked fuel lines, glow plugs, etc. He put new belts, new oil and fuel filters, changed the oil, replaced the rusty water from the cooling system and was able to make the engine run. It ran very rough, he diagnosed it to be running only on 4 cylinders, while the 2 remaining were not generating pressure/temperature to burn the fuel (there was fuel being injected, he even changed injectors from one cylinder to another to see if the problem would move along). So we moved along into taking the engine out and disassembling.

Engine off, head off, we could see the damage to be exactly what he predicted.
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At this time, I had already selected an engine machine shop to rebuild the engine form me.

With the engine at the machine shop, I was getting ready for the shopping list. From the mechanic I already knew I needed to provide him a battery and engine mounts and he also asked me to try to either find a new radiator or build a custom one.

Don't know how it is in Australia, but here batteries are quite expensive. I figured out it would take a long time for this restoration to happen, either for engine rebuilt or for body work, so I bought a smaller amp battery.
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Took the radiator to a big radiator company in my town, where they have also a factory, to see if by any chance they made it for export, since this car was not sold here. They didn't, but the guy took a look and told me that my radiator seemed good, and offered to give it a inside-out acid bath to evaluate the situation. A couple days later he called me and my radiator was like new. Due to excitement I forgot to take a head-on picture of it, but I have these few of it inside the dirty trunk. I guess you can get an idea of how clean it got.
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Engine mounts were sourced from a neighbor country.
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Got a call from the machine shop and the news couldn't be better. Engine was in great condition! Sleeves/liners obviously had to be replaced, but engine block was perfect, head was perfect, water pump seemed to be replaced already, oil pump was in perfect condition and the crankshaft after polishing was still STD! The guy was impressed with the engine (first time he saw a TD42) and told me it was very robust.

Look at this beauty!! This is pure porn!!
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So, machine shop shopping list was all the basics: sleeves/liners, pistons, rings, rod bearings, crankshaft bearings, filters, seals, gaskets. In another lucky strike, I discovered that the TD42 was used in a Komatsu forklift sold here. I could find liners, pistons and rings right out of the shelf! Jackpot! Also, I got to learn that the TD42 sleeves/liners were the same of the TD27, which existed here in the Nissan D21 minitrucks.

Sleves/Liners
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Pistons
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Rings
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Engine bearings
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Rod bearings
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While the machine shop was doing their work, I took care of some other minor stuff. First, the fan clutch was solid. I read some posts here and there about the possibility to open/clean/replace the silicone inside it, but for the amount of coin I was going to put into the engine, I decided to buy a new one. I kept the old one in the "for when I am curious enough" bin. Maybe someday I recondition it myself just for kicks.

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New engine, new thermostat of-course. Read here and there also that an 82º C should be better then the OEM 76.5º C.
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Radiator cap I found it to be the same used in my Suzuki Samurai, that I can source locally. It is also used in some KIA vans.
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And these fittings that go on top of the thermostat housing were corroded. The smallest one I found a brass one in the right size. The bigger ones had to be done by welding two halves. They are brass as well.
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Engine assembly

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Engine test
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEmc1Apqcvc

I have tried a bunch of options to make the above video embed into the forum post, with no luck. If someone knows how to do it, please let me know.

:smileyvault-cute-bi

EDIT: It is now properly embedded. Not sure what happened on the first time.

I forgot what for I bought this ball bearing, I believe it was for a belt tensioner pulley.

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Build a battery tie-down for my new battery. I used a piece of threaded rod and a piece of galvanized angle iron I had laying around.

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I have also bought these quick disconnects. This is what is saving this battery so far, as I am firing the engine maybe once a month for the last 10 months.

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Fuel tank was actually cleaned prior to first start, before engine rebuilt. Here are the things I faced when dealing with the tank.

Tank was overall dirty, but no leak, no crack, no rust. It was actually a lot dirtier inside then outside, with a lot of gunk. It took several liters of gasoline and kerosene to dissolve the gunk.
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On the inside of the tank there was this white plastic thing that no one could find its place inside the tank. No apparent hook, bracket, rail, nothing to put it. And the thing was bigger then the tank inspection opening, so no way to get it out of there to examine outside as well. I ended up deciding to cut it inside the tank and remove the parts. To this date, I don't know what it was meant to be.
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The sender had some corrosion and the return tube was broken. Also, the wire from the thermistor to the floater variable resistor printed circuit board (PCB) was broken as well. It was broken very close or maybe even inside the thermistor. I look around to see if that was something I could find at electronic component stores in my town, and the closest one was something from motorcycles fuel reserve light, and it was quite expensive (for what it is), so I decided to leave it without the thermistor for the time being until I have an opportunity to find a deal in a complete sending unit. For anyone that may not know, the thermistor is a resistor that changes its resistance depending on temperature. So, when it is sunk into fuel, it is cooled by the fuel and has one resistance value. When the fuel is low, the thermisor gets exposed and heats, so the resistance changes. This change in behavior is used for the dashboard to lit the fuel reserve indication light.

Corrosion and the broken return tube. Note the "wireless" thermistor and where the return tube used to attach on the fuel tank opening.
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I took the complete sender unit home with me to clean the oxidation, clean the variable resistor PCB and figure out a solution for the thermistor while the mechanic was working on the engine to try to make it crank for the first time. I was able to clean the unit, to braze weld the return tube, to give up on the thermistor :p but was not able to clean the floater and its PCB in time for the mechanic. He needed to put the tank back to do the test so I removed the floater from the unit and returned the sender to him like that. So I have no fuel information on the dash now, been using the trip odometer as a reference (9.7 Km/L on the first 95 liters tank).

Variable resistor seems good though (June 1st 2020, exactly one year from today, what a coincidence)
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1) Anyone knows what is the purpose of that white plastic that was loose inside my tank? This is a diesel tank BTW.

2) My tank breather tube has this black thing on the end. I am not sure if it is supposed to be like this or if it is broken and missing some sort of filter or check valve. Anyone knows how it is supposed to be?
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PS.: filler neck and breather tube will be galvanized eventually when the car comes back from bodywork to my garage, so I can start addressing every minor detail one by one. Can't wait for that to happen...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BrazilianY60

1) Anyone knows what is the purpose of that white plastic that was loose inside my tank? This is a diesel tank BTW.

2) My tank breather tube has this black thing on the end. I am not sure if it is supposed to be like this or if it is broken and missing some sort of filter or check valve. Anyone knows how it is supposed to be?
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PS.: filler neck and breather tube will be galvanized eventually when the car comes back from bodywork to my garage, so I can start addressing every minor detail one by one. Can't wait for that to happen...

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Hi mate. nice build thread. the breather should have a big Bell like plastic case over it. it is designed to create an airlock if in goes into deep water. Think inverted glass pushed into a sink of water trapping the air in.

a 300ml or so bottle of water with the bottom cut off and the neck taped onto that black bung will do the same job.

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Originally Posted by MudRunnerTD

the breather should have a big Bell like plastic case over it. it is designed to create an airlock if in goes into deep water.

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Thanks @MudRunnerTD.
Now that you mentioned it got me really curious to see how that look like. I could not find any reference in the FSM, but remembered this time to check the Partsouk catalog and it is listed as 17333 breather hose cover... Ended up finding a picture from Patrolapart. Looking now to find a picture of it in place, or maybe taken apart, to have an idea if the connection is sealed or what.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by BrazilianY60

Looking now to find a picture of it in place, or maybe taken apart, to have an idea if the connection is sealed or what.

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If it wasn't sealed at the top then it would not be effective as an air pocket. I would suggest that it does need to be sealed at the top.

Found a picture on this thread:
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forum...nk-Breathers!!

http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forum...2021/05/80.jpg

Engine came back from the machine shop looking top notch. They even painted it black.

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New filter in the airbox:
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New belts and fan clutch. Looking back at it now, I should have bought a new fan as well:
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Those hose fittings that I had to work around:
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And finally, the first idling! Sounds pretty good to me! My first 6cc engine, my first diesel, all at once!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiO1ajBx5iw

How it sounds after warm. Very little noise from the tailpipe, but super loud at the cab. Later I discovered that the exaust flexible joint was toast. Fixed that. Still loud. Put the square intake tube and the cyclone back, still loud. Figured out a lot of the noise was coming from the square intake pipe to square airbox joint. Put some adesive foam tape to make it more sealed and that helped a lot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jnR3wtS8Lk

Here it is intake+cyclone but I believe before the foam tape seal:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsftNcwL1I0

Testing the A/C idle-up actuator:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuQnyVOA5pw

I was very happy with how the engine rebuilt went!

great job, very impressed with your resourcefulness, we sometimes forget just how hard it can be to get "goodies" for our beasties when we have everything we could need sitting locally on a shelf ........

Thanks @Bigcol.
Yeah, my goal with this restoration is to use everything I can from local market, when it can be accomplished with small, non safety related adaptations. Other then that, I have been able to source some parts in Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina and the farthest of all so far, Australia.

I always knew I would have to check every single nut and bolt on the car, but the plan is to choose an area to work, disassemble, study the manual, evaluate needed parts, source equivalents or import, etc. But sometimes, you don't have the chance to choose an area to work, the work simply jumps in front of you begging for attention.

This was the situation with the front axle. When the tow truck dropped the car at the mechanic for the engine work, while we pushed the car into the shop, I noticed one of the front axle wheels was clunking when steering, and upon inspection, kingpin bearings were broken, allowing movement on the camber angle. So while the car was there, I studied the bearings and seals on the hub to find out that absolutely not a single one was used in any other car over here, so nothing available. Decided to do my first overseas order from OnlineAutoParts. Got a pretty nice swivel rebuilt kit plus some kingpin shims of different thickness to be able to properly adjust.

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Very stoked with how nice the kit was!

Unfortunatelly, in the anxiety of being "proactive and efficient" in getting parts, at this first time I failed to do things in the proposed sequence that I have stated above... "disassemble, study the manual, evaluate needed parts..." I have just assumed that was all I needed for the front axle without first dissembling it. I discovered that I had an issue with front brakes, front CV joint and may still have an issue with front pinion bearings. So, lets treat this one issue at a time...

All swivel/knuckle bearings and seals in place, when we were about to put the axles back in, we noticed one CV joint had a crack... frustrating... at this point the engine was close to be returned from the machine shop (it takes a while to import goods) so no chance to try to source another one, that could as well have been part of the freight of some brake parts that I had to buy and were already in country (more on the brakes later). I am ready to take all the flames, but I ended up taking the CV to a "parts recovery shop" to be welded, a very common 3rd world practice around here. Not proud of it at all... There, the CV was broken apart, welded inside and out, sanded inside/out, bearing races are bored to the smallest next available bearing-balls size to remove any wear hump it may have, balls replaced, put together and grease-packed.

The crack
Attachment 83730

Outside weld
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Inside weld
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Final "product"
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Front brakes were mysterious at first inspection. The pad didn't touch all the disc, leaving a gap of disk unused for friction. Upon removing the pad, I also noticed the pad wasn't touching completely the disc as well, leaving some part of the pad out of the disc, and thus cutting at the friction material instead of consuming it evenly.

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Then I checked the pad part number... WTF!!! It was for a Ford Fiesta!!!
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Removed the caliper just to find this monstrosity! A new "ear" had been welded to the hub to accommodate for the smaller size of the Fiesta caliper! Just looking at it you can imagine the difference in order of magnitude of the Patrol and the Fiesta caliper.
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Took some measurements to see if the "ear to ear" distance would match some local truck, maybe an FJ40 or something, but no luck. If I had found a match, I would definitely use it, but I was not intended to adapt anything on the brakes.
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So I ground down the 3rd ear and new overseas order from OnlineAutoParts it was.
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Patrol calipers are huge in my opinion, despite being single piston. Here is a comparison with an UHF radio.
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These are the pads I chose:
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In place:
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To my surprise, the Patrol specific pad doesn't touch the inner center-line of the disc, as I was expecting. Also, what the frigging expensive thing those brake pad anti-rattle shims are! Wow! I just can't see myself spending that kind of money into some tin cans! Just used some high temperature silicone.
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As for the brake hoses, the Patrol caliper needed one with a pass-through hole fitting. Searched around and the FJ40 had the required fittings, and the length was similar to the one used on the Fiesta calipers.
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That turned out to be too long for my needs. It left me with a big loop in the hose, that was eventually touching the tires.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaxMdfhI90c

I had to improvise with some nylon clamps.
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Later, talking to a friend about this issue, he told me he uses Opel Corsa brake hoses on axle swaps he does, that it has the fittings I was looking for and a shorter length. This is a picture he sent me. I have later bought such brake hoses, but have not changed them yet because the car is still in doing body work.
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Car break is decent now. Not the "head to the windshield" type, but pretty decent. I still have to change the master and booster for the Patrol ones I already have, and will replace the hoses at the same occasion.

Keep plugging away and it will be almost a brand new vehicle. You should get many years of service out of it.