Ash's 2004 Patrol GU III TD42ti

[MB]

Beautifully Well Done Ash Mate
Tis such a waisted space under our racks, used to carry 2x120W old larger solars under my work ute podder full length rack similar but nowhere near as refined as your beaut install idea, will copy


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[Cremulator]

Wiring the Rear Tail Lights
I wanted to get the dummy tail lights to function on my GU III but didn't want to buy whole replacement units just to get the working sockets.
So I looked at other Nissan models to try to find matching bulb sockets and hopefully a simple and cheap solution.
The bulb sockets needed to be no bigger than 32mm diameter to fit in the taillights. Most I found were 37mm.
They also need to have a rubber seal. I ended up finding 32mm brake light and reverse wedge sockets on a 2004 T30 model X-Trail, but the indicators were larger 37mm bayonet fitting. However the front indicators are the 32mm wedge sockets that are required.
Go to a wreckers and source the whole rear tail light loom - including the plug! (You need these) - and also the front indicators with about 200mm of wire.
These cost me $16 for two tail light looms and $2.50 for the two front indicators from a self service wreckers. I measured up each bulb socket and the different tabs, then drew them to scale as a template. (I've attached the template to download at the bottom of this post - print it out at 100% on A4)

I took note of the angle the factory reverse socket inserts as there are little tabs on some of the other internals of the dummy lights. Cut out the template for the appropriate socket and use it to mark the centre. Then cut the centre out and mark it on the plastic. I pre-drilled a small hole before switching to a stepped drill bit to easily increase the hole while keeping it centred. Then place the template back in and use a file to cut in the tabs. You can see some of the small tabs that stop the socket. Here are all three holes cut and tabs filed out on the drivers side light. To wire the sockets into the existing plug, just remove the pins from the plugs you get with the X-Trail looms. They are almost the same and fit into the factory plug. Because the X-Trail pins have a slightly longer back half the factory Patrol plug doesn't compress and lock in. As you have to run wires from the passenger tail light to the drivers side light, I spliced them in by removing the pin from the plug, pulling the wire back through the insulation, soldering on my connecting wire, then I was able to heat shrink the connection, feed the wire back through the insulation and click the pin back into the plug. I choose to run the wires up and around the barn doors tucking it into the roof lining. On the drivers side I soldered the female pins I removed from the X-Trail plug to the end of the 3 wires. These are reverse, parkers and earth. I decided to use the plug from the X-Trail on the drivers side light to replace the factory Patrol plug as the female pins are identical and I was using all male pins from the X-Trail plug anyway.
Even though the plugs look very similar, the channels on the sides are different, so you can't just connect the X-Trail and Patrol plugs unfortunately. Here is the drivers side all wired up and plugged in. I decided to use all LED bulbs to limit the draw on the rear lighting circuit.
Some JW Speaker bulbs for brake light and indicators and some cheap AliExpress ones for the reverse lights. And here they are all working!
http://cloud.tapatalk.com/s/61ccd4e8..._Templates.pdf

[Cremulator]

Some of you will probably remember this incident that really made me look at options for improving the stopping power.

Last month I fitted the Marks 4WD Adaptors hydraulic brake booster and braided brake lines.

I'll skip the whole removal and installation, but flag some points that may be helpful for others fitting this unit.
The kit comes with everything required and is pretty straightforward to install. Having said that, the unit is about 30mm-40mm longer than the factory booster so it is challenging to fit with the fuse box in the engine bay.
It took two of us a whole day to remove and fit the booster and replace all brake lines with the braided ones.
The only thing that required some modification was the bracket that holds the fuel filter, as one of the hard lines from the master cylinder fouled on it due to the extended length of the hydraulic unit.
Before:
IMG_20220313_103410 (Custom).jpgIMG_20220313_101819 (Custom).jpg
After:
IMG_20220313_184714 (Custom).jpgIMG_20220313_184708 (Custom).jpg
Here are pics of trying to fit it with the fuse box:
IMG_20220313_132546 (Custom).jpgIMG_20220313_132600 (Custom).jpg
And this is the part of the bracket we had to modify to clear the brake line:
IMG_20220313_145709 (Custom).jpgIMG_20220313_145722 (Custom).jpg

So I will say the difference is amazing!
Instead of slowing you down like you were coming to the end of a theme park ride, as the factory brakes do, it now responds more like a car. The brake pedal has a firm feel with little give in it, and it now takes less pressure to get a response.

A friend of mine runs a garage that performs roadworthy inspections. They use a machine to measure braking performance as part of that test, so I arranged a before and after to see the difference it made on my car. It has a sensor to also measure pedal force.
IMG_20220129_131503 (Custom).jpgIMG_20220129_131507 (Custom).jpg

(Note: on Marks 4WD Adaptors website, they have test results braking from 100km/h using a 79 series dual cab LandCruiser weighing 3780kg)
Braking Distance – Standard factory vacuum – 98 metres
Braking Distance – Marks4wd Hydraulic booster – 58 metres

So this is the result of my experience, and I made sure nothing changed between tests (this is with an unloaded car, no passengers, no spare wheel, front tyre pressure 33 PSI, rear tyre pressure 35 PSI running 10+ year old 285/75R16 tyres with roughly 5mm tread, standard rotors and callipers)
Stopping_test_before_and_after.jpg
You can see that the distance was reduced slightly, but the pedal effort was greatly reduced. During the hydraulic adaptor test, pedal application had to be backed off as the wheels started to lock up (no ABS). With the factory set up, there was absolutely no way that you would be able to lock the wheels on my car.

I am very pleased with this modification and I don't feel like I will require any heavy-duty pads to further improve the performance as it may just induce locking the wheels more easily.

[PeeBee]

Great write up, thanks.

[Rossco]

Yep bloody awesome have only heard good things about the upgrade definatly on the cards one day I think. . .

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[jff45]

"Instead of slowing you down like you were coming to the end of a theme park ride, as the factory brakes do, it now responds more like a car"
Excellent analogy!

I also recently did this hydroboost mod and, in my opinion, this should be a mandatory upgrade with any GVM increase.
Hmm, should probably be mandatory for any GU..

[mudski]

"Instead of slowing you down like you were coming to the end of a theme park ride, as the factory brakes do, it now responds more like a car"
Excellent analogy!

I also recently did this hydroboost mod and, in my opinion, this should be a mandatory upgrade with any GVM increase.
Hmm, should probably be mandatory for any GU..

Yeah I did the TB48 brake upgrade to mine, and when the engineer did the brake test he said he's never been in a Patrol that stopped like mine. Problem is, it stopps too good now, very skatey in the wet if Im not careful. ABS would be a nice addition.

[Cremulator]

Installing a BCDC charger
The voltage sensing relay I had installed had served me well over the past few years with my dual battery set up, but I wanted to upgrade and have something that I could plug soar into when camping.

I bought a Redarc BCDC1225D, but struggled for a while on how and where I could mount it.

Redarc sell a bracket that mounts next to the passenger headlight behind the grille, but it's for series 4-9.
The series 3 has less space behind the grille so mounting it there wouldn't work for me.

I saw that All Good Off Road make a bracket that mounts next to the drivers side headlight behind the grille, but it's flat and I felt could obstruct more airflow to the radiator.

I also liked the Anderson plug attachment on their bracket too. A nice integrated addition.

So, I decided to make my own that mirrored the Redarc bracket but included a mounting point for an Anderson plug.

First, make lots of templates to get the shape, mounting points and fold lines worked out.

Then once I had the shape correct, I drew it up accurately and translated it to a scrap piece of 2mm aluminium I had. I folded it using a combination of a small pan brake and a vice, as the two edges were close together.

Then a coat of black paint and mounting it behind the grille.

The Anderson plug is accessible through the grille and you can plug solar in with the bonnet closed.

[Cremulator]

Repairing rust in the front cross member

When I bought my Patrol in 2018 there was a little bubbling of rust under the surface on the front cross member.
Giving it a clean with a wire brush exposed a larger blemish. I left it for a while with the plan to grind it with a sanding disk and fill and paint it.
When I did put the sanding disk on there it caused the front face to fall away and open a hole into the metal support.
This was obviously more worth than I anticipated so I gave it a coat of paint and left it as a problem for another day.
With some spare time recently I decided to tackle this larger job.
I have wanted to learn to weld, so bought a welder as this would be a good project to learn on.

I marked out the rough area I thought would need patching. Cutting back the problem area exposed A LOT or rust inside cross member.
I went along the front bar with a hammer to check the integrity and found another area to the right that opened another hole.
I cleaned out all the rust flakes, cut open the front face symmetrically and gave it a wire brush to inspect the interior.
This is what came out of it.
I gave it a coat of fish oil to hopefully prevent more decay.
Then I coated the exposed surfaces with zinc primer.
I tack welded in place the 3mm steel pieces I had cut to size.
Once fully welded I ground them back. The bottom edge of the weld wasn't great, but it should do. I guess it was because I didn't clean up the surface of the flat bar prior to welding.
A couple of coats of epoxy enamel paint and I'm happy wth how it has come up! Much better than it was, and hopefully it will last many more years now.

[BrazilianY60]

Nice work.
The inside rust that you protected with fish oil, why not use a rust converting product and then zinc-prime / paint as well?

Regarding the new welder, was it stick or mig? I have plans to learn to weld as well but I´ll start with stick. Stick welders nowadays are small, light and inexpensive due to inverter instead of transformer construction.