The Aussie D21 Terrano Project

[Rusty]

G'day all, thought I'd post a bit of a project thread up for like minded people. Plus why not!

Bought this '93 model, TD27t, Auto for a song. But it needed work. It's not the tidiest thing on the planet, but it's an honest workhorse. Bought it like this... Minus the little bit of lift.



First thing I did was rip the interior out and assess the rust. There was a 180x360mm section of floor that needed to be chopped out. Welded in new 2mm plate and coated it in POR15. That should hold it in bay.





With that done I installed an Ironman 40mm lift kit to replace the sagging stock struts and found a mint wooden Nardi at the wreckers.... on a Daewoo Lanos

[Rusty]

After reading this forum about the auto's tendency to self destruct with heat, I bought the biggest cooler I could find and plumbed it in. The radiator is relatively new, so I put it in series.



With that installed, went away for its first trip. Up Mount Terrible in the Vic high country. It didn't go too badly, but it did show up the need for an LSD, better tyres and more power. The rear springs did sag a little too. Nothing some poly spacers can't fix.



After having the jerry leak in my tub with my chainsaw in it I made an external jerry holder and painted on a symbol representative of the cars pace.



And that brings us up to present day. Went for a sneaky day trip with the fellas. My small AT tyres, lack of of winch, LSD and power had me stuck a couple of times. But I got off better than my mates D22 who snapped a tie rod!



This weekend I cleaned out the intake manifold and deleted the EGR. Filthy job. Also replaced the glow plugs while I was there as I've been having poor cold starts. Sadly it didn't fix the problem.

[lax2wlg]

Cool. Looks like a high spec model, might actually have an LSD that just needs freshening up.

Is there a small orange sticker on the rear diff housing?

Good multi-purpose vehicles, these.

[Rusty]

Cool. Looks like a high spec model, might actually have an LSD that just needs freshening up.

Is there a small orange sticker on the rear diff housing?

Good multi-purpose vehicles, these.

My mate who used to own it said it was an LSD. With 250000km on it it's most likely pretty tired. But I'll change the oil for now and see what happens.

Easy to freshen up yourself? Or better to give it to a diff place? Was tempted to put an auto locker in it

[fh2014]

From a guy who's mucked around with too many lsds., just go the auto locker ..

[Rusty]

From a guy who's mucked around with too many lsds., just go the auto locker ..

Not a bad idea that, depending on availability for my front diff it'll be a toss between the two.

Where do you source your Terrano parts from like lockers?

[stovanovich]

You can buy the auto lockers themselves direct from lokka.com
As for steering suspension parts etc I go through rockauto.com as they seem to be the most affordable to get the high quality Moog parts I desire

[Checkerhead]

And if you're not concerned with how long the existing LSD lasts (ie you are going to rebuild or replace) then you can just put normal diff oil in. The LSD oil has a friction modifier in it to reduce how much the clutchs grab. Normal oil with make it bite a little more (not as smooth) but obviously the LSD wont last as long.
I'm no oil or diff guru, but I read a bit about this and then tried it in my jeep. Didn't notice any down sides.

[Rusty]

Cheers fellas! After degreasing everything when I was cleaning out the inlet manifold I found a leak in the injector pump

Now to get the injector pump rebuilt, at least I know it'll be good for another 250,000km!

[passengerpete]

hold off getting ya pump rebuild just yet mate, $2 top o ring could be the fix. happened to what's left of my terrano. a few years ago and has not leaked since.

[Rusty]

Really? That'd be brilliant. Been looking for 'seal kit' that has all the o rings, crush washers and seals necessary. Does anything like that exist?

[Rusty]

Small update,

Because I like making life a little difficult for myself I decided to fabricate a intercooler...

Had an old side mount lying around from a Polo TDI, cut the plastic end tanks off and employed some CAD (cardboard aided design) to mock up the new end tanks. I'll eventually enclose it and make it a water to air. But with its current mock up it fits nicely and looks rather OEM



Also tried some 33's with 16x8 et-23 steelies today. Looked great.... Now where's my money tree

[Rusty]

It's been a bit quiet in the project thread page recently, so I'll give you something to look at.

Firstly happy new year from across the ditch!

Got some 31" muddies for the Terrano, found some 2" lift king springs at the wreckers, installed them and got back the inch of height I'd lost from the Ironman saggy springs. I've been monitoring the injector pump, tightened a couple of things, changed some fuel hoses and still no joy. It still leaks time to start saving for that rebuild. Regardless however, still went away. The new Muddies are sensational! Made life so much easier out bush.