Fatboys Patrol

[Madaz]

Heres some pic of whats being built on the otherside of the workshop to my Hilux:

Its a 89 safari getting a nissan vh45 and 5speed

[Madaz]

[Madaz]

[darinz]

He's going to have fun if he thinks it will fit with the manifolds, the oil filter where it is, thefactory power steer pump on there, the alternator where it is and it won't clear the firewall unless he spaces the engine foward 3" or shift the body back.
And about a 100 other little things.
Try fitting that AND turboing it!!!!! I can assure you he is in for a few headacres!!!!!

[Madaz]

Dude, have another look- those manifolds do fit, thats not the factory alternator or powersteer and we have remoted the oil filter.
The engine goes in the hole and bolts up to the safari 5 speed no dramas at all.
He has moved the gearbox foward a couple of inches but thats it...
All he needs to do is get the wiring sorted and thats it.

Cheers

[tgaguy1]

How did he bolt the gearbox to the donk? What bell housing, clutch plate, pressure plate and flywheel has he used? I would like to do this conversion myself one day, so I am quite interested in seeing how someone else has done it. Keep up the good work. And keep posting the pics.

[Madaz]

He used the standard vh45 bellhousing, he cut the back out of it and welded in a new piece of plate,then he cornered his machinist and got him to mill the bellhousing to suit the gearbox.
The flywheel was made the next night out of a bit of billet.
Clutch was some thing nissan but not a safari one- i'll have to check with him.
Conversion hasnt cost him that much but only because he can either make or get somone to make it for free a holden or chev like doddzee used would be the cheaper way(easier) to go

[Shane]

Any up dates on the V8 GQ?

[Madaz]

He hasnt done anything for a couple of weeks- been too busy going hunting and fishing!
Last I heard he was converting the electrics over to 12volt

Cheers

[darinz]

Ok at a closer look he has modified the manifolds, but they don't look like factoy VH45. The factory VH45 manifold are quite a bit wider than the chassis rails. The factory tube manifolds are complete shite anyway. They look good from the outside but when you cut them open they are terribly restrictive.

The biggest problem with an V8 conversion is the Patrol firewall. It causes you either to shift the engine or shift the body. I shifted the body as mine is a ute so it made for much better approach angle and weight distrubution. A lot of work but the results are great. Probably overkill if it isn't a comp truck though.

If he wants any info on tuning or anything else to do with the motor then the NICO forum is where it is. I got basically everything I needed to know from there and have proven it on the dyno so the guys there do have a clue!

I have to agree about a Chev conversion being cheaper and easier but that is only becuase you can buy everything you need. This conversion will get more popular as the motor has pretty amazing potential in stock form, and is cheap to buy. Mine is a stock motor with a turbo and really good ecu and tune.

[Fatboy]

hi fatboy here,
this whole project has been a great test to a mans enduro, right from conception to the present. The gearbox has been moved forwards 100mm this was done after cutting out the firewall and then deciding that there wasnt going to be anywhere enough airflow around the engine and for some of the exhaust issues . The exhausts manifolds have been fully fabricated from scratch as there is no room because of the width of the engine but they all fit now and will have the rest of the exhaust system bolted up eventually. I had to remake the oil pickup when i remade the sump as i changed it to a rear pick up and added 40mm extra in depth to try and get rid of any oil starvation off road as i understand that these engines dont like being low on oil.I have used a Suzuki Vitara altenator as it is 50amps and fits in just right in the only space on the drivers side of the engine and the powersteering is a mixture of safari and primera all the drive belts are off the shelf and adjust as per the original . The clutch is a 5 puck solid centre with 1000kg pressure plate as a triple plate is a waste of time in the mud so oppted for this and it was the biggest i could fit in any how. Just the wiring to sort now as the only foxparr was that the donar truck was a deisel and is 24v so it has taken a while to sort out how we should proceed but i have now found a transformer that changes 12 to 24v and can run my engine starter motor and fuel pump on 12v and the rest of the truck on 24v, The fuel pump is a 300zx in tank pump fitted into the deisel tank via the hole for the sender unit.

[darinz]

I assume you have used a Primea Pump? If so which pump as that sounds easier than the VL pump I've used. The only thing I don't like with mine is the power steer so an easier option would be very very good!!!!!!!!!!

What did you do with th e rear sump and the braces to the bell housing? I assume you still use them. Can you post some photo's as I'm going to make a new bigger sump sometime soon and ideas would be great?

[Fatboy]

fatboy here,
The pump was off a sr20 motor that i put in a jet boat i built a couple of year ago a 1996 model.The primera pulley was used. The sump has all the braces slightly modified as you have to bring the bottom bolts through the bell housing from the rear of the engine as when you change the sump round there is no room to go the way they were fitted originally. The pickup has to be rebuilt to re position it towards the rear of the sump at the deepest point and the original fitter screen was used on the end of it. The original cluch fork and thrust bearing has also been used.

[darinz]

Thanks I'll look for one of those pumps and see if it is better than what I have!

[Madaz]

After sitting untouched in the shed for a year work has begun again.........

Oil filter relocation


Exhaust to chassis clearance


Exhaust to steering clearance


Gearbox to bellhousing


Engine sitting in place

[Fatboy]

Fatboy here,
Yes progress at last oil has been put in the engine brakes have been bled,a small issue with a seazed master cylinder on the clutch which should be sorted this weekend and hopefully it should run. All electrics are now 12v thanks to a NZ new 12volt ad patrol which we brought and de loomed and re fitted to this truck, once it has run and been driven it will get the rest of the body mods.

[flyingbrick]

Hi there. Is the owner of this truck named Ken? At Corus metals or someplace?

[Fatboy]

yes he is , and yes it runs phase one is near completion.

[flyingbrick]

Oh cool.

You aren't Tim by any chance?

A workmate of mine keeps talking about Ken and a bloke called Tim. He keeps telling me i should pop in and chat with Ken sometime about his v8 etc etc.

-NAthan

[Fatboy]

no Tim is my son, he has picked up all my bad habits ,4 wheeling, shooting you know all the good things, Cheers, oh yeah your more than welcome to view the project at any time.

[darinz]

What did you do with the oil filter relocation? Have you keep the factory bypass valve? I ended up mounting mine to where the guard for the power steering belt use to bolt on. (that should make sense hopefully) This kept the hose runs to about 50mm and solve the oil pressure drop problems I had when mounted like you have it. These motors require 80psi oil pressure.
FYI I used a 3 core GQ radiator on mine and that is coping with my turboed VH45. It is an off the shelf item from most good radiator places. (or my mate who has a radiator shop can do you one) I would think that a standard 2 core might be OK for an NA one. The standard Q45 radiator is pretty big but really thin and the cooling arear would be similar to a TD42 rad.
If you have any issues give me a call I'm happy to talk about how a solved some of the problems. 09 436 1992 hm

[Madaz]

Pretty sure hes still got the factory GQ radiator in it, oil pressure isint to much of a issue as the factory ecu has a safety feature built in to it , so that if the oil pressure drops under 30 psi it will stop the engine.

[Fatboy]

Fatboy here , the trick is not to restricked the oil line size and then all is as it should be the hoses run from a new plate at the pump to the orginal filter pressure block all is 1/2" bsp sizing making the inside diametre of the line 1/2" so there is no effort required to push the oil around, all the pickup pipes in the engine where aultered as well when i changed the sump from a front pickup to a rear pick up. The radiator is the orginal patrol one.

[darinz]

I used 1/2" pipe and 1/2" bsp fittings and that caused the pressure drop, well the fittings did more specifcally. I then moved the filter to reduce the length of the pipes (to about 300mm long) and that improved the situtaion but it wasn't until I took out the fittings and had tails welded on that the pressure was returned to normal.
The passageways inside the original filter housing are 19mm so 1/2" is alot smaller. To combat this others have gone as big as dash 14 hose.
I have the factory bypass at the oil pump and have now extended the hoses after that. This has solved the problem.
If you go to the NICO website you will see that pressure drop with relocated oil filter is a very very common problem. If you don't have the factory bypass valve then it is almost guaranteed to get pressure drop. There is oil bypassing through this valve at all times with this motor. Even using a filter with a bypass valve in it still causes pressure drop with most conversions.
If what you have done is getting a constant 80psi then that is great, but from my experience and research that won't be the case.

I'm not trying to teach you suck eggs! And from what you've posted up here you certainly know what you are doing, I'm just offering some advice based on having done a lot of research into this motor and having done a very very similar conversion.

[Fatboy]

hi Mike, i have not put a pressure gauge on the system but the way the motor is running i cant see or here any untoward effects , the hose used was ENZED push fit rated at 400psi to 220c and is fine, but it is early days, they are 600mm long and as i said the plate at the pump is not a restriction and the whole piece that holds the pressure by pass valve and filter is a straight fitting again no restriction. The plate at the engine end is made from 8mm stainless and this had 2 m/f bsp stainless elbows welded into it, the holes on the motor side had the orings cut the same as the original piece that i took off, at the other end a 25mm block of aluminum was machined to allow for mounting and this was tapped 1/2"bspp to take the hose fittings , all in the end a nice simple unit, i had looked at dry sumping it at the beginning but in a truck used in bush tracks it is to easy to stuff a pump which sort of buggars your day. Cheers Ken.

[darinz]

I looked at dry sumping as well but the $$$$ put me off. Are you running a oil pressure gauge? I've plumbed one in to keep an eye on it as oil pressure seems to be the motors biggest problem.
Like I said before it sounds like you've got a pretty good idea of what you are doing and aren't cutting corners or anything like that. The thing is that oil pressure seems to be this motors weakness so you need to be pretty particular about it.
I've had the oil pressure drop once when vertical during a winch (rope broke so sat there idling for a while) and the hydraulic lash adjusters loose pressure pretty quick so you have a really good early warning system there as well. I am still running the factory sump with front pick up so it isn't ideal. It is still on the list of jobs to do!!

PS I used Hydralink 1/2 push fit hose which sounds the same as the ENZED product, I'm just support by Hydralink that's all.

Darin

[Fatboy]

36 years of playing with trucks and cars give one a far idea of some of the problems, the sump was the first thing changed as the is no place for a front mounted oil pickup in a off roader as the old addage is most of the hard work is in climing so may as well have the pick up where most of the oil will be. Thats also the reason the sump capacity was increased so that when you have the truck in a horrible position there is still some oil going round the engine and it also helps cool everything down. We shall see as we put it to the sword over the next few months Cheers Fatboy.

[Madaz]

http://s259.photobucket.com/albums/hh286/madaz_/Infiniti%20V8/?action=view&current=HPIM1377.flv

[flyingbrick]

man that is beyond cool

[flyingbrick]

any updates?