Swapping bodies between 4 door and 2 door terrano.

[traversd]

Hi there,

Been following these forums for a while now, soaking up all the valuable knowledge you guys have haha.

I have a Nissan Terrano, TD27T 5 speed 2 door, 1992.
I recently (from a extremely amateur driving line) hit a fallen over pine tree, the branch of the tree went right through my left head light, smashed the turbo and then smashed into the firewall tearing the metal on the firewall, and causing big cracks through the windscreen and moving the dash forward a couple of mills,


I know someone around here will have an idea about this!


I will post photos tomorrow to give you guys a better idea.



So the inside of the engine bay and the firewall are all pretty smashed up, I must of hit the tree at about 30kph.

I was thinking it could be a write off, but I was also thinking about the possibility of putting another body on the chassis?

I found a guy in my home town that is wrecking a 4 door manual 5 speed terrano, and would sell the shell for 250 dollars, excluding bolt on panels.


So my first question is, before I go checking things out, would a 4 door terrano shell bolt onto the chassis of my 2 door terrano? Both were 2.7 manuals.
(the 4 door is a wide body with flares etc if that makes a difference)


Cheers,
Travers.

[traversd]

Ahhh. on doing a more in depth search of the site i see someone asked the same question but the other way around, hmm. Apparently the mounting points dont line up, I will double check my self.

Otherwise, would anyone have a 3 door body for sale in North Canterbury?

Cheers. ah

[philip121]

check your chassis before anything you cauld cut cab back off make a ute

[slide]

You might want to talk to ltsa as it'll need a re classification and probably certification. You'll need to prove ownership of the new cab (much easier if you can chamge rego into your name)

To see how much nissan makes things 'the same but different', check this thread, http://www.offroadexpress.co.nz/Forums/ ... 18&t=39075

[Crash bandicoot]

It may pay just to buy the chassi and body and put your running gear in it and fix the broken stuff. atleast then all the numbers will match up VIN plate wise.

In saying that as fore mentioned buy the 4 door body and cut it into a ute. Or get your hands on a nivara cab. This will be the easiest option.
Most wreckers will sell you a bare cab at scrap price.

we did similar with my hilux, the only original part left on it was the chassi after all the mods/ body drive line swap was completed.

I did mine only because I had easy access to all the parts i needed and had an ex army engineer for a father so chopping and welding to LVVTA standards wasn't an issue.

It's not the easiest thing to do unless your well endowed with mechanical knowledge and probably the more expensive route to go down, so I'd probably go with a navara cab too.

You have to weigh up the cost versus benefit, as in the end it may have been less hassle just to write it off buy another and use your damaged one for spares.

[traversd]

Hey thanks for the replies,

What would be the benefit of chopping the back off a 4 door terrano? Is that because its only the rear mounting points that dont line up?

Hmm, putting a d21 cab on to the terrano chassis, like in that thread, looks very simple,


Is it as simple as it seems?

How would that work legally putting a navara cab on a terrano chassis?

Would you need to re vin it? Or would you simply want to use the plates and tags from the navara ute?

Andd, just incase any of you guys would know, Would a double cab d21 fit on the terrano chassis? As it looks a bit longer but there is one in Christchurch that I know of.

Much appreciate the answers as I have never done anything of this sort before.




Cheers again.
Travers.

[ChurchurDan]

That is my d21 linked above. The double cabs are too long for the terrano's shorter wheelbase.
I would be surprised if the 3 door and 5 door had different body mounts as they are both the same wheelbase and as far as I know the same floor pan.
If I was you I would bust out the tape measure and go have a look.

I have to cert mine as a body swap and retain the tags and plates from the terrano. When the warrant runs out in 5 months I will let you know how hard it is to do.

[traversd]

Great, I'm going to measure them out tomorrow, since havent had access to a 4 door this weekend.

But Im thinking I'm going to go with the d21 cab and there is one locally in Rangiora.

I was talking to my girlfriends father, who is a mechanic in Amberley, and he said he recently talked to a guy who recently put a D21 cab on a terrano chassis, that wouldn't be you would it?


And also, what needs to be disconnected before the body is lifted, the wiring looms etc brake lines fuel lines, and steering colllum etc? Is there anything in particular that I might miss?

If you don't mind, what order should I work in?


Cheers.
Travers.

[ChurchurDan]

Could be me I am the auto electrician in Amberley.
I unbolted the the brake and clutch master cylinders and pushed them over towards the motor so I didn't have to bleed them. The wiring disconnects by the battery and by the alternator and one plug under the left rear corner by the diesel tank. The steering shaft is one bolt and will pull off the spline.
Diesel lines need to be disconnected I did this by the brake master cylinder and the tank filler pipe needs to be undone behind the right rear wheel. The radiator needs to come out and the power steer reservoir can be unbolted and pushed out of the way. Also the heater hoses and throttle cables need to be disconnected.
I also took all the front panels and doors off to make it lighter to lift, the body's are rather heavy.

[ChurchurDan]

Almost forgot, there is a brace between the torsion bar cross member and the floor and the handbrake cables to disconnect.

[traversd]

great so far its going good, cheers for that much appreciate the info.

The only cab I can find is from a 4wd petrol d21.
I can't go see it till I go pick it up, but before I do, do you know if that would be compatible since my terrano is a diesel?
I'm guessing I would have to swap my wiring loom into it?

I was originally just going to find one with dash and loom and such still inside the body so i wouldn't have to touch those things, as I never dealt with electrical, am I wrong in thinking that is the case? Cheers.

[ChurchurDan]

Mine was a petrol cab as well. I swapped the terrano loom into it.
In a terrano there is a lot of electronic crap in the left rear guard, the loom on this was long enough to go around the cab and the modules are screwed down under the drivers seat. It will be fine till I drown it.

[traversd]

Haha like the previous owner did?


Okay, the cab I thought I was onto is a no go. Really can't find one around here.

I am going with a 4 door wide body terrano, which all lines up.

It was a manual td27t and still has the dash and loom and a bit of extra crap in it. So it should be even easier than I first thought.

It is a round dash model, will that affect anything in the way of connecting up the wiring, or is it all the same? I here the round dash is electric driven speedo?

I don't get the body till late next week, will post pictures when I'm done.

Cheers.

[kiwipete]

My 95 is the round dash and has an electric speedo.

[Crash bandicoot]

grab the speedo from a nissan mistral pre 1998 also get the speedo drive and cable from the trans/ gearbox for it.

wrecker will probably sell you the whole cluster though not individual instruments.

Mistral is cable driven but as above fits the updated dash/cluster

[philip121]

are you saying cable will drive a digital cluster

[Crash bandicoot]

are you saying cable will drive a digital cluster

knuckle head.....

read the conversation again.

[philip121]

so your saying to get a cable drive to work on a digital cluster you use an adapter or are you saying ... use an adapter so that you can get a old speedo to work on a modern truck like replacing a digital speedo cluster with an old cluster that is cabel driven by using an adapter

[traversd]

Great, thats brilliant to know, wonder why they made the mistrals cable driven?

But cheers that makes things much more simple and tidy haha.

[philip121]

so minstrals have a cable driven digital speedo cluster

[slide]

bingo. you're onto it now

[philip121]

so if that's correct it must be possible to put in a older speedo do you think

[sibainmud]

Square peg into a round hole..........yeah right!

[traversd]

Hey, must the fan be removed to remove the radiator on a td27? the shroud seems to be stopping me from lifting it out.

Also I have to replace the turbo as the actuator and the part where the air goes in ( ), are badly damaged, my best guess is that I shouldn't reuse the gaskets, so would I be able to get new gaskets from somewhere like repco or BNT?


And back to the speedo drive and cable from the mistral, does it matter if the mistral is an auto or a manual? It will connect with the older manual trans in my terrano, yes?


Cheeers guys.

[slide]

The lower part of the shroud unclips, giving room to get shroud past fan blades.
Can't just swap actuator? could be a lot less work

[traversd]

Cheers, didn't notice that.

All is good and well, Should be getting the new body tomorrow.

But one thing I have figured is how do I unplug the wiring in the door? It doesn't seem to have a plug to disconnect it? Or do I just have to pull the wiring out further?

And with the tailgate the plugs are in the little compartment on the left in the boot, but there is no way it will fit back out.

Am I missing something very obvious? Or do I just have to cut?

Cheers.

[ChurchurDan]

For the front doors the plug is right at the bottom of the pillar. You remove the kick panel and unscrew what is in the very bottom and the plug is behind it. The back doors are similar. You need to unplug before you can pull it out.
I have not done the hatch so I cant help with that one.

[traversd]

Hey.

Body swap went well, all the mounts lined up between the 2 door and 4 door.

Only thing that did not line up was the plugs on the steering colum, I had to get the idicator and window wiper units from the 4 door terrano as the plugs on the 2 door indicator and wiper unit were different.


I still have no indicators though, would this be because I dont have a hazard light swtich?


and using a nissan mistral instrument cluster was a no go, the plugs all fit in, but they are doing weird things. ie temp guage always on max and no other guages working and unusual lights on.


I made another thread asking on how to remove the speedo drive on the gearboxes.



Took a couple of pictures of the swap just because.

Cheers.

[ChurchurDan]

That's right no indicators without a hazard switch.
And where are the pics?

[Crash bandicoot]

i sent you a pm re speedo. you need to change the actual speedo..not the whole instrument cluster.