Operation Terrano

[Dirtydog]

when it was all pulled out, everything was shagged.

mind you i was a bit rough with it and was running 33's, so i think it was in the best interest for the truck to upgrade..

[fullthrottle]

Well its been a while, thought I should throw in an update..

Haven't done to much to the old girl. Rego still on hold while I finish off some things but dam work keeps getting in the way.

Anyway, had some interesting fun with the idler arm brace.
Seems like there are 3 idlers out there:
- The stock standard Nissan (12mm shaft and slightly longer)
- The replacement from BNT, Repco or Part Master (14mm shaft and shorter by 5mm)
- Some other one which I haven't seen yet, but apparently it's bigger again.

Just watch out when you are looking at getting the brace. Not sure what Calmini provide but you could end up with slop on the bottom shaft or 5mm out on the main body mount.
Thanks DEATH_INC for sorting it all out

Anyway the brace is in .....

Old vs. New (14mm)

Old arm on new brace

New arm on brace

What else???
Well the rubber flares are still sitting on the bench in the garage. Haven't put these on yet until I really need to for a WOF. But was looking at different mounting options and I think I'll go with something from these guys http://hiq.co.nz/plastic-components.htm as they are fairly secure, but will snap off nicely when put under some force without damaging the body or flares.

[fullthrottle]

Well over the past 2 weeks the truck has been in the hands of Wellington Towbars for some new clothes (Rear bumper, towbar, Front bumper/winch mount/bars)

Anyway was also thinking of ideas around those indicators mounted in the original bumper and decided to combine the park lights with indicator. Similar to the Safari, but will have an orange bulb instead.

So I've located some bulb holders which are identical (Toyota Previa) and carefully crafted some new holes in the park lights. They fit perfectly!

[Dirtydog]

i looked at doing this to mine also, seemed like a good idea and certainly looks like one now.

might have to do this to mine.

[fullthrottle]

yeah, it was quite simple to do. Have checked on the legality of doing it and that is also fine.

Will save on having to replace the indicators now. Just park lights. Yet another saving when crashing through something

Anyone want to buy some good D21 indicators

[Dirtydog]

yea it will make it easier to make up a replacement bullbar too, wont have to worry about where ya gunna mount them.

[fullthrottle]

Gees is it that time again, way past bedtime...

Thought I would give you an update any on what I've been up to with the old girl.
- Took her out for dinner
- Built her a garden bed.....oh shit not that old girl

So the T (should give her a name) has gone through a fair bit of a makeover:

(Not in any particular order)
- All sway bars were removed.
- Front and rear bars built and installed,cheers Taz.
- New winch installed after I cooked the last one.
- Swaped out window washer pump with headlight washer pump, now its like a water blaster across the windscreen.
- Installed lightbar, just need to wire it in perm.
- Modified the handbrake mounts to get a WOF...
- WOF, Rego and Tax all up to date.
- Installed 2WD steering mod.
- Wheel alignment.
- Created new mount for hilift jack

Thats it, well enough anyway.

Here is the new winch and lightbar for your viewing pleasure:

So what's next, well I split the outer CV boot when it last bent the tierod. So have that to replace. Just need to work out the easiest way to do it. Looks like a bit of a bitch.
Some more offroad adventures.

[fullthrottle]

Hmmm ah yes this post. For those that are interested, will give you a bit of an update.
So the last major bit of work done was a fair while ago, replacing all the CV boots. Wasn't actually too bad a job to do in the end. Fairly straight forward with some tips and tricks from Simon.

Since then she has been on many trips, 3rd in a competition and hauling logs out.

Then, oh bugger.....
The winch wireless remote engaged and ended up splitting the winch housing. So that meant taking the front bar off and sorting that out. Thanks to Pedro and his merry band of brothers, the housing has been welded back up and you can hardly tell where it split. Nice job boys, cheers.

I've completely rebuilt the alternator as well. Just like new now for a 3rd of the cost.

So now, while it's all out I've got a few jobs to get sorted in the next week:
- Replace all the stock grease in the winch gearbox.
- Tickle up the front bar a bit and then remount.
- Put the 3inch steel snorkel on.

Then I'm finally going to give the engine a bit of love.

Here are some finer pics of her: (just for the record)

[philip121]

shes a wild one take abit of tameing
nice job mate no shit xxxxxx

[wax]

I love that front bar. Would love to put a winch on my truck like that.

[lax2wlg]

Looking good Ants..you forgot to mention your electric fan mod, have seen it in person and it 'sucks hard' ie moves a lot of air.

[fullthrottle]

Oh yeah, must try and keep things in one place:

This one....
http://www.offroadexpress.co.nz/Forums/ ... =4&t=34482

[danielbeek]

That is probably the toughest looking front bar I've seen on a Terrano. I want...
Especially nice with that light bar.
Does that radiator still see some air?
If your going to go to the trouble of blacking out licence plate, may want to edit post from January...

[fullthrottle]

Ha, interesting. June 28th 2013 I said I would give the engine some lovin, well finally have. Better late than never.

The poor old thing needed a little more performance as she tries to turn though mud caked wheels. So she now breaths much better after removing all the EGR crap and cleaning out all the intake.

Installed the EGT gauge and observed some interesting behavior...
I increased the boost up to 15pound and saw the EGTs rise quite significantly. Hadn't touched the fuel at this point, but after talking to the regional TD27 expert (Simon) it was probably due the backlog of exhaust gas having trouble escaping.
I disconnected the exhaust (pre-muffler) and the temp dropped by an amazing 100degrees C. So I've just finished making the new dump pipe which starts as a custom cut 10mm flange with a 3inch pipe which merges into a 2.5inch. Free-flow with no mufflers right to the back.
I cut open the old mufflers and its amazing how full of crap they are from the diesel.
So it behaves much better now. However it still needs some touch-ups on the intake. I checked the performance after putting a new air filter in and the temps dropped another 50degress. I don't think the little airbox is coping that well and have been looking at other options and will probably place a ducted HKS filter in with new intake piping.

What else.... Well found a place in Welly that sells bronze bushes off the shelf, so have replaced those crappy plastic bushes in the steering setup and it lasts much longer now. Still running the braced idler with 2WD tierods which hasn't let be down yet.
Installed a thermostatic switch for the fans, so now I don't even need to think about the temp. (Had been sitting on the bench for about 8 months)

[slide]

Well found a place in Welly that sells bronze bushes off the shelf, so have replaced those crappy plastic bushes in the steering setup and it lasts much longer now. Still running the braced idler with 2WD tierods which hasn't let be down yet.

They got a size that fits straight in? You got some details, price, where to get them?
Cheers

[fullthrottle]

Well found a place in Welly that sells bronze bushes off the shelf, so have replaced those crappy plastic bushes in the steering setup and it lasts much longer now. Still running the braced idler with 2WD tierods which hasn't let be down yet.

They got a size that fits straight in? You got some details, price, where to get them?
Cheers

Yeah off the shelf, size fits perfectly. Can't remember which ones I got, but I took the idler in and we matched some up. Needed 2 bushes.
From Saeco Precision Bearings in Petone, Wellington.
From memory the 2 bushes was about $20

[fullthrottle]

Thanks to Lax, installed some extra shims in the H233 and it has a lot more traction now.
Think I could do that track up to the farm paddock in 2WD now

[lax2wlg]

Hard to beat the reversible 'one dollar locker'
The exhaust sounds good too
The whole truck is a good setup

[fullthrottle]

I gave in.....
After failing the WOF due to bushes in the idler, (even though they were bronze) I swapped in the second steering box.

The feel of the steering is sooo much stiffer. No play at all.
Normally when you've just hammered it through some rutted, rocky mess it feels like the wheel alignment is out until it settles back in again. But I've given it a good thrashing today and nothing. Drives perfect.
Having this with a rear LSD tighter than a fishes arse has made a huge difference.

I'm now just working on the converted auto-to-manual trans. Just sorting out the pressure flow via the governer and ready to manually operate the shift solenoids.

[ChurchurDan]

Is yours an auto that you want to control manually or are you converting manual to auto?
I will be putting an auto into my manual d21 and I will be using relays to control the solenoids off of the gear selector position switch.
From the reading I have done the pressure is controlled by the line pressure solenoid that is controlled by PMW from the TCM, and the function is to bleed off pressure when under low load to reduce engine load. If it is disconnected the trans will run full pressure all the time.

[ChurchurDan]

Here is some light reading on the auto
http://www.240edge.com/manuals/89-90_240sx/auto_tra.pdf

[fullthrottle]

Here is some light reading on the auto
http://www.240edge.com/manuals/89-90_240sx/auto_tra.pdf

Ha funny, that's the same manual the I've got. Yes, I've got an RE4R01A that I want to manually control and have been doing a bit of homework off and on the subject over the past few months. It seems like a very cheap mod, but the trick will be to keep the ECU out of a state of confusion.
I was also looking at incorporating the TC lockup, but have been warned (by the local trans specialist) about locking the TC in lower gears like 1st and 2nd. Apparently there is too much torque in the lower gears and will shear the bolts through the TC. The RE4R03A from the Safaris might be ok, or maybe its the case of using the RE4R03A TC on the RE4R01A. (Haven't explored this yet though)

I was looking at doing a second shifter so it could be disabled and you can use the original shifter as normal, or switch to the manual shifter.

I was at the drags many, many years back and saw the most fantastic trans. It was in a blown Mk2 Escort, that had an air shifter for the trans. Many dollars there, but gees it was fast at shifting.

Have you already got a thread running on this, if so, happy to collaborate.

[ChurchurDan]

I haven't started a thread on this as I dont intend to do the conversion until christmas time when I'm on holiday. For now I'm just researching and collecting parts.
I will have the lockup on a switch and only use it when cruising and for down hill engine braking.
As I am not going to have any form of trans ECU I have to figure out what to do with the line pressure solenoid and the overrun solenoid.
As far as I can figure from the manual the over run clutch is engaged in 1,2,3 only until throttle opening so it might just go to an idle position switch on the pedal. Looking at the wiring diagrams the line pressure solenoid has 2 wiring paths, 1 directly to the ecu and 1 through a resistor. I may hook it up so that the line pressure is low at idle and cruise but high above about half throttle.
As far as I know the ro3a was only used in some safaris and higher horsepower petrol cars so the converter may be the wrong stall speed for a terrano

[fullthrottle]

Hi Dan, found some good information and will put it in another thread. It's just an opinion of a few people but their ideas were to just disconnect the line pressure solenoid, which would allow full pressure through the trans at all times. Would make the shifts harder, but would also help solve the pour fluid flow issues that I keep reading about. Not sure if the pump would die, but the on/off could be controlled with a switch and wouldn't be a permanent OFF.

For the overrun solenoid. Does it control the clutch responsable for engine braking. When the solenoid is active, the torq converter (and engine) are allowed to spin slower than the transmission. But when the solenoid is not active, the engine spins with the rest of the drivetrain, when you take your foot off the gas. ??

Cheers

[mike]

I gave in.....
After failing the WOF due to bushes in the idler, (even though they were bronze) I swapped in the second steering box.

The feel of the steering is sooo much stiffer. No play at all.
Normally when you've just hammered it through some rutted, rocky mess it feels like the wheel alignment is out until it settles back in again. But I've given it a good thrashing today and nothing. Drives perfect.
Having this with a rear LSD tighter than a fishes arse has made a huge difference.

idler-box.jpg

I'm now just working on the converted auto-to-manual trans. Just sorting out the pressure flow via the governer and ready to manually operate the shift solenoids.

Shift Solenoid.jpg

I wonder if you can do this mod to a surf! seems so practical!

[fullthrottle]

Started a separate thread on the trans manual shifter conversion:

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=42025