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Rory's '06 GU ZD30 Wagon

15K views 78 replies 22 participants last post by  Rory GU 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
I bought this Patrol back in November last year and finally got around to starting a thread. The car is Ex-Skilled but comes very tidy and clean.
So far I haven't done a lot with it but I have just bought everything I need to make draws (probably not but not far off)

Car just got a service and mechanic said its one of the cleanest ex-miners hes seen so that's a plus. Along with that it got fresh filters and oil and new front bearings. Clutch fluid is due soon so will probably do that at home soon. The ZD30 is at 163000 and running well.

Plans for the car are 2 inch lift and some 305/65/17's which I can hopefully get before the current desert duelers run out of tread. Plan is for it to be a comfortable reliable car that will take me where I want to go.

Its running the stereo out of my old car which is a Pioneer AVH-P8450BT, Alpine PDX-V9, Alpine Type R Splits, JL Audio 60 watt coaxial 2 way and a Kenwood KFC-W3012 (400w) sub.

When I first picked it up:


At Two Rocks:
 
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#7 ·
Yeah? well I'll keep a bit of an eye on mine for wear then :)
Intercooler is suspect on mine too, I'd like to get it fixed soon but I cant justify 1200+ on a cross country.
Yeah I had a V8 Crewman before this, I miss it some days but then when I get to head out 4X4ing in this I have absolutely no regrets.

Nice GU mate. Good idea changing all the fluids, best insurance.
Yeah next service I'm thinking will be diff oils etc. and brake fluid maybe before that.

Welcome Rory and congrats on the new rig, it looks great.
Cheers mate, there is so much I want to get done ASAP but I'm sure I will get there in the end.
 
#8 ·
I'm also considering chopping my cargo barrier when I install my drawers. The barrier is a Milford full height and I would love to get a little bit more length out of the back of the drawers. Thought at this stage is to cut the barrier at the top of the drawers (360mm off the cargo floor same height as side pockets) and weld a new piece of steel along the bottom and another piece of steel to bolt that to the rear seat mounts but not really sure if this is the right way to go about this, any ideas?
 
#9 ·
I have a Milford Half barrier and a set of Drifta drawers and it works really well. The extra length in the drawers is great. Can you sell the full size barrier and use the money to buy half size. save on a fair bit of stuffing around.

Have you had a read thru of the ZD30 bible? Its well worth the read so much good info in there.
 
#12 ·
Ended up going out to the power lines Friday night in this, just taking the easy tracks but the Patrol went well, the stock lift let it down a bit though... Unfortunately I'm still waiting on an eBay seller to combine postage for my draw slides.
On Saturday I bled the clutch as well and now it has all fresh fluid, didn't make any difference I think but its nice to know that the fluid is fresh.
I should have a GME TX3500 that I'm buying off a friend this weekend so I will see if I can get that wired up :)
 
#13 ·
Dash has been painted as there was score marks in it from a previous UHF handpiece cable coil. Only in a silver, nothing fancy.

TX3500 went in before our camping trip at Two Rocks on Saturday, works a treat, very happy. For the moment its cable tied to the center console near the 4X4 selector in the passenger footwell and the handpiece is up on the dash near the Head Unit, on the passenger side. It looks and functions ok where it is, not great but ok.

Also a surprise call from the fiancee yesterday confirmed that 2 inch shocks and coils are on order for pick up today :D cannot wait to install them over the weekend.
 
#15 ·
The lift is done now, had some friends come round yesterday and give me a hand with the install. It sits a lot nicer now and drives for the most part on the road like it has no lift, the rear sway bar needs replacing, either with a second hand stock part that a mate has or with aftermarket disconnects for more flex, It needs replacing because one of the links has started to fail, will get onto that within a week or so if I can. The car is much more comfortable over bigger bumps like train tracks and potholes as well.

I also have to consider tyre size and whether I will get some black steel rims in 16 inch for the new rubber. 2 reasons being 16's are $50 a corner cheaper (which covers rim costs), and that 16's will let the tyre "bag" out more after airing down than 17's. The new tyres will be 33's either way though and probably All Terrains, possibally Mickey Thompson P3's depending on funds.
 
#16 · (Edited by Moderator)
My drawer slides showed up at work today so I have to pull my finger out and cut the ply I've already purchased. Slides are 650mm locking for fridge, 650mm non-locking for right drawer, and 600mm non-locking for left draw with paddle handles for latching the non-locking slides closed.

Slides



After lift flex, not as good as I hoped for but will probably go disconnects eventually to help this out. (Front wheel is in a creekbed)



After lift height on flat ground
 
#17 ·
Starting to look the part. Be better again with a set of 285/75/16's on it. Go for a set of black 16" rims with -12 offset. The Patrol will feel much more stable with the extra track.
 
#18 ·
Cheers mate, yeah once the 31's get too low I'll be getting new tyres, will be going 16s though because the 17's are way too much per corner. Cheers for the offset, was meaning to ask what everyone recommends. Do you recommend a different offset for 305/70/16's? Also what does everyone think of the "Dynamic" steel rims as they seem to be the cheapest out there at $95 for 16x8 with -13 offset.
 
#22 ·
I really wish this was the case as I quite like the 17's but unfortunately I can get 285's on 16" rims plus tyres for less than the 285 17's in the same brand and tread style. I can always keep the 17's for on road use only but they are too expensive for what you get; plus 16's will bag out more.

Just a tip on the drawer slides, you don't need both sides to be locking. Its easier to open if you put one of the locking slides with one of the non locking slides. That way you don't have to unlatch and pull from just the little locking levers. If that makes sense?
Good point, but only the fridge slide will have the locks on the slides, the drawers will have paddle handles for opening/latching. Will consider splitting the 650mm slides though for ease of use.
 
#20 ·
Just a tip on the drawer slides, you don't need both sides to be locking. Its easier to open if you put one of the locking slides with one of the non locking slides. That way you don't have to unlatch and pull from just the little locking levers. If that makes sense?
 
#21 ·
Hi Rory,

Great to see your progress. I do agree with Wes re. swapping to 16s - you mention the $50 per corner saving being enough to cover the steelies, well that is probably true if you are fitting the cheap Chinese Sunraysia copies that will bend if you look at them the wrong way... the 17" GU alloys don't cope well with rocks (they are easy to scratch up) but they are very tough wheels, and they are also super light for their size and strength. And as Wes suggests, 17" tyres aren't silly expensive these days.

Regarding your swaybar links, here's how I sorted mine:

http://www.patrol4x4.com/forum/suspension-57/nice-set-rear-swaybar-links-66715/
 
#23 ·
The saving calculated for Khumo KL78's in 285 wide 33's are $242 a corner for 16's and $363 per corner for 17's. That's $121 per corner and $484 for all 4. Also, what make can I rely on if I do go for steel rims as you mention problems with copies?

I'm well aware how badly the 17's scratch up and show blemishes, I believe that the dealership I bought the car from used an acidic wash on them and now they look like crap. I managed to sand out the corrosion from the spare but that took an hour and came up average at best. I'm not writing off the idea of keeping them as I quite like them, even if I only keep them as 31's for road tyres.

I'll keep the swaybar links in mind for future reference. When I searched for them, I found these under STB8833 Nissan Patrol Rear Extended Sway BAR Link KIT STB8833ETKIT | eBay
Are they suitable for 2" or would they need cutting like you mention in your thread?
 
#27 ·
2 weekends ago I pulled off my towbar as the towball hitch was stuck good and hard in there (even after trying to snatch it out). Ended up removing the rear bar and cutting one of the studs off as the nut was not coming off the stud, after I managed to remove the towbar I replaced all the chassis studs that hold the towbar on with new high tensile bolts and nuts and welded them to the plate that the old studs were in and put them back inside the chassis rails and put the rear bar back on.

I had planned to get a mate to use his work press to get the hitch out but I kept forgetting to take it down to him so I ended up using a Blowtorch and sledge hammer to smash the old hitch out which took about 1:15 of hard hitting.

After I managed to get the old hitch out, I decided that I should clean up the old towbar before it went back on so I gave it a wire wheel and a sand with a flappy grinding disk back to bare metal in places that surface rust was coming through and gave it all a coat with black killrust.

After leaving it to dry, I put it back on the car, looking **** and span now and my recovery hitch can actually get some use :D
 
#28 ·
Yep - getting the towbar hitch out is a real bastard. I always recommend people leave them out so they don't rust in there, and for people who want to leave them in (frequent towing etc) you must grease them up with marine grease and still take 'em in and out with a regrease at every service.
 
#30 ·
Tuesday night I headed to the shed and cut some 25mm square tube up for my fridge slide and welded it up and painted it all black, leaving it overnight to dry.
Last night when I got home from work I had a lot to do to get everything finalised for our trip down south tonight. First thing was out with the drawers and the timber base beneath them. Then I finally managed to bolt down the base, with a few minor issues, and then bolt the drawers down to the base.
Then it was a matter of screwing the slides and platform to the drawers. Took me a while to screw everything down but when I finished I realised that the rear doors wouldn't close with the Engel on the slide so off the slide came moving it towards the front of the car enough to clear the rear doors and then screwing it back down to the top of the drawers.

So I have finally bolted down my drawers and made up my fridge slide after having the drawers for three and a half weeks.
Heading down to Bunbury this weekend so see if I can head offroad somewhere for some fun :)
 
#31 ·
Well I managed to get some second hand 305/65/R17 MT ATZ's (33/12.5/17) with a decent amount of tread on them for a good price and managed to get them fitted for not as good of a price, but still on top of where I would have been. The drivers side mudflap is not liking them as much as I am though and I have given it a bit of a trim but it needs a bit more.
Also managed to head out for a 4x4 on the weekend and really enjoyed myself and gave the car a few new scratches.




I also managed to get some photos of the fridge slide since its been installed.




 
#32 ·
Looks the good mates. As for mud flaps. They are overrated, One session on the rocks and i snapped off 3 of them. One still remains and its a stubborn mofo haha
 
#34 ·
Haha funny you mention a day on the rocks, I spent a few hours out on Saturday and not a single sound from them, then reversing out of a parking spot on sunday it rubbed :headwall:

I do want to keep the mudflaps as my driveway is quite long and rocky and has animal droppings on it that I don't want to clean off my paint :p

Looks great mate how did you make the fridge slide does it Sri down so you can see into it


09 GU Patrol standard

88 VX Sahara twin locked on 35's & lifted

The fridge slide is just a frame that the fridge sits on, a drop down slide would be awesome but couldn't justify the $ for it at this stage, at the moment its just a matter of standing tall for me or standing on the rear bar for the missus. I did consider making the drop design myself but couldn't really get it done in time and this seems to be doing fine the way it is.
 
#35 ·
The Patrol now sports a Rhino Rack Pioneer Platform. The rack went on 2 weeks ago and I've had nothing but praise for it. I first ordered a 1200mm wide rack to keep it narrow but it wouldn't fit even with Pioneer Leg Height Spacers so I managed to return it for a 1400mm wide rack which fits nicely anyway with not too much overhang.

I have also fitted a reversing light to the rack, just a 6" 18w light bar and its working a treat. I've wired it up with an on/off/on switch to come on with accesories and when in reverse. Wiring for the light comes from behind the rear window in the black plastic vent.

I've also installed a new drivers seatbelt as the old one wasn't retracting properly. The new one is like silk to touch, so much better than the old one.

 
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