D21 Build Log

[Dion]

Thanks heaps you helped a lot and by the way is there anyone on the forum who has custom built a winch bar

Forgot to answer this one. DVR has done a custom winch cradle that goes in a hitch receiver on the front end, and joshy has probably build a winch cradle at some point, but no-one has done a complete custom bar, mainly because there's no need for a D22. Deadly has adapted a Hilux bar for his D21.

 

[bloodviper]

hey mate have you done your pathfinder rear swap yet can i surjest that you put in a triangle 4 link would save cuuting the rear up and if you gonna run air suspenion in the rear just get triple convalored bags or long rolling sleve bags this would save having to cut the frame


and wouldnt running the newer model dash in your truck make having to cut the harness up useless becase it would be a striaght swap over


sorry if my spelling is **** i am heaps tierd

 

[Dion]

hey mate have you done your pathfinder rear swap yet can i surjest that you put in a triangle 4 link would save cuuting the rear up and if you gonna run air suspenion in the rear just get triple convalored bags or long rolling sleve bags this would save having to cut the frame


and wouldnt running the newer model dash in your truck make having to cut the harness up useless becase it would be a striaght swap over

Hi bloodviper.

Thanks for your suggestions. They're all valid and were considered in my planning. Cutting and joining the rear of the frame is not that big a deal - I'd rather do that than deal with fabbing and welding a stack of clevis onto the frame and axle. Nissan has a lot more development and testing dollars than I do so I'm happy to have a five-link package that handles predictably and flexes well right out of the box, plus the engineer doesn't need a lane-change test.

The plan is to run rolling sleeve air springs.

Fitting the newer model dash would have resolved some of the issues but there were a couple of reasons I couldn't - the biggest being that I didn't have access to a complete dash assembly, to buy all of that from a wrecker would have been prohibitively expensive and QD32 D22 dashes/glow controls/climate control/gauge clusters don't come up on eBay much. I still would have needed to modify some harness parts to account for the fact that there is no hole in the firewall for the wiper motor wiring the way there is in the D22, and some of the connectors like those which run to the rear of the vehicle, would still have to be spliced.

 

[Pinelli]

On the rear suspension Dion, how would the pathfinder suspension handle heavy loads in the tub? I've got my dead Terrano sitting there with the coil suspension, but I do use the Nav frequently for loads of soil and gravel, as well as towing a trailer with similar stuff in it. I can't imagine the coil suspension would handle that as well as the leaf springs, would it?

Mind you , after 25 years the springs need to be replaced anyway at some stage.

 

[Dion]

On the rear suspension Dion, how would the pathfinder suspension handle heavy loads in the tub? I've got my dead Terrano sitting there with the coil suspension, but I do use the Nav frequently for loads of soil and gravel, as well as towing a trailer with similar stuff in it. I can't imagine the coil suspension would handle that as well as the leaf springs, would it?

The coil spring rate will be lower than the leaves, and the coil's spring rate isn't progressive. That's why I want to run air springs - increase the load, add more air. The other requirement from the engineer regarding maintaining the payload is to add a beam across the coil hats to guarantee no issues with carrying 1000kg in the tray.

Since you've got the coil rear sitting there - DO IT.

 

[bloodviper]

i will try and get sum pics mate its sound like he wants what bi run in my baged ute the bags i would surgest would be boss triple bags should get the lift you want and drop it low to load it up i normaly get about 6 inchs of lift out od a slam specialties re 7

 

[HartsD21]

G'day, just a quick question for ya Dion... Recently bought a 91 D21 cab chassis navara with damage to the doors, is it necessary to remove the front guards to get the doors off? If so is it difficult and time consuming?
Cheers

 

[bloodviper]

you can take the door pins out but you might have to take the front guards off to get the doors off

 

[bloodviper]

remember there is a bolt behind the bumper under neath the indicator and there is a bolt under the cowel panel

 

[Dion]

You can remove the four bolts for the door by undoing the bolt on the quarter panel at the bottom of the arch behind the wheel, and propping the panel away from the body, you can get a socket almost straight onto the bolts, but it's a great way to chip paint off the guard and get frustrated. I'd recommend you bite the bullet and remove the wipers, plenum cover, and quarter panel even though it's more work.

 

[Dion]

I noticed when I parked the car after getting home from work today that my exhaust has snapped in half, rusted through. Might be time to dust off that turbocharger...

 

[Leprechaun]

about time you updated your thread!

 

[Dion]

Yeah, it's been a while. I've been driving my car from A to B without planning mods etc, which is nice. And busy with my trailer project - thread coming soon - and the university race car team, work, blah blah blah.

Shopping list for the snail:
- OEM stud kit to suit turbo manifold. DONE
- Exhaust gasket kit.
- Turbo oil lines.
- SS pipe, silicone joints, hose clamps and bracketry, pre-turbo.
- SS pipe, silicone joints and hose clamps, post-turbo.
- Snorkel head.
- Airbox bracketry.
- Dump pipe (ZD30).
- SS custom exhaust.
- Boost gauge.
- Pyrometer.

 

[scottybobcat]

Your doing a great job on the beast Dion.She will get up and go with the turbo mate.

 

[Dave]

Any updates Dion ?

 

[Dion]

Any updates Dion ?

Nah dude.

Oh wait, I threw a ratchet strap hook over a load and when it came down it smashed the brake light lens clean off the car, that was pretty impressive for a 100g hook.

^cool story bro.

Lucky they're only like $26 and I have a spare.

 

[Dave]

^ Fair enough.

Ever hear from the guy who bought the KA24DE off you ?

 

[Dion]

Ever hear from the guy who bought the KA24DE off you ?

A month or two after he bought it, I gave him a 4x2 gearbox for some universal currency, haven't heard from him since then but he'll be around somewhere.

 

[Dave]

Ok cool.

Keen to see how he went.

 

[Dion]

I just spent ten hours straight troubleshooting an electrical problem. I had dim, flickering headlights and erratic indicators. It smacked of an earth problem, so the first four hours I spent removing the dash and upgrading the earth I initially suspected. However, when I reassembled it, the problem was worse. Another four hours of troubleshooting later, I had tracked the problem down to the fact that of the many chassis grounds on the vehicle, the only one on the main harness which grounded the lighting was hair-thin. A mistake on my part when building the hybrid harness - all the good earths were on the cab side of the super multi junction. I upgraded the lamp earthing and it cleared every problem up straight away. If you think a HID upgrade is impressive, try fixing a bad earthing problem. I removed and installed the dash twice in total, which is a bitch of a job when you're not under the pump, let alone when you need the car back on the road the next day.