I have been pretty much a lurker on this forum for the past few years reading up and looking for my first Patrol, and although I have read many of your posts, I have not posted much as I have not had a Patrol so did not think I had much to add.
Well, as luck would have it, I found one of my dream vehicles 2 weeks ago, and it was literally a 10 minute drive from me.
Meet Buffeltjie, a 1994 model Nissan Safari SWB GQ, with a TD42 engine and manual transmission, and it is a right hand drive. Here it is the day I looked at it, and bought it right there:
This is a brilliant vehicle and I plan to keep it and get it perfect.
The list of to-dos I can think of so far:
- 2 inch suspension lift
- LED front head lights
- replace rubber bodymount bushes (I can hear from the clunking and rattling when driving that they may be worn as a common on the GQs)
- Fit a turbo kit and front mount intercooler
- 3 inch straight through exhaust
- Madman monitoring system
- 16x10j mags
- 33x12.5r16 tyres
- Get SA registered
- Possibly a respray to either black, charcoal metallic, white or red
So far, I have already fitted the new LED front headlights, and a full RAW4x4 2 inch suspension kit, and here is how it sits today:
I have already ordered the new bodymount bushes from the US (because Nissan SA wanted me to spend R6000 for the set and then they did not have stock and also could not tell me if Japan had so it could possibly take up to 3 months according to 2 different parts managers). But, my US ordered parts should be here by Wednesday then I will have them fitted.
Currently my main focus is getting a proper turbo and intercooler setup for it to get some decent power, hopefully I can get to around 140kw from what I have been reading on this forum and seeing the magic that the Aussie guys have been doing to their TD42s.
Apparently SAC do not do these turbo conversion on the patrols for a few years now, and I believe neither do Alpine, although I would prefer not to use Alpine.
Can you guys perhaps recommend any other place in SA that can fit a decent Garret GT2876 turbo and front mounted intercooler to it, or is my only option ordering the full bolt on kit from AUS?
I am not technically inclined on engines so would most definitely have to get a professional to do it.
I am glad to finally truly be parts of the Patrol owners club and thanks for all the info you guys have always been sharing. Look forward to learning more.
