nissan 3litre

I think that was the motor out of the Skyline car that they used. Quite under-powered for the size of the vehicle, unless it's just gunna be a town hack. Also, the manual gearbox was a weak point from memory. Others may disagree. My suggestion? If it's a REALLY nice body and you REALLY want it, get it at the right price ($7K maybe) and junk the motor/gearbox in favour of a 4.2 diesel etc or maybe even a 6.5L chev conversion (but you'd definitely need to add a gearbox out a 4.2 to the Chev too).
Just my opinions.....
Good luck

people bag theese 3ltr patrols all the time.
none have probly ever driven one.
we have had 1 for about 3 yrs no major probs.
they are thirsty and a little gutless be we still managed to go from vic to qld a few times with a camper 4 kids ans a ton of stuff.
no problems with doing speed limits.
ours is duel fuel so heavy usage isnt really a problem.
they are cheap as chips now. a friend bought a 92 model duel fuel 150000ks spotless/never been of road for around $7000-$8000.
as said above engines are skyline/vl commodore engine with a carby.
not expensive to repair make sure timing belt has been done every 100000ks.
with out going to extreme of roads we have never been let down by any lack of power climbing the sides of mountains/sand/snow.
they do have a heap of grunt when reved right out and they love it.
cheers and hope its a good cheap one and dont be put of by the engine if the price is right

thanks for that info. guess I dont want it bad enough to go into the pros and cons any further as a mate just found me a 2003 GX 4 litr prado for about $24k (135000 k's) so I think the extra $'s would be worth it. I'm abit concerned about the fuel costs but the price should make that a bit easier to digest!

A work colleague had one from new and he had trouble with the operation of the second carby throat not working. Nissan went thru about 3 or 4 carbies before getting one that worked properly (all under warranty). Have heard of a few people reckoning they were gutless, but after Nissan got this guy's carbie right, he reckoned it was great for performance.
Also had leaking inlet manifold gasket problems causing rough running (warped manifold?).
Otherwise, he was pretty happy,esp for the purchase price at the time.
Have also heard of the weak gearbox problem - was out of the 300ZX coupe at the time, and if used for towing, was suspect.
Cheers, Gerry

Glad you found a good vehicle in the end Fester. For others wondering about the 3 litre Patrol, I bought mine new in 91 and went dual fuel soon after. Very economical to run on LPG . 277,000km and 14 years later I have found it to be an extremely reliable vehicle . Most work done around city and towing small vans/trailers on the black stuff. Alice, Whitsundays, Fraser Is a couple of times, Nullabor crosing, Flinders ranges that sort of thing. Works best in flat country as it is a bit gutless on hills. I run it mostly in 4th and 3000rpm where the torque comes in. It gets going over 3200. Skyline or VL motor should be cheap enough to overhaul. I expect to get 300,000 as there is no evidence of wear (no smoke,doesnt need oil between changes etc) Always changed oil every 10k. No gearbox issue, if light towing in 4th. Leaky rear axle seal not uncommon.
I will be looking for a lot more torque next vehicle however (3.0L TD perhaps) as I do like grunt! Heading for Birdsville mid Aug. Might actually have to use some petrol for a change.