8/85 Nissan 720 - turbo advice

What......turbo a 720???????? the dynamics of a supermarket trolley.

G'day Danno...
Are you a bit of a mechanic mate? if so, I'd say go for it, otherwise dont wast your $$. I used to have a 720 dual cab and put a turbo on the SD25 after a full rebuild. I dit most of the work myself, except for the machining work. Bought a turbo setup of a SD23 as they are almost identicle, and fitted it, was an IHI turbo.

The rebuild cost about $2K doing most of it myself, which included acid dip block, machine block, machine crank, machine head, new liners, new pistons/rings, new bearings, head recondition including valve guides and seats, machine flywheel and new clutch. You dont have to change copression ratio or anything on these engines, just bolt turbo on and it will still be reliable (as much as it was before anyway).

Turbo cost about another $1K 2nd hand and bolted straight on (i was lucky to find someone selling on ebay with manifolds already made up). New exhaust as it would have needed a new slip joint onto the exhaust manifold anyway cost another $450.

The most i could get out of the the turbo was only 9psi at almost red line otherwise it was averaging 5psi. Fuel usage went up from 10L/100 to 11L/100kms after the injection pump was tuned to pump more fuel in (which cost more $$) Could have spent more time fitting intercooler and welding up a new adjuster for the wastegate but......:

The moral of the story....it was still fairly gutless and slow (only about 38bhp on the rear wheels but about 330NM of torque), had more torque hitting hills but was still quite weak with not much improvement in acceleration. This is part of the reason i sold mine and since buying an 80 series 1HZ with Denco turbo kit, it hauls like you wouldnt believe. Look at a tray back cruiser with 1HZ and fit the turbo kit to that and you wont look back.

If you really want to keep it, use the existing manifolds and weld a piece of U pipe to the exhaust manfolde and weld turbo bold pattern onto that. Do similar job for intake and join to turbo with a piece of hose, then invest in a ball bearing turbo. MOST IMPORTANTLY - before you do anything...MAKE A SNORKEL and fit it ensuring its air tight. I swamped mine twice in about 6" of water because the fan sprayed water onto the air cleaner, bent a total of 3 conrods and had to replace 1 liner.

Hope this helps, If you want more info or some pics, send me an email. cruisernut@gmail.com
Cheers
NUTS!

try and find out if a td 27 fits into it.my 1999 terrano bleep s all over my mates 2004 prado 3.0td , out pull him up hills and heaps better economy look into a half cut cheers bob

Thanks all. The SD25 rebuild may happen either way, but from what NUTS! said, it may not meet my expecations. The td27 transplant is a better idea... all comes down to cost. Cheers and I'll keep y'all posted with progress.