my 2.8 is dead

what about a commodore v6. Common conversion and places that do it should be able to give you a drive in drive out price. I have heard this is the cheapest option

G'Day Andrew,

Cheapest option is to buy a complete engine. some of the wreckers in Queensland advertise them for around $2500

Rockcrawler, (Eric), advises cheapest conversion is to buy a written of 4.2 at auction, change all the gear over, then sell the wreck again at auction, think he said somewhere around $5,000

Agree that 2.8 parts horendously expensive and Nissan don't stock a much. I waited 8 weeks for a new timing belt pulley, nissan said they were waiting for one to be made in Japan then freighted over here.

What exactly is the problem/s?

Regards

Rolande

Maybe try Matt and www.perth4wd.com.au They do drive in/out engin changeover's with low km import engines. They change bearings, new cooling system ect and give a warranty. I am sure if you were after a 4.2TD frontcut you could get one sent up north
Matt

4.2 is easiest and cheapest. also for insurance etc.

With a dead engine you wont get $10k... They have been seen for $13k with rego and running....

PS. my 3yr old GU cost less than that ;)
-----

All depends on your long term plans. If your planning to keep the next one for a while, grab one of the last 4.2's at the dealers as ocne they run out - there are no more. so hurry up!

Andrew,

I bought a 1999 GU for $12,000.00 that the owner said,"Had a blown big end" - it didn't, but that's another story.

I bought it, sold most of the bits for $3,000.00 - final cost now down to $9,000.00 -and had 6.5 Chev put in by Brunswicks. Plus new gearbox, diffs, suspension, batteries & wiring and other stuff.

Final cost - $34,000.00. It'll last me 10 years and I can service it myself - it's a simple engine in a simple vehicle. Servicing costs for todays ECU driven, hig revving, small capacity diesels are high at around $2K to $3K per year. I'll save about 15k to 20K in 10 years just on servicing costs. Prole more inflation dives up wages costs.

Other than owning my former 100 series TD 'Cruiser, I've never been happier with a truck. It's got no ECU on it, no fancy "unrepairable in the bush bits" on it, it pulls like a Fremantle hooker when the fleets in and is generally Nissan bulletproof in the bush. It's far quicker than a 4.2 Nissan and will outpull it as well.

Thiank about it. You know your current vehicle quite well. Do it like this and your current truck is like new again and not someone elses "cast off".

If ya need any advice, you have my email address.

It's a shame I'm not up in KNX now instead of July/August eh!

Bilbo (Les)

G'day Andrew and sorry to read of your dramas. I'm not sure you'd need to spend $35K on a replacement GU 4.2TD model.

My old one (2000) will be for sale in a month or so if you're interested. It has just about been returned to stock standard, but no doubt you already have a lot the gear on the 2.8, which could be transferred over.

I don't expect to get $35K for my GU.....probably stick it on ebay with a $25K reserve and see how it goes.

Let me know if you want to consider .....but it's a fair hike from where you are to where I am!!!!

Cheers

Roachie

That sucks mate, its a shame the position you are in, I do feel for you. But you are right at some stage the line has to be drawn in the sand.
Now your problem can be solved a few ways it just depends on what sort of morals you have. Some may throw a bottle of chem-weld or barrs leaks in it and hide the symptoms and off load it as a working motor.
But none of us would like that to happen to us so not the most ethical solution, Tidy 2.8 GUs in sydney even with 200000 kms plus still ask in the 17-20k bracket so I think 10-12k for yours is not un realistic.
I think I would go the trade and buy myself, for resale and peace of mind.
Do you have a problem passing it off to a dealer? As sure as sh*t they probably would not have a problem passing it to you.

Just my 2c

Stefan

Hello Andrew

Karratha Secondhand Cars and 4WD has a 4.2 on the rack , about $2200 . Their phone 08 91838000 . I could transport it as far as Port Hedland at no cost .

Mate has a 4.2 non turbo for sale done 58,000k
He has fitted a V8 petrol.

Cheers Pesty

Listen mate, do your self a favour and buy a Toyota!!!LOL
Sorry to hear of your problems, did you end up putting it on gas or not.
Hows the fishing up there, one of the blokes from work sent me an email of a guy from TFS who got a whopper on the weekend.
All going well we start our buisiness on the 5th next month, more on this later.
Hope all works out.

Nup, get rid of it and upgrade to a new 3.0 TD Patrol - then you'll know what real problems are!

Well you need to fix it to make it a viable sale item, surely its the cheapest way to get it going even if you do trade it and i wouldnt head off to perth or sydney as it is, as it will be a lemon when it dies half way.
Sounds like a new head would fix it, surely the difference in resale wouldnt beat it?

Just my thoughts, hope it all ends up ok for you

Cheers Pesty

Thanks all for your suggestions above. I have the car back at the moment.....It still runs ok ish, the wierd thing is the bubbles in the coolant are not exhaust gas, and there is also no coolant leaks anywhere. I did the chemeweld thing yesterday (do not buy a used car of this man!) and will take it for a bit of a run today and see what developes.

While the modifications to a 4.2 or a 6.5 are very tempting, with the run I have had with the car I will be glad to see the back of it, so I think it will either be traded, or put in the auctions in Darwin.....

Its one of those things....something doesn't add up. Bubbles in the radiator should be Co2, but are not. If air is being sucked into the system by the water pump, it should weep whileunder pressure with the engine off. It has always used to much fuel, and the occasional splutter (like an old petrol holden) is of concern, it may be as simple as the MAF sensor (Iknow a bloke in town with the same vehicle so I may borrow his to see if it helps.......

We are going to Darwin (drive) then QLD (fly) for a week in April. If it still runs then it may be its last voyage......maybe a 2nd hand 4.2 from around adelaide may find its way to Darwin.....

Thanks Andrew

See if Brunswick Diesels have any lying around out the back. The 2.8 is a bit of an orphan so you could pick it up cheap.

Just goes to show that in the future unreliable cars/4wds will be a nightmare to own once out of warranty. The old "steam driven" variety were easy to trace and fix a fault.
I don't believe there's a car made anymore without LOTS of electronics- fine while they work, but when they play up-
look out.
For example, a friend who works at the local 'yota dealer said Aurions are going through ECU's like there's no tomorrow.
My son, a software engineer, says he could easily design electronics with a "fault" programmed in, to die after a cutoff period (read warranty) at a random time. He also says it would be all but impossible to trace. Imagine THAT not just on your car, but your DVD recorder, your washing machine, your dishwasher, your microwave, even in many cases your fridge etc.
What a bonanza for the manufacturers in spare parts and what a nightmare for the owner.
SCARY
Cheers

Ya know, Truckster, I had a good think about things when I lost the 'Cruiser and had to start looking for a replacement vehicle.

I had a look around and saw that what Flash says has a lot of merit. I had the same attitude at the time. Not so much in the "let's programme in a self destruction trap" but in the form of servicing costs, parts costs and fixability in the bush.

The 100 series TD 'Cruiser - beautiful car, great to drive, sexy, smooth with a lot of "esteem value". Downside? High initial capital outlay to buy, high servicing costs, has to be done by a Toyota or similar high cost mechanic due to electornics, often needs a tilt tray truck if it fails, high cost of spares and not always available without a wait ex-Japan. Easy to steal and desired by car thieves. Weak front diff and IFS.

3.0 litre Nissan - nice to own, looks the part. Unreliable may be an overstatement but it's rep is terrible. I'd be looking at it with a juandiced eye every day if owned one. Underpowered until the revs get up and the turbo kicks in. Servicing - same comments apply as to the 'Cruiser. All high costs.

4.2 Nissan - A above for looks etc. Bomb proof engine but slow and underpowered for mid to heavy towing at consistent high speeds. Can be high servicing cost if ya can't do yer own servicing, but at least ya can do it if ya want to. Parts and availabilty - same as above.

What I'm trying to say here is that car makers have got us by the balls, giving us the runaraound with all of the above issues. I'm not saying my Chevissan is any better in some regards. But it does have more upside. I've tried to get a compromise package that gives me more advantages than disadvntages.

The Nissan GQ driveline - it doesn't get any stronger than these. The Chev engine is used by the millions all over the world, including the US Military. Parts can be bought dirt cheap ex-USA. Which is often quicker and more available than ex-Eastern States or ex-Japan at fraction of the price 'cos there are that many of 'em about over there. They're a simple, gutsy engine that can be repaired or rebuilt by any half decent mechanic that hasn't got a factory computer in Halls Creek. There are 7,000 of these conversions in Australia to date. I haven't heard of too many failing.

So on balance as former mechanic, I'm not concerned like Andrew, about "converted vehicles". I've taken the whole package, broken it down into it's seperate parts and analysed each bit. What I see is a package that is not a "prisoner" of the car makers who make more money out of servicing and parts than they do from actually building the cars.

I'm no longer dependent on main dealers, I do my own servicing, I have a truck that will pull better than a TD 'Cruiser or a 3.0 litre Nissan at low revs - - where it counts when yer 4WDing, and is quicker and gutsier than a 4.2 when the revs are up. It's reliability is proven both in the chassis, driveline and engine.

It's also a 1999 car. At that age 2nd hand parts are starting to become readily available. I can buy fron car wreckers and not have to sell one of my grandkids into perpetual slavery to Nissan for a windscreen wiper motor.

I'm reckon if Nissan or Toyota put together a simple package like this it would sell like cold beer in Birdsville. Why are car makers making cars that are more complicated? So we can't work on 'em and they make more money.

But back to Andrew -

Andrew - the cost of secondhand 2.8 head, untested, unflashed and not crack tetsed is around $1800.00 - $2000.00. A new bare head is around $2,800.00. Total rebuild cost for 2nd hand head, inc head - $2,800.00. That was what was on the bills that I saw when I bought this "blown" 2.8 GU and converted it to a Chev.

I'm now over the 'flu - GREAT - put I put my back out bigtime after 10 minutes in the garden, recovering on my first day out for a week - NOT GREAT!

Have a great Australia Day you guys!!

Bilbo