Project Pajero

[NJV6]

Here is the start of a story, suiting a SWB Pajero to my needs, some of you may have seen this on an NZ site - It might be of interest here too.

***Feel free to ask or offer advice or tell me what I've done wrong!***

I had narrowed down my choices for a 4WD to a SWB 3.0 Prado or a SWB Pajero, Petrol or Diesel. After having a decent drive, I decided on the Paj, then it was to find one I was after. Either a 2.8Tdi or 3.5 Quad cam V6, both had to be in 5 speed. After a bit of a search I came across a 3.5 5 speed in Nelson (11 hour drive) so after a few phone calls and a meet half way in Chch I drove the vehicle home.



1st day after getting it, it was dripping coolant onto the concrete (It came with a warranty) Turns out all that was wrong was a faulty radiator cap that was not letting coolant return to the radiator after expanding.

1st 4WD trip was a week or so later, on some bald 31x10.5's AT's in snow up the blue mountains in November! (Thats where 2 sets of chains came in handy), Halfway through this trip it wouldn't idle & kept stalling, turned out that was a faulty idle stepper motor, a common fault. About 3/4's of the way through the trip the clutch started slipping!

About now I was sure I had a lemon but it did run so sweetly and everything stacked up on it including certification of its kay's so I got a new clutch. ($1100 - parts, a Warranty doesn't cover clutches)

[NJV6]

Tyres

SO I had to do something about tyres, I wanted to run 33's but I felt 12.5 was just wide enough for the conditions I use the vehicle in. So I tried some 285/75 with cruiser offset and they rubbed at the front on full lock without chains on - I needed a tyre that would not rub with chains on. I could do a body lift if necessary to fit the chains.

I then discovered BFG did a Mud terrain in 33 x 10.5 which was just what I wanted so bought them that day & put them on the factory 7 inch rims. I got a half worn 255/85 off trade me for $25 as a suitable spare.



Was well impressed with them and being std offset I can run chains without rubbing, the front just nicks the mudflap

[NJV6]

Suspension

It came with adjustable KYB's factory which either after 80k were stuffed or were just no good to begin with but the ride is incredibly hard on soft springs.

I am still on these Am researching a suitable adjustable rancho currently.

Off roading with the tirfor in the back and loaded for a weekend the bump stops got a bit of a workout so in went some slightly heavier cobra springs which also gave about a 1 inch lift. After returning the first set which didn't have the right cut at the top & created a thump sound I am happy with the springs. Pajero's do tend to be a bit 'nose down' anyway so a little torsion adjustment had it sitting right.

No doubting the front could do with more travel; everything helps especially on a lifted vehicle! A little (lot) of upper bump stop trimming meant I had regained the up travel I had lost by lifting the vehicle.

It was now I discarded the rear anti roll bar & it rests nicely in the shed. Handling was still predicitable but not as sharp as it was originally (especially on narrow 33's).
I had read about the 'articulator' that was made in Australia that went in the front sway bar which had a removeable pin, I decided I had to have one as the handling is appaling without the front sway bar on & it rides much more comfortable & more wheel travel off road.


Articulator with the pin removed, allows the left side to rotate independantly to the right hand side.

On full rear articulation I feel the hand brake cable is too short & restricting it, also there is more to be had with a more suitable shock that willl allow more droop without dropping the spring out.

[NJV6]

Odd's and End's

A SWB Pajero doesn't really need a rear heater so I pulled it and all the hoses from underneath out to create a storage place - I hope to at some stage put the battery in there, it is the ideal size. While I had all the seats out I modified the heater outlets to the feet so it actually worked - it had that many different ways air could go it never made it to the floor!

About now I made a shelf for the rear enabling storage + the use of the rear seats - there is very little room behind the seats. This incorporates a power outlet to power a light for camping.



I installed a CB radio into the dash below the radio & upgraded to a cd player, componet speaker system (blah blah!).

[NJV6]

Winch

It came time for the local 24 challenge & I had no winch. Another member had had a pajero but had since sold it, he had a custom bar with a 8274 Hi mount on it, so it made sence that it bolted up to mine which it duly did, the 8274 proving a great winch for a lighter(?) vehicle.



A year later he asked for the Hi Mount back so now my XD9000 sits on the bar.

[NJV6]

Diff Swap

Low range gearing is not a pajero's strong point, It simply won't go slow enough. There are 2 diff ratios for the later models with larger diffs - 4.636 & 4.9's. The transfer case is 1.9 to 1, which is the downfall gearing wise.

After a bit of research I found 2.8 Turbo Diesel LWB's had the 4.9 diffs, the SWB ones having the same 4.636 as mine. Next was to try and find a NZ new one as it had the factory air diff lock, which are a very reliable & strong unit. ARB or any lockers for that matter are not available for the Rear of this model, so to get a diff lock requires finding a factory one.



A 1999 late model rolled one came up for sale in Wellington so I duly bought the whole vehicle.



For a start it was an expensive diff lock but this is getting cheaper as i sell parts! The swap itself wasn't to hard, bar a couple of complications, the 1994 long side cv would not bolt up to the 1999 diff/axle housing, it was out by a couple of mm.



To do the front requires the removal of all steering arms, both hubs & cv's & a crossmember.





I have not had a decent run with these yet as I still have no brakes... It should be 5% lower, not much but better than nothing and goes some way to getting the on road spark back that it has on 31's. 33's, I estimate to be 8.5% bigger in diameter. It still only has a 36.8:1 1st Low.

[NJV6]

*More pic's added*

I thought I better give it a look over and check bolts before my trip yesterday, and it paid off because the diff bung was only finger tight But during the day we didn't discover any untoward thumps or clunks underneath, in fact I must have got the bolts right.

I got the compressor and ECU etc fitted for the diff lock but due to the placement the air line was not long enough & didn't have any lying about.


The compressor is quite small and is on the right in the photo.

But we went anyway and with open diffs still got on not to bad.

The handbrake saga continues, i wanted to use the LWB ones as I feel the SWB ones are too short but the LWB ones are just a bit long. I put the left one in the right keeper and vice versa and wove them around underneath and seemed to stay out of harms way pretty well. I did notice that since they were not full of mud like mine - they worked quite a lot better!

The gearing - well it certainly helped on the road and I'm sure i noticed it off road as well, being able to potter about in 3rd low where i'm not sure I would have before.

[NJV6]

Lighting

The Paj had very good standard light but in the never ending quest to see further down the road when returning from an expedition or competing in the 24 hour challenge I wanted more light.



So on went some Narva 'Artic blue' 100W jobbies, with 1 spot light and 1 broad beam. Well chuffed, they produce a really nice light but still doesn't help me to see through tussocks over the bonnet.

[NJV6]

Air compressor

I'm not a huge fan of letting tyres down cos you only have to pump them up again but there are times when it really is helpful. When a ARB compressor came up on trade me I duly bought it and installed it. Seems to work well and after getting a couple of fittings everything was right.

To do so meant moving the carbon canister (some emissions crap) to the other side of the engine bay so i could nicely mount the compressor.

[NJV6]

Snorkel

A trip I am leading to the west coast including Barn bay includes the Cascade & Hope rivers, and so being decent rivers it was decided to get a snorkel.

After being told $250 to install it, I did it myself! The template was good,



and I then took to the panel for the main hole with a 76mm hole saw. As it wasn't a metal one it lasted 10 secs or so then used the angle grinder with a cutting disc which is kind of a little scary. However I ended up with a perfect hole, mounted the snorkel and made a small scratch on the paint where the bolt holts were to go, as a pilot, because the template was slightly different or I hadn't lined it up correctly.



Painted all the holes with anti rust & siliconed up all the joins and holes and it was fitted, the fit and finish of Safari Snorkels is very good.

[NJV6]

Next update,

Diff lock works brilliantly, sometimes a little slow to go in, but i may just be impatient Certainly enabled me to climb uneven stuff with much more ease.
Just got back from 3 days over on the west coast, Got 3 new dings from Copper creek track, and the tiny creek, after 6 hours of heavy rain, when time to head out had water come splashing in the side window I was pleased on a number of occasions on having the snorkel, many puddles on the track over there are bonnet height.

There is a couple of signs of muddy water in the airbox & a tiny leak, so going to check all snorkel connections again and other running repairs saw the air compressor start to smoke, but it turned out it was the wiring to the relay not being up to the task!

But the Paj is at the dealer getting a major oil leak fixed, on the road trip over there, on arrival I noticed oil all over the underside and up the back and the dipstick down to a 1/3rd. It was full 400km earlier. It is washing down the back of the motor from high up, off the gearbox and then anti rusting the entire underside! Not sure where it is coming from but possibly a cam cover. A close eye was kept on it on the way home in case of worsening, but 1 and a half litres got me home ok.
If anything major needs to be taken off then it'll be a cambelt job as well (97000km).

[NJV6]

Update

well time for an update, I've had major drama's getting a simple oil leek and cambelt done. It is still at the garage & went in for its change about 2 months ago. Came out and was just a tad noisy and still leaked oil.

In the meantime I managed to break the diff lock I had not long installed





I have put it back together and still works fine as an open diff. Just rather disappointed in the outcome for all that work. We have put the breakage down to not enough air pressure being run to either keep the diff fully locked or get it fullly locked.

[NJV6]

Ball joint flip

After needing new upper control arm bushes & having the arms off I took the opportunity to do a ball joint flip. I drilled out the holes to take 10mm bolts and also bought low profile bump stop bolts and trimmed some more off.





It is now a bit 'knock knee'd' front on looks like \ / so in need of some more shim's I think.

[NJV6]

Updates & Comments

2 extra shims in each side to fix the camber from doing the ball joint flip and the alignment was about right, well as good as we can get it. Drives a bit better again.

The cam belt saga went on for a few months and is still not quite sorted, it has ahd 2 belts and still seems noisy, sounds like an idler bearing but it is coming from behind the cam belt covers and everything under there has been replaced.... Next we are going to try a genuine belt. The oil hemmorage was the passenger side cam cover with a seal blown out, and now I have a leaking engine rear main. I guess the price you pay for pushing through water holes.

The diff lock, well a new diff centre is prohibitive in price basically. I'll hold on to all the bits, compressor etc for a just in case but maybe ARB will come out with something soon hopefully.

BJ Flip - great mod (so far - haven't broken anything..) More travel off road, a side issue I never expected was the better ride on bigger bumps - less hitting the upper bump stops. I also picked up some new monroe adventure front shocks for a good price so put them in.

Snorkel - Took the top off an put the garden hose down it to find out where it was leeking, it was the join between the airbox and the 'bit between the airbox and the body'. SO copious amounts of silicon and it seems sealed.

[NJV6]

Bull Bar

This bar was the one that did me well for some months,



originally with a 8274 then after decideing how wonderful an 8274 on a Paj was, the owner wanted it back and I din't like the weight of it with the IFS. So with a few mod's I had my XD9000 on it. The original bar was for a JTop with out the flared guards so left the front corners a bit exposed & after a reecnt trip to Haast i did push the side in a little so wanted some side bars.
After a couple of afternoons in the workshop we came up with this and am quite chuffed.



It is basically finished & as soon I get the Paj back form surgery it'll go on. Just still to do are side bars & sliders & pins for the centre of the bar to wrap rope around.

[NJV6]

Free Wheeling Hubs

I had always wanted to do this now that my cv's were not running flat any of the time. Having said that I have never had a cv boot split on me.

So some AISIN ones came up for sale and $170 later they were on my Paj


I now have to join the Hilux/Pootrol brigade and hope out when the track starts....

I guess that is better than what I have been doing at that point - opening the bonnet and swapping air lines so the dront diff connects. One of these solinoids was faulty and caused the dreaded flashing light syndrome http://www.outerlimits4x4.com/viewtopic.php?t=88819


At $185 a pair it was getting $$ but the one I wrecked had 1 good one on it so I used that.[/img]

[Overkill]

Hey, you should pop into Bunnings or Mitre 10 and buy a cover for the outlet. I used a foot from an old stool (like the ones you used to sit on at school), the plastic ones that look like a small cup, Bunnings have them for less than $2. Plugged it on and now no gunk getting into the air-lines. Works rather well.

[-Scott-]

Hey, you should pop into Bunnings or Mitre 10 and buy a cover for the outlet. I used a foot from an old stool (like the ones you used to sit on at school), the plastic ones that look like a small cup, Bunnings have them for less than $2. Plugged it on and now no gunk getting into the air-lines. Works rather well.

Got a rubber stopper. A bit difficult to get on (there's a story I may post one day...) and cost a little more than $2 - I spent even more driving around town before I accepted defeat and paid their exorbitant price!

This will be a sticky for a while...

[NJV6]

I've just realised I haven't actually put any pics of the finished bull bar on here.

A couple of finishing touches to do still, mainly tidying and some sort of mod that can enable me to get the grill out without taking the bar off Things are just a bit neat, possibly I could get it 1mm closer to the body.

I have toggle switches to go in the dash, a master key to prevent unwanted use of the winch (isolation switch). I feel this is important, I will have a permanently mounted switch in the grill to operate from beside the winch, and I have also seen two winchs jam on where a master switch could have simply been switched and saved potentially alot of damage.






You don't see it on it all the photo's, I have been taking it on and off if I know I am not going to use it for a couple of months as it is heavy sitting on the front. However once things are all wired in it'll be on to stay.

All these photo's show a nice straight front bash plate. I keep bending it and turning it into an upside down moon. So after straightening it a number of times (take it off, take the plastic bit off, sit it between two boards, then jump half a dozen times) It now has a good chunk of angle iron behind it so if it bends it won't straighten and then I will have a decent excuse to get a more solid one made.

[NJV6]

Other things I have tried...

This is on 35x10.5x15 Simex Centipedes. The scary thing is they actually fit and went round. But I couldn't really turn without it trying to tear the flares off. These Simex's are on Toyota rims and would fit better on Mitsi rims. The enormous side lugs would rub on the upper inner guard on the back at full articulation.


It did look the shiz thou....

Body lift

I had 25mm blocks and bolts in the shed so decided to put this in. After I had it in (real easy in a Paj) I adjusted the front bumper and was taking the gas to the transfer case gear lever to bend it to get it into low box I thought why the hell am I putting this in and so a week later took it back out After all the tyres I wanted to run fitted no problem!

If I was to do a body lift now (that was 8 months ago I did the above body lift) it would be to do what overkill and JTop have done and this would enable the fuel tank to be lifted and side rails to be fitted without compromising the height at the side.

[PajeroSRV]

My answer to the turning problem was to take an angle grinder to it.

But you may not want to be that extreme

[McSumWay]

Here is the start of a story, suiting a SWB Pajero to my needs, some of you may have seen this on an NZ site - It might be of interest here too. Most of it is already written so hence the speedyness of the posting....

***Feel free to ask or offer advice or tell me what I've done wrong!***

I had narrowed down my choices for a 4WD to a SWB 3.0 Prado or a SWB Pajero, Petrol or Diesel. After having a decent drive, I decided on the Paj, then it was to find one I was after. Either a 2.8Tdi or 3.5 Quad cam V6, both had to be in 5 speed. After a bit of a search I came across a 3.5 5 speed in Nelson (11 hour drive) so after a few phone calls and a meet half way in Chch I drove the vehicle home.



1st day after getting it, it was dripping coolant onto the concrete (It came with a warranty) Turns out all that was wrong was a faulty radiator cap that was not letting coolant return to the radiator after expanding.

1st 4WD trip was a week or so later, on some bald 31x10.5's AT's in snow up the blue mountains in November! (Thats where 2 sets of chains came in handy), Halfway through this trip it wouldn't idle & kept stalling, turned out that was a faulty idle stepper motor, a common fault. About 3/4's of the way through the trip the clutch started slipping!

About now I was sure I had a lemon but it did run so sweetly and everything stacked up on it including certification of its kay's so I got a new clutch. ($1100 - parts, a Warranty doesn't cover clutches)

nice

[NJV6]

Thought it was time for an update of more minor mod's (pic's to come)

- Still waiting for ARB's rear locker....
- Have decided to get gears, waiting for the 5 speed ones....

I have had two of the solinoids apart as it wouldn't wind in, only out and grinded up the connections to make them all good again.
The winch motor also died due to an earthing issue which seems like it is quite common, a few more earths insdie the housing fixed this.
The brake was binding up and upon un sticking it, I put it all back together properly but now it is a little too free and doesn't hold on a hill so well - goes great thou

Put a volt meter in the dash - got rid of the rolly polly thing that tells me when I'm going to tip over....

Rear shelf is now up to mark VII I think. It has been butchered and is actually looking really good now. I got sick of loosing things out the back door whenever I opened it on a hill.

Has had it's 3rd cam belt.... And now i'm happy. The new water pump after the second belt was noisey. What a job - did it at the mitsi garage for $0. Also replced a noisey alternater idler, looking to shift the alternator in the future.

2nd hand Ranchos.... Jury is still out. They ride nice but could do to be harder on compression. tend to hit bump stops on big bumps but general 2nd low driving - they are nice.

[mad geordies]

brilliant post mate, all the things i need to do have done most of them , nice to see i,m not the only one nice1

[fatng]

Its good to follow your pajeros history, Ive new to this (my first post) In one of the early posts you show a front sway articulater which you got from Australia, do you know where can I buy one from.


fatng

NG import set up for touring

[NJV6]

Winch controls

Wired up a winch controller in the cab and also in the front grill - one of the best mod's I've done. Also incorporated a master key in the main line incase of solinoid jam, which I have seen happen a couple of times.

Here is where I put the isolation switch. It may not be it's final resting spot however....


Vehicle is a bit dusty as it's been no where for some time

And here is the switch that operates the winch from the outside, nice and discrete



Another picture to come of the one inside in the dash.

[NJV6]

Rear shelf Mark VII





Finally happy with it. Just need some latches to hold the drawers in. Might line them so if stuff rolls around it doesn't go clonk clonk. Centre hole is designed for a Jerry can, Right space is for my tyre chains and draws hold recovery gear. Also has a power outlet in it and can get the jack out. (just).

[NJV6]

Rancho's.....

Nice dents in the side from where they hit the trailing arms under compression.





I bought these cheap & suspect they have got a bit hot in the past or something as the adjustability has gone... And they are a bit spongy.

[NJV6]

Steering Damper

Something I felt would be good for gravel roads and rougher surfaces but there was nothing available so got a standard damper with a pin at either end, a Range Rover one fitted the job. Made a bracket for the fixed end which bolted to the diff sub frame...



That above was 1st try but it was to close to teh steering arm when it went through its arc and the damper was going to hit the arm. Out with the grinder and redrill the bracket it fitted up nicely.



Steering arm side.... Needed spacing out to stop damper hitting arm as it also went through its arc.



Seems to feel nice through the wheel on my test try but yet to test it properly.

[Overkill]

Rancho's.....

I bought these cheap & suspect they have got a bit hot in the past or something as the adjustability has gone... And they are a bit spongy.

I have a set of front Ranchos that had done less than 500k's, RS9000 9way adjustables. PM us if your'e interested, $100 + postage. Model number RS99223. Brought a longer stroke Rancho because of the Ball Joint Flip. Do you run with the boot on the shock. I read an article that if you keep the boot on in muddy conditions (90% of NZ outings) dirt fills up inside and causes damage long term. You can't get the mud out with a normal hose wash. Having the boots off make it easier to clean, longer lasting? Ah, here it is http://www.4x4review.com/feature/shock-genius.asp

By the way, great write-up