Outer Limits 4x4 Board

im looking to buy a gu wagon. has to be auto(unfortunatly) and definatly not a 2.8 or 3l.
this leaves the 4500 and 4800 in my price range and even then only a high k 4800
i dislike the 4500's due to there poor performance as an auto
yes i know im picky

this leads my to my question would it be financially viable to buy a low k 2800 or 3l and sell of motor n box and change to a gen3 or new ford motor?
and would this combo perform better than a 4800.......... it would need to be better to be worth the money, as i know itd end up costing me the same dollars if not a lil more in the end

ps id prob run on duel fuel too. and i have a fiar bit of mechanical knowledge and am a sparky so can do most of it myself

if you can afford the engine upgrade you should be able to afford a 4.8 in good nick

the 2.8 engine is a realiable engine, but a little underpowered for such a big vehicle, but the problem can be easily fixed by fitting a dtronic or modson up grade performance computer chip onit?

adamj1300 wrote:the 2.8 engine is a realiable engine, but a little underpowered for such a big vehicle, but the problem can be easily fixed by fitting a dtronic or modson up grade performance computer chip onit?

Only problem is, the 2.8 is getting really old now. That said, I have no idea of the budget here, but if he can come close to a high k stock 4.8 then he would have a decent budget.

I would recommend you keep looking - they'll pop up eventually. Unfortunately the auto option limits you a little bit, and I think the auto's get a decent premium over the manual ($8K when I bought mine).

the 2.8 would be a decent engine in a navara:P

yeah gu4800 they are alot dearer. but unfortunatly the missus is not interested in learning to drive a manual so im stuck:(
the 4800 auto is a good box and motor combo too. just they are very dear
like over 30k and if i go for a 2 year older car i can get one under 20 n fit a better motor n box

$27,000 - Auto with 84K on the clock!

Not a bad start.

http://www.carsales.com.au/pls/carsales ... ort_type=1

(for some reason linky no worky - just "cut and paste").

I have this great '05 you could have for high $40K's. 4.8L, Auto. Retailed at over $70K with all extra's last march when I bought it new. Only got 26K kms on it now.

what dont u like about the 4500? it seems to have plenty of power for me?
maybe turbo the 4500 instead of engine swap?
i personally wouldnt touch the 2.8 as its waaaay to slow for me... but it all depends on what type of work u want from it?

j top its not the 4500 itself its the auto box............. its slow sloppy n sluggish. like all pre 4800 boxes.

ive looked into shift kits etc for it and nolone can gaurentee me it will have decent take off, only that 1-2 and 2-3 shifts will be firmer. but they cant say if it will take off well in first or if you will have to mash the pedal to get it off the line

basically i want a patrol (they are the best:P) but i am unfortunaly stuck with auto so i need to find any way thats worth the cash to make it better

engine swap, allow 12k, better off fitting a turbo to the 4.5, if it fits the budget, or start looking at other auto makes.

best bet may be buy a 3.0 td, Im sure there would be a good market for the 2nd hand engine, and fit something more suitable into the engine bay.

The best conversion would probably be a 1hdfte, and 5 speed auto, if you could find one ;-)

turboing the motor will not fix the fact the gearbox is shit

and id prefer to get a v8 over a deisel as deisel motors are over priced:P

Where have you looked for a GU? I know its a different motor but my mate just bought a '04 4.2 turbo wagon for $28500 on the road from an auction. He loves it.

everywhere but the auctions thus far toughnut

ive never realy looked at the auctions, must admit im a lil scared of the not test drive buying blind idea. but i was thinking of i was to go with the conversion idea id probably go for an auction spec truck as it wouldnt realy matter if the engine was a tad tired

The best way to buy at auctions is to ask them about the history of the vehicle. They should know a bit about it. Get your head underneath and have a good look for any signs that it has been abused. The more standard the vehicle usually means that it won't have had a very hard life. Don't buy an older model 3.0l deisel because you don't know which motor is in it an has the engine been upgraded. Try to buy an ex fleet vehicle because although they may not have been treated as well as some privately owned vehicles, although I've seen some pretty poor privately owned vehicles. At least fleet vehicles have been serviced properly and usually low K's as well. With Patrols, if you get one that looks tidy then you'll be hard pressed to find one that the driveline is stuffed in. Even though you can't drive them you can still start them and look through them with a fine toothed comb. Try and get to a couple of auctions and have a look at how things work and have a look at where they source their vehicles from. If you spend just a little bit of time with the research you'll be very happy with the outcome and save a crap load by buying the vehicle at the price the dealers buy them