Minion Missile - 1973 Colombian Patrol Project

Builds, refurbishments, restorations, upgrades

Postby L60Boerne » Tue Nov 27, 2018 8:04 am

Well done! Though a bit expensive on the front end .....there is no doubt it is cheaper in the long run to do it right with an experienced mechanic the first time.

If I ever bought another Patrol it would be a LHD wagon. But I'm not in the market right now. I am ready to get the red sleigh out of Eddy the Eagle's shop, though several things still must be rebuilt and returned to The Eagle but making good progress.

The missile is on the launching pad now! Fueling up soon.

L60Boerne
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Postby mad4hws » Tue Dec 04, 2018 8:35 am

Work continues on the Minion Missile. Having installed the front axle over Thanks giving weekend, this past weekend we (Minion #2 and I) installed the rear axle.

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We got really lucky and had a good outside day. Perfect for this task. December in New England and we're in shorts? Crazy. The Patrol gods were looking down on us for sure. So now we have the old axles removed and the new axles mounted to the springs. I would hesitate to say they are installed, because none of the connections have been made: Steering linkage, sway bars, shocks or brakes. Still, we have a "roller", which is important. With me hosting the rocket club (20 kids this year) in my garage, we need all of the space we can find, which means every Monday the Patrol has to stay outside. Once that meeting is over though, we can push her in and work on all of the other parts in a heated an well lit space.

Crawling around under it, I had the chance to look at that rear crossmember (which is also the rear bumper) again with the gas tank out. It is really rusted out. U beed ti take care of that as soon as I get everything else put back together. The support under the transmission is also shot, although a roadside fix has been done to keep it structurally sound. Hopefully we can do this so that it doesn't end up in a complete frame off restoration. I've got plenty of time to think about that though and plenty of work to do up to that point. Until next time, slow and steady signing off.
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Postby mad4hws » Tue Dec 04, 2018 7:55 pm

Did you know that Amazon sells antiques?

I found that amazon had the automotive grade studs that go in the front axle, so I ordered them up. Here's what arrived. Vintage 1995! (look at lower right hand corner of the card stock).

I'm going to feel a little bad liberating these... just a little.
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Postby mad4hws » Fri Dec 14, 2018 12:05 pm

Today I picked up the driveshafts for the Patrol. Brand spankin new. The diameter of the front is 3.0" and the back is 4.0", both a bit larger than the stock 2.5". I haven't had a chance to really inxpect these too closely, but it looks like the splines are a bit longer than the stock ones. The goal is to get these mated up to the newly refurbished axles this weekend. Note that my patrol is a medium wheel base model, so the rear shaft length is longer than most of you are probably used to seeing.

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Postby Esteban » Fri Dec 14, 2018 1:09 pm

Congratulations! They look outstanding. :clap: :clap: :clap:

Can you ask them what U-joints where used, and if they had to do anything special to fit them?

The diameter of the original driveshafts is less, but wall thickness is a lot more than a regular what we normally see.
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Postby mad4hws » Fri Dec 14, 2018 2:27 pm

Believe it or not, u-joints were purchased from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C6 ... UTF8&psc=1

I got the part number from the 1973 Parts catalog - 37125-44025 and had them in the box ready to use on the old drive shafts. I took them with me to the machine shop. There was no mention of these not fitting or additional work required to get them to fit. I will ask him when next I see him out difficult these were.
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Postby Esteban » Fri Dec 14, 2018 3:49 pm

mad4hws wrote:Believe it or not, u-joints were purchased from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C6 ... UTF8&psc=1

I got the part number from the 1973 Parts catalog - 37125-44025 and had them in the box ready to use on the old drive shafts. I took them with me to the machine shop. There was no mention of these not fitting or additional work required to get them to fit. I will ask him when next I see him out difficult these were.


Thanks for the information. The part item says: Febest - Nissan Universal Joint 30.2X94 - Oem: 37125-44025

The 94 refers to overall out to out in mm. That's 3.7" which is bigger than what we've been dealing with. The 30.2mm is 1.188" that the original caps have. Very intriguing.

Do the machine shop attached the original yokes to the new driveshafts or they used new yokes for that portion?
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Postby mad4hws » Fri Dec 14, 2018 6:05 pm

the original yokes were used. I'll call on Monday and see if he had any difficulties with fitment.
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Postby mad4hws » Fri Dec 28, 2018 12:14 pm

I replaced the rear shaft seal and filled it up with 85W oil. There was no leaks after 2 days, so I assume that the seal is doing its job and that I did an okay job installing it. I got the new drivelines installed.

Next, onto the fuel system. I had the gas tank refreshed when we took the axles off. It had a ton of pin holes. once those were all fixed up, it was sealed. It doesn't look pretty, but as long as the gas doesn't leak, I don't much mind. We got that installed.

Next, onto the carb. I sent it out to Carburetor Specialists in Alpharetta GA for a complete overhaul. I hope it works as good as it looks.
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I also pieced together some new linkage to replace the road side fix that became permanent. I gotta hand it to whoever did this - creative.
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Here is the carb installed. I don't have a choke, which could explain some of the disconnected linkage. But, something else still seems wrong. I have to do a little research on the forum to see what I can find:
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Postby Esteban » Fri Dec 28, 2018 9:13 pm

Looks well done! Hope it will run good.

I will see if I have the choke cable and knob.

Where did you source the replacement linkage rod? Looks great.
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