Convert or Restore?

[npca-fud]

For the sake of generating some good healthy opinionated disscussion I will try this thread...   Let's say you find that old Patrol out in a farmers field....it hasn't ran in 10 years but is complete, stock, clean and has no major problems that you see other than not running. You buy it for $1000 and take it home. You have never owned a Patrol before and know very little about them. After a few months of tinkering around with this rig you decide it is time to get your project rolling, it needs tons of work to get it on the road. You search the net and find this site, you go to your local Nissan dealer and start asking about parts and you have some buddies with converted FJ40's and Scout's. You find out you have a very rare vehicle and that parts from Nissan are going to be a hard thing to get. You learn a bit about your rig and your buddies tell you to drop a 350 with a turbo400 and some danna 44's in it. You have some dollars to spend but are not sure what to do....   So what would all of you do in this situation?? Would you convert and hack it up making it your own version of a Patrol? Or would you restore it trying to be as orginal as possible? Possibly you are somewhere in the middle....? Some of you might even turn around and get rid of it, right? Why would you choose one thing or another, what would your goal be with the project and what would it be worth to you in the end?     I myself would go the restoration route trying to use all Nissan parts, I will add more if people are intrested....perhaps we all can relate to this example of buying and owning a Patrol and from it we can have an intresting discusion??   Ian

[npca-roc8man]

In a perfect world, you would buy 2 Patrols. One for restoration and one for conversion. That's what I was hoping to do but like most projects, there just isn't enough time or money or sometimes both. So, it all depends on what you want to do with it. If you want something to wheel in, then convert it. If you want something original, then restore it. I get a lot of smiles and thumbs up when I drive my red 69. It's pretty cool. But I also get a lot of people checking out my built TJ so ... back to the same question. It all depends on what you want to do with it...   How's that for a non-answer?   David

[npca-hoss]

i myself would try to restore it all orig. being a rifle builder and  gun collector, tractor collector and restorer i like to keep things orig. and most people who modify do it so hap-hazardly it seems. or am i the only one who buys tractors, guns,etc that people have tried to modify with all the good intentions in the world but have sadly to say butchered them and some poor soul like me and maybe you too have have to undo and redo ( that's twice the work for those of you keeping track)put it back to it's orig. state. restoring tractors to show quality cond. you can't believe the bone headed things i run into all in the name of either saving a buck or just lack of tallent or know how. that's not to say i don't appreciate looking at modified street rods but they are worth more in most cases left orig. well that's my opinion, should be yours too.  (ha ha ha) that's a joke. mark.  

[npca-fud]

Hehe...glad to see a couple of you guys like the thread so far. I kind of know David or at least will meet you soon! I am after the perfect world thing....66 all orginal resto with Nissan parts. 64 is my to the woods and in the mud Patrol. Might have a second 64 that I am already thinking of restoring because it is all there and "unmolested"...Time I have, money, well there is never enough money and tools I am seriously lacking so who knows if the perfect world will come my way....I get alot of looks driving my Patrols too and almost as many "what is it"  questions but you should see the looks I get in my 1975 Pinzgauer 6x6!!! And by the way that is a most excellent non-awnser! The point of the topic is not to get awnsers just to promote conversation.   I know exactly what you mean Mark....though not to the same degree but I have seen tons of rigged Patrols and dealt with a few myself...kind of dealing with one now, the 64. Also in my line of work you see some of the most arse backwards things....sometimes we just stop work for a minute, scratch our heads and say "WHAT IN THE WORLD WERE THEY THINKING!!" More often than not I end up recomending to a client to simply start over from scratch insted of wasting time and money fixxing some ones crazy ideas.   Ian

[npca-froggy]

I agree . The main ? . What works. If you keep the patrol stock ( No lift to run 33's)Basic stock. If not #1 the rear diff. will go. So now do you replace it with a ford 9"..... So on. Bone stock restore only or start scratch. Maybe 4.3 v6.. fits better and is lite.just a thought.

[npca-hoss]

i have 33" on mine and they don't rub it's not so much the heigth but the width. the bad part is the patrol doesn't have a low enough first gear as it is add 33" tires to the equasion and you spend alot of time in 4 low. here after the first of the year i am going to invest some time i finding a suitable replacement trans for the old girl i like all orig. but that trans has got to go. there has to be a 4 or five speed that will work with some minor mods. has anyone researched this? mark.

[npca-fud]

Good point about tires Mark....people cut the rear fenders for wider tires but IMO it is only useful if you wheel in sand or deep snow alot. Tall tires give you more clearance, wide better floatation. So this depends on application. My 64 is getting a lift for more clearance, I will put some 31" or 33" tires on it but only to further increase clearance. I don't need wide and non cut fenders are very important to me. Wider can also increase stance but you have to go really wide to make a big diffrence. The tall and narrow pizza cutters will work great for me because most of the serious offroading I do in the 64 will be topless so I shouldn't have probs with raising the center of gravity.   Each person would do something diffrent....I have heard of the 4.3L in LandRovers and hear it is a nice conversion. Good for highway cruising I hear. A diffrent tranny/trans would need to have a low rock crawler gear in my opinion and personally I hate automatics. Rear end should have strong axels, personally I would try to get a "H" model heavy duty rear end in the scheme. I am going to try to get that in my 64 anyways.....A locker should would be nice if you are going to convert things....I thought I heard someone say you can get a Detroit locker in the HD rear end. Reagardless the increase in power will require better axels or you will be breaking alot of them. I know a guy who is customizing a Patrol, it has a 302 in it and I hear it has tons of power but it is a fully converted and cut up Patrol....not much of a Patrol left on it except the body and frame.   Of course if I could and the rig is all original then complete restore is how I would go. My 66 is getting this if I can get it done, very hard to use Nissan only parts. The only reason I am customizing my 64 is because it doesn't have the original P engine, numbers don't match so why not. That is just me though.....be cool to hear more about the conversions people are doing or what some of you think will work best. Even hearing about how a complete restore was done would be cool......certian parts just can't be gotten from Nissan no matter how hard you try.

[npca-vike]

I am trying to stay as stock as possible but I have a problem. I investigate car accidents for living and see what happens in rear-end collisions with low-back seats and shitty seat belts -like those than come with the Patrol. I just can not see myself going without a roll bar with three point harness and solid, adjustable high backs with head rests regardless of how original I keep the rest. Yes I have the original seats and will keep them in storage but I plan on driving this vehicle more often than the occassional show and I am not prepared to risk my life or my partner's on poor seat design.  No about those brakes . . . . .why is it that the Patrols sold in USA came with only the single resevoir design - i.e. one ruptured line anywhere in the system and you are toast? And the one sitting near my son's place in Fukuyama has the split resevoir with porportioning valve system???

[npca-hoss]

well i myself have been looking at the better brake situation. for $150 you can replace that crappy master cyl. with and after market vac. assist setup. yes the seat belts are crap, and someone repalced my seats with some crappy looking van seats. the seats are too thick and i am only 5" 9" tall and i am cramped in them. so i will be on the hunt for some new ones. i have a home made full roll bar th guy who did it screwed it up like everything else he did so i just added that to the list of things to un-fubar. so i can sympathise with anyone who has bought a non-orig. abortion and who is trying to stay at least semi-orig. later mark.

[npca-fud]

I hear you guys about the seats....not to mention Patrol seats are not comfortable in the slightest. On my 66 and other orginal Patrols it has to stay stock for me....my 64 though I plan to do same thing as Vike. Nice comfortable seats with shoulder harness belts, probily no roll bar though. I'll do same thing, keep all old org seat stuff but use something better....I am thinking a console be nice too.   For my 64 I have plans for an onboard compressor also. Some custom tools boxes and maybe some custom skid plates on the diffs. I do hear you guys about the brakes and MC. If braking and safty are main concern disc brakes are the way to go yet it will be converted. RickG has some intresting photos and stuff of disc brake conversion, it looks like it worked out pretty well. I don't know about dual MC, one for the front and one for the rear??   Ian