Chevy 350 coversion

[npca-todd]

I just Bought a 1964 Patrol and am considering installing a 350 chevy  700r4 automatic transmission with a 208 transfer case. if anyone has advise a to what problems I may run into please let me know.

[npca-hoss]

yeah, don't do it. if you were going to do that you should have bought a land cruiser. tons easier. first thing is the diffs. won't handle all that axel breaking torque you are wanting to add, if you break an axel etc, where are you going to get one?. second you are going to have drive shaft problems if not spaced out exactly correctly. meaning the one i saw the guy did the rear drive was too short to work correctly. he had to remove the fan and push the whole thing foward and run electric fans. which i hate elect fans you never get the same air flow as a engine driven belt fan. third i have never seen anyone succesfully do a spring over on a patrol that worked it makes the drive shaft angles too abrupt and the u-joints clack when the suspensions flexes. my suggestion is this leave it stock put 33" tires on some new nissan wheels on it. restore it and you will have something that will go anywhere you want to go. there are only a few of these vehicles left, don't butcher it up to make a hot rod out of it. landcruisers are better suited for the task. that's like buying an original '67 camaro z-28 and stripping it down to make a circle track car out of it sure a lot of people did it and now how many nice camaro's do you see around ?. sorry to be blunt but we are here to preserve the nissan patrol in it's original state not chop them up. mark.

[npca-xpatrolx]

Hi Todd,   Not to debate what should and should not be done.  I always think about a conversion but may never do one.  My '69 is pretty beat up and unoriginal already.  To do a full restoration would cost way too much for me so I keep dreaming about a conversion.  At any rate, I have seen in person two conversions.  One with a 350 and one with an LT-1 -- very cool (see also July 4Wheel and Off Road pg. 16).  You may have some problems also with the brace that runs under the tranny.  On one it was cut out, on the other there was another one fabricated into place.  Either way, you are looking at new axles as well as not too many t-cases have outputs that match the Patrol diffs (even if they could handle the engine).  One thought I have had is that Jeep Wranglers are only .2" wider than Patrols so you could possibly have axles to swap in there if you can find one with Dana 44s to handle the torque.  As far as the lift goes, which you didn't mention, I have seen one reliable and working spring over on a Patrol and a lot of home brew lifts that looked a little sketchy.  And remember that you will have to change the steering components if you go down that road too.  It all depends on how much money you have, what you want, and where you plan to go with it.  Finally, I am a semi-preservationist as well.  I have another Patrol that is in near perfect shape that is just missing a few pieces.  So, it would be hard to ruin something so perfect.  Either way, do your homework because it won't be an easy task.  Read the boards here as there are a few other people you can talk to that are or have been in the same process.  They can let you know the headaches before you get too excited.