Montana Patrol upgrades in progress

[50car]

The vehicle will be repainted the same white that it came from the factory... and no, I haven't pulled the fender from the driver's side yet.. this week maybe... based on what I am seeing on the inside, hopefully it won't be as bad as the passenger side....but if it is, oh well, just cut out the old rusty and replace with new shiny... It will be good not to have to pull it all apart later to do all this work...

[50car]

Pulled the other side of the vehicle apart... more rust.... decided to pull the whole firewall off to work on it..... and the grill, radiator.....the wiring harness..... and in the middle of it,my wife says to .... "So if you are doing this much work on the body and frame, wouldn't it make sense to put new rings and new bearings in the motor?"...... So I say.... yes dear....

So the quick body parts swap out had now officially become and entire restoration.....

left side.jpg

wire harness labeled.jpg

drivers side motor.jpg

pile of patrols.jpg

[bosque]

Pulled the other side of the vehicle apart... more rust.... decided to pull the whole firewall off to work on it..... and the grill, radiator.....the wiring harness..... and in the middle of it,my wife says to .... "So if you are doing this much work on the body and frame, wouldn't it make sense to put new rings and new bearings in the motor?"...... So I say.... yes dear....

So the quick body parts swap out had now officially become and entire restoration....

[RiverPatrol]

You need to finish one so that you have one to play with!

I totally get the green tags on the wiring harness.

[50car]

Yes I do need to get one on the road besides the dark green one...

[50car]

Pulled the fuel can (non stock can inside stock support frame....) complete with old bad gas....
pulled broken left rear spring off...

broken left rear spring.jpg

decided that since it was off the ground.... pull the drum, clean the backing plate,

left rear backing plate after taking apart.jpg

check the springs, paint the backing plate, reassemble...

reinstall the drum....

left rear done.jpg

[Swerve]

Good work,

I know its normal for US guys, but I'm always amazed how small the rear C216 diffs are. All my G60s are the H260 and that size just seems normal

[bosque]

Ours might be smaller but we really try to use better techniques........what were we talking about?

Jeff,
This looks perfect and the confirmation of going over them is well worth it, again good job and hey....good photos. I especially like the garage shot on pg 1 of the engine and chassis in the foreground with the two other Patrols background.
Do you think there is a big difference between a bonded or riveted brake shoe?

[50car]

I don"t believe there is any significant loss in stopping power at all...... Of course, going down a steep hill with a load it might be noticeable.... But as I don't plan on pulling a great down steep hills, shouldn't be an issue..... hopefully....
Before disconnecting the brake system, it was still operational even after sitting....
When I took this drum off, I was very pleasantly surprised to find no leaks, minimal rust, in fact the inside of the drum where it contacts the axle was still clean bare metal with no rust..... It would be great if the other three corners were the same...

[50car]

Oh and about the "small" rearend housings.... it would be nice to have the beefier units.... maybe we would have seen less axle and yoke issues that seem to plague the US versions with the C216s if the US vehicles had the heavier housings... Did the earlier year models in AU have the lighter units? Maybe it was a Nissan decision to install the H260s after multiple issues were found with the lighter units???? hmmmm??