Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

I took a long look at going this RGM supercharger route. The reason I walked away in the end is that K&N airfilter. They're the absolute kiss of death to any machine used in dusty off-road conditions. Ask me, I know.

FWIW, my standard 4.8 will happily cruise all day at 175km/h but it makes no sense as its simply not safe. The machine doesn't have the right CoG, suspension, profile or handling to be anything close to safe at that speed.

Oh, I would like the extra horses though but have decided - for now at least - to be happy with the standard setup.

We spent two months trying to get someone from Donaldson show us something that would fit.
The air-box system from a NP 300 would have worked except that its rather ugly
In the New Year I will be looking at developing something, with RGM either a pre-filter, disc type that can be slid in and out or a completely new configuration for dusty conditions.
Their solution at the moment is a sleeve/sock that is fitted over the filter and that works fine, but needs to be cleaned.
If too much air is restricted from the Super Charger, I believe at higher RPM it could suck in its own seals so an ‘engineered’ solution is required.
I believe Clem, that’s it’s a valid concern if you’re going to be in dusty conditions all the time.

However, if My Patrol could cruise at 175 all day I would never have done the conversion, so I doubt this very much.
Cruise 175 uphill down-hill? This I want to see.
My experience is that attempting to maintain those types of speeds The Patrol will keep kicking back into 4th, she cannot keep that up in 5th simply as there is not enough power to do so.
Well on my vehicle at least.
Yes, she can get to 180 in favourable conditions and even 200, but cruise there?
No.
You cannot even cruise at 160, the first hill you will lose speed unless you gear down and that’s no longer a cruise to me.
My male hen on a block, 175 cruise not going to happen.

Regarding handling, I find her rock solid and will happily take her through any corner at similar speeds to my Motorsport type cars.
She is perfectly safe to cruise at 200 all day with standard suspension.
It’s the stopping which might prove challenging..

Maybe a 3inch lift would be awful going around a corner, which is why I’ll never do that, then add a roof rack and I can understand why she wouldn’t feel safe at all.
I increased the profile on my Range Rover from 55 to 60, I think it was 13mm increase on radius or diameter, cant recall, but fundamentally, it has changed the handling dynamics of the car and I no longer have the same confidence, throwing it into a corner.

Back to the Patrol, IMO she handles just fine, rock solid, in standard guise.

My If you want a super car then buy one, In my option the patrol never built to sit cruising all day a 180km/h. If you want more power for off road use or dune driving fair enough but a patrol was never built to be a sports car

It always comes down to arguments like this.
In this country, specifically, I want as much speed and power available, on tap.
For my own personal safety.

So as someone that has a supercharged patrol (RGM) with a cone filter and snorkle. Who has done 20000km in the last 9 months via Damaland, Kaokoveld, Delta and Lesotho. Much of that towing an explorer caravan the RGM supercharger set up is FANTASTIC.

I have the cleaning kit for the filter and cone filters if properly cared for are as good as if not better than paper filters. The patrol is fitted with a snorkel that connects to the cone filter housing. I see no evidence that the cone is any less effective than a paper filter. I changed the cone filter when I got it as some pillocks use petrol to clean them and damage the element.

Power delivery on the supercharger is very linear and comes in as soon as you press the pedal or even while idling for that matter. It does make the Patrol a high speed cruiser. Subsequent to getting the car I have fitted rood racks and big knobbbly tyres so now I am pretty much limited to 140km/h cruise due to wobble and a crushing petrol bill. But with standard size AT tyres (and on a private test track) 160 was comfortable with 200 coming up alarmingly fast if pressed. There are several snotty nosed kid that had thier noses put out of joint in mini robot races.

Towing is a breeze, overtaking effortless. I would regularly get surprised when I glanced the caravan behind me. The same caravan that brought my wife's X5 to its knees and the 4.2Td wheezed up hills with it.

Reliability... vs a turbo it is just hands down more reliable. Bolt on superchargers by RGM look like EOM installations. They are tried and tested with quite a few running around. What I know about turbo installations you will have to do more internal changed and permanent alterations and turbos are just less reliable in my opinion... turbos are generally considered to have a shelf life while superchargers just go and go.

Charge cooler... very nice touch on the RGM set up is teh air to water charge cooler...

I don't think anyone with a supercharged 4.8 will ever look back... unless its to see where the rest of the 4.8s are

The RGM Supercharged Patrol is reliable.
the life will be shorter than a NA 4.8 though.

I think the argument is that modern after-market (bolt-on) Turbos on petrol engines have improved dramatically in reliability, and have also become cheaper.
You can import the 4.8 turbo kit from Australia for around 70k. (That particular spec does not require replacing any internals)
Plus labour you are looking at 100k in total.
If (emphasis on the IF of course) proven as reliable as the supercharger, that becomes a compelling alternative.

Frans is just finished a 4.8 with 0.4bar turbo ...makes 260kw and 700 odd newtons power from very low down ....lets see what the curves look like

How does the supercharger impact feul comsumption? Is it worse or the same?

Tinus, maybe you can ask the same for the turbo guys. As an overland kar it is a huge factor.
Can someone with a turbo 4.8 not share their experience on the forum?

JoshJ wrote: ↑14 Dec 2017 13:38 How does the supercharger impact feul comsumption? Is it worse or the same?

Tinus, maybe you can ask the same for the turbo guys. As an overland kar it is a huge factor.
Can someone with a turbo 4.8 not share their experience on the forum?

Standard (but with 2"lift) I got 6.1km/l driving at 129km/h pretoria to cape town. Generally the impression is it improves consumption apples with apples comparison.

If I was going bush I would much rather have a reliable tried and developed system from people with years and years of experience behind them...

Turbos offroad are not nice, you end up with peaky events. You slowly push the pedal, power builds then all of a sardine you are upside down. And yes turbos have come a long way... but that technology is even further away from being available in bold on kits.

Alex Roux wrote: ↑14 Dec 2017 12:43 The RGM Supercharged Patrol is reliable.
the life will be shorter than a NA 4.8 though.

I think the argument is that modern after-market (bolt-on) Turbos on petrol engines have improved dramatically in reliability, and have also become cheaper.
You can import the 4.8 turbo kit from Australia for around 70k. (That particular spec does not require replacing any internals)
Plus labour you are looking at 100k in total.
If (emphasis on the IF of course) proven as reliable as the supercharger, that becomes a compelling alternative.

Vs 120K for the RGM supercharger?