Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

Well boys, I just finished another session in the garage and I'm feeling really excited now !
She's starting to really get there now.
It's all loosely mocked-up, but it's looking great.
Can't wait to turn the key one of these days, but still so much to do before that point.

Everything is going well, but it seems that the HT18 turbo fits best on a low mount manifold, just for those who might consider the HT18 for their build.
I did notice when I got it that it was setup in the low mount configuration, but I clocked it to suite my high mount manifold.
I have the high mount manifold, so there are a few things that need some work.

A few pipes had to be slightly bent out of the way to clear the compressor housing.

The auxiliary battery might be in the way of the air inlet and I don't want the silicone pipe rubbing through on the battery or clamp bolt that holds the battery down, so hopefully I can shift the batter tray over to clear or worst case I'll have to relocate the battery, because the coolant reservoir is fixed in place.

The air compressor against the firewall might have to go in order for me to relocate the vacuum pots to make way for the 3" silicone hose from the turbo to the intercooler.

Other than that I just need to modify the inlet fitting on the inlet manifold.
Instead of coming straight up (63mm / 2.5" diameter) I must chop it off at the flange and weld a short radius bend fitting on to take it off onto the silicone hose.
I was going to step it down from 76mm to 63mm onto the fitting, but I don't think I have enough space, so I'll probably machine up another custom tapered reducer to weld onto the flange to go straight 76mm diameter.

Looks really neat so far Dustin. Well done.

Looking quite pretty Dustin.

I just have one small concern: looks like you have severely restricted access to the oil fiĺer cap. With 5k km service intervals, that would drive me insane...

Looks cool man .why do you turn the boost pipe so far to intercooler ? You will be able to keep vacuum canisters at there place if you turn without the u bend?

Very nice Dustin!! Its a nice feeling when things come together.

I have the same question as Tinus, looks like you are adding and extra 90deg bend between the turbo and cooler which can be avoided? The less bends you have the better!

Peter, the pics are a bit decieving.
The cap actually clear the intercooler carrier frame, I made sure of that for the same reason.

Tinus & Michael, I did look at the 90 degree option, but the aircon pipes are just in the wrong spot, as well as the HT18 becomes a bugger to set the wastegate actuator if I clocked it any further.
It would have been nicer to have a shorter pipe run, but I have to make due with what works I guess.
I'm starting to see how the HT18 would have been a lot better suited to low mount

It was a bit difficult to visualize all of this months ago without bolting the turbo manifold and turbo on to measure, so I didn't quite foresee there being as little space available. That and the conflicts in positions
I'll make a plan.
The compressor doesn't really phase me being mounted under the bonnet anyway. It's a bit of a waste to be honest.
I'll remove that and relocate the vacuum canisters into that void.

Doing some wiring for the intercooler fan and I'm going to tackle the auxiliary battery clearance issue.
Let's see how it goes.

Respek Dustin, respek!!!

(Dustin Datsun )

Looks GREAT

Progress is slow, but constant.
Waiting for the 'big' items to come back so I can finish the installation and start her up.

I finished up the dump pipe down to the 1st bend. I just need to add the splitter plate into the flange to seperate the impeller and waste gate ports.
It's a trick on high performance petrol turbo cars for a bit of extra oomph. Maybe it works, or I'm just making more work for myself, but only time will tell
I'll heat wrap the down pipe up to the flex to stop it scorching some of the delicate bits like the aluminium aircon pipes and clutch slave cylinder.

I got the Madman engine monitoring system and started the installation.
I'm not the worlds best sparkie, but I'll give it a crack. Baby steps...baby steps
Getting the harness up through the dash to the A pillar was mission impossible, but after plenty of effort I got it into position.
Now I just need to find (or make) a suitable pillar pod to house the EMS2 unit.

I battled like crazy to get the damn bung plug out of the engine block at the passenger side engine mounting for the turbo oil feed point.
I tried every trick in the book and even bent Michael's ear a bit for advise, and modified tools for a better fit and still no luck.
The plug is so soft it just stripped. Seems like the plug is just too soft.
I even tried screw extractors with no joy.
I had to go with plan B.
I researched other oil feed points and I found companies in Oz that supply fittings and lines for the other option available.
I tee'd off of the oil pressure switch and run the feed line over the engine (not how I wanted it to run, but that's just how the cookie crumbles).
Having the feed line made up by a local hydraulic supplier. Teflon line with stainless steel braiding sheath.
Luckily the HT18 turbo uses a 2mm restricter on the oil feed, so I don't need full bore flow to feed the turbo, so it shouldn't affect the oil pressure reading too much.

Set up the initial wastegate preload to run the 0.8bar pressure.
Set up my dial gauge on the magnet arm to touch the centre rivet on the wastegate flapper disc.
Set my air compressors regulator to 0.8bar delivery.
Rigged up my hillbilly pressure checking fixture (Tire pressure gauge on hose)
Pushed the air gun nozzle into the 6mm ID pipe and applied air pressure and watched the gauge and how it reacted.
Adjusted the adjuster nut on the wastegate actuator arm to stiffen up so that under pressure the feed must be gradual.
Stiffer = more boost , Slack = less boost
Then used Michael's method of trying to spin the flapper disc with my finger while applying air pressure to see when it comes free of being seated on the housing.

This is just to set the initial preload to the desired pressure to be run on the fuel setting specified for the pump.
I'll have to tune it on a test drive to see what it's doing on the Madman.
I'll be running 75cc fuel delivery on 0.8bar.
Too little boost and too much fuel will make it run too rich and the heat will climb.
Too much boost and too little fuel will make it lean out and the power will drop.
Adjustments will be on the wastegate actuator arm and 1/8 turns on the fuel screw on the injector pump.
It's going to be a dance to find the sweet spot between the two.

Thanks for the advice Michael