This is a SWB 160 series Patrol with the SD33 N/A diesel and a 4spd. It is a Euro spec Patrol so it was on 24v and had the light duty C200 rear axle with factory LSD.
I purchased it from the second owner. This Patrol was imported from Germany around 1987 by the original German owner when he moved to the USA. Back then I believe the laws were different on importing. The original owner was a diesel Benz mechanic and brought it with him to the USA when he got a job with Mercedes in SoCal. Sometime in the late 90's he had rebuilt the motor, new pistons, bearings, all of it including a new head from Nissan. The truck came with old parts and receipts. It had also received a JDM trans and t-case swap out. After playing with the Patrol I got it running pretty good but still not perfect. I ran the truck in stock form for a few years and just played with it and fixed a few things. It was very original down to the floor mats and had zero rust.
In late 2006 the first build was done on the truck. This kept it all Nissan, I went to a 86 5spd and a PTO winch. I also upgraded the rear axle to an H233. Both axles got ARB lockers and 4.6 gears. The Patrol received custom suspension which was linked and on 12" Fox air shocks. It rode on 35" rubber. It was a pretty mean truck in this form but lacked real low crawling gears needed in the rocks. So by late 2008 a new build had been planned. Axles went to a custom portal axle, tires went to 40" and it got new suspension which was 16" coil over shocks. Now the Patrol was much better and much bigger! However it lacked power badly and still lacked real crawling gears. So I bought an 84 Patrol in Australia with the factory SD33T diesel and had the motor built by Yuri4x4 over there. I really went all out on the engine at that time. It is very custom. My plan was to use this motor along with a Scout SD33T adapter that allows me to bolt an NV4500 trans to the engine. At this time I bought the adapter to do this. I still lacked the NV4500 and t-case though.
Well in late 2013 I made a trade for a truck and in the deal I was able to get a brand new NV4500 trans and a new Atlas 3spd t-case! Last last piece of the puzzle was I needed the Scout SD33T bellhousing, flywheel and engine plate. Well, I got my hands on that last fall by purchasing a 2nd hand Scout SD33T. A few months ago I test fit everything and it will all work great! Very happy about that. All I need right now is a custom built clutch and I can mate the trans + t-case to the very nice diesel motor.
When the economy crashed I was hurting for money plus at this point undecided if I really wanted to keep rock crawling. So I sold some stuff off the Patrol like the shocks, steering and seats. At one point I was actually going to bastardize an FJ60 Land Cruiser and put the drive train in it. I even acquired a very nice FJ60 Cruiser body for this project. Then I got myself a v8 FJ80 Land Cruiser (part of the trade that got me the trans + t-case) and really like that truck. So I scrapped any plans for the FJ60 Cruiser and decided to just make the Patrol live again.
Sometime here this summer I will buy the clutch I need and then get the drivetrain mounted up in the Patrol. The 83 is currently gutted of engine, trans & t-case so it is pretty ready to go to fit the new drivetrain. I will need to get new hydraulic steering and shocks which won't be cheap. But I would like to do all that this summer and get this truck back to a running and driving Patrol. Just have to see how that goes though as I have a lot on my plate. In the past I was concerned with the body on the truck and keeping it a "full bodied" off-roader. Well, I have decided that is foolish for a rock crawler. So I am going to cut the truck up a bit more and not worry about the body. I did score a bunch of spare parts off an 84 I imported from Oz with the nice diesel. So I can make some half doors and stuff like this.
Any ways, here are some pictures.....
100% original and stock besides the wheels and tires
build phase #1
build phase #2
As you can see it is a pretty mean machine! It is also one of a kind and may be the only one like it on the planet. With the portal axles but the Nissan trans + t-case I only had about a 60:1 crawl ratio. You really need to be above 80:1 for rock crawling. Now with the new drivetrain I am over 100:1 for the crawl ratio plus have 50+% more power with the new engine. That should transform this truck into what it always needed to be.
I hope you enjoy this truck and it's build. I also hope you follow along.
Cheers
