Ray!

What I meant was just use the words in the URL, or mypatrol4x4.com, as with the other forum. That means you can then make the logo as big or small as you like, as there are no images to compromise the effect. Cheers Ray

I'm not so sure about that. The Nissan tow bar has a three point mounting, both chassis rails and in the middle of the crossbeam that goes between the chassis rails. The crossbeam is further braced by additional cross members to the chassis (creating triangular sections), so the entire rear end is very strong. If this wasn't strong enough, I don't know where on the Patrol you'd attach a snatch strap. Cheers Ray

Personally, I think the logo with/without the vehicles looks like a Nissan ad. It doesn't reflect a web site for Patrol owners at all. Simple is often the best and I think something like www.mypatrol4x4.com (maybe white on a clear background) would send a clearer message. Cheers Ray

All my wires either plugged in or screwed in, so I didn't modify the control box in any material way, other than what was needed to make the extension wiring for the controller plug etc. I don't think that could affect warranty, as you're actually providing protection for the system. I guess it depends on whether the seller/manufacturer wants to be a bastard. Cheers Ray

I always like to keep things looking a bit subtle where posible, so after getting my much maligned Aldi winch, I wanted to do something a bit different with the installation. Specifically, I didn't want it to stand out, so this is what I ended up doing. The winch install is standard, but unlike many who modify the number plate mount so that it sits higher than the winch opening, I modified the number plate mount so that it covers the winch entirely: I simply removed the part that usually holds the number plate, part of the angle, and install two hinges on to the number plate and what was left of the existing bracket: The snatch strap is what holds the number plate down when not in use and is easy to undo when needed. The additional benefits of this modification are that the number plate no longer bends up when crossing rivers and it also keeps the fairlead, cable etc very clean, even when going through bog holes. Cheers Ray

One accessory that every 4WD should carry is a snatch strap, but what isn't often considered is an appropriate attachment method for the snatch strap. The attachment needs to be strong, so that it can withstand the forces of snatching, it should be easy to attach and remove the strap after use and it should create minimum interference if attached to the vehicle. That's what I had in mind when I made up this snatch strap attachment: It's basically a 4mm thick tube the same size as a regular tow hitch, with a 20mm diameter solid steel rod slotted through and welded into place: Rather than having the usual long attachment like many with the hook: This one doesn't protrude much at all and rarely hits anything on the tracks: Here's another view of the hitch: And one with the snatch strap attached (the hitch got a bit of a beating after our last cruise): It's withstood a lot of use over the years (something like 20+), so I can vouch for it's strength and usefulness. Cheers Ray

One thing I did with my winch install was to get some five-core, 15A, trailer wire and re-route the controller plug and switches into the engine bay. That way they are protected and much easier to get to, as my control box is behind the winch inside the bullbar. I could have move the solenoids as well, but simply sprayed them with waterproofing compound. Most people don't even realise that I have a winch. Cheers Ray

If it's something that you've personally posted, then you can copy it across, but if it's someone else's you can't touch it. That's why, for example, I can copy across my DIYs, but none of the posts associated with those threads. Cheers Ray

This is what I did to install a fan under the intercooler of my CRD. This is the shroud before mounting of the fan: Top view of fan mounted on shroud: Bottom view of fan mounted on shroud: Bottom view of shroud with spacer bars attached: View of fan attached to intercooler ( I used long bolts that went through both flanges on the intercooler to help even the load on the housing): View of fan with thermostat switch attached: View of installed unit in vehicle: This little sucker (wiring loom) took a little longer to make: All in all, it works very well, but recently I've developed a few leaks which I've fixed, but I'm not sure how long it will be before I need to replace the intercooler. Cheers Ray

Is it possible to have a Today's Posts selector, rather than just the View New Content, as that doesn't keep track of posts in the same way? Maybe I'm used to one format, but it seems better, especially as I can then select directly from a list of posts the new post, rather than going to the start of a thread and then selecting the last page. Cheers Ray

I was posting plain text initially, to make it easier, but ended up just copying the text directly from the forum. It's difficult to describe what was happening, but it wasn't due to the text formatting. When I'd go to select a spot for the text to be inserted, the editing panel would jump/scoll to another spot and I'd have to click at least once more to get the right spot. Also, when trying to paste something in front of text at the far left of editing panel, I'd more often than not get the properties panel rather than the copy/paste panel. Yes, I do host my own photos, so my method won't work for everyone. Cheers Ray

I've just complete a transfer of a number of DIY threads. It's quite easy to do if you can locate the thread you want to transfer over. Once you've located the thread, open this forum in another tab, start a new therad and then copy and paste the text across. If you have photos to copy across, just right click on the photo, click on properties and then highlight the text loctaed next to Address (URL), right click and copy, and then click on the Image icon on the forum header and right click and paste, click OK. The entire process is very fast. The only quibble is with the way this forum sometimes reacts when trying to paste, you don't always get the paste command coming up and it tends to jump about when going to the spot where you want to post. Editing after a preview can be even more frustrating. Cheers Ray

I'd ordered a Dyno Tune boost gauge (square boost pressure Gauge) to complement my Dyno Tune EGT gauge. I'd bought a cheap mechanical dial boost gauge a while back to assist in tuning, but it was really a PITA in many ways, so I decided to get another Dyno Tune gauge and make a set with the EGT gauge. Like the EGT gauge, the boost gauge is simply a top quality product. It comes with a high quality transducer for pressure measurement, a digital readout and simply plenty of cable for routing things in the engine bay. Normally, I'm a big fan of analogue gauges (ie dials), but they are best used for information that doesn't change significantly ie oil pressure, water temperature, speed etc, readings that remain fairly static and only require you to glance at and know are OK. With EGTs and boost, the readings change constantly and in this regard, I think that clear digital readouts are a lot better. That's why I chose digital gauges for both EGT and boost. The benefit of the Dyno Tune gauges is that the display unit is relatively small, but the readout is quite large, and so easy to see at a glance. And because you can order various colour readouts, there's no confusion as to what output you're reading. I chose red for EGT and blue for boost. I'm going to use the clamp fitting that came with the EGT gauge for the boost gauge, as I no longer need the ETG gauge as it's now attached to a proper nipple on my 3" exhaust, and as it uses the same 1/8" NPT fitting, all that I have to do is route the cabling through the firewall and connect a few wires. I also want to make a housing for the two gauges, or try and incorporate them in the dash if possible, as they are quite small compared to dial gauges. OK, here's a rundown of the install. First off, here's a photo of the kit that you get: It looks pretty simple, but the entire setup is fairly sophisticated and well thought out. The transducer is the object underneath the rectangular gauge and is what sends the pressure signal to the gauge. Transducers are used in all sorts of applications and come in all sorts of configurations, and are very accurate and durable. It also comes with a quick disconnect, to make it easier to remove if say attached directly to the intercooler. The wiring doesn't need any explanation and the gauge itself is very much like the EGT gauge from the same company, a digital readout and very easy to read. The transducer and gauge are calibrated for each other and provides for an accuracy of 0.1 PSI. The first thing I did was install the transducer and, as I had already drilled a hole and installed the clamp that came with the EGT gauge (for use with the rather poor mechanical gauge), it was easy as to install the transducer. This is where I'd installed the clamp and nipple: This is the installed tranducer, a bit of a tight fit, but not as bad as it looks (this was before I'd fully screwed in the transducer): I always like to protect wiring in the engine bay, so I installed corrugated cable protection and then zip tied it to existing points: With the engine cover back in place, the transducer is almost invisible. You will also notice that I changed the position of the wire to a point that had a little more flex to accommodate engine movement: That's the engine bay side completed, now for the internal cabling. The second part was a little more difficult, involving drawing the wire through the firewall and inside the console. There's nothing really to show here and very difficult to provide photos anyway, especially for those with ABS. Suffice to say that a coathanger straighted out first and then bent slightly at one end makes for an easy way to pull cable through the grommet in the passenger floorwell. Once The main cable was through, I then threaded it behind the console and then, in accordance with the instructions, connected the four wires from the transducer with the four from the gauge. That was very easy, simply connect and solder the same coloured wires first off, seal the ends of two wires (black and white), add a ring terminal on one wire (blue) for earth and then connect the remaining wire (brown) to an ignition on power source. This was really easy as I just used the same sources as I'd used for the EGT gauge. This is how the ends looked: Whilst the gauges are quite small, the hardest part was still finding a suitable location for the gauges. The size and style allows you to place these gauges almost anywhere, but visibility is a priority and I always like neatness (hidden cables, mounts and the like and being able to return the vehicle to factory standard without leaving holes etc all over the place). So this was the most difficult part of the install. I wanted the gauges to sit roughly where the EGT was originally placed, but there was no room for a second gauge. After lots of pondering and trying out various options, one position finally revealed itself. On this note, even though my wife hates it, I never, ever, throw anything out if there's any possible way of storing it. To this end, I was thankful, as I was able to rummage though my various boxes and find exactly what I needed to make a suitable bracket. If I'd thrown away this piece of metal, that I had no previous use for, I'd have had to go out and buy another one. After a few measurements and then some cutting, I was able to fabricate a simple bracket that attached to the underside of the console, next to the UHF, which would hold both gauges with some double-sided tape. I'm going to have to get some slightly thicker double sided tape, as the boost gauge looks like it's not going to stay put because the plate isn't completely flat and the wire is adding some stress to the tape. A minor issue that's easily fixed. This is what the final setup looks like and both gauges are easily visible from the driving position. You do have to glance down to see the readings, but I've ben doing this with the EGT gauge now for some time and it's very easy to read. The colour of the boost gauge isn't shown accurately in the photo, as it's actually blue backlit, but the lighting took that away: Here's a less cluttered view of the gauges and showing the colour of the boost gauge as well: While the Dyno Tune gauges aren't cheap (but not all that expensive either), they are of very high quality and as I said in the introduction, I much prefer digital readouts for some gauges and analogue for others. Where you're trying to determine highly variable engine parameters, digital gauges are usually better. So there you have it, boost and EGT in a simple and easy to read setup. Cheers Ray

I decided to install the EGT Gauge in the Patrol after I went to a wrecker and found out what the dump pipe actually looked like and figured out that the conversion would be pretty easy without having to remove the pipe etc. At first I was going to buy a dump pipe assembly from the wreckers and modify that and then just swap over the pipes once the work was done; but that wasn't necessary. The first part involves removing the heat shield from the turbo. This wasn't initially as easy a task as I thought, with some of the bolt seized pretty tight and not much room to swing a spanner. First move was to WD40 all the bolts and within minutes, they just tweedled off. One word of note to those who tackle this task, you don't need to remove the bolt that sits just under the rubber hose where the water pipe goes (centre right under the air-con pipe in the first photo). The shroud was a bugger to wrangle out from its resting place, but once the right moves were made, it came out fairly easily and replacement wasn't too difficult either, though I removed about a 5mm sliver of metal from either side where it curves around the vacuum diaphragm and that made subsequent installation and removal very easy). This is the EGT kit that I bought. It consists of the pyrometer probe, control box and digital display. The kit also came with two types of fittings for the probe, a standard nipple that could be welded onto the dump pipe and another nipple already welded to a screw clamp (next photo). As I didn't want to remove the pipe for welding of the nipple, I used the provided clamp. This is the nipple and clamp positioned over the dump pipe while I worked out the best location before drilling the required hole. What you can't see in this photo is the other side of the nipple. It isn't flat, but has a tapered nozzle that sits inside the drilled hole and provides a tight seal what the clamp is tightened (otherwise this setup would be useless). The next part involved measuring and locating the right place to the hole in the heat shield and, as I'm the world's greatest at measuring things, the hole naturally was completely off on the first attempt. That's the reason why the shield came off around six times, as I had to keep filing away until the nipple was fully exposed and things could be attached. This is the final setup with the nipple and Swagelok in place (and the hole looking somewhat meaningful). Everything bolted back nicely and it was now time to feed the probe through the firewall. There's one thing that I wish every vehicle manufacturer would do and that's install a bloody big grommet, somewhere easily accessible, so that you don't have to fight every inch of the way to pull through cables etc. The probe added extra complexity, as it was a rigid piece and had a right angle to boot. At first I was somewhat worried that I'd damage the probe pushing it through the only reasonable opening in the Patrol, but then I thought, it's going to be living in hell for the rest of its life, so poking its way through some rubber and insulation is hardly an effort. So the final assembly went fairly easily, once I'd managed to work the probe through the firewall. This is the gauge display and location. It was very easy to install, as all that was required was to connect the wires from the control box and gauge display together, route one to earth and one to switched power and all was good. It's very easy to read where I've located the display and quite unobtrusive in the overall scheme of things; I like things to be understated and almost unnoticed when I put something in any of my vehicles. The gauge works well after a short test drive and I'll be really interested in what temperatures I get while with and without the camper. The thing I already noticed even in the short drive was how quickly the temps rise and drop, doing 60kmh in overdrive raises the temps compared to doing the same out of overdrive. The EGT Gauge that I bought was from: http://www.dynotunen....?idproduct=134 Cheers Ray

Well, I finally got around to making the rear door table for the Patrol, after lots of planning and sourcing of materials. The total build time was around six hours, but there was also a bit of waiting for glue to dry and running around for bits and pieces, so the whole project took about three days. I wanted to make something slightly different to what others have made, so that the look is as close to factory as I could reasonably achieve with my limited workshop facilities (read basically none). This project was literally created on a Black and Decker foldout work table, and the kitchen and dining room tables (what I wouldn't give for a proper workshop. Here's the final result and I'll post the stages in a separate post. The only thing that I'm not satisfied with is the closing mechanism (currently a spring drawing together the wires that support the table); I'll be looking for something neat that I can use for a better lock. I'm also still tossing around what I want for the top of the table. The splashback is intentionally white so that it will reflect light onto the table. The total cost of this table is $91.51 in materials and consumables. This is what it started with, a sheet of 3mm thick aluminium: Then it was off with the existing liner to trace out the shape and mark the holes for the plugs: Once the shape and holes were marked (I used a pin vice first to mark the holes through the vinyl, so that it didn't leave any marks on the liner, and then centre punched the pin marks), then I outlined the cutout for the table: Once the holes were drilled and the centre cut out, I was ready to start the lining. Cutting out the centre piece was the most frightening thing, as one slip and it was start again. I used a 4" grinder with one of those 1mm thick cutting wheels to cut out the table. A note for those who may try this, when using one of these thin cutting wheels, don't try and cut through immediately, just gently move the wheel along the cutting mark, using a piece of staright steel or timber as a guide, and let the weight of the grinder work its way through: Time to test the farme on the door to ensure I got everything right. Spot on: Time to position the hinge and table on the frame. This was just a test to ensure that everything fitted correctly: The final stages involved gluing the matching vinyl to the frame and table. This took a bit of planning, as again, I didn't have any second chances to get it right. Yes I could have cut more vinyl, but then there was a huge mess of contact glue to clean off. This is how the frame came out and the table was much the same, so not point in additional shots: I stuffed around with various loking mechanisms, including velcro, but eventually ended up with this: It all works a treat. Cheers Ray

Try a Google search and use your name and you may be surprised at what you can find. Cheers Ray

I've always wanted some way to filter dust and other crap that enters through the air vents, and so that I can go about with the vent in the open position. Up till now, I've tried to think of everything and come up with nothing. Then by pure happenstance, someone posted a thread about cleaning just such a filter and my prayers were answered. And to make things even easier, Nissan now sell these filters (Filter Kit B727C-79925), which I assume fit all models of GU, as the system looks the same to me. Installation is a breeze and doesn't take long at all. The two filters as supplied (which included the all important 'clip'): The glove box was easy to remove, no need to take out the lid separately, as the unit came out as a whole by removing seven screws. This photo shows the piece that has to be removed with a Stanley knife or the like (you do it in three steps, take the vertical pieces off first and then the centre piece): Once the plastic has been removed, there's a clean slot for inserting the filters. Inside are premoulded grooves for the filters, as well as locating lugs for locking in the filters: Once the filters have been inserted, you use the clip to lock them in place. The diagram that comes with the filters shows the clip going on the bottom, but when I did this, the top filter was clearly able to rattle. So I inverted the bottom filter and, even thought the mating surface wasn't quite right, it went in as easily as the other way round. The clip then seated home perfectly in the middle where the fliters joined and there was no movement. There's a foam surround on the face of each filter, so that the filter seals with the air box. I'll add this diagram (which the is most important one) to illustrate exactly what has to be cut, in case the photos aren't quite clear enough: Cheers Ray

All you have to do is go to your particular page and use he 'save as' command and it will save all the content, including pictures, on your PC. It doesn't take long, other than finding such posts if you haven't linked to them. Cheers Ray

We'll, I copied all of my DIY stuff onto my PC, so that if need be, I can transfer them across to here and not lose the lot. Cheers Ray

I haven't been able to post since yesterday and now have been logged out and can't log in. Can't say it's confidence building at all. Cheers Ray

Can I annoy a few people? Let's see. Cheers Ray