Drew's D21 Build Up

After nearly a year of procrastinating I've finally started making a dent in converting my D21 from a SD25 to a TD27T.

I started off with a pretty beaten up D21 I bought from an ex prospector for a sweet $600 with the conversion already done. The only problem was the water pump had sh*t itself so I replaced that in his driveway and drove it home! The bloke reckons if he knew it was that easy he would have kept it!
Unfortunately when I started stripping it back to clean it up not only was it full of red dirt (from years of prospecting in Kalgoorlie) it was chokkas with rust. Nearly all the sills, wheel arches and roof were riddled with it. So it sat out the back of the workshop for a few months while I decided what to do with it. In the mean time some w#*ker spotted at the shop and stole the radiator cap, oil filler cap, both front wheels (kindly left me his screw jack and some bricks for support) and the gear shift knobs.
The next week another bloke spotted it and came in to see me, he had the same car but with a blown SD25, so I spent another $800 and got the car in the photos. She's a bit rough but fortunately the doors that are knackered on this are ok on the other one (which I havent taken photos of).
The other benefit is now I have a complete spare set of everything!

I'll throw some more pics up soon of the donor car and work done so far soon. Cheers in advance of all the advice I'll be asking for!

Drew

Good on ya drew and good luck

Gotta luv the 21s......good luck with it mate

Cheers guys.

I should be doing a bit of work on it tomorrow so I'll put up some more pics after that. Hopefully get some panel work done in the arvo too.

Finally got the engine lifted out of the donor car. Its sitting on the engine stands unbolted from everything for a while, just had to make some time to pick up a mates engine crane. I thought it would be a quick job, just chain it up and lift but it turned out to be a mission! The bloody sump kept getting stuck behind the front diff. I got to the point where I had the front diff completely unbolted from the frame and rolled forward but had no luck.
Finally I unbolted the sump and wedged it out. A complete pain in the ass! The onlt other engines I've removed are a 351 from a mates F150 and a 5L from my old ute - an absolute dream compared to this! Plus it was 43 degrees!
Anyway, here are a few photos and hopefully I can start some panel work during the week.
Cheers.




Sorry about the size of the photos, I'll get the hang of it soon!

Pics are alright size, big but viewable.
You said its a donor car, then why not just cut the radiator support so its easier to lift out.

Yeah, it is a donor car but it has plenty of movement forwards without the radiator in. The sump was hitting the back of the front diff with it fully lifted and still sitting half in the gearbox. Apparently you have to unbolt the diff and let it rest on the front cross member. I ended up taking that member out and letting it fall as forward as I could get it and it still hit!
In the end it was just easier to unbolt the sump and lift it out. I had already drained the oil so it was quicker than cutting anything.
Just happy to have it out, now it feels like something is happening. Plus having the engine on a stand in the garage at home gets the missus off my back for having the other Navara in the driveway not doing anything!!

Ahh! I know that feeling of the misses odeing at donor cars sitting in the driveway or the front yard.

Good luck with it mate.

Dave.

While I was under the car I noticed on the opposite side to the fuel tank there was a big void. I was thinking I might be able to put the fuel tank out of the donor car in there and have another filler on the other side.
Does anyone know if there would be a problem with that? I know I would have to move the exhaust but I was going to put a new one in anyway once the engine is in. Would it be easier to make one pump into the other?

Any help would be appreciated!

I have pondered same. If the petrol lift pump isn't destroyed by diesel you could use that. But better off using a tee with solenoid valves to choose a supply though, more reliable should you rupture the main tank. Not sure about air bubbles etc. Might be okay when running, might not.

If the tank fits then use a pump to suck fuel and fill your main tank.

For future reference I have found it a bit easier to remove the 2 crossmembers and shift the gearbox back - then the engine comes in and out without an issue and it is a bit easier to re-attach the gearbox later. Does mean jacking the front though as the torsion bars come out.

If it was me I would put a t piece in the fuel feed and join the two tanks. The fuel level in the two would equalize (after a period) provided the two tanks were at the same level, and the fuel gauge would still tell you the degree of fullness. You would still need to fill both separately (or wait ages). Remember that putting a tank on the other side would mean moving the filler and outtakes.

I'd go for a larger pipe joining the two so that filling one fills the other automatically without pumping

There may be an issue in extreme angles - near the point of rolling the vehicle, the tank opposite the fuel filler (when it is higher in elevation relative to the other tank) will apply considerable pressure to the fuel in the lower tank and may force the fuel up the filling spout and out.

However, there are advantages if you're not going to go that extreme:

* No need for additional pumps
* Fuel gauge accuracy isn't altered

The downside: if you rupture one tank, you lose both, but if you're clever and install a valve between them (like a high-flow tap), you can turn off the connection between them, switch the fuel delivery hosing to the good tank, refill it and get home.

Since I'll never be putting my vehicle into those extremes, that's the direction I'm thinking of taking with mine.

For future reference I have found it a bit easier to remove the 2 crossmembers and shift the gearbox back - then the engine comes in and out without an issue and it is a bit easier to re-attach the gearbox later. Does mean jacking the front though as the torsion bars come out.

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Cheers mikeathome, I've got to remove the SD25 from the other Navara so I'll give that a shot with that one.

Thanks everyone for the advice, I was thinking of putting in solenoids so I can choose which tank to draw from. As long as I remove all the air from both fuel lines and dont drain either tank dry then there shoudnt be a problem with air bubbles should there?
Maybe if I get a three way switch so I can choose either tank seperately or both at the same time then I should be able bleed them, would that work?
Also, if I did that I would have to get another fuel guage, I should be able to rig that up using parts from the donor car and getting an aftermarket guage shouldn't I?

Cheers again for the help everyone.

You could just install a relay and have the three way switch select which of the two fuel tank sender signals goes to the gauge (as appropriate to the tank selected.)

I thought I would start this build up thinking that I would be updating it nearly every week but it doesnt look like its the case!
I have just finished removing the interior of the donor Nav and found two interesting things - firstly, it looks like the previous owner had already installed dual tanks in it and left the all the wiring in the car from the switch in the dash, through the ignition and down to where the old tank used to be, I havent chased it down fully yet so I'm not sure what set up he had but its a good reference anyway!
And secondly, he had also installed a turbo timer which is still mounted to the dash! I realise its not exactly essential but now that I have one it will be getting put in the new car.

I've also gutted the interior of the new car ready to get the body primed and painted, not sure what colour yet but it wont be anything fancy as its getting done in the garage! I also cut the guard for the snorkel from the donor car which needs to get cleaned up and powder coated.

The snorkel I have is only a half height one, I dont think I'll be doing any river crossings over half of the windscreen so I assume it should be ok.

Drew said:

I thought I would start this build up thinking that I would be updating it nearly every week but it doesnt look like its the case!

Click to expand...

I know exactly how you feel

Well its been a while since I have out anything in here, I bought a house and started doing renos so the missus wouldnt let me spend money on the nav!
I've been doing some work on it though and have gone deeper than I thought I would be so its a little way off yet!

One thing that did happen though is I had the donor car out the back on our family workshop and had nearly finished stripping it when someone broke the lock on our unlicenced car trailer, loaded up the spare nav and drove off with it!! Its good in a way because now I dont have to get rid of it!
The only bad thing is the gearbox and bell housing were still in it. I have a spare gearbox so I'm not worries about that but I need a bell housing now.

Does anyone know if the bellhousing from a TD27 is the same as a TD27T? Its to go on a standard navara 5 speed. Also if anyone has one around Perth, that would be great!

Cheers for your help.

Did you claim insurance.

Dave.