New D22 owner.

[NWQD22]

Hi just traded my old Bravo on a 03 D22 STR 3.0L TD, just wondering if any one has played with the exhaust and if it is worth doing? Also has any one fitted an after market cruise control, was there much involved, plan to do a bit of touring but with wife an two kids following along want A)something to block out the noise & B) a bit extra sting.

Cheers

 

[Old.Tony]

Welcome to the forums!

Sounds like fun, congrats on the new ride. I don't know much about cruise control installations, but I do know that my factory-fitted one sees very little use - it's a real fuel waster.

You set the thing for a certain speed and it maintains that. The biggest waste comes when you reach a hill - where a person would normally gently apply accelerator to maintain or "slowly lose speed to pick it up again over the other side", the CC just plants it in order to maintain speed.

It's definitely not something I intend to *ever* use while towing, too.

As for noise reduction, you can put panels in the door and spray some stuff under the cabin to help with that, but a diesel is a diesel. Mine is a major change from the car I traded in - an excellently maintained Commodore that was so quiet, you couldn't tell the engine was running at 80km/h and if I was in the forest idling the motor over so I could charge a battery up, you really had trouble telling. It's something to get used to, for me.

Extra sting - there are all sorts of performance mods you can do, the most common seem to be:

Larger exhaust - might be more valuable to your 3.0L engine than it would for the 2.5L. Several people with this mod believe it has value so I'd lean in the "yup" direction.

Chips - replacing the chip that controls the fuel injection etc can help with not only power increase but improving fuel economy as well.

Diesel Gas - I only know that this mod gives you more power. I think it's expensive and not sure if I'd ever bother with it myself.

I'm so happy with the performance of mine at the moment (except maybe its fuel economy) that I'm unlikely to do many of these. I'm leaning towards some ECU modifications, there's a thread nearby where we're discussing changing the injector duration because the cars perform better or worse at different altitudes, but that's as far as I think I'll ever go.

You could also look into things like lift kits, suspension upgrades and more. I might eventually get the rear suspension done, because we're looking at a fifth wheeler and they place about 400kg on the rear axle (my current van puts about 180kg down on the towball).

Anyway, welcome aboard, hope you enjoy the ride and the forums!

 

[Jason]

Hi mate, welcome to the forums.

Exhaust is a good mod, well worth doing.

 

[KraftyPg]

Welcome to the Forums!

I haven't fitted an after market CC kit to a Nav but I did once fit one to a Ford Telstar. Was quite a few years back and the kits have no doubt improved alot since then but they weren't that hard when I did it.

I'm guessing the likes of Autobahn and Super Cheap sell the kits these days (at one stage even K-mart sold them) which is a fair indication that any one with a bit of mechanical knowledge can still install them.

If I was you I'd research all the available models and make sure they are Nav compatible, make sure they are either specific to diesel or diesel compatible and even ask Nissan themselves for information on the kits they fit. Nissan will no doubt quote you a price that will require you taking out a second mortgage but if you find the one they use you know its going to work on the Nav and you might find somewhere else to buy it from because you can bet Nissan don't make it themselves.

 

[tweak'e]

block out the noise....turn up the radio

exhaust is very worth while doing, plenty of threads on that for you to read.
however if noise if a problem then stick to 2.5" cat back exhaust. fitting a dump pipe will give you lots more turbo whine which i find female passengers dislike
2.5" will be quiet, cheaper and easier to fit than the 3".

if carting any decent loads you may need to change the weak rear springs. good excuse to raise it 2"

 

[SOLID D22]

Welcome to the forums!

Sounds like fun, congrats on the new ride. I don't know much about cruise control installations, but I do know that my factory-fitted one sees very little use - it's a real fuel waster.

You set the thing for a certain speed and it maintains that. The biggest waste comes when you reach a hill - where a person would normally gently apply accelerator to maintain or "slowly lose speed to pick it up again over the other side", the CC just plants it in order to maintain speed.

It's definitely not something I intend to *ever* use while towing, too.

As for noise reduction, you can put panels in the door and spray some stuff under the cabin to help with that, but a diesel is a diesel. Mine is a major change from the car I traded in - an excellently maintained Commodore that was so quiet, you couldn't tell the engine was running at 80km/h and if I was in the forest idling the motor over so I could charge a battery up, you really had trouble telling. It's something to get used to, for me.

Extra sting - there are all sorts of performance mods you can do, the most common seem to be:

Larger exhaust - might be more valuable to your 3.0L engine than it would for the 2.5L. Several people with this mod believe it has value so I'd lean in the "yup" direction.

Chips - replacing the chip that controls the fuel injection etc can help with not only power increase but improving fuel economy as well.

Diesel Gas - I only know that this mod gives you more power. I think it's expensive and not sure if I'd ever bother with it myself.

I'm so happy with the performance of mine at the moment (except maybe its fuel economy) that I'm unlikely to do many of these. I'm leaning towards some ECU modifications, there's a thread nearby where we're discussing changing the injector duration because the cars perform better or worse at different altitudes, but that's as far as I think I'll ever go.

You could also look into things like lift kits, suspension upgrades and more. I might eventually get the rear suspension done, because we're looking at a fifth wheeler and they place about 400kg on the rear axle (my current van puts about 180kg down on the towball).

Anyway, welcome aboard, hope you enjoy the ride and the forums!

You got the diesel gas way wrong, it gives you way more power, more so than a chip i would say and way better fuel economy!
Expensive to install, yes, but i save 30 to 40 dollars every time i fill up!
I paid mine off within 9 months of driving.

 

[NWQD22]

Hey thanks for the advise. Noise I was referring to was the wife and kids.....

 

[KraftyPg]

If you can figure out a mod for that market it you'll make a fortune

 

[Old.Tony]

You got the diesel gas way wrong, it gives you way more power, more so than a chip i would say and way better fuel economy!

I might be way wrong for you and others, but I was pretty clear that it was my perspective on that and that I wouldn't bother with it myself. Frankly I'm more interested in looking at a full biodiesel operation, so that when the black stuff stops comin' out of the ground, I'll still be haulin' my van with my missus around the countryside.

Unless they start naturally producing diesel gas. Can't imagine too many farmers holding bottles up behind cows to catch it though. I be buying shares in nose peg companies first.

Maybe they could hire plumbers and just hook the cows up in racks.

 

[KraftyPg]

My ex boss was making his own Bio diesel which he ran in all the smaller trucks and made in the factory where we parked the trucks. He could produce about 3000 liters a week which just covered the four runs the 8 tonners did. He went to WA and QLD and checked out all these experts who gave him the specs on building his own system.

The mechanics we had weren't overjoyed with the bio trucks but they serviced them just the same. I have no idea how much was laid out for the equipment and stuff but I do know it lasted less than 6 months before he decided getting the cost of getting the raw material, the extra power at the factory and the effort he had to put in was too much and he gave up and put the 8 tonners back on straight diesel.

We put bio fuel in the cars at Mundrabilla this time last year because thats all they had and in my Forester it only effected the fuel economy slightly but the in the Crewman it played havoc for the 200 odd ks to Cockelbiddy. Think I'm just going to stick with the stuff that comes out of the ground until it's proven there is none left then I'll trade the Nav in on the next big thing. So everyone could be helpful to me by only buying petrol cars from now on, thanks

 

[SOLID D22]

Diesel gas is not a product its just normal diesel you fill up and a small lpg bottle you fill up with normal lpg, you see it costs about 10 to 15 dollars to fill up the lpgas and to get the same kays as the gas i have to pay an extra 30 to 40 dollars with diesel.
I also looked into bio diesel and almost purchased the kit to start making my own, if you make your own it equates to about 20 to 26c a litre of diesel, but heard from a few guys on the patrol forum that made their own and ran it, tried with different types of oil too and the cars did not like it and they went back to using diesel from the servo's.
My mechanic does not recommend it also.
In my opinion i would like to have the chip too but the gas setup just speaks for itself.
I think the diesel gas setup gets overlooked far too easily because of the initial setup cost, but honestly after the government rebate its not too much more than the chip, and you also dont notice the gas bottle, which is a bonus.