D21 Build Log

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Dion

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Last year whilst I was looking around for a Hilux I had to move house, and some family friends lent a hand with their diesel single cab DX D21 Navara. I had never really considered it much but from then on I decided it looked awesome: I maintain to this day that the standard flat steel wheels are useless and ugly up against the beautifully wide and dished Sunraysias but the flares are awesome, almost like broad shoulders.

I laid down $2000 for a white 1988 Cab Chassis 4x4 5 Speed Manual 2.7L Diesel ST with shitty steel tray, with 213,000 or so on the clock. Most of the transmission bearings were buggered, but since it had the FS5W71C in it, shared with half the Nissans and Holdens of that era, I figured self-repair would be relatively easy and cheap. It had some panel damage where someone had obviously beached it on a deep roadside gutter and the wing mirrors were DIY caravanning numbers, but I planned to replace those parts regardless of their condition. The chassis and engine were solid, so I went for it. I don't have a photo of what it looked like when I bought it.

At present the car’s more agricultural body panels have been swapped off for some stuffed Pathfinder bits; for the uninitiated the Pathfinder and Navara are identical from the B-pillar forward, so it’s got new-old one-piece-window doors, front fenders, bonnet, grille and headlights, and an alloy bullbar to replace the steel nudge bar. It’s also had five brand new wheels and tyres from a dual cab V6 Hilux SR. They’re Bridgestone Dueler HT 255/70 R15s, replacing the original Dueler HT 205/R16s on the front and Motorways of some sort on the back. Yes, they’re a lot wider. They fit because the offset is greater on the hilux rims, putting all the extra width on the outside of the vehicle, and the new fenders have fiberglass flares already, making it roadworthy. The spindle diameter on today’s Hilux is greater than on my Navara so Navara wheels won’t go on a modern Hilux. Not that you’d do that out of choice. The diameter change is in the range of +3%, so no issues there.

The transmission has been rebuilt out of stranded necessity with a new clutch, reverse set, fifth set with synchros, and all bearings and seals. It’d be nice if that lasted another 800,000,000km, since it cost more than I paid for the car at a princely three thousand and something dollars. Besides that are just niggly things like a new windscreen (Western Windscreens, VIC, $205), new front shock absorbers (OME Nitrochargers, $276 pair), the list goes on.
 
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Hey mate.

Good to see some older trucks on here. The D21's and the D22's are pretty similar.

My D22 has a R50 windscreen in it, they also share a few common parts with the D22's like the D21's share parts with the WD21.

Enjoy the site.

Dave.
 
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THE FS5W71C

When I had my gearbox rebuilt, I took the liberty of asking for the parts replaced, as I always do when I can't see the new parts on the car. For those curious to see what some parts of the box look like, read on.

One of the many reasons for the rebuild:
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How the fifth and reverse gears go together. The selector slides from selecting fifth to become the reverse gear.
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There are more in the gallery but that's it for interesting shots.

In other news, my CD player finally arrived. It’s yet another eBay purchase, $5.50 + $9.60 delivery, it’s from a 2002 Pulsar. I absolutely despise the look of aftermarket Sony, Panasonic, etc. CD players, so it’s colour-matched Nissan OEM all the way (black on black). The new player has the 95+ Nissan connector and my car has a butchered -95 Nissan connector that I’ve had to carefully solder back together. Thanks, Previous Owners! I ordered a $13 harness adaptor from the US since I couldn't find a male 95+ nissan connector easily in Australia.
 
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I had to go into work today and the daylight is getting shorter so there was very little progress on my filler but here is my modified petrol filler ready and waiting to go in... I just couldn't drill the hole once everyone in the street settled down for a quiet dinner.

The PVC is an experiment in keeping the pipe from collapsing in the slight bend.

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To keep the progress on the build log going, here are some photos of my turbo parts, before they're cleaned and compiled alongside the necessary piping, etc, before assembly and fitting.

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Water to air intercooler.

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Water cooled turbo. I'm already setting up a secondary cooling loop so it may as well join in even though it's unnecessary.



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I bought this radiator and Davies Craig fan cheap for the secondary loop to remote mount somewhere in the truck and fit up with a cabin switch and water spray (if the temperature is going to be 47 again any time soon).
 
Looking good mate.

All that gear will transform the oldgirl.

You will love the turbo, stuff NA.

Dave.
 
Thanks Dave, yeah the TD27 has a well-deserved reputation as a slug, can't wait to get it all organised!
 
Will be following your build with interest. What I've noticed is there are not many D21 enthusiasts around.

Question, how was the gearbox when you rebuilt it specifically with the 5th gear bearing and syncho? My dad used to have an 87 4X4 2.5D and his gearbox spat these parts twice in 160K. Was really the only problem he ever had with it.
 
Will be following your build with interest. What I've noticed is there are not many D21 enthusiasts around.

Question, how was the gearbox when you rebuilt it specifically with the 5th gear bearing and syncho? My dad used to have an 87 4X4 2.5D and his gearbox spat these parts twice in 160K. Was really the only problem he ever had with it.

Aye, we're of limited number, glad to hear you've joined the team.

Did your old man do a lot of towing? I think that's what killed mine. How do you mean, how was the gearbox? Post rebuild, I've got a LOT of gear rattle and it jumps out of fifth, but they'll be separate issues that will be sorted under warranty. Besides that it works okay.
 
Did bugger all towing with it. He did some towing of another vehicle (a Haflingher) with an A frame for about 1000KM when it was a couple of years old but that was it. This problem was common in this model as the workshop that did the rebuilds also had done another 6 Nav's in the same town all with the same problem. The supposed solution to fix this issue was to run a synthetic gear oil.

This one I have just bought does not seem to have had the box removed and it's done 227K.


Aye, we're of limited number, glad to hear you've joined the team.

Did your old man do a lot of towing? I think that's what killed mine. How do you mean, how was the gearbox? Post rebuild, I've got a LOT of gear rattle and it jumps out of fifth, but they'll be separate issues that will be sorted under warranty. Besides that it works okay.
 
Yeah, the fifth gear was a later addition to the four speed and so it's weak as the proverbial. Hope your Nav never has any gearbox troubles, that'd be nice.
 
Just an update tonight. The missus broke her leg something shocking, so I've been otherwise disposed for the last few weeks.

My door lock broke. If you've ever pulled apart a D21 door lock, you'll know that the key barrel is connected to the lock by a slide arrangement to allow you to return the key to vertical to remove it from the lock without locking/unlocking it again. The lug which attaches the slider and thus barrel to the lock arm on the latch is somewhat underspecified, so once they reach this age the plastic doesn't take too kindly to the lock assembly being removed without EXTREME care. If you've broken it off, it is possible to do the following quick hack job for a repair:
- Spin the metal out of the slider arrangement and put the lug somewhere safe for future actual repair. If I find a big enough slab of resin or something I might machine it with a dremel.
- Using a thicker variety of wire coathanger, or any wire of a similar nature, not that uber soft shitty stuff, make make a new "lug" by wrapping around the slider about six or seven turns to match the size of the original lug, then back off a quarter turn so it slides freely, then twist the ends together in a double helix perpendicular to the slider in the middle, leaving enough end barbed out to hold the lug in the hole.
- Reassemble and you shouldn't be able to tell the difference in the lock action. It'll rust eventually of course.

I bought an OEM Nissan CD player from a 2002 Pulsar. There are at least two Nissan connectors, 87-94, and 94 Onwards. Obviously my harness connector wouldn't fit. I couldn't find an old-Nissan to new-Nissan adaptor anywhere, so I bought an old-Nissan to ISO connector from Autobarn, and a reverse (male) new-Nissan to loose wires connector from a specialty shop in the US via eBay. Luckily the wires all match up perfectly so it's simply a job of soldering like 16 wires together. You can make a old-Nissan to new-Nissan harness adaptor very easily, mine cost $33 all up. Unfortunately my radio turned out to be security coded, the seller doesn't have the code, it's an 'FMS Audio' radio so nobody has a pirated code generator for it, and Nissan dealers probably can't help me without a VIN number.
 
I bought a donor car locally for my dual cab swap.

1986, dual fuel, blown engine, 2wd, damaged rear bumper. Couldn't care less about any of that. I'll be doing the swap from the 19th to the 24th, then the 1st July onwards.

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Loving this build up Pro-Nav, it's a real inspiration for all us D21 owners. Keep the updates coming mate.

iPom
 
I got a VIN for the car my new-old radio came from, so today I paid a visit to South Coast Nissan at Tweed Heads. They got me a code for it for free, and in like 3 seconds, so if a Nissan dealer ever tries to charge you for it, take your future business elsewhere.

You don't realise just how vital car audio is till you have none for a Melbourne-Gold Coast haul.
 
I got a VIN for the car my new-old radio came from, so today I paid a visit to South Coast Nissan at Tweed Heads. They got me a code for it for free, and in like 3 seconds, so if a Nissan dealer ever tries to charge you for it, take your future business elsewhere.
QUOTE]

I bought my Nav from South Coast Nissan 2 years ago. Good people to do business with, even lent me a car while mine was being serviced for the first couple of times. I decided it was too far to travel for service & now go to a local shop. :idea:
 

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