Thread: Nissan SD-33 in a Series III

Hey Mate read your post,i have a Nissan ed33 and 5 speed box in my
6x6 series 3.
I can send you some photos if you like.I wont be home until Friday as i work
away.
Reguards Mick.

ED33 4cyl with 5 speed or duel range nissan gearbox was a common conversion due to the cost of an import cabstar motor.
rear shaft was modified/replaced into a ser3 transbox.
I think there is a ED35T

be similar to using a toyota 2.8 dyna/delta diesel.
I prefer a mazda-perkins trader engine if you can get a good one.

SD33 is a big 6 cyl from a different UD family of engines.
dont know if that whats being asked.

Hi L
Im new to the site but very interisted in your build with sd33, i have aquired the same build and plan on improving the current state of it, prop shafts vibrate like crazy rear very short been chopped and not balanced , but looks like lots of fun and i can wait to get started..

Originally Posted by jlhface

Hi L
Im new to the site but very interisted in your build with sd33, i have aquired the same build and plan on improving the current state of it, prop shafts vibrate like crazy rear very short been chopped and not balanced , but looks like lots of fun and i can wait to get started..

Hello Jlhface,

How are you progressing with your SD 33 Conversion? Mine has been overtaken in the queue by a Land Rove with a diesel 2.25 litre original engine and another Land Rover with a 202 CC Holden powered utility so the SD 33 project has come to a halt.

Kind Regards
Lionel

Mate, that looks almost worse than my series III! Good luck!

Hello All,

It has been a while since I did anything more than walk past Hunter my second ever purchase of a Land Rover. I revisited the advertisement on eBay which I bought Hunter through - a deceased estate where the previous owner took ill before the conversion to the Nissan SD33 was completed and obviously they never recovered. The advertisement did say that it did not have a starter motor. Popping the bonnet confirmed this.

Without the presence of a battery or batteries and with the identification plate on the alternator being illegible I embarked on trying to find out what voltage the SD33 Nissan Patrol motor was. Most of the available parts I have seen advertised about the tracks suggested 24 volt.

I found the engine number and posted off an email to Nissan Australia and contacted a couple of dealers and no one could match the engine number to what voltage the engine was meant to be. I joined the Nissan Patrol Forum and posted some messages there and they were quite helpful. However, there were no conclusive solutions.

The first Nissan Patrol MQ diesel arrived in Australian in 1980 and they were 24 volt as standard. In 1983 they were fitted with 12 volts as standard and informally called the MK Patrol. However, just to complicate things some of the 1983 - 84 systems kept running the 24 volt systems until they used up all their stocks.

I took the alternator out and dropped into the local auto electrician and they said they could not say for sure without splitting the alternator. The bloke did try to "grab a spark" and was very non-committal that it "could be" a 12 volt but would not go any more than 50/50. He did say that the vacuum pump shaft was broken and since the shaft in the early alternators was very large it indicated that a whole world of pain was laying within the covers of the alternator. It was best that I just dumped it.

So one step back - not knowing if the system was 24 or 12 volt and minus an alternator.

One of the blokes on the Nissan Patrol Forum suggested that I take a glow plug out and it may have the voltage written on it.

After spraying the glow plugs with CRC for a couple of days I took two glow plugs out and I am happy to write that it said "Japan ... 2H .... 11 V." So I am very pleased about not having to transition between 24 volt engine bay and 12 volt Land Rover parts.

Despite scouring through various wreckers and telephone calls, plus checking eBay and Gumtree for a couple of weeks, I could not track down a 12 volt starter motor. Just heaps and heaps of 24 volt ones. Then within hours of looking at the glow plug a Nissan Patrol MQ 12 volt starter motor appeared on eBay! It already had a couple of vultures oops watchers lurking around and it had a "Buy it Now" price. Whoosh and swoop the Buy it Now button was pressed and I should have a starter motor coming my way by the end of this week.

Since any 12 volt alternator with a vacuum pump with a negative earth will fit the Nissan motor I will be getting a new clone for the Isuzu 4BD1 so I can swap it between the Nissan engine and Baldrick my 2.25 litre diesel Series 3 ute to run the brake booster.

The purpose of the exercise is to finish the conversion to the extent that the engine is not sitting idle and deteriorating. Especially since God only knows when it was last turned over. Sort of maintaining the asset.

During my visit to the wrecker they said that a SWB MQ Patrol with an SD33 had just come in and was in the yard. After looking for the incorrectly described coloured vehicle I did find it. I popped the bonnet and the VIN plate identified it as built in September 1980 and the two batteries pointed to 24 volts. It did provide me with my first opportunity to look under an MQ Patrol bonnet and I quickly found out that I am also missing a pre-cleaner that is attached to my already missing air cleaner that sits on the inlet manifold throat. Yes this is the another of those one step back parts of this post.

Well that is it for now - hopefully there will not be such a long time between posts and I can report some progress.

Oh and can Nissan SD33 diesel motors be started without a Fuel Injection Pump Control Unit - because the Gregory's manual says that the engine is supposed to have one - hmmm that is another step back. I just hope that the manual refers to really - really "late" Nissan MQ SD33 Motors like 1986 or 87 and hopefully Hunter's engine is from 1984-85. Who knows someday someone for Nissan Australia might be able to match my engine number to year of manufacture!

The sheer delights of having a semi-converted hybrid vehicle which uses parts from the 1980s.

Kind Regards
Lionel

you could always fit an electric vacuum pump to save you trying to find one on an alternator, it might be easier

volvos and a couple of other modern cars use them, just make sure the pump is for the brakes rather than the central locking

wire it up to operate via a relay from the brakelight switch then it's only running when needed

Originally Posted by NiteMare

you could always fit an electric vacuum pump to save you trying to find one on an alternator, it might be easier

volvos and a couple of other modern cars use them, just make sure the pump is for the brakes rather than the central locking

wire it up to operate via a relay from the brakelight switch then it's only
running when needed

G'day NiteMare,

Thank you for the reply.

I can source alternators with vacuum pumps more readily in Australia than I can a straight electric vacuum pump.

Phin is doing the type of pump you describe in the Series III thread - New project - 1974 Dutch camper conversion .

I am in no real hurry so I will wait to decide which way to go. Thanks Phin It is sometimes good not to be the pioneer .

The Nissan is already fully plumbed with oil and air lines and it does need a vacuum pump and it needs an alternator. The same alternator can be swapped between the Nissan and my Land Rover 2.25 diesel. The Land Rover diesel will need hooking up regardless of what type of vacuum supply.

It will come down to flexibility between vehicles and cost.

So the jury is still out. I will wait cautiously in the wings to see how Phin goes

Kind Regards
Lionel