4.8 Ti Patrol

[iplen]

Yes, they drink like Boony on an intergalactic flight, But thats what LPG is for..

I was not looking to buy a car, then I stumbled across a cheap Autech Stagea (I loved my RS4...) which somehow triggered the missus to say I could buy a car if I pissed off my broken Subaru.. then I started hunting and the Stagea makes no sense for me as a daily, I go to rallies, I like knowing I can get off road, camping etc, I need to be able to tow.. Apart from that I already have 1 RB to break, so why do I want 2 (esspecially a cheap one). My main thing with the 4.8 is what it's like on gas, (reliabilty) and has anyone played with exhaust etc to see if there are some basic mods which *may* help economy? Is there anything that people are aware of I should look out for?

[ARTZ]

not sure what their like on gas, my guess is ordinary like anything on gas. but at least you have 4.8 ltrs to make up for the ordinary..

I have heard they have alot of head issues though, cant remember the details but these could possibly be worse if on gas..

If your gunna get a truck get a diesel..you wont look back..

I had a gas bravo whcih never gave me problems so I was skeptical about diesels but my little bt50 is rad..so much toooorque..you can get full programable ecus for 1200$, bigger exhausts, intercoolers the works and they can put out some decent power and the mods and maintenance is piss easy... on drizzly days im constantly spinning up third by accident, i was driving down a wide gravel road today and just give it a flick and instant fishtails were no problem at all. Its a funny feeling fishtailing at 2500rpm, its kind of relaxing actually

granted mines only a 2wd tray but the 4wd guys on the forums say they flick em around no worries too..The patrol comes in a 4.5 diesel, thats what id be getting..but even the bt50/ranger are awesome rigs, i dont hear many complaints

lots of good info here

http://www.4wdaction.com.au/forum/

[Birds]

Careful with the gearbox in the Mazda/Ford utilities...they are made of a fine glass painted to look like metal. If you stay out of 5th when you're doing less than 80km/h you should be right. Blow up 5th and it's a $2000+ exercise though!

[ARTZ]

Can you recomend me some oils birds. Am using penrite hpr 5 in the engine atm seems to be most popular but i wouldnt mind something better for the box its a bit crunchy..

My uncle did have problems with his gearbox, some design fault with oil galleries i think that mazda owned up to and fixed..

[FineLine]

Yes, they drink like Boony on an intergalactic flight, But thats what LPG is for..

I was not looking to buy a car, then I stumbled across a cheap Autech Stagea (I loved my RS4...) which somehow triggered the missus to say I could buy a car if I pissed off my broken Subaru.. then I started hunting and the Stagea makes no sense for me as a daily, I go to rallies, I like knowing I can get off road, camping etc, I need to be able to tow.. Apart from that I already have 1 RB to break, so why do I want 2 (esspecially a cheap one). My main thing with the 4.8 is what it's like on gas, (reliabilty) and has anyone played with exhaust etc to see if there are some basic mods which *may* help economy? Is there anything that people are aware of I should look out for?

I've been living with a 4.8 for 4 years now. Fuel was an issue but a set of headers a good exhaust an ecu and a tune made the world of difference. It gets used and abused on a daily basis and nothing but nothing stops it.

Problems, there arent any. performance, nothing better than dusting an f250 while your towing a trailer. Their pissed off look is priceless.

In a word they're bomb proof. negatives are few. Seats arent the greatest. the auto is a bit too willing to change up a gear at times. given the grunt the thing has it doesnt need to but it does anyway.

Not the most refined vehicle out there but by far the most reliable and robust of any in that market segment.

[iplen]

I had the GQ until a couple of years ago, pretty sure it won't be as agricultural as that... As far as the petrol vs diesel goes Arthur, I can get a 4.5 petrol for mid teens, and have possibly found a 4.8 for that money too, or for the same money I can get a shagged 80 series with 500k on it. The same truck in the 4.2td is about 35k.. 20k buys a hell of a lot of gas... And the 4.8 apparently blows the td into the weeds.. Thanks fineline, confirmed what I suspected, the GQ had headers and exhaust on it, loved the sound!!

[ARTZ]

yeah I must admit the diesel tax they put on things is friggin ridiculous..Point taken..

I was doin some reading last night and its actually the diesels that have the head problems as well, so I was wrong there too but I was drunk last night so I will blame it on that

[MattR]

you could allways buy a cheap 4.8 with good running gear and then drop in the 7.3 litre V8 turbo diesel chev for about 8K. its a straight swap and the torque and power is huge with the chev, and still good on fuel. not many dramas changing from petrol to diesel just fuel lines and clean the tank, ecu comes with the chev engine and gearbox from the GU fits straigh on.

[iplen]

Just check out Handbrakes 4.5 turbo build... As tempting as this is, I currently have a broken RB (not very broken) and a broken 4AGE, which goes with a stripped rally car.. 200rwkw patrol sounds mighty fun... But I want 1 reliable car, might do the mods mentioned by FineLine to help fuel usage, but otherwise I will just drive it..

[iseekool]

1000hp potential

HKS built up a 4.8L Patrol for some guy in the Middle East - It's on youtube somewhere.