Donor Maverick

My donor vehicle has now arrived and is awaiting my attention, it's a Ford Maverick and is in surprisingly good condition.The front wings are rusted but the rest seems fine. I know this car was retired due to a faulty clutch, which is a major job on these as I am finding out. As I am dismantling all the engine and drive train anyway its no problem now.

Its a terrible shame the Navara wasn't made as well as this. There is loads of rust starting to eat away at the Navara the bumper back support is just rust and dust.

Navara YD25 engine out

So, decided to take the engine out without the gearbox, mainly because I was worried about the combined weight and possible balance problems. I have learnt from my first battle with the Navara  to remove the engine mounting blocks which allows you to lower the engine sufficiently to get at the top bell-housing bolts which are fiddly especially when you are on your own.

Removing the slam panel made removing the engine much easier. I unbolted the turbo at the manifold and left it in the engine bay, the rest of the exhaust down pipe looks pretty rusted. It will be easier to deal with when the engine is out of the way. I think I will use the Maverick down pipe so doesn't really matter at the moment.

Looks sweet enough, but this engine has cost me a small fortune in time and money. I will dismantle it later and see what parts are still OK. The lower engine is fine, I think the top has destroyed itself, the temptation to look is very strong but as I have said, enough time has been wasted on this already.

Maverick prep

I am pleased to see how many similarities there are between the two, so far the Maverick seems to be the better built. I started her up just so that I know she is a good runner before starting the strip down, now it will be my fault if she doesn't start when in the Navara. The Maverick has air-con so a few more bits to remove and annoyingly no radiator drain plug.

Dismantling a Maverick

I take back everything bad I have said about the Navara, after 3 hours the engine was out. 6 hours spent on the Maverick and still not ready to lift out. The front axle and diff was a real struggle, every bolt was tight to the end and hard to get at. The torsion bars are further forward and closer together than on the Navara which make the front axle a tight fit.I read the workshop manual when I got home to find you should lift the engine to make more room, a case of. "If at first you don't succeed, read the instructions."  On the Navara this job was a doddle.

The 4 wheel drive selector is being a pain it's completely rusted and looks as if it came off the Titanic last week. I hope the selector from the Navara fits which has been modified and is much better, no rubber boots to hold any water.

Navara gearbox out

The gearbox comes out today, I have been dreading undoing the mounting bolts they look well rusted in,but a good soak with WD40 and they all came undone easily. Looking at the torsion bars I thought that I could lower them as a unit just enough to get the gearbox cross-member off. This is the case just removing the torsion bar cross-member bolts and levering it down I was able to twist the gearbox mounting free. Now the gear sticks and electrical connections and ready to go. Then I found the breather pipes ho hum.

Torsion bar just low enough to get the gearbox cross member of.

A point that may help if you haven't done this before is that the balance point is where the gear sticks are, would have been nice to know earlier. Looks wrong but that transfer box must be heavy. Got the turbo and exhaust out the way now there is some room, just a tidy up now and start on the Maverick same job all over

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Maverick engine out

Phew!

I sure am glad I haven't got to put this one back in the Maverick. The engine and gearbox came out as one,a bit of a fiddle on your own but doable. I hoisted the the engine at the rear lift point and the unit balanced perfectly.

Looks a bit sad now, then the donor usually gets the raw end of the deal.

27TD engine and gearbox ready for a new clutch and a clean up.

Preparing 2.7TD and Gearbox

Both gearbox's are identical, at least on the outside. I have decided to use the Maverick gearbox and fit the modified Navara gear 4X4 selector and electronic speed sensor and mountings. The Maverick box is short one switch near the gear stick, as I am using the Maverick ECU to run the engine there should not be any issues.

On investigation the clutch problem was a sticky spigot bearing rather than a worn plate.Changing the clutch is such a big job it would be silly not to fit a new one at this stage. I had a small hope that the Navara clutch which doesn't have many miles on it would be the same. Almost but not quite. A few more quid in the Navara money hole, its getting close to the "is it worth it point" hopefully I will only need service items now to finish.