Fiddly bits

The top hose pipe I made fits well and looks neat, as I hoped it also acts as a fan guard. I modified the air filter mounting from the Maverick so the Maverick air cleaner now sits comfortably in the Navara engine bay. It needs to be lowered by 10mm and the filter mounting holes moved closer to the engine by about 25mm.

So its all running now, just a final tidy up and wire the Maverick engine loom into the Navara ignition.

These are the Navara electrics that I am using, all the connectors are a straight fit onto the 2.7TDi engine except the glow plugs.

• Glow plug system
• Charging system
• Oil pressure sender wires
• Starting system
• Gearbox loom

Navara bits NOT used;

• Injector pump loom, just tucked out the way.
• Accelerator pedal.
• Engine sensors

Maverick electrics used;

• ECU
• Engine Loom
• Ignition switch and related NATS parts.
• Accelerator pedal, needs slight modification to mounting.

Modified Maverick pedal assembly, shortened, new lower mounting holes drilled and the top mounting leg from the Navara pedal welded in place.

More fiddly bits

The accelerator pedal looks like it's always been there, I routed the wiring from the Maverick loom through the unused air con evaporator holes behind the heater to the drivers side and connected to the pedal, I had to supply a new ground wire as the Maverick loom ground was too short then I refitted the air con cover. Looks neat and tidy.

I have left all the original Navara connections in place just in case they are needed one day.

I have found an ammunition box that is perfect to store the Maverick relays, fuses and ignition barrel along with any spare loom.I had intended to cut the loom down,but as it's tucked away nicely now I will leave it alone, it will be much more reliable without all those extra joints to potentially fail.

Ammo box is fixed where the second battery would be, everything fits in perfectly nice and tight so there will not be any movement. I cut a hole for the loom to the engine and ECU which I will make a silicon bung for when the truck has proven its self reliable, the ammo box lid has a good seal so it should keep everything nice and dry. The jump lead is a temporary live while in the test stage, I will connect this to the Navara ignition circuit so that the \maverick system becomes live with the Navara switched on.

The finished engine bay, you can hardly tell its the wrong engine. I have re-covered the maverick loom in red tape just to make identification of the two systems easier the data link for the Maverick is in the ammo box. It will be easily found by any one tracing the loom, I think I might paint a message on the lid as well to help future owners.

All the Navra electrics seem to work, the speedo and 4 wheel drive lights, the door locks and windows. The tachometer and a couple of other dash lights and the temp gauge do not work and of course the engine management light is on. I have run it up to temp for about half an hour and its seems fine, I can't wait to get the front axle back and go for a test drive. 

The Maverick ECU waiting for a tidy up and fixing in place. I plan to paint several layers of mould making latex over the top and create a water proof seal that will pull of when servicing is required. There are a few extra wires still to sort these should relate to the dash board lights and gauges, I can sort these at my leisure as I can live without a few lights for a bit. The loom runs under the air filter into the ammo box looks very neat and tidy.  

Finishing off

I had trouble finding an ignition live to power up the Maverick ECU, I used a red wire from the ignition relay in the end. The only problem is a short delay switching off the engine, I will work on that one, just that this wire was easy to get at and the only one that I could find that stayed live when starting. I have got to find the rev counter and water temp wires from the Maverick ECU and try them in the Navara dash, then everything should work except the engine management light.

How many hours have I spent on this project, I would have to guess 95 spread over the last couple of months The mechanical side has been straight forward although having to do everything twice was tiresome. I suppose if you bought every thing you needed already removed from a donor that would be easier, but I suspect a lot more expensive. I will make a list of the bits I used in another post.

The electrics have been a greater challenge, mainly the fear of cutting an important wire or sensor. But working slowly and methodically with constant testing it has been successful, only time will tell about reliability. At the end of the day I can still fit a mechanical pump if this set up proves problematic.

It has been my aim to keep the costs as low as possible, I will recover my investment by selling the old Navara engine gearbox and unwanted ancillary's and of course the Maverick still has a scrap value, I should be a couple of hundred up on the deal and have a usable and unblowupable pickup. I am lucky I have not had to count my time in monetary terms, though there is a long list of other jobs that has built up.

My advice to anyone thinking of a project like this, if you are confident with your mechanical skills and can modify some brackets the engine change is quite straight forward. However it gets a bit harder with the electrics, I spent a long time on this section. Removing the maverick loom took a day and trying to workout which bits to use on the bench with a wiring diagram wasted a few more hours. So don't try to work it out just connect it all in and them slowly remove components whilst constantly testing. When it fails to start put that bit back and mark it necessary. Eventually you will end up with a much smaller and lighter loom which will tuck away neatly.

£$%*%$ Computers

So, I have finally given up on trying to run this with the electric injection system, although it was running fine this did not last and has proven beyond my skill and patience to continue with it and make it reliable.

This is really annoying because there is no obvious reason why, all the sensors and switches have been wired in. But I keep getting malfunction codes they keep changing, now the ecu has shut down and wont reset. It has beaten me so I hope it's happy now, living on the scrap heap.

On The Road

At last,on the road. I have used a mechanical injector pump taken from a TX1 Taxi, a really fiddly job replacing the pump. With hindsight I should have taken the inlet manifold off, would have made life easier. The pump it's self was easy to fit and time up, the engine started first go, once the air was out. I have keep the standard injectors and turbo setup, it runs sweet with no smoke, even when accelerating hard.

It's hard for me to tell what the driving difference is as I did not drive it much before the conversion and then only carefully as I was always worried it would blow up.Which it did.

It is certainty quieter with this engine even though its an older push rod design and drives very smoothly. Any way it can keep up with the other traffic OK so that's good enough for me. I am now checking the fuel consumption, so fingers crossed it's good because that will be the deciding factor whether or not I keep it.

So all that time and effort trying to get it running with the Maverick ECU was wasted, but to be honest I feel much better now it has the mechanical pump so much less to go wrong. The only thing not working properly is the engine malfunction light, I think I will keep it to remind me of all that work. The rev counter works fine I just wired the Maverick Flywheel sensor straight to the Navara sensor connector I kept the shielded wire in place just in case, in reality there are only 2 wires as the Mavericks 3rd wire connects back to one of the others via a shield wire. The temp sensors are the same and the Navara glow pug system works fine although a bit slower when cold.

Living with a Maverick Navara

Well I have been using the truck for a while now and enjoying it, the truck is returning  28 mpg average use which is less than I had hoped but better than I feared.

I loaded up with about 750kg today and seemed unaffected by the extra weight other than having a less bouncy ride. A real test will be towing a heavy trailer which is a job coming up soon. The truck is probably a bit slower and slightly less economical but this is outweighed by relief from the constant worry of it blowing up. It is also much quieter now especially on startup and when cold.

All in all if you did not know it had been converted you probably couldn't tell, all the electrics work the same and the engine bay is neat with only small clues to the change that only an experienced person would notice. As I have wired it into the ECU loom to power the injector pump the NATs is still effective at immobilizing the engine should anyone try without the key.

Last Update Jan 2016

I have been using the Navara for a few months now and all is going well, there is loads of low end grunt even when loaded, I hardly ever need to change gear on the open road. It will drive at 70mph easily and a bit more but it's not that happy and you can see the fuel gauge move. Most comfortable is speed is between 50 and 60mph when it is achieving nearly 30mpg. The original heater plug system works well, if a bit slower to heat up, still only a few seconds when its really cold. The only way you can really tell its been converted is the engine management light and the new cable throttle is a bit stiffer than most fly by wire cars nowadays.

Overall I am pleased, a lot of work to convert but the cost of the parts and tools I needed where covered by selling the parts I did not use or need. Good old ebay. A lot better than a new YD engine which would just blow up anyway. There are lots of things that can still go wrong but I am confident it won't be engine related.

Good luck if you are thinking of this conversion, just find a manual injector pump, it will be easier in the end. The London Taxi pump works just fine if you cannot find the correct one.

May 2016 update

The Navara is still going strong, in fact the more weight the better she goes.

Just passed the first MOT since the conversion and is being used daily. She has covered several thousand miles now and the fuel consumption seems to have improved, may be longer journeys responsible for that. Journeys we are happy to make now we a confident it will not blow up again, I must say it makes driving the tuck a pleasure without that worry every time you hear a slight knock or misfire.