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.

Hard bit over

The 2.7TDi engine and gearbox is now in the Navara and looks at home. I used the Navara gearbox mounting and cross member the Navara  prop-shaft fitted perfectly. The 2.7TDi engine mountings fit straight on to the Navara chassis mounting points, there is even a threaded hole in the front of the mounting the same as the Maverick. The only other bit I changed over from the old Navara engine is the vacuum pump pipe which means the pipe will fit perfectly onto the Navara system, as if it's always been there. The power steering looks as if it might be more involved but that is for another day.

Fitting the engine and gearbox together was a lot easier than fitting the engine and gearbox separately, it just went in like it wanted to be there.

Navara reassembly

Putting it all back together now,

Navara alternator fits straight on using 2.7TD bolts,the Navara alternator has a double pulley which I left, the belts seem to line up OK. I have connected the Navara wiring.

I have fitted the Navra starter circuit to the 2.7TD and the Navara gearbox loom to the Maverick box.

The other Navara engine electrics I have left to one side for the moment. I hope to run the engine with the Maverick electrics and ECU and let the Navara do the rest.

I have used the Maverick power steering pump with the Mavirick oil supply pipe and the Navara high pressure pipe. I had to reroute the pipe in a backward loop but it fits OK I will make a new support bracket to stop any vibration.

Power steering pipe looped around and fitted on to the 2.7TD pump

The fuel pipes a close enough to fit using the Navara pipes I just removed the Navara leak off pipe as the 2.7TD leak of goes back to the pump.

Little things are the most annoying like the heater pipes are different sizes so will need modifying, but the Maverick exhaust when straight on, matching perfectly with the Navara system.

The Navara high/low range gear-stick fits straight on and is better than the old Maverick one.

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Puzzling over the radiator now, seems the fan is now a bit to the right and the cowl will not fit. I think I will put the bonnet back and see if the taller Maverick rad will clear with a bit of fiddling the hoses will  look better with that option to.

Maverick loom

The Maverick rad did not fit very well it was just touching the bonnet, so I will use the Navara rad and make a neat metal pipe to run along the top of the rad to create an outlet for the top hose on the other side of the rad.

I removed the wiring loom from the Maverick, wasn't such a bad a job. I just had to keep telling myself that most of the loom will be surplus to requirements and I won't have to find a home for all of it in the Navara. I plan to use just the bits essential to make the engine run, the annoying thing is going to be the NATS system which will mean I have to use more parts of the loom than otherwise. The Maverick accelerator is different, older technology they both do the same thing so they might be interchangeable. Will have to wait and see if the Maverick ECU will recognize it, not that big a job to switch them over if not, plus it will be running by then and I will be in a good mood.

Maverick wiring loom

A few hours and a wiring diagram should see this sorted I will leave every thing attached until it is running and then remove each unused section at a time, I can then adjust the lengths to make a neat fit. I am hoping to connect the oil pressure, temp and fuel filter senders to the Navara ECU but I don't yet know how this will behave, hopefully if it gets the correct information it should think everything's OK.

Getting it running

I might have been a bit optimistic thinking I could reduce the wiring loom using the workshop manual, there are just too many things to worry about. So I will forget the wiring diagram and use logic.


I have wired up the engine using the Maverick loom which I just draped over the Navara roughly where it was in the Maveric. I fitted all the components that I think its needs to run and some I am not sure about. I used the Navara loom to the alternator, starter and gearbox all the other sensors and injector pump are wired using the Maverik loom and ECU.

Maverick loom;

• ECU
• Engine sensors and injector pump
• Ignition switch and NATS coller
• Accelerator pedal 
• Immobilizer box
• Radio signal box
• Super lock box
• Dashboard
• All the relays and fuses
• Glow plug relay
• Several other small box's and relays I haven't a clue what they are.

I fitted a live to the alternator cable on the maverick loom and fitted all the earth wires I could find, when the Maverick ignition key was on all the dash lights worked, of course wouldn't start with this key. However a quick flick of the Navara key and she was away, tick over and high speed all the Maverick dash lights out except the engine warning light, no surprise there. The Navara glow plug system was working so could possibly use it for the 2.7TD something to experiment with later.

Now I can start paring back the unused part of the loom a truly daunting task because if I cut a required wire it will be a job to reinstate it. Things like the light circuit and any empty plugs can be safely cut and pulled through. I kept test starting her every so often and before and after removing any relays. Now the loom to the ECU is a manageable size and will fit in nicely.

I plan to fit the ECU at the rear of the n/s inner wing there is quite a bit of space on that side of the truck I hope that I can reroute the rest of the parred down loom and relays to this area for neatness, I will try to make some sort of water resistant bag to keep it all dry just in case the truck goes swimming one day.

A bit of a birds nest at the moment but is changing dramatically as the unused wires are pulled out.

A few other small but fiddly jobs, the Maverick air cleaner bracket has to be slightly modified almost fits but not quite and I am making a steel pipe to move the top hose over, this will also act as a fan guard as the plastic one won't fit now. I bolted the slam panel back in place I welded some extensions on each end, its so much easier to work on if you can remove it, might help someone in the far future.

Should look quite neat when finnished