"Ghetto Patrol" 1968 Nissan Patrol restoration (1 Viewer)

[SNLC]

I think I will start a new thread on this truck, kind of been cluttering up my other Patrol thread with things not really related to that build.


So a few weeks ago I came across this 1968 Patrol on Craigslist. It had just been listed that day so was a fresh listing when I saw it. I noticed in the pictures the body looked very very good on the truck. Even though the truck was in pieces I could tell it was complete and in very good condition for it's age. In the ad the seller described how the engine was taken apart due to a busted piston. The head had been rebuilt and a new piston purchased. However, while it was apart they noticed crank bearings were pretty worn. They tried to locate the parts but were unable to find the crank bearings so they gave up on the truck and put it up for sale. I contacted the seller and he said he would take $1300 for the whole lot of stuff, more than just one Patrol worth of parts. I sent the guy a $300 deposit and made plans to drive out and get the truck within the next couple weeks.

We left Friday night from Wyoming and made our way to Elko, Nevada where we stayed the night. The next day we drove down to the bay and into Oakland. We find the Patrol fairly easily but it is in a pretty bad neighborhood. Not to worry though as we were here to pick up a Patrol! I meet the seller, Marcus who is a mechanic by trade. His yard is literally made up of nothing but cars and car parts! Lucky for us his family also has a forklift business across the street so we have access to a forklift. It takes us over 2hrs with 4 guys to get everything rounded up and loaded in my truck and on my trailer. There was a lot more than I was expecting. A second set of axles, a 2nd steering box, a 2nd trans + t-case, a 2nd hood, a 2nd set of stock wheels and many other spare parts. Once loaded it was kind of a mess so we headed to Walmart to buy some more ratchet straps. All in all we ended up with like 9 or 10 straps on our load!

We hooked up with my cousin who lives in Oakland for Saturday night. Had pizza and beers at his place and got some rest. The next morning we are up and heading out early. We left Oakland at 10am due to some rear working of our load and got back into Jackson, Wyoming at 3am last night! Whew that was one long haul!

I decided right out the gates I am going to rebuild the engine in this truck first. Along with that will come some other things such as carb rebuild, flywheel resurface, new clutch, starter refresh and so forth. Right now I plan to just make it run and make it run very well! The Patrol has 90,000 miles so is not super low mile by any means. It came from Fremont and obviously was well taken care of for many years. I believe it was garaged everyday for over 20yrs. It still has the old California black plates on it, nice for hanging on the wall in my new shop! The body on the truck is in such stellar condition I think I will be able to sand it back and paint or sand blast it all and paint. There is literally no rust repairs or dents to fix on the body! Pretty amazing really and why I bought this Patrol. After that I am thinking light resto on the rest of the truck, suspension refresh, new tires, various new seals and bearings and get the seats recovered.

I dubbed the truck the Ghetto Patrol because of where I got it from. It was full on down in the hood in Oakland.

More to come but right now here is a picture of us somewhere in Nevada hauling this beast home!

TBC!

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

So I cleaned out the 68 this afternoon. Went through all the stuff it came with. Huge load of parts! Some stash NOS items and some very rare and super hard to find items. It also came with a spare set of axles, front springs, spare hood, spare trans & t-case, spare bellhousing, spare drivelines, spare set of original wheels and more! All in all a really good project for restoration. Amazing how well it cleaned up with just pressure washing. It really was a city Patrol for most of it's life by the obvious good condition of it.

Any ways, here is the picture spam!

Check this out, when new these trucks had plastic over the door panels and seats. Some is still here on the door panels!

Normally these old Patrols rot out here, not this one. Only light surface rust!

Cali black plates and where I believe it came from.

Very clean body

Cool old sticker

These are normally wasted on a Patrol that saw much off-roading, not this truck! Also note original muffler in 1st pic.

Floor pans just have light surface rust

Headliner looks stellar after a pressure wash

Sun visors very hard to come by, these in great condition. Only one small crack in the steering wheel, easily fixed.

Another spot for typical rot on an old Patrol, clean on this truck!

No rust or rot on the typical spots on the back panels.

 

[SNLC]

Really nice rear bumperettes and solid rear step, usually wasted on old Patrols.

Another shot showing no rust in the rear panels.

Original spare in good condition.

Only the choke knob missing

90k on this one.

 

[SNLC]

rare to see this sticker still in place

Also a very rare sticker to see

As you can see everything is in really good condition.

vintage

Only rust on this truck is what is starting to show in the roof rail. I plan to kill that fast.

The other body pieces are also in stellar condition.

Patrols normally rot around the kick vents on the fenders. Not on this one!

Sometimes fenders also rot around the mirror mounts, clean on this Patrol.

Inner fenders are also in great shape.

 

[SNLC]

Radiator support in stellar condition

Paint code #568, one of 4 shades of blue offered.

Trans cover

Some of the hoard it came with!

original seat coverings, known as the "deluxe" seat option. I am going to get these recovered to match the stock coverings.

Hood needs a little work

Hard to see but there is a dent in the roof to fix.

The windshield glass is original which you don't see very much if at all on these old Nissan 4wds. All glass in the truck is original and in top condition.

Very hard to come by these original bottle jacks.

This is what happened to the motor, the guys who took it apart said they found a nut in the cylinder.

They did purchase a new piston before giving up on the truck.

This is another extremely hard item to come by

I didn't think it was original until I saw this on it

This was in the glove box

The engine ready for rebuild.

That is all I got for now!

Cheers

 

[jeffro109]

focus man focus....finish the other one

 

[yotasavg]

Way cool specimen you've got there!

 

[SNLC]

focus man focus....finish the other one

I hear ya, the 64 I am restoring takes priority over all other trucks. Soon it will be in my shop and moving forward.

Way cool specimen you've got there!

Thanks, I think so too! It is not a Cruiser and I know you are all Cruiserheads but it is a sweet old bit of Japanese Iron. And hey a 40 in this condition would have ran me over $5k easy.

Cheers

 

[B Point]

I'm a Nissan fan as well as a cruiserhead... That is going to be one hell of a nice little truck when you're done. It's amazing how good of shape it's in.

 

[RiverRatMatt]

Looks great!

 

[SNLC]

I'm a Nissan fan as well as a cruiserhead... That is going to be one hell of a nice little truck when you're done. It's amazing how good of shape it's in.

Check out the inside of the rear fenders. Stellar condition.

This was hiding under a 1/4" of funk! Shouldn't be to hard to get a new one made.

This old crate had been bolted down to the bed, it is full of good parts!

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

So it has been decided the motor is being rebuilt next month. My client has a 66 soft top Patrol at my place and wants to get that motor rebuilt too. I talked the the machine shop and they will do us a 2-engine deal. So sometime in June I am taking two Patrol motors over to Idaho to be rebuilt.

I am also ordering up some axle rebuild kits, steering box rebuilt kit and a few other things.

Cheers

 

[fjfjfj]

Very nice. Very nice indeed. I have a 1969. Love it. Good luck with that one. Looks to be in nice condition.

 

[kbahus]

Great find! Looks like a fun project with lots of cool parts.

 

[skidplate]

Awsome! Can't wait to see you do your magic!

 

[B Point]

I think you should change the title of this thread..... This should be called an "Assembly"... it's in way too nice of shape to be called a restoration..

 

[Lka1988]

Niiiiice. I got a buddy who has a late 60's Patrol. Badass trucks these are.

 

[SNLC]

Thanks guys. I feel I made out pretty well.

I think you should change the title of this thread..... This should be called an "Assembly"... it's in way too nice of shape to be called a restoration..

I hear that but I am going to do a light resto on it. It needs fresh paint, engine rebuilt, new leaf springs, tires and leaks fixed plus some new bearings here and there. Most of the rubber is in good shape but a few bits here and there need to be replaced. Tiny bit of rust to deal with in the roof and one dent in the roof plus one very small ding in the passenger door. Roof looks like some kids jumped on it at one point. I am going to get the whole body sand blasted and deal with any issues, rust proof it and then fresh paint. Chassis going to get a light resto too, fresh black paint and so forth.

Cheers

 

[RiverRatMatt]

So it has been decided the motor is being rebuilt next month. My client has a 66 soft top Patrol at my place and wants to get that motor rebuilt too. I talked the the machine shop and they will do us a 2-engine deal. So sometime in June I am taking two Patrol motors over to Idaho to be rebuilt.

I am also ordering up some axle rebuild kits, steering box rebuilt kit and a few other things.

Cheers

Where in Idaho?

 

[SNLC]

Where in Idaho?

I have been using Jerry's Machine Shop in IF. They have done two Patrol motors for me now.

Cheers