GU Patrol taken to the next level

As a motoring journalist, most of us could be forgiven for thinking we’d seen it all. We’ve written dozens if not hundreds of articles on every permutation of a custom 4X4 anybody could imagine, and there’s very little we have not seen.

Every now and then, however, we come across a gem. A vehicle that’s so comprehensively built that it beggars belief. A rig that is not only finished to the utmost standards but resets the modification bar a notch or two higher than it was before.

They can render even the most steely-eyed journos weak at the knees and incapable of coherent thought.

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They blow you away with every conceivable mod you could ever imagine. Then they melt your face with the custom work that’s been done.

By the time you’re considering the sheer audacity of expending so much time, energy and cost on a rig, none of which will ever be regained, you’re breathing with the aid of a paper bag.

This is one such build.

Modified GU Patrols are nothing new – people have been tweaking Nissan’s workhorse since they first came out – but very few are taken one to the level Mat Saban has taken his.

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Ask anyone who has done an engine swap, or a ute conversion, or a custom paint job, or just thrown a bunch of suspension and 12V gear at a rig – it takes time, money, commitment and a lot of work.

Mat has done them all to his Patrol, and much of it in the form of one-off custom touches that can take days, weeks, even months of work, so to use the word impressive would be to undersell it.

Take a look at the pics and tell us this isn’t one of the most comprehensively built rigs you’ve ever seen. Hats off to you Mat; it takes a lot to blow our minds but mission accomplished.

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Body mods

Mat is no stranger to modified 4WDs, having owned no less than four Nissan Patrols before this one, not to mention a sneaky V6 HiLux with a SAS (solid axle swap) thrown in the mix as well, so he knew exactly what he wanted out of his latest steed.

The GU’s chassis was stretched by a healthy 700mm, as well as being braced, and the much-needed coil-tower reinforcement welded on at the same time.

The standard Patrol wagon was artfully diced and sliced into dual-cab length and a standard Patrol rear wall grafted in. Sounds easy, but there were dozens of little tweaks and a slew of custom-made panels that had to be fabbed up to get it all Mickey Mouse, with Mat and his mate Jake handling the workload.

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The original champagne bodywork was rubbed back and the custom Graphite Grey applied in its place, making the whole conversion look seamless and more than just a little bit pretty.

A standard ARB steel bullbar was modified to suit the gearbox coolers on either side and custom grille front pieces in either wing of the bar.

Mat then had DJZ Fabrications knock up a set of schmick-looking brush bars and sliders out of cold-drawn steel pipe – making the guards and sills essentially untouchable while off-road.

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Up top, an ARB Baserack facilitates roof storage and provides the mounting point for the 40-inch Stedi light bar, while there are a pair of 11-inch Stedi LEDs on the front bar and a further 24-inch model to turn the track in front of Mat brighter than stumbling in to a 7-Eleven at 3am.

Roadvision work lights are placed strategically around the canopy and rack for camp or recovery lighting duties while the factory headlights have been turfed and replaced with Custom Steering Solutions replacement units, which literally outshine the stockers in every way.

Given Mat clearly does not do things by halves, he’s fitted up a T-Max 12,000lb electric winch on the front bar, and then a second T-Max 11,000lb electric winder out back, because that’s what all the cool kids do (and it really makes a lot of sense given a heap of recoveries require a rearwards pull).

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Powertrain

When Mat first bought his 2006 model, it was a ZD30 backed up by the RE4 four-speed automatic.

He picked it up with the plan to swap in a TD42 backed up by the RE4, mating the better Patrol engine with the better transmission option – the best of both worlds, really. This plan worked extremely well, with Mat bumping power up in the old TD to a hefty 240hp and 700Nm through the auto on 35-inch rubber (for reference, that’s better than decent numbers for a TD42).

Unfortunately, as with a lot of worked TDs, the main bearing cap and block became victims of the crack epidemic, so Mat went back to the drawing board and decided to go with a computer controlled common-rail engine as a replacement.

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He bought a 2008 BMW X5 and extracted its M57 TUE2 3.0L straight-six, all-alloy turbo-diesel, threw a new set of timing chains and seals at it, then relocated it into the GU’s engine bay.

Of course, it’s never that easy. The RE4 was sent to JD transmissions for a full rebuild and billet torque converter, along with a Compushift 2 computer to make the internals do their thing. ASLmods supplied the M57 to RE4 adapter plate, but it had been designed around the older M57 iron blocks so Mat had to tweak the mounts to make it work with his alloy-block engine.

As with any conversion, there were a few niggles that needed sorting along the way. An electronic boost actuator that was earthed through the ECU needed to be grounded to the body, which caused a few late-night head-scratching sessions, but with the help of Ash from Fusion Fab Industries,

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Mat worked his way through them and got it all running better than a stocker.

With only 136,000km on the new engine and with a full service history, the Beemer powerplant was barely run in and more than capable of putting out some big numbers on the dyno.

Despite that, Mat has been too busy enjoying driving his Patrol to worry too much about it, but he did mention a high-flow turbo and possibly larger injectors are next on the cards.

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Still, he did add a 5-inch stainless steel snorkel to get the air in through a Radius Fabrications airbox, then the air-charge gets shot through the Dats Cool Fabrication front mount before being shoved into the combustion chamber, and the spent gasses are pushed out the back via a 4-inch custom stainless exhaust built by Mark from Tourtec and Derek from DJZ Fabrication.

The exhaust exits from twin 4-inch side pipes and Mat mentions it took 26 custom pieces in the new dump and crossover pipe, you know, just in case you were thinking something like this was easy.

A TB45 alloy radiator and twin 16-inch Spal fans were fitted up and the vehicle was then delivered to Dale at Performance 4X4 to be given a tune that saw it put down over 266hp and 690Nm to the rollers. That’s on 35s, too!

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Suspension and driveline

All that power travels down a custom two-piece tailshaft (necessitated by the frame stretch) via the standard Patrol transfer case.

Well, standard transfer housing anyway; the interior has all been rebuilt and stuffed full of Marks Adaptors 63 per cent reduction gears by Hart Transmissions. The diff centres have been re-geared to 4.6:1 to account for the 35s, and the stock spider gear assemblies were replaced with TJM Pro Lockers at both ends.

Since he was there, Mat braced both diffs with Superior Engineering gear to make them as close to bombproof as it gets. And while the shopping cart was open on the Superior website he went ahead and ordered upgraded steering links and a Fox steering damper, which he installed at home.

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Mat ditched the coils out back and bolted in a set of custom length Airbag Man rolling sleeve airbags

Superior Engineering was also called upon to hook Mat up with suspension; 4-inch higher coils went in at the front along with Superflex radius arms – which function to make the usually wheel-lift-happy factory arms work much better for off-road driving – as well as extended bumpstops and a Superflex swaybar to keep body roll to a minimum.

OME BP51 shocks control the compression and rebound over corrugations or larger rocks at all four corners.

Mat ditched the coils out back and bolted in a set of custom length Airbag Man rolling sleeve airbags, which are fully height adjustable and controlled from a remote keyfob.

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They’re pumped up by one of two on board ARB compressors – one for tyre inflation, one for the lockers and bags.

All of this suspension work allowed easy fitment of the 17x9 Monster Ammo alloy rims and 315/70R17 Mickey Thompson Baja Boss MTZ rubber.

And because Mat doesn’t like to leave any boxes unticked, the front brakes have also been replaced with custom made 355mm slotted rotors and six-piston callipers built by Rugged Brakes – the first Patrol in the country to have them. Rear brakes are controlled by a modified bias valve, with slotted rotors ramping up the cooling ability nicely.

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Inside

Come on, you didn’t think Mat left the interior stock, did you? He tells us the only thing he hasn’t modified on this rig are the mirrors, so yeah, the inside of the Patrol is just as bananas as the outside.

The front seats are custom made by Incharge Automotive and bolted in place with Hurricane adapters. The stereo has been upgraded with a comprehensive Pioneer sound system and the JRP 14in1 multi-gauge tells Mat pretty much everything he needs to know about what his vehicle is up to at all times.

The tiller is a Custom Steering Solutions unit, and the comms are seen to by an array of GME products. A Hema HX-1 tells Mat how lost he is while a Thuraya SatSleeve lets him make calls if he feels like bragging about his latest adventure.

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The Tourcraft Canopy has revolutionised the way Mat and his family go camping.

There’s a Drifta Drawer with table, a Tourtec custom kitchen and pantry, and a 40L poly water tank in the headboard fed by a 12V under-tray pump. There’s 300W of solar on the roof and a Smarttek hot water system for remote country showers.

The rear bulkhead holds twin jerries and the spare, a mount for the shower tent, 240V outlet and a pair of storage boxes.

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Electrickery

Mat reckons his battery system was initially designed for an off-grid caravan to live remotely almost indefinitely, so it should be just enough for his Patrol for a few weeks (or years) in the scrub.

The heart of the system is a behind-the-back-seat custom-built 560Ah Lithium by Tourtec Industries.

The brains are courtesy of top-shelf Victron gear – twin 30A Smart Chargers, two 30A MPPT solar controllers, twin Lynx distributors, a Lynx shunt, a Multiplus 300W inverter and a Cerbo-S GX 9-inch screen to tell Mat what’s going on. Probably needed if he ever decides to power up his own Iron Man suit in a cave on the west coast of Tassie…

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Where to from here?

Speaking of Tasmania, Mat has already conquered it in his Patrol and is keen to put a lot more remote miles on the odometer before long.

If this isn’t pretty much the ideal vehicle for the job we’d be hard-pressed to think of a better one. Of course, he has a few more things he wants to get done, but that’s to be expected from a build of this magnitude – they’re never finished.

We have to take our hats off to you mate; this has to be one of the most versatile, practical and downright impressive vehicles in the country. The most modified Patrol in the country? We’d love to see another rig step-up to challenge for the title.

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