Project Shute - SWB Nissan GQ Patrol Ute

Posted on July 9th, 2006 Author: Link

Editors Note: This buildup was originally written and photographed in 2003-2004.

The early days

Project Shute began with the purchase of a white 1988 GQ Nissan Patrol SWB in May, 2003. I bought it on eBay as the only bidder for $6K. The guy selling it even stopped the auction a day early as he figured there wasn’t going to be any more bids. It had a 4.2L petrol engine, auto, factory rear locker, and came without a roadworthy.

When I picked it up, I was surprised that it was in fairly good nick. It also had a roof console, and came with an overpowering dog smell.

Photo above: The early days of Shute

Filling the tank up at Buderim, I drove it back to Brisbane using half a tank of fuel on the way. The overdrive on the auto wasn’t kicking in so the trip was done in 3rd.

The first thing I needed was a roadworthy, so I set about getting it ready. The retreads that came with it were replaced with spare rims and tyres from my GU. The suspension was also heavily sagged on one side so I replaced it with a 2″ lift. A small crack in the windscreen was repaired, a dead door hinge and a cracked tail light were replaced.

It passed roadworthy no problems, so I set off to get it registered in my name. I had everything I needed.. Insurance, Bill of Sale, Roadworthy. There was only one problem, it was still registered to the former owner.. Not the guy I bought it off, but the previous owner before that! Now I knew why it had the former owners details on the Bill of Sale.

When I got back from the Department of Transport, I gave the former owner a call. He was happy to have the vehicle transferred to my name.. The only catch was that he was on his way to the Whitsundays, so I’d have to call his secretary and she’d post the form to him. I was looking at a weeks wait. Three weeks later it finally showed and I registered it in my name.

The Plan

I bought Shute to have a 4WD that I didn’t mind rolling or damaging, and that I could have a crack at more challenging stuff in. A toy basically.. My GU by now had collected a few dents and plenty of scratches, and I wanted to try keeping it in reasonable nick for touring duties.

With this in mind, Shute needed to be built up for maximum fun. I needed to keep the costs down to please the missus, and ensure that I wasn’t blowing money on new parts that were likely to get damaged anyway.

I searched EBay, Trading Post, and Forum For Sale sections continuously to find the parts that I needed at the right price.

I picked up a Hi-Mount on EBay, a Detroit Front Locker through a Forum, a set of used 35″ Centipedes and a dash pod off Big Red, a UHF Radio complete with antenna at a Hamfest (there are some strange people at these things), an injected 350 chev with T700 auto including computer and wiring harness through the Trading Post, and Marks Gearmaster gears on special through Cheezy.

Photo above: Injected 350 Chev

Photo above: Warn Hi-Mount

I had also hatched a plan to cut it down from a wagon to a Ute. Not a styleside like I’ve seen plenty of times, but a trayback ute. I’d never seen one before so I thought it’d be good to have something a little different. The big plus also was not having to get the rear quarters chopped, the sliding window frames replaced as they were slightly rusted, and never having to worry about the back when I’m out playing.

I kept this idea going for a few months but shelved it as I just wanted to get the buildup over and done with.

The Buildup Starts

I had heard that Brett from OnTrack 4WD Centre in Slacks Creek had converted a wrecked LWB GQ wagon, into a Ute with a 350 Chev. As he was relatively local, and obviously had great taste, I enlisted his help with Shute.

A few weeks of stuffing around trying to get the engine and the Shorty down to OnTrack, and we were on our way. Out came the transfer case, auto, engine, and that’s how it sat for a week or so whilst waiting for the adapter to arrive from Marks 4WD Adaptors.

Photo above: Shute in need of an engine

During this time I got to thinking about chopping it down again. It just looked so empty sitting there without an engine.. How hard could it be to chop it into a Ute? Have chainsaw, will chop..

The Adaptor arrived, and the auto went into the auto shop to get it’s new shaft in. A once over at the shop revealed that little bits of metal had been floating around inside, and had settled as it’d been sitting for a while. Bugger! This is one of those added costs you should never tell the missus about.. Take it from me, they don’t like hearing about unforeseen costs. A quick rebuild of the auto and we were moving again.

Whilst waiting around for the auto to get done, I decided to go the chop. Alf down at OnTrack was supposedly a master choperupperer, so he was given the task of the conversion. First Shute was stripped naked.

Photo: Shute Stripped

Then before the chop, started the engine was thrown in the bay, the auto hooked up, lines run to the cooler etc.

Photo: 350 Injected Chev feeling at home in Shute

Then almost straight after the engine was in, she was chopped right down the middle. Alf had a lot of fun chopping her up, and ticked everyone off all day with the noise. My SWB GQ was now officially a “Shute“. For those who haven’t figured it out yet, it’s a Shorty Ute.

Photo: Now officially a Shute

Photo: Shute Chopped with a GQ LWB Extra Cab back panel resting on her.

Photo: Side on view of Shute after the chop

It actually looked a lot better than I thought it would after the chop. I was doing it more for practical reasons, and to be a little different, but in the end I think it’s going to look alright as well.. Almost forgot, the front guards got chopped..

Photo: Front Guards Chopped to accommodate bigger rubber

Ute Conversion

Originally an extra cab back was ordered to use for the back of Shute. It was always going to have a different shape, but it turned out to be more trouble than it was worth. A new sheet was made up more to specs, and Alf folded the rest. As a note of interest, SWB Patrol’s have a different roof height and shape to a LWB.

The new back then went on Shute, was braced up, gaps were filled, and we started to get an idea of the end product.

Photo: Shute with a new back

After trying rear windows from other makes and models, it was decided the only was to go was custom. That way I could get something that suited the shape of Shute, and also have a rear window larger than normal for visibility.

Shute with window cut-out

Shute was then moved down to Alf’s shed where he went to work getting it ready for painting. Rather than patch any small imperfections, Alf being the type of person he is decided instead to fix them. Out came the bog that was hiding under the former coat.. Dents were beaten out.. panels were straightened.. Then Shute was primed, sanded, primed, sanded, primed, sanded.. get the picture? Alf is meticulous with this stuff.

Photo: Shute Primed

I hadn’t been able to decide on a colour since the start of this buildup, but with no time left I was forced to decide. I was after something different to begin with, but when you really look into it there’s not much left (except perhaps pink and there was no way in hell I was going to have a pink truck). I took out the kids colouring set with 120 or so different colours and started trying to find something I liked. The two colours that I thought went well together were a thick yellow and black. Problem was that meant either I’d have a yellow truck with black barwork, or a black truck with yellow barwork.. Yellow barwork didn’t really appeal to me at all, and yellow panels didn’t really do much for me either.. but as I’d run out of time, I picked yellow for the panels. I wasn’t really happy with yellow, but I just couldn’t find anything else.

When looking around at the colours, I also noticed that there are a lot of yellow and black signs. If Shute was yellow, you’d see it coming from a mile away which would be good for the 4WD Links signage on the truck. That thought helped ease my mind a bit to the fact that I was going to have a yellow truck, but not quite enough.. so I decided to paint the bonnet black to break it up a bit. I ran the idea past Alf, and he wanted to do 2 strips of black on the two bonnet humps with pin striping around.. A GT bonnet essentially. I was still struggling to come to terms with my colour decisions to begin with, so the bonnet idea was a real stretch, and in the end I just went for a solid black right across.

The spray booth was booked in. We then hid Alf’s tools so he’d stop fixing little imperfections, and the paint was bought to stop me from changing my mind on the colours. Alf was still fixing imperfections on the morning of painting (under the sills no less - it’s a 4WD Alf!!) and I was still thinking about changing the colour scheme.

Shute was then painted.

Photo: Ute Conversion complete and cab painted

Photo: Another view and painted bonnet

Well it’s painted now. I’m impressed with the Cab conversion. It looks as though it’s straight from factory, especially with the new coat of paint. My idea for an angled cut at the base of the rear wheel arch seems to look alright as well, so I’m pretty happy all round.

Now it’s time to complete the fiddly bits, and wire and fire up the engine. I’m really looking forward to the next few weeks and hopefully getting it on (and off) the road.

For a lot more photos on the buildup, check out the Shute Photo Gallery.

Entry Filed under: Custom 4WDs