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'97 Regulus basic mods


jtchal
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Hey guys,

 

Just creating a small thread to share the mods I'm looking at doing to my beloved '97 Regulus.

Some of them might not even count... But I will also use this thread to ask for advice and share some photos of my pride and joy.
All will be fairly basic as I want to keep the truck looking as stock and clean as possible. Also another reason for that is that the Transport Agency in NZ is pretty strict on vehicle mods.

 

Tasklist:

 

- Manual hubs. I've mainly seen WARN and Mile Marker ones being used around the forums. Any other alternatives around? Any comments on these two brands when it comes to fitting them to a '97 piece of kit?

 

- Fleurys lift kit, either 1" or 2". I'm currently looking into whether I can install them without getting my vehicle recertified to be road legal, as that's a bit of coin I'd rather spend other things other than a certification plate...

 

Completed:

 

-Replace current wheels with stock Nissan ones.

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I believe rugged rocks has manual hubs.

 

Lots of regulation in NZ. I heard that your supposed to get all of your electrical appliances and extension cords checked by an electrician annually. Is that true?

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If my memory serves me right, the cv axles are 28 spline. Here is an alternate brand. I bought the rugged ridge hubs over a year ago and the only complaint so far is that the sticker is falling off :)

 

https://www.amazon.com/Rugged-Ridge-15001-61-Spline-Locking/dp/B001FANSJO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1486486234&sr=8-2&keywords=97+pathfinder+hubs

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Sweet, I've gone through that one before. I'll use it as a guide too.

 

If my memory serves me right, the cv axles are 28 spline. Here is an alternate brand. I bought the rugged ridge hubs over a year ago and the only complaint so far is that the sticker is falling off :)

 

https://www.amazon.com/Rugged-Ridge-15001-61-Spline-Locking/dp/B001FANSJO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1486486234&sr=8-2&keywords=97+pathfinder+hubs

 

Thanks for that. They're in the same price range as the WARN hubs without the lifetime warranty though... I think I might go ahead and get the WARN hubs. Keen to see if it improves my fuel consumption!

 

Lots of regulation in NZ. I heard that your supposed to get all of your electrical appliances and extension cords checked by an electrician annually. Is that true?

 

Ah that's for businesses I think? Never heard of any rules like that for your standard house appliances...

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  • 1 month later...

Bit of an update.

I ended up buying some WARN hubs. Haven't noticed any difference in my diesel consumption which was a bit disappointing.

The handling of the car does feel a lot better and it will come handy very soon.

 

Next up is Fleury's 2" lift kit!
It took me a while but I finally got confirmation that I wouldn't need to get my vehicle recertified after a 2" suspension lift.

So Fleury look out, there's an order coming your way all the way from NZ!

 

I've read a few threads a while back about the use of this kit and the process seemed pretty straight forward.

Do you guys have any tips/warnings about going through with this?
Camber bolts will probably be required too yes?

 

Let me know.

 

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Yup, camber bolts will be necessary. Watch your brake lines and diff breather when you're doing the rear end. If you lower the axle tube and pull the diff breather off it's an easy fix, but if you pull the brake line off you'll have a bit more work than you had planned. Otherwise it's fairly straightforward, but having a friend or two to help is nice.

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Bit of an update.

I ended up buying some WARN hubs. Haven't noticed any difference in my diesel consumption which was a bit disappointing.

The handling of the car does feel a lot better and it will come handy very soon.

 

Next up is Fleury's 2" lift kit!

It took me a while but I finally got confirmation that I wouldn't need to get my vehicle recertified after a 2" suspension lift.

So Fleury look out, there's an order coming your way all the way from NZ!

 

I've read a few threads a while back about the use of this kit and the process seemed pretty straight forward.

Do you guys have any tips/warnings about going through with this?

Camber bolts will probably be required too yes?

 

Let me know.

 

Perfect... Let me know when you're ready for shipping quote.

Cheers.

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Lift kit ordered.

Any recommendations in terms of camber bolts or are they all the same?

And how many would be required, 2 or 4?

 

I was playing around with the front of my car this weekend.
Picked up a Terrano (Pathfinder) grille for cheap and wanted to see how it would look on the truck instead of my current QX4 like grille...

I've always been a fan of the silver pathfinder grilles, it just gives the car a more sporty look instead of a soccer mum wagon look.

What do you guys think?

 

IMG_20170402_171039_zpsrffps8xm.jpg

Stock - image is from a few months ago when the car was straight out of the car yard...

IMG_20160813_155111_zpsjzu9ynfa.jpg

With Pathfinder grille...

IMG_20170402_164254_zps0dfhz2hi.jpg

IMG_20170402_164254_zps0dfhz2hi.jpg

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For the camber bolts, any 14mm will do. The majority of my customers only need 1 per side, but I had a few that needed 2 per side... I guess it really depends on the health of your suspension parts (control arms bushings, etc..)

 

I personally use the ones from ingalls ing. 81260, but I know that moog makes some also. As long as they are 14mm, you`ll be good.

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  • 5 months later...

Hey, little bit of a necro-post but I'm also wanting to lift my R50 using a spacer kit in the front and 50 mm King springs in the rear (already have longer shocks). Would you be able to give me the details on how the spacers don't need cert? All the reading I've done seems to indicate that strut spacers need cert as they change the OEM suspension mounting points.

 

I have emailed the LVVTA and received this response:

 

Yes, strut spacers do indeed require certification.

 

Unless the modification is specifically listed by NZTA in their threshold, then it requires LVV cert, and strut spacers are not excluded.

 

Regards

Edited by KiwiTerrano
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Hey, little bit of a necro-post but I'm also wanting to lift my R50 using a spacer kit in the front and 50 mm King springs in the rear (already have longer shocks). Would you be able to give me the details on how the spacers don't need cert? All the reading I've done seems to indicate that strut spacers need cert as they change the OEM suspension mounting points.

 

I have emailed the LVVTA and received this response:

 

Yes, strut spacers do indeed require certification.

 

Unless the modification is specifically listed by NZTA in their threshold, then it requires LVV cert, and strut spacers are not excluded.

 

Regards

 

Hey man, what spacer kit are you looking at using?

 

I did a fair bit of research before actually going ahead with the lift, but most of the information was very vague.

All I got from it was that Suspension lift (up to 50mm) = no cert required and Body lift = cert required.

So I rang up the guy who does certs in Christchurch and asked him which category the spacer lift fell into. Suspension lift was his answer.

 

Went for a WOF (not at VTNZ) not long ago and there were no issues nor comments made about them, so it's fair to assume that it's all legit.

 

What shocks are you running in the rear by the way?

 

To the Warn manual hubs users, do you guys still get the 4WD light flashing orange on your dashboard?

From all the browsing and reading, I never managed to see if there was a fix for it...

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Hey man, what spacer kit are you looking at using?

 

I did a fair bit of research before actually going ahead with the lift, but most of the information was very vague.

All I got from it was that Suspension lift (up to 50mm) = no cert required and Body lift = cert required.

So I rang up the guy who does certs in Christchurch and asked him which category the spacer lift fell into. Suspension lift was his answer.

 

Went for a WOF (not at VTNZ) not long ago and there were no issues nor comments made about them, so it's fair to assume that it's all legit.

 

What shocks are you running in the rear by the way?

 

To the Warn manual hubs users, do you guys still get the 4WD light flashing orange on your dashboard?

From all the browsing and reading, I never managed to see if there was a fix for it...

A spacer lift is technically a suspension lift and not a body lift in any way, so I'm not surprised that's what it's legally considered. I get the orange light coming on when I drive a long distance, but from what I've read it doesn't do anything. It resets when I turn the truck off and back on again and doesn't do it for drives of less than an hour, so I completely ignore it.

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A spacer lift is technically a suspension lift and not a body lift in any way, so I'm not surprised that's what it's legally considered. I get the orange light coming on when I drive a long distance, but from what I've read it doesn't do anything. It resets when I turn the truck off and back on again and doesn't do it for drives of less than an hour, so I completely ignore it.

 

Fair enough. No obvious fix for it other than covering it with black marker pen haha.

Mine's pretty random, comes on during my drive to work ~15 mins sometimes and on longer drives it comes on much later.

I'd be keen to find out what sensor actually activates it...

 

Now another question for the R50 community: Coils.

 

I think mine are still stock. They are great when I'm alone driving everyday. But as soon as I have another 3 people in the car + ski gear, the car does seem to sag a little. More importantly, the bump stops get smashed pretty hard when the angle of the road changes abruptly (not common but there's 2-3 bad spots on the way to the mountain).

 

I was looking at possibly replacing all 4 of my coils and my question was, do you recommend going with Heavy duty coils (Hard I imagine) or standards (Medium)? If so, where on the vehicle (front, back or both)?

In terms of ride comfort, I'm not sure how my everyday drive will be affected so I'm keen to get some input from everyone.

 

I am also running the spacer kit from SFcreations, so will only be looking at stock length coils.

 

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Hi Jtchal , To answer your question about coils , in my opinion this is one of the best mods you can do for your Pathfinder as the stock coils are very soft (lots of body roll and dont load it up with cargo type thing ).

My very first mod was to change the coils and the way it drive / handle improved a lot .

Yes firmer drive but better handling any day anywhere. Some times i tow my caravan ( tow ball weight about 150-180 kg) and my car is straight not like accelerating speed boat. When i go camping without caravan is the car always loaded to the top and is nice and straight no mater how much you loaded. After 7 years of using the car ( with the lift ) i never had the feeling that i need it more rigidity from my suspension. I install the 35 mm King spring coils about 7 years ago and added the 1 inch coil spacers from SFcreations after.

Good luck with your purchase...

​After i install free wheeling hubs occasionally the orange 4wd light came on ( mainly after more the one hour drive on highway ) flashing that is ...

Last year i install front lokka and now when the light comes on is not flashing but staying on until you restart the vehicle, again like everyone else reports no other faults comes with it.

last week i went on a 1200 km trip to shark bay and on the way there the light came on about 2- 3 times . After lots of 4 wheel driving there for tree days i came home and on the way back the light never came on and i drove the 1300 km in one hit driving all day , so go figure???

All the best ...

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  • 3 months later...

I'm now running the Ironman +35 mm lift springs, with +50 kg front and +200 kg rear increased load. The springs are red not the usual Ironman yellow. Fronts are 370 mm high and rears 400 mm high when freestanding. I have done the calculations and the procomp shocks I have now purchased should keep the spring captive at full droop while still allowing full compression (just).

 

The springs are rated + 50 kg for a VG33 Pathie, so with the QD32 and twin batteries the front end is perfect, rides just a little firmer than standard and I still got around 35 mm lift over my old saggy springs. I now have 270 mm under the front skidplate. I am considering fitting 20 mm strut spacers in the front to even out the rake. The CV angle is currently a little over flat, so will still be safe.

 

At the same time as fitting the springs I also did new KYB front struts and strut bumpstops, and Nolathane control arm bushes in the front and Superpro poly bushes in the rear. Rides like a new vehicle now. The +200 kg springs are great too, doesn't ride harshly at all. Overall I'm very happy with the mods I've done, and would definitely recommend this combo to sharpen up handling and ride. Am looking forward to fitting my new shocks and testing it out with a load offroad!

 

 

Fair enough. No obvious fix for it other than covering it with black marker pen haha.
Mine's pretty random, comes on during my drive to work ~15 mins sometimes and on longer drives it comes on much later.
I'd be keen to find out what sensor actually activates it...

Now another question for the R50 community: Coils.

 

I think mine are still stock. They are great when I'm alone driving everyday. But as soon as I have another 3 people in the car + ski gear, the car does seem to sag a little. More importantly, the bump stops get smashed pretty hard when the angle of the road changes abruptly (not common but there's 2-3 bad spots on the way to the mountain).

 

I was looking at possibly replacing all 4 of my coils and my question was, do you recommend going with Heavy duty coils (Hard I imagine) or standards (Medium)? If so, where on the vehicle (front, back or both)?

In terms of ride comfort, I'm not sure how my everyday drive will be affected so I'm keen to get some input from everyone.

 

I am also running the spacer kit from SFcreations, so will only be looking at stock length coils.

 

Edited by KiwiTerrano
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  • 2 weeks later...

Have now had a chance to fit my new shocks in the rear. They're perfect in terms of length, but the fact they can't be mounted upside down is a slight problem - first time offroad I bent the shock body on the panhard bar end... Should have gotten the invertable Bilsteins perhaps (not the Procomp ES3000 326500).

 

When flexing down at the Waimakariri, I measured 15" travel hub to wheel arch, and I still had another 40 mm or so uptravel on the stuffed side... Great flex. Front end, I had 4" travel :D

My mate's KZJ78 Prado with a 4" lift struggled to get 10" flex with the swaybar in, and got 12" with it out in the rear. It did get 9" in the front though.

 

so, you can safely run 11" travel shocks with a compressed length of 600 mm on an R50 with 400 mm long rear springs. Just make sure they're narrow body or invertable.

 

I tell you what though, with the new suspension it's so good offroad. really makes the most of it, and the spring rates are perfect front and rear (not too stiff and not too much spring lift at the front to maintain articulation). My educated guesses were about right.

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Have now had a chance to fit my new shocks in the rear. They're perfect in terms of length, but the fact they can't be mounted upside down is a slight problem - first time offroad I bent the shock body on the panhard bar end... Should have gotten the invertable Bilsteins perhaps (not the Procomp ES3000 326500).

 

When flexing down at the Waimakariri, I measured 15" travel hub to wheel arch, and I still had another 40 mm or so uptravel on the stuffed side... Great flex. Front end, I had 4" travel :D

My mate's KZJ78 Prado with a 4" lift struggled to get 10" flex with the swaybar in, and got 12" with it out in the rear. It did get 9" in the front though.

 

so, you can safely run 11" travel shocks with a compressed length of 600 mm on an R50 with 400 mm long rear springs. Just make sure they're narrow body or invertable.

 

I tell you what though, with the new suspension it's so good offroad. really makes the most of it, and the spring rates are perfect front and rear (not too stiff and not too much spring lift at the front to maintain articulation). My educated guesses were about right.

 

That sounds rewarding man. All those calcs and research are paying off!

I'd be keen to know what you've spent in NZD to get your ride handling like a new vehicle again...

 

At the moment I'm rocking Fleury's 2" spacers both front and rear, (oldish) KYB Struts up front and some black shocks at the back (possibly KYBs as well).

They were all on the car when I bought it. It handles alright at the moment, just bottoms out if the road dips sharply when I have passengers plus ski gear in the back.

I've just purchased a pair of unused standard length H/D Cobra springs on Trademe for NZ$160.

Keen to see how the ride will handle after we put them in.

 

Where do you recommend getting new shocks/struts from? Local or overseas?

Do all these bushes you've replaced make a big difference? If you have some links for them, I'd be keen to check them out.

 

The only bushes I've replaced on my previous Terrano were trailing arm bushes, I got them from the dealership.

They weren't cheap but definitely stopped the 'death wobble' haha.

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That sounds rewarding man. All those calcs and research are paying off!

I'd be keen to know what you've spent in NZD to get your ride handling like a new vehicle again...

 

At the moment I'm rocking Fleury's 2" spacers both front and rear, (oldish) KYB Struts up front and some black shocks at the back (possibly KYBs as well).

They were all on the car when I bought it. It handles alright at the moment, just bottoms out if the road dips sharply when I have passengers plus ski gear in the back.

I've just purchased a pair of unused standard length H/D Cobra springs on Trademe for NZ$160.

Keen to see how the ride will handle after we put them in.

 

Where do you recommend getting new shocks/struts from? Local or overseas?

Do all these bushes you've replaced make a big difference? If you have some links for them, I'd be keen to check them out.

 

The only bushes I've replaced on my previous Terrano were trailing arm bushes, I got them from the dealership.

They weren't cheap but definitely stopped the 'death wobble' haha.

How much have I spent? Too much haha. But worth it. I plan on keeping this vehicle and building it as a tourer and ski vehicle, it's so nice to drive with the auto 4wd. Long term I'll probably buy a Leaf EV for a daily.

 

Anyway. Springs were $450 for set of 4, shocks $300, front struts $450 (including strut bellows/bump stops), bushes $450 for complete front & rear. ~$1700 NZD, which isn't bad considering I've replaced every moving part in the suspension except the sway bar parts (and panhard bushes).

 

HD rears only? I replaced my front springs as they had sagged a good amount.

 

I bought the struts from Rockauto. Priced them in NZ and it was even more, plus the bellows (the bump stop is attached at the top, on my old struts it had fallen off and was resting down the bottom.

 

Yes, my father used OEM trailing arm bushes on his Regulus. Apparently my Superpro ones were cheaper at $240 for the set of 8. Will see how they last, he went through two sets of OEM from towing our Stabicraft. I'm running Nolathane on the front control arms.

 

Also made a typo in the previous post, should be 670 mm not 600 mm.

 

Bushes were actually cheapest instore from Supercheap, did some shopping around. Urethane isn't cheap, but the steering is mint now.

 

Only complaint is that the KYB front struts aren't damped as firmly as I would have liked.

 

The dent in the Procomp shocks shouldn't affect their function as they have an extra skin on the outside.

 

I'm pretty happy with how it sits, just needs another 35-45 mm in the front to level it out, and some new wheels. Current ones look poky as. Both of those things will happen eventually.

 

The Monroe 16-043 I had were good shocks, actually valved a bit stiffer than procomp (they're made for towing really, PO had a caravan). I'm keeping them in case the WOF guy doesn't like my procomps though. Just don't flex hugely as they're a bit short (570 mm extended vs 670 mm for procomps).

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Lift kit ordered.

Any recommendations in terms of camber bolts or are they all the same?

And how many would be required, 2 or 4?

 

I was playing around with the front of my car this weekend.

Picked up a Terrano (Pathfinder) grille for cheap and wanted to see how it would look on the truck instead of my current QX4 like grille...

I've always been a fan of the silver pathfinder grilles, it just gives the car a more sporty look instead of a soccer mum wagon look.

What do you guys think?

 

 

IMG_20170402_171039_zpsrffps8xm.jpg

Stock - image is from a few months ago when the car was straight out of the car yard...

IMG_20160813_155111_zpsjzu9ynfa.jpg

With Pathfinder grille...

IMG_20170402_164254_zps0dfhz2hi.jpg

IMG_20170402_164254_zps0dfhz2hi.jpg

I'd stay with the stock.

 

Sent from my SM-S337TL using Tapatalk

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  • 1 month later...

 

Hey man, what spacer kit are you looking at using?

 

I did a fair bit of research before actually going ahead with the lift, but most of the information was very vague.

All I got from it was that Suspension lift (up to 50mm) = no cert required and Body lift = cert required.

So I rang up the guy who does certs in Christchurch and asked him which category the spacer lift fell into. Suspension lift was his answer.

 

Went for a WOF (not at VTNZ) not long ago and there were no issues nor comments made about them, so it's fair to assume that it's all legit.

 

What shocks are you running in the rear by the way?

 

To the Warn manual hubs users, do you guys still get the 4WD light flashing orange on your dashboard?

From all the browsing and reading, I never managed to see if there was a fix for it...

pretty sure you cant install FWH to regulus or terrano with the auto switch on the dash as the front driveshaft drives the transfer case oil pump. light flashes to warn of a problems.

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pretty sure you cant install FWH to regulus or terrano with the auto switch on the dash as the front driveshaft drives the transfer case oil pump. light flashes to warn of a problems.

 

This has caused a lot of confusion over the years. It turns out that isn't true, it all came from somebody making a mistake and reading a diagram wrong. On AUTO t-case models the light does come on sometimes, but there's no ill effect to putting manual hubs on an AUTO-mode R50, just make sure to lock them any time you're not in 2wd!

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  • 2 months later...

Hey guys,

Out of curiosity, how much do you pay for your strut bearings from your Nissan dealer?
I've went and checked it out here in NZ and they cost around US$75, each...
Is that similar to what you would pay?

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