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I've been looking for an R50 for a while now, and went to check out a few that were posted on FB/Craigslist today. I ended up walking away with this diamond in the rough.

It's a 1997, 4WD, with the LSD (of *course* I checked for the sticker...before even test driving it!). It's got around 220k on the clock, but the previous owner had taken very good care of it. No real leaks, the interior is clean, and while it's got a few little bumps from being 22 years old, the paint is surprisingly not completely oxidized (pretty common in Arizona heat).

I'm going to spend the summer just combing through everything and getting it back to 100%, but the first mod on the list is tires and a mild lift. Maybe a keyless entry for convenience before that.

 

IMG_20190630_132404221_HDR.jpg

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Scottsdale area. It looks like there might be a few folks around the area from my casual forum browsing.

Yes there are a few of us here.


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15 hours ago, PathyDude17 said:

It has facelift wheels, same ones I had before I got new ones

Yeah, I guess the previous owner put them on. I'll probably end up replacing them completely when I do tires.; they have a good bit of road rash on them.

 

2 hours ago, 03TroutFinder said:

Welcome. Like the blue!
Used to have a pre facelift r50 myself years ago.
 

I honestly thought it was black in the ad, but I'm more partial to the blue myself....I haven't seen many that color, mostly white, black, or red around here.

I kind of like the "classic Nissan" look to it, but the post-facelift ones are sexy in their own right. I've just been working on cleaning it up today (the above pic was just a quick spraydown at the self-serve wash). All that chalky gray fender plastic is black and shiny again. Some of the black metal painted parts I'll get around to removing and painting later on, but just getting those back to blackish goes a long way.

 

9 minutes ago, Sjackson2 said:

Nice to see you on here. I’ve got an 01 Q and I’m in surprise AZ. Hit me up if you need any help with anything 

Will do!

 

Maybe on day we can all do a mini PHX area meetup.

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For sure man. Hawaiirish and a couple of other guys are around here too. I’ve done quite a bit of wrenching on my r50 since buying it. Any issues with yours currently? 

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1 hour ago, Sjackson2 said:

For sure man. Hawaiirish and a couple of other guys are around here too. I’ve done quite a bit of wrenching on my r50 since buying it. Any issues with yours currently? 

We would love to see a photo of the work you've done to your qx4! Maybe next time I am back in town hawairish and I can stop by to take a look at it.

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I'm up in Anthem. Had my R50 since new in 1996 in Victoria, Canada, took it to Norway for a bit, now in AZ and finally looking to do some work on it. Looks very much like yours.

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5 hours ago, Astrorami said:

We would love to see a photo of the work you've done to your qx4! Maybe next time I am back in town hawairish and I can stop by to take a look at it.

https://ibb.co/X4yt0wy

well....here’s the most recent. Just put a two inch lift on her. I’ve replaced all 4 o2 sensors, all new stereo, new high flow exhaust, cold air intake, replaced all fluids, all new coil packs, loctite the powervalves while replacing valve cover gaskets, new filters all around,  new spark plugs, new sway bar links and bushings, new maf, adjusted tps, bypassed throttle body coolant lines, installed a Bluetooth obd dongle and mounted a tablet to monitor. Deleted the rear spoiler. Removed the side steps and the roof rack rails.  Built a new grounding harness to get rid of some persistent o2 codes and probably a few other things I can’t remember. Next step is tires and wheels and new struts and shocks. Probably gonna go with f250 shocks 

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7 hours ago, Sjackson2 said:

For sure man. Hawaiirish and a couple of other guys are around here too. I’ve done quite a bit of wrenching on my r50 since buying it. Any issues with yours currently? 


Runs like a top. I drove around all day today getting registration/title squared away, and picking up some things for it (the usual junk like jumper cables, etc). The AC works great...it got put to work in the heat today for sure.

It does have a suspension clunk that needs to get looked at. I'm going to take it to an alignment shop since it's got a slight left pull, and have them make a list of everything that needs done suspension-wise (which, I'm guessing is "everything" :D).

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34 minutes ago, Sjackson2 said:

https://ibb.co/X4yt0wy

well....here’s the most recent. Just put a two inch lift on her. I’ve replaced all 4 o2 sensors, all new stereo, new high flow exhaust, cold air intake, replaced all fluids, all new coil packs, loctite the powervalves while replacing valve cover gaskets, new filters all around,  new spark plugs, new sway bar links and bushings, new maf, adjusted tps, bypassed throttle body coolant lines, installed a Bluetooth obd dongle and mounted a tablet to monitor. Deleted the rear spoiler. Removed the side steps and the roof rack rails.  Built a new grounding harness to get rid of some persistent o2 codes and probably a few other things I can’t remember. Next step is tires and wheels and new struts and shocks. Probably gonna go with f250 shocks 

I'm interested to see what you came up with for a tablet mount. I was thinking about the same thing...there's not a ton of room if you have a front seat passenger.

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8 hours ago, chrisfromthelc said:

I'm interested to see what you came up with for a tablet mount. I was thinking about the same thing...there's not a ton of room if you have a front seat passenger.

I mounted my Bluetooth stereo head unit back inside of the dash and made a plate to put in the hole where the radio should have gone and I mounted the tablet to it. 

169oj0l.jpg

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11 hours ago, Sjackson2 said:

https://ibb.co/X4yt0wy

well....here’s the most recent. Just put a two inch lift on her. I’ve replaced all 4 o2 sensors, all new stereo, new high flow exhaust, cold air intake, replaced all fluids, all new coil packs, loctite the powervalves while replacing valve cover gaskets, new filters all around,  new spark plugs, new sway bar links and bushings, new maf, adjusted tps, bypassed throttle body coolant lines, installed a Bluetooth obd dongle and mounted a tablet to monitor. Deleted the rear spoiler. Removed the side steps and the roof rack rails.  Built a new grounding harness to get rid of some persistent o2 codes and probably a few other things I can’t remember. Next step is tires and wheels and new struts and shocks. Probably gonna go with f250 shocks 

If you’re gonna get longer shocks, go as big as you can. You’re 2WD, so you need as much articulation in the rear as possible. Even on my 29.7” shocks I probably still have another 2” I could get out of my suspension. I still flex out of traction on trails as is.

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8 hours ago, PathyDude17 said:

If you’re gonna get longer shocks, go as big as you can. You’re 2WD, so you need as much articulation in the rear as possible. Even on my 29.7” shocks I probably still have another 2” I could get out of my suspension. I still flex out of traction on trails as is.

Good call! Got any recommendations? 

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2 hours ago, Sjackson2 said:

Good call! Got any recommendations? 

 

Check the part no. on my profile for some 29.7” bilsteins, General consensus when running anything over the standard 26” F250 2” lift shocks is to add extended brake lines and depending on the compression length of the shock, extended bumpstops. And extend the diff breather. Other than the bilsteins that I have, along with Alex and Micah, you’re gonna have to do your own legwork

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2 minutes ago, PathyDude17 said:

 

Check the part no. on my profile for some 29.7” bilsteins, General consensus when running anything over the standard 26” F250 2” lift shocks is to add extended brake lines and depending on the compression length of the shock, extended bumpstops. And extend the diff breather. Other than the bilsteins that I have, along with Alex and Micah, you’re gonna have to do your own legwork

Is a two inch lift enough to necessitate the bilsteins? 

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1 minute ago, PathyDude17 said:

Do what you want, me and @02_pathy are on NRC 9449’s

I hope that didn’t come off smartass. I was literally asking. Is two inches of lift enough to be able to take advantage of the benefits of the 29 inch bilsteins? I’m trying to make the best of what I can with this Q being that it’s only 2wd. She’s been pretty capable already all things considered. For the short term due to budget constraints I was thinking about going with the f250 kyb gr2s....but I’d also like to know what my best options are here. I haven’t seen too many people build out 2wds 

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Is a two inch lift enough to necessitate the bilsteins? 
I used 26 inch bilstein's when I had OME MD coils in the rear and I found those to be pretty good with that setup. Those shocks were about 2 inches longer than stock if I remembered correctly. With the LR coils I got additional lift so I went with the 29 inch extended bilstein's to compensate for the additional lift and articulation. I use bilstein because I like their quality and ride handling but you can use like a Rancho or KYB shock and that should be fine

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9 hours ago, Sjackson2 said:

I hope that didn’t come off smartass. I was literally asking. Is two inches of lift enough to be able to take advantage of the benefits of the 29 inch bilsteins? I’m trying to make the best of what I can with this Q being that it’s only 2wd. She’s been pretty capable already all things considered. For the short term due to budget constraints I was thinking about going with the f250 kyb gr2s....but I’d also like to know what my best options are here. I haven’t seen too many people build out 2wds 

Well, here’s some of the math if you weren’t aware of the numbers: Stock shock length:24” F250: 26”. The shock doesn’t sit straight up and down, so a 2” longer shock doesn’t give you 2” more of downward articulation. As I understand it, going to an F250 shock only maintains or slightly disimproves on stock articulation, and it’s not like OEM suspension is a .5” from popping a coil either. So, my understanding is that with a true 2” spring lift, you should have no real issues going beyond 26” on shocks, as long as you extend the necessary components. Any of the LR options should be able to run 29’s. KYB should have some shocks in that length. It’s all about figuring out what length is gonna make you lose a coil, but I bet you could run 26” shocks on OE springs, let alone a 2” lift. Other option is sell the Q and get a 4x4 before you get in too deep, because other than an rear locker and good tires, you can’t do much to make it more capable

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