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Just hit the big 300 mark

Escaped to the woods again this last weekend.

We remounted it after I finally installed my winch & cube lights. I genuinely can’t thank@TowndawgR50 enough. While it may look the same at first glance, it’s incredibly more solid. Additionally, all the edges are rounded & smooth. It actually feels beautiful to the hand. A little behind the scenes of what goes on at @spinestopinesoffroad Tiger Mountain Test Lab. It’s worth noting that this is the kind of care, skill & perfectionism that makes up their DNA. It’s just one of the many reasons I rely on the two of them for their sage advice regarding modifications of any substance.

Got to Tillamook for a short while this morning. Or looking for Elsa as my 4 year old says. It’s the only way I can convince her to come with

Well, there it is. With the un-ceasing oil consumption of my R50, I have decided to move onto a different platform while the pathfinder is still worth something. I have alot of love for this community, and will continue to stay in touch, especially on youtube and instagram. But, I started on NPORA, and I'm grateful for the resource that this forum is. It's put me in touch with alot of great people. I'll miss you guys This is my replacement, a single owner 2001 4x4 V8 Tundra. I suppose I've joined @mjotrainbrain by hopping from the R50 to a toyota 4.7.

Some trucks are just bigger than others Garage day with [mention=37543]TowndawgR50[/mention]

My son and I took the Pathfinder out the other day for its first adventure. We met my friends in Packwood WA and joined them on section 2 and the start of section 3 of the BDR. The rig did fantastic keeping up with the newer Tacos that my friends were driving. Bethel Ridge is amazing and there were tons on breathtaking views around every corner. Bethel Ridge Lions Rock My son brought his RC rock crawler to join in the fun.

All in all I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out. If anyone else decides to go this route definitely invest in the better upol spray gun. It is adjustable from a heavy texture to super fine and has better coverage. I chose to go with a finer texture on mine and I love the way it turned out. It is super durable and withstands pinstriping from bushes abs branches. The great part about raptor liner is that it is super heavy/thick so there’s not a whole lot of overspray and doesn’t atomize into the air. It also dries really quickly and I was able to start putting parts back on after a couple of hours of putting on the last coat. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Those Toyota 4Runner TRD take offs look great on the R50. I trialed them on mine & was surprised how sharp they looked.

Transformation - thanks to@TowndawgR50

Been a bit busy (bloody flat out more like it) but I am making some slow progress between home renovations, new job, lockdowns and other car projects. Pulled the trans Transfer off And Glitter bomb!!! Took a few weeks to get down to Melbourne to pick up the replacement trans. All back together now just waiting on a new trans mount, and a break in the weather! Stay safe all

Camping over the weekend

A long overdue update for the Pathfinder build. I finally gave up on the vinyl wrap a few months ago and decided on a new route for the exterior. My rig had so many imperfections and a large area of peeling clearcoat around the quarter panel that caused the vinyl not to adhere too well. It did look decent from far away but I couldn’t stand seeing it up close. So I decided I was going to change the exterior completely and raptor liner the whole thing. I had already purchased black raptor liner a while back for the fender flares and rear bumper. I decided on charcoal grey metallic for the rest of the body. Sanded and prepped First coat 2 coats and a final “dust” coat Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk lol

Man, with the bumper and the wheels I bet a lot of people don't look too close and compliment you on your 4runner all the time.

It's good to see some of my old, favorite parts get a second life: @ferrariowner123's, now @micahfelker's pathfinder stopped by this weekend to swap me headlights and grilles. Arguably, the BX Built lights and my Honeycomb grill both look better on his facelift swapped '96 than they ever did on my 03.

How my truck spent it’s winter vacation. Also - a warning regarding second hand bumpers.[mention=37543]TowndawgR50[/mention] has been looking at my bumper for over a year & the perfectionist in him just couldn’t stand it. After Christmas this year we took it off & he had at it - uncovering problem after problem.

Matching our shoes with a cool trail and camping in Big Bear.

This is a common issue with the RE4R01A transmissions in these rigs. The reverse clutch-pack snapring is likely broken. Requires a rebuild or replacement.

The Toyota guys are going to get a fantastic member. PathyDude17 has definitely an asset to the r50 community.

Yeah, Whistler is a good 4.5 hours from be but it's a wonderful drive. If you stay the night or three it's a great little trip. My local mountain in the summer is 40 minutes and in the winter is closer to an hour most days. If you've never been, you should. All riders at some point should make their way to Mecca. I decided that I'd be fine to do it over multiple days if I took some pictures, labelled everything, and laid out everything on my clean garage floor on old beach towels in order it came out. The main reason is that it became apparent that I both wouldn't be capable of doing it all in a day as I kept adding tasks, and we are getting a two week heat wave of 44 degrees celcius plus for a while (over 110 for you guys)- meaning I only want to work on it from like 7:30 to 10 in the mornings and then in evenings. Anyway I'm done one of the two valve cover gaskets as of this morning, same with the PCV valve, and the coolant hose leading to the water control valve. As Slartibartfast hinted at, the spark plug tube o-rings don't appear to be rebuildable (the guy at the parts store was surprised when the valve cover gaskets didn't come with em'), but it's fine cause they appear to be in great shape. I'm quite pleased with myself that I didn't have to move the absolute mess of wires to do this, so thanks for the tips Slartibartfast because its sure easier with all this other junk outa the way. I'm pleased to report that all 12 power valve screws were there. They've been cleaned and secured with red locktite. The ones closer to the front of the engine were very, very light to remove whereas the backs felt substantially harder. There was some old looking something on the threads, so it looks like I didn't have one of the affected vehicles.

Nice! Replacement part arrived and I'm riding with AC again like some sort of rich dude or something.

OK - fluids and filter swaps are done, except a brake bleed. A bunch of the fluids were in surprisingly good condition for a vehicle of this mileage, especially because the last guy said he didn't really do a whole lot other than coolant and oil. Additionally after spending some time underneath, I'm not convinced the transmission pan (at least) is original because it looks in waaaaaaay better shape than anything else under there. Additionally, I'll have to chuck on the back third of an exhaust if the vehicle does well in the beat down month. On to the big one next - power valve screws, various gaskets, and the PCV valve. I'm going to wait until I think I can get it all done in a single day so there's less risk of chimping out and forgetting stuff while asleep. Might be hard because our bike park opened up last weekend and that's where I was for most of this one...

I'm pretty sure it had resonators. I just replaced my resonators with walker units. Amazon will ship to california since they are not emission items. The previous owner had the driver side resonator replaced with a cat for some reason.

Hey NPORA folk! After stalking the forum for a number of years I'm finally happy to say I can join you. I've wanted an R50 ever since I started wanting an SUV a couple years ago. I did a ton of research back then and looked fairly hard for a pathfinder or something similar. A friend ended up showing me an ad for a 2004 Blazer 4 door in excellent shape for cheap with only 110k km/68k miles on it, and it was hard to pass up - especially as I knew far less about vehicles then as I do now. I liked that vehicle a lot, and I still do. But I realized it wasn't quite tall enough after a ton of adventure drives to get to trail heads and hiking spots, and did a bunch of research. Turns out those trucks don't take to lifts very well. So a few months ago, started looking for a Pathfinder to make my original goal a reality. I ended up with a 2003 Pathfinder LE in classic pathfinder BROWN (you can call it gold all you want). It has 242k/150 miles. I was looking for something a little lower, but seeing as I was planning on replacing a ton of stuff regardless of the mileage, I didn't have to go to Vancouver to get it, and it's only going to see between 5000 and 6000 km per year, I think it's fine. One that's been run a bit more and not sitting gives better odds that it'll have less leaks cuz everything's lubricated more often, right? ....right? I picked this sucker up this weekend, put an afternoons worth of insurance on it, drove it the hour and a bit home, and stuck it in the garage. Like any good idea, this one's boiled down to a three step plan (now that I own the vehicle - I guess step 0 and step 0.5 were research and buy a pathfinder... but ignore that for now): Step 1: Change all fluids and (most) filters POWER VALVE SCREWS and anything else I should do while I'm down there. I'm open to suggestions on this one. Various gaskets? PCV valve? Clean MAF sensor/throttle body *the spark plugs were recently done by the previous owner Step 2: Drive the bastard hard for a month and see it anything blows up. If nothing blows up, back off insurance it'll go until we're a decent way in to step 3. Step 3: If nothing blows up, do the classic R50 lift, lower control arms, and start the build proper - I'll call it a "real" build thread at that point. You can change titles later right? Start replacing stuff for reliability's sake - water pump, thermometer, etc. Happy to start the pathfinder journey, and I already can't thank this forum enough for the sheer amount of knowledge available to random schmucks like me. I'm happy to hear any thoughts and suggestions about the plan.

Awesome setup! What tent is that?

It’s hard to explain the texture that I got. It’s rough but smooth at the same time. If I ran a towel over the paint it would not snag anything if that makes sense. I don’t know how well if mine will hold up over time since it lives under a fairly large pine tree courtesy of my neighbor [emoji23]. You’re right about the 2K part and hopefully that will hold up over time. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If you own a compressor i would spray it. People have sprayed it outside in makeshift tents or just a canopy and turns out great. Bugs and dust doesn’t affect it after it’s all cured. Also the raptor liner is great at hiding any dings and imperfections. Prep is the key to it all though. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Made the front diff plate a little more badass looking, tried to make chrome flames coming out of the bolt holes but I made the stencils a bit too small. All powdercoat Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Awesome good to know!

Finally showed up and got er installed. Next stop, the beach!

@Teesetz is this installed right on your stock roof rack or did you have to buy any additional parts? Looks great!

Yep, 4Runner guys are hot to buy the Pro wheels & the market gets flooded with the TRD Off-Road wheels for cheap since there’s little to no demand. Toyota’s too cheap to provide a matching spare so I bought a set & broke it up amongst 4 TRD Off-Roads that were keeping their OEM wheels & wanted to replace the spare steelie. My FJ 8Holes came off an FJ that put TRD Off-Road take offs on (he also took one of the spares).

Nice huaraches!

Hah, the glow in the dark pigment takes the cake. I don't think I've ever seen someone throw that over calipers.

Well pulled some calipers of out the junkyard over the weekend, When I made the template I should of put a slight curvature on the lettering in hindsight. I’m overall pretty happy with them Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Arizona’s volcanic rocks are sharp & extremely tough on tires. Even the AZ dust is sharp & will score your glass & plastic - my truck still has scars from its time there. I’ve done trails in every Western State & AZ is uniquely hazardous.

The nice thing about a godawful leak is it'll have a hard time hiding when you go looking for it. Hopefully you don't have to dig too far to get to it. I don't know the R50 dash, but I had to disconnect my evap core to get its box out from under the dash in my '93. I could almost get the bottom off the box without removing the core, but there were two metal clips holding the back of the box together that I just couldn't get to. My aircon's dead anyway, so out it came. It wasn't pretty in there. I had vacuumed most of the chunks out already, but the styrofoam had stuff growing on it, mice had crapped in there because of course they had, and the core was packed with mud and pine needles.

From what I’ve seen on the trails off-road website for Colorado trails over the past few years, as well as just personal experience, the season is pretty much the same as yours. Most of the nice scenic trails take until end of June to be fully passable, and stay open until the end of October depending on how early it snows. Usually I don’t plan to be on anything high altitude until mid July but this year it’s been hot. Some trails below 10,000 are fine as early as the middle of may, just depends

Take apart the switch and clean up the contacts and relube it.

Hancock lake. Seriously beautiful spot, I’d highly recommend it

As others have said you've left a strong legacy with the R50 community. I can't thank you enough for helping me get mine to where it is with both your videos & helpful insights on NPORA, the FB groups, and the comment section of your videos. I'm excited to see the Yota in action.

That's badass! I want one!

Yeah the Yota gang is definitely winning on this one, I'm sure Tyler will be teaching me things about my car before I know it! Sad to see yet another R50 owner go, but at least you've left a strong legacy of helpful information though your YouTube videos. Reading through the comments and being on a FB page I've seen lots of evidence of your impact on this community.

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Damn, that sucks. At least you know one more thing it isn't! I'd pull the box and see if it's got a tight spot if you spin it by hand. That plate on the front of the box comes off, so you could open it up, wipe some of the grease out, and check the gears for broken teeth or something jammed in between them. Does seem like it's gotta be the box at this point, but it would suck to go down the rathole of which box will fit, and swap it, and still have that damn pop. Not sure about the year range for the box. There might be something in the SDS at the end of the ST section of the service manual listing the ratio, though I doubt it would give you anything regarding the spline count. I would check whether the joints are the same for other years. If they are, you know the spline counts didn't change, even if the gearbox itself was revised for some reason. The one on my shelf has a 28 spline input and output, same diameter (same joint fits either side). 1:1 gear ratio. Marked NSK, L (presumably short for LHD), and 0033 down by the gasket line. Looks like the one in your wrecker picture, except it's not borked. Dunno if that helps.

PCV's a good idea while you're in there, just because you'd have to pull the same stuff apart to get to it later if it went wrong. I would do the valve cover gaskets as well, for the same reason. IIRC there are different types of valve cover on different years of VQs, and some aren't rebuildable, so look into that. IIRC there's a coolant tube between the heads on the back of the engine that leaks sometimes, look into that too while the intake's out of the way. Be careful cleaning the throttle body. I've read that the drive-by-wire freaks out and refuses to re-learn if the TB goes from gunked up to clean all at once. The solution I've read is to clean it a bit at a time so the computer sees multiple small changes and ignores them instead of freaking out about one big change. Sounds like a PITA, but less so than dealing with a computer tantrum. While you''re doing the trans fluid, consider an aux cooler while you're at it. I added a cooler and an external filter to mine when I did the fluid in hopes of making it live a little longer. Keep an eye on the oil level while you're doing your shakedown. If you haven't yet, check out the Pines to Spines SFD lift kit. It's low-volume/limited availability at the moment, but if you want more than a couple inches of lift without killing the CV joints, that's what you want. LOL, my dad's was "Sahara Sand." Also brown. And Nissan's not the only company in denial--Honda called my mom's brown CRV "Urban Titanium." I guess the marketing department has to look busy.

Sent from my Pathfinder

Here's my video on 3.3 #6 plug removal. Hope this helps. Sent from my SM-S367VL using Tapatalk

Pages 10 and 11 of the FE section of the '03 manual have diagrams of the exhaust system showing all of the components. You can download the '03 manual here. The manual doesn't label the resonators for some reason but shows the TWCs (three-way catalysts) bolted to the manifolds as the only cats in the system. The parts diagram here shows them as present, but doesn't say what they are. This thread says they're just resonators, and suggests that Nissan didn't make them right (there's a shock) and then came up with a half-assed "fix" to slap on when they failed (this seems to be a pattern). This thread also talks about whether or not they're cats, and the last poster had a link to the actual part. +1 for finding an inspector who's not a halfwit. Wouldn't hurt to have the diagrams on your phone or something in case the next guy's also an idiot.