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Long story short: my family's had this Pathfinder (1998 5-speed Chilkoot edition, 350k) since new and I learned to drive in it. I've been driving it for the last couple years after I moved back west and recently decided to keep it indefinitely. Can’t find anything I like better! Work done up to this point: Replaced P and D valve cover gaskets — man the driver's side is a pain Replaced distributor due to persistent stalling at idle and eventual stall and refusal to start Parked in the garage at the moment halfway through installing: OME MD front springs KYB Excel-G struts with new strut bearings, insulators, and boots SFCreations 1" front spacer LR 9447 rear springs Bilstein 5100 (33-185552) shocks ProComp Series 51 15x8 wheels (with current 31" Wranglers for now) new ball joints, tie rod ends, sway bar links, lower control arms, trailing arms missing link (as soon as I find something I don't have to buy 10 feet of!) At this point new struts are assembled and old parts are off with exception of right lower control arm. Compressing the OME springs was a little tricky but using a third spring compressor helped I think. Pictures attached are before - lots of wheeling before but sadly no pics - and one of the (tight!) workspace as well as the rust above front fender. Plenty of rust on all four quarter panels, both rockers, hatch, and most worryingly roof adjacent to upper windscreen seal. Only issue so far is with removal of P side lower control arm. Seems like dust and dirt collects above the rear bushing bolts. Removal was exceedingly difficult despite copious PB blaster and on inspection bolts are a little galled; suspect the internal thread is similar so I guess I'll chase the internal threads and dress the bolt and hope the driver's side isn't the same. Anyone have any ideas on how to prevent the same issue on the D side? My major concern was rust and rot underneath. So far everything looks pretty good so next steps will be removing side steps, replacing fenders and rockers and doing something about the rust on the leading edge of the roof. I'd like to find a swing-away spare tire rack as well. Comments always welcome!

Looks great. Nice work! When did you install a tire carrier? Dont think I've noticed it on your rig until now Edit: just noticed it in the earlier shots. Its factory?

I finally got around to doing a little bit of the painting on the trim of my 96 Pathy. 7 step process 1.Scuff, 2.clean, 3.prime(2 coats), 4.24 hour dry, 5.light scuff, 6.clean, 7. paint(at least 2 coats or more if so desired) Using 3m scuff pad, rust-oleum self etching primer, rust-oleum matte black paint (Custom Shop) clean rags, oil and grease remover. I painted the running boards on my 97 Q six months ago and they still look as good as the day I painted them. Sent from my SM-S737TL using Tapatalk

Some weird spikes going on there for sure. Loose wiring maybe? That's a hell of a spike on the MAF. Good to hear the TPS adjustment calmed down the trans issue. I'd check the EF&EC section of the '99 manual on the off chance it explains the different resistance to what you saw in the '96-'98 instructions. (Also thanks for the link--another tech writeup for my hoard! I can stop any time I want to...)

Angle steel bought and drivers LCA off. Same issue as passenger side - I guess I should just be glad I didn’t snap the bolt heads off. Yeesh.

I don't recall exactly with the R50, but my WD21 has the hard lines on the right side of the trans and engine. I simply put my T in where the rubber hose is between the hard lines and the cooler. Since my trans temp gauge is an autometer electric one, I did have to run a ground wire to the T, as well as the sensor wire.

Sliders can’t come soon enough. Found another cool trail in South Idaho today

If the distributor won't rotate any further clockwise to get timing correct and you're still 4 degrees low, you should move it anti clockwise by one tooth to give you a more centered range of adjustment.

And, for good measure, a few pictures of her in action