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Good day everyone, one morning I was on market place and found a VG33ER forsale for a decent price and for a and was a good few hours drive but I picked it up with no prior intention of swapping my pathfinder. The swap is pretty straightforward along as you have all the parts from an ER to swap. It is also 02 Xterra ECU swapped on the original body and engine harness. The pulley is swapped now as of writing to the 4x4parts 2.4 quick change pulley on the stock SCB cut off. It makes a significantly more amount of power than before and is absolutely worth it if you can afford the premium gas. ALTHOUGH, it seems the MPG has been improved since the swap at least at partial throttle which is pretty cool. It's also running factoy R50 airbox with all original sensors. Here's what was swapped Lower intake Injectors Fuel rails (minor differences) Supercharger Spark plugs Spark plug wires Thermostat 180 to 170 AC tensioner only NOT alternator Belts Crank pulley Water and ps pulley NOT alt ECU and plug Pas side valve cover (only for PCV valve) To swap the ECU most of the pins are in the same locations how ever not all. you WILL have to solder a larger pin on the orange IACV wire and to make the SCB safety work you can reuse and replumb the map/baro switch as the SCB and it works the same. All valves, sensors and anything else are original 97 pathfinder. You will have to run different length belts for all 3 now that the V belt is deleted, the crank and water pump are different size and the super charger belt needs to be a 5 rib and shorter unless you swap the AC comp. Cruise even works too! It drives incredible and I could not be more happy with the result. before the pulley it feels like a more peppy VQ but after the pulley it pulls harder than one for sure. When I dump the clutch I'm always first off the line even to the diesel guys that book it off the light (i'm looking at you Dodge owners) and it seems to run cooler than my friends bone stock X since mine has a hole in the hood and gets good cooling. Thanks. Donor engine in back of my r50 On floor after getting it home repinning the ECU plugs Cleaning Radiator shows up Installing charger and intake *borart voice* VERY NICEEE

My RMS needs doing too! It used to be a slow leak. 1. No special tools needed AFAIK. You can get the '90 factory service manual from cardiagn.com. The AT section has step-by-step instructions for dropping the tranny (AT-124), and the EM section has the same for doing the rear main (EM-20). 2. The gasket in the aftermarket kits goes between the retainer plate (which holds the seal) and the back of the engine block. Unless you're going to try and fish the seal out without removing the retainer, you'll need the gasket as well. I think I've got the Fel-Pro kit on the shelf for mine, don't remember--and of course I can't vouch for it as I haven't installed it yet. 3. I assume you'll need the gaskets for the exhaust crossover as well. You may need hardware or more depending on how much the exhaust fights you on its way out. These also tend to break exhaust studs (holding the manifold to the head), though I don't know that having the trans out would make these any easier to access. I would check breather hoses and exhaust hangers while you're under there. Might as well change the fluid in the transfer case too. 4. The trans cooler is a good idea. There are a few old threads on here with size and type suggestions. I don't actually know what mine's rated for, I got it secondhand and it's not marked. I installed mine in series with the existing cooler in the rad, and also added a Magnefine external filter while I was at it. If you just drain and fill, you don't get the old fluid out of the torque converter, so I did a flush through the cooler lines instead. Take the lines off the existing cooler, put them in a bucket, run the engine until fluid stops coming out, add that much fresh fluid to the transmission, do it again, repeat until what comes out looks more or less like what goes in. The trans fluid level is a bit of a pain to set. It has to be warmed up when you check it. If you set it cold, it'll be too high once it warms up. Either measure what you take out and what you put in and make sure they're the same, or undershoot a little so you have room to top it up once it's warm and you can check it properly. I thought mine was underfilled, warmed it up, and had to drain a bit back out of it. The manual calls for Nissan-Matic D, which is still available. From what I've read, it's basically just Dexron III, so I used generic parts-store-brand Dex-Merc, which was cheap and available locally. 5. Torsion bars are also a pain to set up. If you have to drop the bars (and the service manual suggests you will), mark, measure, or at least take a picture of where the adjusters are set and how the bars are clocked vs the adjusters. Otherwise you'll be screwing around for a while trying to get your ride height back where it was. I used spray paint to mark the adjusters on a friend's S10 Blazer when we swapped the trans, and reassembly was as simple as matching up the paint marks. This thread recommends filling the gap between the RMS retainer and the pan with silicone to stop mud from getting in there and causing corrosion. Seems like a good idea. Good luck!

A quick short I did on what needs to be swapped

Was just exploring the forum to see if anyone had made a shelving unit in the trunk of any of these pathys and i stumbled across this post. Super unique and awesome build!

Thank you! haha. It's been a treat for sure. I was going to do a write up style post but didn't feel I had enough pictures to go with the information.

I love the sneaky bonnet hole! Cool conversion mate and thanks for sharing

Even if the dizzy is new it is common it goes out. My last one went because the little condenser on the side blew and wouldn't let enough voltage to the coil. I think no continuity or high resistance means it's bad or something like that. id have to check the old one. The fuel pump moves pretty slow so as for now assume its good if its flowing. If it doesn't change with the Maf unplug temp sensor and if that still won't work unplug the throttle. the NA VG33 ONLY requires MAF, Cam signal, Coolant temp, O2, and a throttle sensor to run properly. to a varying degree one of those can be non functional and it will still start no problem. every other sensor is OBD and emissions and doesn't affect tuning and engine performance. Unplug your primary O2 (post cats don't matter) and see how that runs. My bet is still the dizzy or its timing. it should idle even with both idles unplugged just not very well. EDIT: You won't even get a code for the dizzy if it's bad. I wasn't even getting misfire codes and the think could barely idle with out sounding like a Honda. sorry honda guys

I was going to do the same thing but decided for the work it's probably just worth doing the repin. I still get OBD which is nice I can use my blue driver as a second set of gauges for my coolant temp or on road trips to check codes. I drove it to dinner the other night about 40km away and it felt amazing. used half the fuel and I normally do and was a freight train up the hills. Cruise control was a blast to use with it too as it worked with 0 issues or adjustments. Still a couple things I gotta finish up but I've been driving it to work and am very happy. Not hammering on it too hard yet still trying to make sure it holds together but so far its solid

Hell yeah dude! Good to see you got it going.

well goo deallll. i wanted to make a jumper from harness to harness but depinning it may be the route. may have to start looking for some extra parts now lol

Not sure if my answer went through but I’ll try again lol exactly. If pin 1 was ignition signal then it moved to pin 1 in the X ecu. But pin 8 on the r50 is fuel pump so that moved to 11 on the X. I was able to sit with both pin out sheets and write each pin and what it converted to so it was easier to swap when it went in. This way it was a turn key upgrade which it would’ve been if I paid attention and didn’t mess up the fuel pump pin lol. 8 goes to 11 not back to 8 haha. 1 for like 100 isn’t bad but there wasn’t much to it really. Everything works no downsides once I started going it became fun but would I do it again? Absolutely the F not! That repinning sucks

First drive this morning into work with the KA. It is stronger everywhere except I would say low down torque. It sounds and goes way better overall. Very happy, I should have done this years ago!

I had same issue with my QX4. As soon as I hit 50mph, I would get that groaning vibration through the floor. It was less noticeable after 65mph-70mph. Breaking, coasting, hard lefts and rights... no change. I then switched from 2WD to "auto" and it went away as long as I was accelerating. If I let off the gas, it came back. I got under it and checked driveshafts for play, front one had some play in it. Replaced u-joints, did not solve issue. Replaced trans mount because it was shot... no change. When I replaced both front CV axles and wheel bearings, it was smooth as glass again... I know I am a year late but.... for anyone else having the same problem..

I put the round side against the head. Flat side against the head leaked for me.

The gasket/valve cover area seem to be not leaking (right now), perhaps it was burn-off from something prior or I'm being naive! If/when I hafta replace 'em again, I'll try the non-RTV route unless the covers have started to "wear", I recall I used RTV the first time and the cleanup was NOT fun! As to the orientation, I think I reasoned that round side into the cover would make sense, thinking it would flatten and fill the cover once tightened, but then I think an interweb search contradicted that saying the round side 'needs' to flatten against the head. Who knows???