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Items in the works: I've got a handful of things still to do short term but the list is finally getting shorter. Firstly the important items learned from the recent Moab trip would be that I need axle limiting straps and a taller spring would be ideal. I want to eliminate the HDPE spacers I've used for years and get an all-spring setup. I may also move the spring perches forward and fabricate new lower shock mounts that will provide more clearance. Still have some research to do on that front. While I was coming through Oregon I took advantage of a sale+no tax+IST coupon to walk out the door with a 12K winch for $260 bucks. Just need to swap over my old 9.5K Smittybilt synthetic rope and figure out where to remote mount the solenoid. The front suspension really isn't terrible, especially given my KYB's are approaching 10 years of age, but my roots in high speed off-road really have me wanting to build a better front end. Long term I have plans to make a LT front setup that should fit the bill very nicely but it'll be a ways off. For now there are a set of motorsport coilover struts that should work with the Nissan suspension components after a few changes. I think the weakest link of the whole front setup is the lower control arm mounts and overall method of stamped sheet metal manufacturing. A set of chromoly tube arms with through-bolt mounts and the motorsport coilover struts would be pretty slick and get me closer to the machine I want. I'm sure there are a few bits I've missed but this should be mostly up to date now. A few pics from the recent Moab trip with @hawairish

Forum has been restored and secured for now. Further safeguards will be put in place soon. In the coming weeks software updates will also take place. An exact timeline has not yet been determined, but some of this work may result in the forum being offline temporarily.

He has been an NPORA member for nearly 20 years and a regular the whole time. Recently he worked with us in the background to get the forum back online, root out problematic DDoS sources and test for reliability. And now adamzan has agreed to join the Mod Team. Welcome adamzan!

I have not yet been given an actual cause for this nearly week long outage, but after spending hours on the phone with the host company today, repeatedly reminding them that they had assured the site would be back up before this past weekend, here we are back up and running... finally! edit: Turns out the host utilizes AWS facilities, so this was related to the major AWS outage that occurred at the same time. Don't know why they couldn't just say that from the beginning.

Pulled it out to give it a wash today.

I just stumbled across some info on the 190F thermostat. It does exist, but Nissan warns of cats and dogs living together if it's used in a VG. The problem with the 190F thermostat is that the VG does not run at the temperature of its thermostat. The VG's thermostat is located on the lower rad hose, the cold end of the system, so the engine actually runs 10-15C hotter than its thermostat. Nissan's target for max engine temp is 90C (194F). 76.5C (170F) plus 15C is right on target at 91C. 82C (180F) plus 15C is pushing it at 97C, but apparently Nissan was comfortable with this, because NTB94-020 recommends swapping in a 180F thermostat to help the heater keep up with winters on Hoth (like Adam did), and (as Adam noted) they later spec'd 180F thermostats for the VG33E. 88C (190F) plus 15C is 103C, and apparently that's out of Nissan's comfort zone, because they warn that it could cause overheating, detonation, engine damage, computer trouble, and a voided warranty. The 190 thermostat was used in earlier (pre-VG) Nissan engines. They had the same 90C/194F max temp target, but their thermostats were on the upper rad hose, so they didn't have that 10-15C offset to factor in. TL;DR: 170 is stock, 180 is OK, and 190 is not recommended.

Changed out the front axle shafts for the Trakmotive extended travel units. Much beefier than OE and they come with the Thermoplastic boots. That said- they skimp on paint or any kid of coating so they rust quickly. I suggest immediately painting them if you get a set.

The rear arms I built years ago got an axle side change to some beefy heims in recent years. I'll start by saying I don't recommend them and will be changing them to Johnny Joints in the near future. They are super high maintenance and started squeaking within a year of install. They're probably fine for a trail toy or someone who just doesn't care about the noise. The performance was impressive but not worth it in the end. I started by media blasting the arms I built to get rid of the damage from DOT liquid de-icer's used in recent years. Then painted everything and applied a healthy layer of anti-seize. I kept the body-side rod ends poly to provide some insulation from noise and vibration and the combo worked well prior to the heims making noise. At this time I made a driveshaft spacer from 6061 AL to allow me to push my axle further back into the center of the wheel arch. Pretty easy job and solved an issue with lifted R50's that most folks don't account for when going higher. At some point during all this I started rehabbing a spare HB233 housing for the eventual rear disc brake setup that I picked up from @hawairish. I had the axle housing media blasted and coated it in POR-15. My OE axle shafts needed to be turned down to fit the WD rotors but later models apparently don't need that modification as the axle flanges were smaller in diameter. All new seals, bearings, rotors, pads and refreshed calipers. When I eventually get the axle done it'll be a short period of down time since I should have everything ready to swap in.

I said goodbye to my old set of KM2's on vintage mags and K02's on Tacoma alloys. Picked up a new full set, including a matching spare, of KM3's on some 15x10 AR alloys. With the impending long distance road trip the 8 year old rubber was a liability and it was time for a refresh. While I was at it I installed a set of OEM Nissan manual hubs that @hawairish sent my way. Much nicer kit than the Warn units I was running and they only need a 1/4 turn to engage. Gave the refurbished bumpers a quick coat of rattle can black to clean up the truck and get ready for the Southwest trip. I installed some universal mud flaps since the OE units wouldn't clear the tires to complete the look and so far they've held up really well. They come without brackets or mounting holes so it left a lot of room for interpretation but overall I think they're a great solution for my needs.

The entire cooling and belt drive system was refreshed. New radiator, pump, thermostat and housing, hoses, belts, power steering pump, alt, idlers, fan bearing bracket, fan and clutch. During my repairs I've been finding that many components, brackets, bolts etc...they're all succumbing to rust. I started ordering full sets of all bolt and nut sizes/pitches of yellow zinc JIS hardware to have on hand as I go through my truck and other projects. Additionally, i found that electrolysis is a great way to clean up super rusty parts prior to painting.

The universal sliders I've been holding onto for as long as I've lived here finally got mounted. Again, thanks to the brilliant engineering that @hawairish cooked up I mounted them via the OE locations using a set of QX4 step rail brackets and the adapter plates that he generously designed and cut out at his lab. They're robust, can easily support the weight of the truck and completely bolt-on. The truck also got a complete set of 2nd hand Coastal bumpers with a swing out that was conveniently located locally. The kit was professionally welded at a SoCal race shop so the fit up and quality was superb. Just needed a respray and some minor cosmetic repair. I bought the correct color matched silver to paint them but the window to paint outdoors here is very short and i have not managed to get the time in the 3 years since owning this set. I wasn't much of a fan of the Coastal options so I shaved most of what was on the bumper with the intention of 3D printing my own AUX/Fog light housings when the time comes around to painting them. For now its just clean and simple. An element of the Coastal design that seems pretty wild to me is the disregard for the power steering cooling line. These trucks use an aluminum tube that runs directly across the lower radiator support that the coast kit neglects, forcing users to bend it up out of the way. I opted to run a remote oil cooler next to my trans cooler and avoid what could be a disaster on the trail from a bump or collision.

The truck now has 4.6 gears. Initially I installed a SuperPacked LSD rated at 236.5 ft/lbs of breakaway that @hawairish built but after driving it for a while I found it wasn't really appropriate for my intended uses and the wet PNW environment. Would be great for a trail toy or sport truck application. So I ended up going with ARB lockers front and rear. The front hasn't made it into the truck yet but is on the bench as the next major item. The truck is already plumbed for it so I just need to finish the install into the housing and stuff it under the truck. @hawairish hooked it up with a slick bracket that he cooked up for mounting my old ARB single in the engine bay. I had originally mounted it in the rear passenger cubby and it worked well for the last 10 years in that location serving the sole purpose of inflating my tires after trail runs but with the ARB's it was time to relocate. I installed the switch panel that @hawairish and I ordered a while back that replaces the sunglass holder to run everything- Compressor, front and rear lockers, light bar, trail lights and AUX backup lights. Super stoked with the result.

Long time with no update! The truck is back from a recent trip to Moab with @hawairish and his build has inspired me to bring this thread up to speed... The truck has seen lots of trips and a handful of upgrades. Most notably is the rebuilt trans. Had some water intrusion in 2024 that prompted me to have it professionally rebuilt with a couple minor upgrades for durability and longevity. I paired that with a set of low-range gears for the transfer case that @hawairish helped make happen. Legend has it these gears are made by the same group that manufactures OEM gears but I have no proof so take that with a grain of salt. They are manufactured in Japan and have proven themselves in Moab but the install had a few hiccups that leave me curious how others have done this DIY in a garage setting. The large 4WD shaft required machining to match the OEM length otherwise it binds on the case. Not a problem as I chucked it in the lathe and made the needed modifications but unless you can machine the case or the shaft I would say this would be a show stopper. I drilled and tapped the output shaft so that I can run a SYE in the future while I had the case apart then reassembled everything and delivered it to the shop performing the rebuild so they could install everything and get the truck back up.

My one tip is to make sure you can get the fill plug loose before draining the oil.

I'm running a Magnefine on mine as well. I don't know that it's strictly necessary, but I wanted to give my high-mileage slushbox every chance I could, especially after seeing a little glitter in the fluid when I flushed it. I routed the lines on mine so the fluid goes from the trans, through the stock cooler in the rad, through the aux cooler, through the filter, then back to the trans. My thinking was that the OE cooler can only bring the fluid temp down to the coolant temp, so it should be the first stage. I put the filter on the return side just in case the cooler (which was not new when I installed it) had some schmutz in it. That I don't know. But I've had the filter on mine for the last 30k miles, and it hasn't complained.

Finally got this engine built New pistons, Rings, Bearings, Timing Chain, guides, tensioner, Water pump, clutch, plugs, leads, oil pump First Start on Thursday, Yesterday I took it around the block, got a heat cycle through it then retorqued the head, set valve clearances and dialled the timing in. It sounds and feels great! Ready for the next 500,000 hopefully!!

well got it all on the ground yesterday and drove it around. gotta get the alignment done, new tierods, rack bushings and possibly another set of camber bolts. I have everything in the garage but just ran out of time. Also front diff isnt in since pinion seal is trashed and i think its leaking behind the passenger axle. may just source another diff from the junk yard. Otherwise it drives around! just got to get these AC coils and 9446s to settle in and well be good! https://imgur.com/3XhUaw5 https://imgur.com/6QKYQiV

I know a lot of people like to delete stuff like those lines but the truck just runs better when you don't try to engineer it yourself lol.

so little update. Got my SFD ordered back in like november and it showed up in december BUTTTTT the lovely people at UPS messed up the box quantity with item quantity and the tariffs/duties skyrocketed to 2400 bucks per box. which means 4800 for 2 boxes with 500bucks worth of parts in them lol so its been re routed back to the shipper in canada and is currently "lost" per ups but they found it in montana. It has been an absolute shyt fest and waiting. So in the meantime i put on some 2in AC coils from 4x4parts and debating on if i want to rip the trans out of it to do the clutch now and replace the input shaft bearing since it is howling and making all kinds of racket. Heres a pic of the truck last night after i did the coils

yep ! that's a good guy ! happy that the forum is back online... facebook groups are just not my thing when you search things ! way to go adam

Thanks! Glad to help out.

Not able to upload photos with insert image 2" AC coils with 4" SFD, kyb struts, missing link, LR RKB101060.C8 about 6 inch rear lift, Bilstein 5125 33-185569, Warn Hubs, -3.75 backspacing, 33x12.5R15 Duratrac Wrangler, tire carrier with full size spare https://imgur.com/gallery/AIvp4br

Okay, so I figured out why I was having such an issue. It was the wrong seal. Sigh.

Well (expletive.) Thank you for the info. I have been turning wrenches for maaaany years and my brain did not put those two together. Totally makes sense. Thank you for knocking the cobwebs off of this old head. Checking out HPS now.... WOW. How have I not found this before. Thank you dudes!!! I owe you both a FEW beers....

Alright, got it through emissions and re-registered! Only 8 months late... Last night I installed a non-fouler on the downstream driver's O2 sensor and it seemed to do the trick. Not only did the P0430 not move to stored to screw up my day, but it's also no longer in pending. Steering was a little more squirrelly today. I need to get to the bottom of that. But otherwise, the truck is operational. Hoping to do a shakedown run soon.

https://hpsperformanceproducts.com/ Not the cheapest thing, but I intended to never have to deal with it again Silicone is fine for vacuum lines and coolant lines (reinforced in the latter case for the pressures) but also worth noting can be more difficult to seal at the ends (hence I use coolant-exposure-rated RTV for added insurance). It's true different kinds of rubber - of which at this point there's so many I've lost track - are good for different kinds of things and will fail if mis-applied. Here's my cheat sheet: For fuel hoses, I replaced everything with Gates Barricade except for the submerged hose in the tank/pump which was some super special snowflake stuff (fuel submersible rated) - and wildly expensive. Crankcase ventilation/PCV - Gates PCV/EEC Vacuum/Coolant - (reinforced) silicone as noted

Look for a manual car wash, the kind that eats quarters and gives you time with the spray wand. Don't shoot it directly at electrical connectors or fluid caps if you can avoid it, otherwise give 'er hell. I'd spray it down before you get in there. It's much nicer working on something that isn't an oily mess.

Rat Trap's steering wheel was starting to get gross. Hand sweat, sun damage, and the previous owner's lung darts had left the outer rim cracked, turning brown, and starting to smell. Then I remembered that aftermarket steering wheels are a thing. Maybe the minitruckers are onto something, I thought. I figured I'd keep things simple by going with a wheel and a column adapter from the same company. Grant's website showed an adapter kit for these trucks, #3560, so that was a good start. I had a look through their catalog and decided on their #1160. Simple, black on black, leather grip. No rainbow chrome, no trucker babes, no flames. http://www.grantproducts.com/images/product-images/lg/1160.jpg Summit had it well below list price, so I ordered it from there. They didn't have the column adapter, and Grant's website's checkout didn't work, so I ordered that from elsewhere. The folks I ordered the column adapter from emailed me the next day to say that they didn't actually have one. I checked around, and found a bunch of other retailers listing them as discontinued or out of stock. The few who claimed to have them either didn't get back to me or confirmed that they couldn't get them either. Grant's site also listed a fancy billet adapter, #5560, but I couldn't find one of those, either. There are a bunch of cheap D21 column adapters on eBay. They're all drilled for six-bolt wheels. And the #1160 wheel I had ordered, which by this point was already in the mail, is five-bolt. Nissan Nut's page suggested that Grant #3596 would fit instead. I found one on eBay. It came in an "American Products Company" box. (Made in Taiwan, naturally.) It doesn't say Grant on it anywhere, but it looks just like the Grant kits, the splines are correct, and the three-bolt pattern matches the spacer. Is it a knockoff? Is this Grant's own off-brand? It's what I could get. The wheel came with a spacer. The spacer adapts between Grant's three-on-1.75" pattern (which the column adapter uses, as do some of their simpler wheels) to their five-on-2.75" pattern, which their "Signature Series" wheels (including this one) use. It's made from welded steel, and it feels sturdy. Unfortunately, it spaced the wheel too far back, to where I had to reach for the lights and wipers. It's also stuffed into a rubber sleeve, which doesn't fit it very well. Flipping it around doesn't help, either. Either it's so loose at the front that you can see the metal part of the spacer through the wheel, or it's so loose at the back that you can get your finger in between them. And it's tight enough in the middle that it gets stretched into a polygon by the spokes of the spacer. I suspect its primary function was to sell the billet adapter kits. Naked spacer in the middle, misshapen rubber thing on the right. On the left is the Forever Sharp MG15-B billet spacer that I used instead. It's half an inch shorter, which fixed the gap to the stalks, and it looks way better than the floppy rubber turtleneck. It actually looks quite nice! It also solved a dumb problem with the column adapter, which is that you need a special three-bolt puller to remove it. The Forever Sharp spacer is drilled for both 5 on 2.75" and 6 on 2.75", so you can bolt a standard wheel puller across two of the six-pattern holes to pop the hub assembly off the splines. (The holes are threaded #10-32, same as the Grant spacer.) Either spacer goes in between the column adapter and the nut. Unfortunately this leaves the end of the steering shaft slightly short of the end of the nut. I don't think it's going anywhere, but, yeah, I don't love that. I have yet to decide if it bothers me enough to take it back apart and do something about it, but I'm leaning towards swapping that nut for one that doesn't have a washer attached to it. The turn signal cancel mechanism fought me a little bit. The APC column adapter has two holes for roll pins, which take the place of the tabs on the back of the stock wheel. The pins aren't long enough to hit the cancel lever on the switch if you push them in all the way, which I found out the hard way. The second time, I installed them about a quarter inch into the column adapter. That sorta got them working, but, strangely, only in one direction. I figured the pins were just a little too close to the center, so they weren't engaging the cancel lever properly. To fix this, I removed the turn signal stalk (as pictured below), stuck a 1/4" extension in through that hole there, and used that as a punch to gently persuade the pins outwards a little. This might not be the right way to do it, but the signals cancel perfectly now. Actually, they cancel a little better than they did with the stock wheel. Round and square dash have different turn signal cancel mechanisms. Square dash has a single cancel lever on the switch, and two tabs on the back of the wheel, spaced about 120* apart from each other. Round dash has two separate cancel levers on the switch, with a space between them, so Nissan moved the tabs on the wheel out to 180* to account for that space. (Square dash wheel on top, round on bottom.) The APC hub has the 180* spacing of the round-dash, but my truck is square-dash, so the steering wheel has to turn 90* for the pins to hit the cancel lever (I think stock is about 60). I thought the factory setup was a bit trigger-happy, so I consider this an improvement. That rounded sheet metal cover came with the column adapter, and it doesn't cover it very well. It's got a pretty big gap to the clamshell. My clamshell is a redneck abomination of my own devising, so I can't say for sure that it wouldn't match the original clamshell a little better, but I know the stock wheel was not gapped out that far. Maybe the correct kit comes with a longer cover? I'll probably make up a new one that actually fits at some point, but today is not that day. I've read some complaints about the horn buttons on Grant's 3-bolt wheels. This wheel doesn't use that design. The five-bolt wheels use a self-contained horn button, which friction-fits into the trim ring. It's got two spade terminals on the back for the wires. One wire comes from the column adapter (which uses a piece of circuit board for the slip ring), and the other goes to a ring terminal, which I put under one of the three bolts holding the spacer to the column adapter. This system works just fine with the factory horn contact on the column, and I didn't have to modify or adjust anything to get it working properly. Sadly they don't have any amusing replacement horn buttons, or even a Nissan one. Just domestic brands, their own name, blank, or "4x4," in case you need reminding of that sort of thing. I've driven around a bit since installing the new wheel. The leather grip feels nice, and it doesn't have a rancid mixture of hand sweat and lung dart residue festering inside of it, which is a welcome change. The smaller diameter clears my knees better, but it's not so small that I feel like I stole the wheel off the riding mower. And I like the look--it looks upgraded, without looking like I've mistaken Rat Trap for a racecar. That said, the fit and finish could be better. There's a little glue residue on the spokes, the leather wrap ends closer to the spoke slot on one side than the other, and that one out-of-place white stitch at the bottom bugs me a little. The horn trim ring has a garf under the paint, and came with some paint scratched off around one of the screw holes--screw holes which mysteriously don't exist in Grant's product picture. The picture conveniently omits the spacer with the can koozy around it, too. So, yeah. This turned out to be a bit more of a can of worms than I had hoped, and if I was going to do it all over again, I don't know that I'd do all the same things. Now that it's all said and done, though, I like it, and it's staying. One last thing: I did reach out to Grant's customer support about the adapter. Grant's tech support guy confirmed that the #3560 kit was out of stock, but said he'd managed to track one down. (Naturally I had already ordered the other kit by the time I got that email.) So if you need a Grant column adapter, try their customer support--they may be able to hook you up.

I tested a 192 ° on my VG30E last winter, and indeed it heats up faster and stays more stable on short trips. On the other hand, the summer it rises quickly in temperature if your cooling system is not nickel. Personally, I returned to 180 °, a good compromise in my opinion. Mini Militia App Lock

It's 100 percent for the EGR, to connect to the BPT valve. Goes in this hole here. Then there is this little disc thing it that connects to that pipe with short 1.5" piece of rubber hose.

Passed smog first try. Phew. Time to move on to front suspension and some interior cleaning

I rebuilt mine in 2023. I had the service manual and followed that, but also found the below video and follow-up assembly videos the most useful. I also downloaded the below website, which went offline but is still available on Internet Archive. https://web.archive.org/web/20170224101545/http://beergarage.com/PathTransmission1Remove.aspx The Pathfinder trans is just the 300ZX trans with a pull clutch and different (replaceable) rear on the 4WD models. Means for 01-04 we have double-cone synchros on both 2nd and 3rd. The bearing kits (BK240) are all the same for this model of transmission, it's the kits with synchros that are different (which you generally can't get anyway). I couldn't get the complete kit with bearings and synchros at the time, so I just bought the bearing kit ZMBK240, identified each synchro part # from Amayama and purchased them separately. You might find like me that you can order and pay for the full kit, then they'll refund you and say it's not available. Given their ages now I wouldn't install a used transmission without first opening it up. I bought my used trans from B&R and when arrived it was full of mud and wood chips and rust as it was obviously left outside in the rain. It 100% had to be cleaned and parts replaced. When in there I found the reverse gear missing a tooth, the reverse gear design is weak and its synchro doesn't work well so I replaced all those gears too. Apparently you should never put a 300ZX/Pathfinder manual into reverse until you've stopped and waited a second for the gears to slow down. I replaced all the synchros because you wouldn't reuse them condition unknown. I also replaced the smaller inner gear bearings that don't come with the kit and are ignored - the new updated versions were minus one needle, probably for better oil flow. Shifts are smooth as butter, well worth the time. If you're interested I could put up a post on my rebuild. Pro tip, I used a toaster oven to heat up then drop the 'press fit' gears in place, made it so much easier and I don't feel like a caveman hammering on precision parts.

Just black https://photos.app.goo.gl/6EVmv6M1ZcYZgsAG7

Monstaliner - Lady in Red. 20250607_145706.jpg

After reviewing several transfer cases, I realized that the one I was considering didn't match my vehicle. I'm glad I didn't go through with the purchase. I reached out to the wrecker who supplied my transfer case motor, and he was able to find my exact transfer case. He used my VIN and instructed me to look for a smaller metal plate located below the larger plate next to my brake booster. We matched the number associated with the part for my Auto Transfer I cant remember exactly what it said but all the numbers matched with mine. He confirmed that the transfer case was from a 2001 R50 Pathfinder with a 4WD dial. I was able to purchase it for $1,010 plus shipping. My mechanic quoted me about $300 to $400 for labor to take the old transfer out and put the other one in, bringing the total to around $1,410. This is a great deal compared to the $8,000 to $9,000 I was quoted for rebuilding my original transfer case. Hopefully, after installing this new transfer case, all of my issues will finally be resolved. It can't be much else, so fingers crossed that everything works properly again. I'm eager to get back to the dirt tracks and camping, but this time, I'll be sure to avoid any water.

That's great! Makes sense there was stuff to burn off, when I did the intake gaskets on my Xterra, it smoked for a good 10-20 minutes as I drove it around. People were flagging me down it was funny lol. Eventually it tapered off and was fine.

UPDATE - I took the pathy out tonight to find a cliff to drive it off of when after about 20 minutes of smoking out my neighborhood....the smoke cleared! I think there was just residual coolant in the exhaust system that needed to burn off. Otherwise it runs great, drove on freeway, all around town and no issues. Now I need to see if she'll pass CA smog. Thx for those who provided feedback on this chain, I really appreciate. Next up, some cosmetic projects.

Long overdo update - turns out the source of my intermittent front passenger wheel-area screeching was the brake. Pad was completely gone, and I pushed it a little too long, ended up melting the pad's backing plate and blowing out a piston in the caliper. Good thing I was already planning to replace the front rotors... it was a bear of a job but got it done, and it finally stops reliably, doesn't pull anymore, and doesn't make that terrible noise! Next step in restoration/repair, new muffler.

Im tired of the thing being slow, it does a 0-60 in 9 secs,so,mods I've done:copper mod spark plug,Z31 injectors,stage 2 clutch,mid muffler delete,bigger rear muffler,added a 2nd muffler to the driver side manifold and thats it but.. after thinking a lot,knowing I have the fs5r30a thats from a R32,I know it can hold that turbo,I mean the manual used in my vg pathy is that one I think all manual vg paths had it,so I think it can hold it,also,I'll add downpipe,get Z31 oil pickup lines,bigger turbo than Z31,more aggressive cams,intercooler and oil cooler,but before all that I'll get stage 2 clutch for it,this might be the biggest vg Pathfinder build yet

Sweet. Always nerve wracking firing that up after doing this job lol.

SUCCESS! https://imgur.com/a/qWyHVX8

Okay party people - the content you've been waiting for: an answer!! I got the timing wrong. I messed up the tooth counts (I must've gone from the marks on the cover, not the actual dimples on the cam gears), and ended up with the left cam two teeth advanced and the right cam 6 or so teeth behind. I really don't know how - they must've moved from spring tension while I was getting the old belt off, as I was probably at TDC on the exhaust stroke. Anyway, it's sparking and fueling at the right times relative to the crank/piston positions, but the valves aren't opening/closing at the right times. So this weekend I get to redo it, aligning the cams properly. At least I don't have to deal with the water pump again?

Thank you, @Slartibartfast and @gamellott! I will source those connectors, once I take inventory of what I need. Disassembly is complete as of this AM, taking Heads to the machine shop for pressure test today. No obvious blown gasket, but the PS Head between #3 and #5 smells like burnt oil. I also found a bunch of coolant in #6 which makes no sense to me...need to figure that out. Good news is that all cylinder walls look cherry and only minimal carbon on pistons. She definitely deserves a refresh, I'm happy with what I'm seeing so far. Also, almost no rust anywhere - other than EGR and exhaust manifold heat shield screws - I broke 2 off. I got lower EGR tube nut off after a bottle of penetrating fluid, 60 secs of heating the manifold and sledge hammering a wrench connected to the nut. And 3 beers.

This is your Rear Windshield Wiper Motor, you will need to remove your rear wiper arm and then there will be a plastic nut that you will need to remove from around the wiper motor shaft which will then allow you to remove it from your R50 hatch. Chris.

Spark but no fire on carb cleaner suggests it's either massively flooded, or the timing is way off. Do you have a timing light? The ignition timing should not have changed if you haven't moved the distributor, assuming everything's as it should be behind the timing cover. I'm also assuming the last guy had it set up properly, given it ran before you opened it up. Confirm that you've got 40 teeth between cam dimples, 43 cam to crank. If you had the sprockets off to do the cam seals, confirm that you reinstalled the sprockets on the correct sides. Left and right are marked from the driver's perspective, not the mechanic's. I've never had an issue with it, though I have heard of people washing the oil off the cylinder walls by using too much. Some starting fluid has oil in it, that's probably better for extended use if you have to run it on spray. I mostly just use it to make sure a small engine's worth buying a carburetor for. I don't know if it's the ether or the stuff they add to stop people from huffing it, but starting fluid gives me a headache real quick. Not that carb cleaner is healthy, but it doesn't hit me like that. I see guys on Youtube using brake cleaner, and they seem to get away with it, but I don't want to know what's coming out the tailpipe when that stuff burns!

Sorry to hear the computer is clueless as usual. Did you check after a failed start? I think it's supposed to hold onto codes for a certain number of starts, but I don't remember that for sure. An ignition issue on one cylinder shouldn't impact the other five. If you didn't pull the dizzy, and the tooth count between cams and cam/crank is correct (and it was when you started), then it shouldn't be timing. If you messed with the plug wires, confirm that they all went back where they're supposed to. I wouldn't expect the cap/rotor to suddenly and completely die, but given you had the cap off, I would pull it and just make sure it's not wet inside and the rotor is present (you didn't remove it to clean it and forget to put it back) and correct (mounting bolt hasn't fallen out or something). Other than that, we're back to checking for spark and fuel. If you're sure it's getting fuel past the injectors, pull a plug wire, crank it, confirm that you have spark. If you don't, check at the coil wire to see if the cap/rotor are the problem. If you have spark, but aren't sure fuel's getting past the injectors, spray some carb cleaner or starting fluid into the intake. If it runs when you spray fuel at it, then you know it's a fuel issue.

I've been meaning to do a write-up of my conversion with photos, it's more involved than the VG33 (I used that doc commodorehat referenced above as a base). It just takes time to write and I'm busy/lazy. I can say you can't put a manual with the full-time 4WD, it doesn't fit the back of the trans. Also the full-time computer needs the auto trans computer to work. So you'd need to convert to PT with a part-time transfer case, not impossible, but more work than starting with part time 4WD. Also if you have VDC/stability control I don't think it will work without these two computers. You'll need a manual ECU, deal with NATS (I disabled it), and clutch assembly/parts, the rare flywheel, and some other pieces. I still have my auto trans which shifted fine before removal, I've been meaning to post for sale. If you wanted to stay auto, you could buy mine and put your fulltime backplate from your trans on it to fit the full time 4WD. If I had a FT model like yours, I'd find a rusted out or blown-engine manual car, rebuild the trans if it needed it, and take all the parts and build up your car with them, it would be cheaper and everything would be there. I was just lucky that I had an SE with part time 4WD already and didn't need to many parts.

Looks like progress! Bet that manifold leak was noisy. If it was blowing hoses from exhaust gas getting into the cooling system, that suggests you were right about the head gaskets. Check for cracks and warpage while it's apart. The oil in the valley probably came from the valve cover gaskets. That depends on how far you go. The VG30 and VG33 service manuals have identical specs for the valve springs, so the stock springs should handle VG30 cams just fine. JWT even recommends the stock springs with their S1 cams, which if post #7 in this thread is correct, are a larger jump in lift from the VG30 cams than the VG30 cams are from the VG33 cams. JWT's S2 cams do spec harder springs. And yeah, if you're pulling the heads apart anyway, that would be a great time to clean out the gunk and lap the valves. Mr. 510's VG34 thread has some info on porting if you want to give that a go.

Falling behind on updates again... My guys' trip to Moab has come and gone, but unfortunately the truck was not ready in time for it. I still made it up there and had a great trip riding shotgun in Towndawg's truck (recently fitted with 4:1 t-case gears and a rear ARB locker...front ARB didn't get installed in time). Long story short, I was able to get the truck out of the garage and around the block a few times, but the steering and alignment didn't feel right, and the gear box started leaking. I had already rebuilt the power steering lines again (they had sprung a leak a 2nd time) so I have little confidence in their ability at the moment, but they seem to be holding now. This time around I snugged the fittings up a little less thinking maybe I was over-tightening them and compromising the liner. But frankly, if they're this sensitive to assembly, I probably don't want them. For now, they'll do. Parts are on order to rebuild the gear box, which I probably should have done in the first place. Beyond that, the setup has not been tested at all...but at least it drives now! Here were the finishing pieces of the build... The driveshaft adapter turned out great: Got the new rear 5.13 (41:8 = 5.125) gears installed. That took a lot of effort, though. I've surely mentioned it before, but the H233 used thick rings/spacers/washers of different thicknesses to set pinion height and preload, and practically all of those pieces are either no longer available, or several bucks each (and you don't really know which piece you'd need unless you have the proper setup tools). It didn't use traditional shims, and even then, there aren't really any good options available due to odd metric sizes. Fortunately, the new pinion gear sat high, so I was able to grind down OE spacer pieces on a flat belt sander. Unfortunately, it was a lot of trial-and-error to dial in the height (a lot of pressing pieces on and pulling pieces off), and I basically took the pieces down to the minimum factory dimensions to get it as close as I could. It sucked and took a lot of time, but the pattern is good. I also managed to strip some threads on the bracket that holds the actuator piston for my TJM, so I had to pull that off to weld some nuts on get some threads. I got the switches wired up for the overhead console the other week. I ran some 8-conductor wiring up the passenger A-pillar and into the engine bay. Six of the wires are for the overhead panel, and the other 2 I'll wire up for powering a USB port for the dash cam eventually. I ended up drawing ACC power, ground, and illumination from the compass module. Opened it up, soldered on leads, and crimped on terminals and harnesses. The panel is for a Patrol, and while the color isn't a perfect match for my gray "K" trim, it's close enough for me and I'm super happy to finally put it to use. Things are wired up in a way that's consistent with their usage; i.e., you can't engage the front locker unless the rear locker is engaged, and you can't engage the sway bar disconnect or rear locker until the compressor is on. Remote Air is for the tire inflation setup; it can either hold the air, deflate, or inflate. I was not able to get the compressor, relays, or solenoids wired up until last night, and tonight I needed to sort out some leaks from having to shuffle around my setup. These are not the finished pics, but close enough for now. I opted to use some modular solenoids that stack together instead of the ARB style solenoids...that 4-solenoid modular unit costs less than one ARB solenoid, but was a little tough to find. That funky rubber boot thing is an adjustable pressure sensor switch that I was hoping to use for the tire inflation (Remote Air) switch, so that it would stop inflating at a set PSI. Unfortunately, it's so sensitive that it'll just flutter at the set temperature and cause the compressor to keep cycling. So, I'll probably just retain it as a safety cut-off. Also determined tonight that gauge is garbage...it's way off. Lastly, this is how it sat as of yesterday before a powerwash. I spy something SASsy.