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I'm the second owner of my pretty much stock 03 Pathfinder SE (auto, part-time 4wd) since 2015. Things happened in 2020. Decided to convert the Pathfinder to manual. Bought a manual trans from a 2002, took my time, and in summer 2023 finished rebuilding it. Not including that here as it's pretty routine - all new synchros, bearings, input shaft and some gears that had chipped teeth, then back together. If you have a 2000, 01 or 02 part-time or rwd you can swap in a manual, get a manual ECU, (deal with NATS), and be done. (You can't manual swap a full-time 4wd, fulltime unit only works with an auto) My problem with the 03 was Nissan discontinued manuals in the US in late 2002 for model year 2003, which also had new revisions with a more advanced ECU including electric throttle body and other changes. So I could either go 'backwards' to a US 2002 manual ECU and install throttle cable, find a wrecked US manual truck and swap everything across - or get an 03 manual ECU and make it work. I didn't want to go backwards. I'm also in WA which doesn't do smog checks so no issues modifying or mixing and matching. Luckily, Nissan still sold the 03-04 as manual in Canada. Looking at parts diagrams in Amayama it looked like the Canadian auto 03 model was near-identical to the US model, so the manual couldn't be that different, I figured. The worst outcome was it wouldn't work at all, or that I'd have to keep spending money until it worked or I gave up. I took the gamble. I reviewed the earlier Pathfinder auto to manual guide linked on this forum, and also looked up a lot of 350Z conversion forums as it's the same engine and ECU. Also Nissan Skyline and 300ZX forums as different engine, but same transmission. I found the throttle body changed part numbers in 07/2002 from cable to electric, so that was the cutover date. Anything after that was right. I searched individual junk yards in Canada until I found a place selling a clutch pedal and bracket, ECU, and flywheel. The tell with the 'right' car was there were no throttle/cruise cables in the engine bay pics, cuz electric throttle. The yards that had what I needed were in rural Alberta. Apparently Alberta has a lot of R50 Pathfinders in their yards. I mainly used car-part.com. I sent the ECU away to get NATS disabled so I wouldn't need to deal with it. Got everything in and worked end of summer 2024, and wanted to share here. Pics and posts to follow once I get an image service set up.

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!

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

First things first - remove the transfer case Lots of extensions needed to get to bellhousing bolts. I bought proper long ones after this. Auto transmission detached Flexplate Flexplate removed Source of my rear engine oil leak (after clean up) - rear pan seal job was badly done Sealed it up good. Also I didn't take a photo, but you need to remove the steel inner collar. It's a total pita to get out. It centers the torque converter, but the manual transmission uses a small brass one. There's videos online, the 350Z auto to manual conversion videos cover it. I couldn't get it out for hours and broke various tools, I thought that was the end of the project. But I got it out eventually with the exact right sized puller. Fortunately the R50 chassis has the clutch master cylinder hole already there under a plate Turns out the auto trans computer sits on the other side of the clutch blank plate so both come out at once Factory clutch master cylinder. I thought about steel clutch lines, but ended up using an ebay 240SX clutch line kit. Works fine.

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.

Heck yeah thank you. If I can de-pin the plugs I was gonna do that. if I can survive me ECU repin then this is gonna be easy lol

It is my understanding that the Factory standard 3.3L injectors work, but have a different connector, and require an adapter of sorts, or maybe you can simply splice in the correct connector if you have no fear of butt-splices. There is a somewhat recent thread in here regarding that. See this thread:

Well, not pretty, but she's holding!

If it's one of the ones no under the intake it's easy, but for the ones under the intake, one of those connectors on the tree on the valve cover leads to the rest of them. If you check the FSM it will say which. I'm scared of the injectors on mine, I forgot to keep the ones on my parts truck before junking it, and it seems like they vanished from every parts supplier overnight?

After 2.5 months its been amazing! The power is right where I want it, with not a crazy difference in fuel milage at partial throttle and its almost better when not in any boost. However, I've had a lot of issues with spark knock and after doing some digging it turns out the cheap Chinese dizzy I got from the part store wasn't sending the proper ECU information about timing.... who would've thought. After replacing the rotor and cap on a spare JY dizzy it seems to have fixed the issue and is hitting proper timing at proper boost. bit of a bummer actually but it seems to be more the cam sensor than the dizzy itself. lesson learned. Would I recommend this swap??? If you can afford the gas and the parts for the swap then absolutely!

https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img921/9211/GzWVNS.jpg https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/2815/4WG976.jpg https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/8076/Ttayb6.jpg https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/3552/AQg7Ko.jpg https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/6560/hUsYgQ.jpg

Rock auto has reman and some new off brand ones that are decent just don't get the cheapest of cheap sometimes those aren't that great. GB stuff is pretty good from what I've heard never tried it personally though Also, you only need 1 post you don't need to add to multiple sections of the forum

Just incase anyone needed to know, you CAN fit a fully dressed VG33ER in the back of an R50!

Here's a link to the service manual. Page 196. basically warm, then hold no load 2k rpm for 2 minutes then check timing in N should be about 15 degrees +/- 2

I have an extra distributor that I marked core. I have had it so long I forget why I marked it that way. I figured I would try and put that one in and see if the issue goes away. The issue went away. I couldn’t get it any closer than 17 degrees. That’s within the range the manual gives. I am relieved to know that it should be the distributor. I will get an another one and cross my fingers that it fixes the problem. I will report back after the new one is installed.

The manual transmission chassis cover plate was unavailable, so I cut the existing one to fit the manual shifter The service manual says to fill the transmission from the shifter hole, so I did Intermediate covers and soundproofing Manual transmission trim installed The original auto transmission connector block. I connected up the neutral position switch to the PNP relay so it only starts when the shifter is in neutral. And connected up the reverse lights, just four wires

I made an adapter for my transmission jack to securely hold the manual transmission in place. I've used ordinary jacks to reinstall car transmissions before but this thing is pretty heavy even without the transfer case and I didn't want it falling on me About to go in Lining up manual transmissions just right to install is always annoying. Sometimes you gotta take it completely back out and down and start again. Sometimes it pops right in You can see the innards of the transmission before the transfer case is attached. Without sealant the transmission oil would all seep out Technically the manual transmission transfer case is different - it has a small gutter under the input shaft, and subgears to absorb shock. But nothing that is needed for the conversion. The auto transmission transfer case works fine. But you have to apply sealant as the back of the manual transmission is open

A pic of the back of the new flywheel showing 03-04 signal plate A view of the clutch fork from the outside. It pushes towards the engine, which pulls the pressure plate 'off' the clutch and flywheel

So first I tried a 350Z flywheel - but it was too high and wouldn't allow the pull clutch to work so couldn't release the clutch. So pulled the transmission out again, and next I installed a US '02 flywheel But the signal plate is way different, it's for the cable throttle ECU and the engine wouldn't start 00-01-02 signal plate on left with like 300 or something holes. 03-04 signal plate on the right. The right side has 3x 10 holes. That's what I needed, but flywheel not flex plate I found I needed part number 123105W90A (03-04 only) which is unique to the R50 Pathy due to the pull clutch. It was hard to find but found one in the UAE from I think partsouq Correct flywheel installed I found the starter motor had to be shimmed back about a 1/2 inch otherwise starter gear would hit the flywheel. There's an official part number for this, a plate the starter sits sandwiched under, but it's out of stock so I just used washers OEM clutch plate is an Exedy Pressure plate installed It's pretty big as pressure plates go, but the pull clutch means the clutch pedal is light (is why they chose it for the Pathfinder - more grab but lighter to use)

Clutch pedal installed. I couldn't find a Pathy brake pedal - probably because its bracket wraps around the steering column. I kept hitting the brake when I went for the clutch, so I ended up just cutting the brake pedal the same size as the clutch pedal and it looks factory now You can't really see, but the clutch pedal bracket goes where the auto trans computer used to be. It has a clutch starter switch but I didn't connect it (did connect the neutral start switch though) The Pathfinder manual uses a pull clutch (not a regular push clutch) which I had to figure out how it works Got the OEM parts Assembled. It 'clicks' into the pressure plate on installation. Then to release you pull out that pin, and the fork falls out. You lift the collar on the clutch release bearing to release it from the pressure plate. It's kinda hard to explain without seeing it in action.

I had never rebuilt a manual trans before. Followed the service manual, "Beer Garage" (since deleted), and youtube videos and took my time. I used a toaster oven to make dropping the press fit gears back on easier. I bought a factory shifter. But I thought it was too tall so I cut about an inch off it and welded. I am not a professional welder at all. But it has held up fine. I also found and bought a NOS Pathfinder clutch, and a 350Z flywheel. I figured a 350Z is the same engine and clutch, and the clutch and flywheel fit together. Seemed so far so good.

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.

Yours lived longer than mine did! I have no idea what that metal thing is for. It looks like some engineering went into it, so clearly they expected it to do something. All I know is, I did not include it or replicate it when I fabricobbled a metal clamshell for mine, and my tilt works normally, so it must be something else. The weight may not be helping the clamshell, especially cantilevered out like it is, but I suspect it's got more to do with people whacking their knee on the bulge that the weight sits in. Well, that and the poor design of the screw posts.

Timing belt is done. The last time I changed it was 2012. I was surprised how good the belt looked. curious if anyone else bought the kit from Napa and had an issue with the water pump. The pump will mount, but the snout is too long. The water pump by itself was the same way. I had to order one from Oreilly’s. The water pump I did back in 2012 was purchased from Nissan. It was the same manufacturer as the one from Oreilly’s and Napa.

they're shaped differently so it may bolt on and work yes but it probably won't first the same in the vehicle. I can send picture of both my R50 and my brothers wd21 if needed

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!

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

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

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

I figured I would start over and check the TPS. I didn't really check it very good the first time. I was able to get the TPS to read. The manual says it should go up to 9 ohms resistance. The best I could bet was 7.3 ohms.

I did the same with my auto. I don't tow but I just don't want the auto to break. Like yours it went into the radiator cooler, through the Hayden aux cooler and to a magnefine filter. I took the trans out at like 177,000 it still shifted great, so I think it helped. Didn't seem to do any harm. When they were plastic you could unscrew and open them. When replacing them I'd take the magnet out and keep it. Looking at the magnet and filters you could definitely see they caught some stuff. Better than the standard pan for sure.

The manifold is warped. I haven’t measured it, but it looks like around 1/8” or so. It’s at the front of the manifold. I don’t think it’s going to want to bend that much going back together. The middle and the back are flat. I have a belt sander but I can’t find any sanding belts that are the right size. If I can find the right size, it’s the wrong material. It’s going to take me for ever to make it flat with the belt I have now. I was wanting to get this finished this weekend. That’s not going to happen. I only had to drill and resize one hole. It was the very front. Thankfully it was the easier one to get to without having to get an extra long drill bit. We don’t have the corrosion out here compared to others. I can’t imagine having to deal with that. The O2 was a Bosch, I think. I made sure to keep the wires away from things.

First Commute to work today, (A.K.A. real test. 70km each way) and the little Z sounds and feels happy

Mine is 6" sfd. It has been holding up good. I drove 5400km across Canada last fall from b.c to n.s with it on a fishing/camping trip. Going to drive back to b.c in the summer. Might put the sway bar back on for safety. I can't upload pictures to the forum

The diff sure ain't light! But neither is the gearbox.

Sorry for delay guys. I ended up just replacing all the rubber and keeping it intact. I do plan on removing the EGR and all that nonsense when I put these headers on and redo the entire exhaust...(SAS requires it!) Just not there yet.

You can bypass it with a union, there was a post on it on here somewhere. The dampener is to assist with smooth shifts IIRC. First I would check the return spring on the pedal itself as well as bleeding the clutch fluid. I still have mine In place and have never had an issue. Just replaced a couple bad slave cylinders. If it were me I'd check everything else before hacking into it to bypass it.

@hawairish I just wanted to say thank you for this info.... I remember paying $400 CAD PER SIDE for the parking brake bits on my old 1994 many years ago. And my current 1995 needs a refresh, with the board being down I couldn't remember what year Passport/Rodeo. Got the kit on order so I can finally put the brakes back together. Now if I could only find rust free or new dust shields for the rear. Hope everything is good with you

Forums are definitely the right place to find information. I dare to say 90% of the people on the Facebook groups have zero idea about anything specific to the r50. It's all, "what lift, wheels, bumper, lights....?"

Well that sucks! At least you're not stranded without it.

Nice when the junk collection provides!

It works, but the backlighting does not work. Occasionally, the lights will illuminate, and I think it's simply a loose ground. The lights are probably original. Last time I looked at them, they're silver in color, and probably ready to give up. OE PN 2754553E00, aren't available in the US and I might be able to import them through Amayama. Has anyone come up with a dimmable replacement LED that could be made to fit? Also... What about the lights on the LCD Clock? Anyone have a replacement for that light?