Earth1

Starter wired wrong? Hmmm.. How specifically did you have it wired wrong? I can barely see anything with that thing in place. I might just take it out. I'm gonna hit up Ryan (AK9849CY) to have a look at his engine about those 2 plugs. He lives really close to where I'm working. Any fuses in the cab that could cause the failure?

Nice suggestions. I don't think I have an alarm. The battery was definately hooked up right because I had a hard time getting the cables to the posts while they were crossed. I don't have an elec tester, and have never used one... but I guess I'll get one and figure it out.

Something to consider. If you plan on getting headers the skid will need to mount a little lower, i.e.- not flush with the crossmember. I just put my headers on and was surprised how low they are.

I'll check the interlock but I don't see how the clutch would affect? It's not just that it won't start- there is no power at all. Anything else?

NO JUICE! It's all your fault K9. I turned the key... nothing. I've cursed, pounded, kicked and yelled with no luck. I've tried 2 batteries, one I know for sure is good. I have no electrical- no dash, headlights, nada. I've checked and checked and checked again and don't see anything unconnected. I've pulled a lot of the connectors apart and put em back together to check the connections. The only thing I can't see well is the starter, which I may pull off soon to see if anything is weird. Ground is on the block. Any ideas? Actually there are 2 harnesses that aren't plugged but I can't find any possible place for them and I think maybe they never were attached to anything. They are both right by each other near the battery coming off the main wire group; one is blue and one is grey. They are both dirty inside like they haven't been attached for a while. Not to be mistaken for another blue connector nearby that is hooked up. The only other thing I can think is the ASCD box I took off. Maybe that is affecting something. How do I start to find the problem? I know about as much about wiring as I did about engines when I started. Clueless...

Umkay. Bled the clutch line and everything seems ok. Gonna try to start er up today! -bounce- Got the oil filter relocator on. I mounted it to the firewall just above the fender on the passenger side. After removing the cruise control box and relocating the fuel filter a little there is plenty of room. Changing oil will be a breeze now. I already have a new stock size oil filter so I'll run it for the first few and start using a larger Ford filter next change. Pics soon. Headers are on. It was a pain to get all the pieces lined up and bolted together. The angle where the crossover slides over the driver side down pipe is off a little. A design flaw- for those not going with an entire new exhaust system. The stock pipes will only move so far. I'm not happy with how low the crossover hangs. It is routed way below the crossmember and is now the lowest point on the bottom. It would definately be the first thing to get ripped off on a rock. :oops: I'll have to design a skid that will cover that now. pssd I don't why Thorley designed that to be so low. It's not like these are for a car, they're for a PATHFINDER for godsake! There is plenty of room to just make the flanges on the downpipes a little shorter. I'll ask the exhaust shop if they can chop a section out before the flanges and weld them back on to raise that piece. Is the slide over section at the crosspiece supposed to be welded together? Pics soon. The new motor had a different power steering bracket, making the belt too short. I had to swap the old bracket and the lower hard coolant tube from the oldy. Took me a while to figure out why my belt wouldn't go on. I was too pissed and tired at this point to get out the camera. The oil sensor near the starter and filter was different too. Spliced the new clip and good to go. I just need to get the fluids in and I'm ready to see if all my hard work will pay off. I've got to tell you, I'm nervous.

I'm in over 5000 now. The only work I've paid to have done is a new clutch, alignment, and a day of labor for diagnosis once. All the other work I've done. I'm saving about 2000 just by doing the motor swap myself. I didn't even realize I'd spent that much until I just thought about it. Ouch!

I've got to hand it to ya, you're persistent. Nice job with your site. From the looks of your pix you have the speaker boxes in the back cargo above the wheels. Under the mesh cover there seems to be enough room to put 6x9s in the place of the back stock speaks if you trimmed out some of the plastic and made room for 6xs. That's what I was going to try.

My Calmini arms were straight across, the spindle bolts slid right into place throught the bushings. The old stockers are also straight across, just looked at them. That doesn't seem right Cuong, but I'm not sure if it will matter or not.

Yep look for something that screws into your exhaust with a long wire sheath on the other end that goes up over the tranny toward the engine. Should be easy to spot new. Plugs in driver's side engine bay mounted at the fender, probably a gray harness. Sounds like you got taken for $400, sorry man. I just got a new one from AutoZone for $95. It's a really easy piece to get to and remove, granted it's not too seized with corrosion like Mookie said. Tools required: 1 wrench, can of PB Blaster. A quick read of the ECU should have immediately prompted bad O2 sens. They doubled the part cost and charged you $170 to diagnose a quick plug into the computer? I'd find another shop next time.

How much mechanical experience do you have? I'm working on putting a new motor in mine and I had never seen it done before I started. I'm now on 2 weeks and 3 days, mostly working at night after work. I'm probably looking at another week before I'm running. A more saavy person would be done sooner. It is hard yes, but not impossible. For the price I would grab it if you think you can tackle a big project. I found a used motor with less than 60K miles for $800 shipped. Drivetrain? Some people are driving with 250K+ on an original tranny, and some had to replace way sooner. I don't know.

Nice writeup!

The motor is in and on the mounts! I still have 3 tranny bolts to go but they are a bitch and I didn't have my air compressor yesterday for the air ratchet. Air tools are great. At least 2 of those bolts are like a '1 click on the ratchet that you can barely reach' type bolts. I had plenty of other stuff to do, so I'll get those later. It took hours of wasted time and brainstorming before I realized removing the driveshaft and tranny mount xmember was the ticket. Unbolted the front and rear driveshafts at the u-joints, and I finally had enough room to wiggle the tranny back and around to slip the motor down into place. At first I was trying to just loosen the tranny at the mount and fit the engine and tranny together. Once I got the tranny spline out of the way some, I was able to get the motor in place pretty painlessly. I bolted the engine to the mounts loosley and worked the tranny up to the engine; rather than the engine to the tranny. Man that is some hard work. I had a friend turn the crankshaft while I pushed forward on the tranny and eventually the spline gears lined up and it slid right together. Tranny and engine are engaging. I felt the tranny spinning at the rear driveshaft splines when he barred the crankshaft. I reinstalled the driveshafts and tranny and front dif xmembers. Those xmembers where not too easy to line up, especially the tranny mount. Of course this not without a hitch. Now to the problem. End of the night... ready to push the truck into the garage for the night and go home... it won't move... duh- it's in gear now. No problem, I'll put it in neutral... WAIT! Where's my clutch pedal? It's on the floor! Pedal is not engaging. :X :furious: I may have to pull the tranny out AGAIN. The only thing I can think of is that I goofed the throwout arm/spring/bearing contraption somehow. At one point the clutch pedal was depressed without an engine and the release bearing popped out. Maybe something's outta place with the arm/bearing retainer spring. Everything looked cool when I put it back on. I am afraid I already know the answer, but is there any way to diagnose why the clutch pedal won't link without pulling the tranny? The pedal has a bit of a springy resistance to a certain point, mostly it's just a limp noodle. Moving the pedal up or down doesn't affect the lever/contact bearing that goes through the bellhousing. I thought that piece moved when you pushed the pedal. Maybe it's not supposed to. Remeber, I'm a noob. I was really tired at the end of the night last night, so it's possilble that I'm missing something obvious. I'll take a look at the manual and see if something is odd with the linkage. :help:

I've always like discussions with pics, so I'll contribute for anyone interested. Old one coming out. Can't pull an engine without a pic of yourself in the bay. Can you tell which is the old and new? My enemy. The auto pilot converter. The back of the crankshaft that I effed up trying to get the auto converter out. I just ended up smoothing the contact surfaces and calling it good.

I'm outta this one. Good luck Jay.

I'm with these guys. Keep checking craigslist and ebay and such. I've seen Pathfinders on craigslist in horible running condition with good bodys for really cheap. like $500. I understand your wanting to tear into it and do it right but unless you just have a ton of $ to blow there are more economical ways to achieve the same final product. even if you have a ton of $ to blow, save what you'd be wasting on that rustbucket and get at least a frame/body that's in decent shape to swap your stuff over to. For the $ your talkin to pay someone to salvage and restore a common vehicle, you could almost get a fully customized crawler built, or go spend like 5-6g on a super clean well maintained WD21 with lower miles, and another 2-3g in mods. If you've got that much $ to blow, you can always contribute to helping me get some things for my truck...

Here's something- don't know if it's what you're looking for. http://www.nissanperformancemag.com/february05/pathfinder/ If you haven't seen this, there are some good writeups about this guys 'finder

naw, I like your truck. you've done some good work to it. looks good like that. I am suprised though that you don't run MTs. I'll quit post-hoing now...

Do you have any pics of how you mounted it?

Is optima a brand? Are the Duralast red tops similar in quality?

It's so close to going in. I think the splines must be off. 3 jacks, 2 jack stands and the hoist are getting everything pretty well aligned, at least visually. It seems to just not want to slide back into place. I wanted to turn the splines a little but I couldn't find a 26mm socket to turn the crankshaft, and I couldn't get a wrench to stay on. It was too late to get a socket that size tonight, so I had to call it quits with no progress. That's 2 counterproductive nights. Last night we broke the pilot bushing trying to get it in. I somehow guessed what the pop sound was, luckily. That's now 2 applications of dried RTV around the tranny flange that I've had to get off. Fun! The truck is too long to fit in the garage with the engine on the hoist and lowered in place, so for the past 2 nights we've had to pull it back up to squeeze everything in to close the garage. Somewhere along the way, or maybe it was missing for a while, the rubber seal around the throwout bearing arm throught the bell housing has dissappeared. Looks like it's goona be a nissan part, or one from the JY. I'll probably get to that later.

Having trouble lining up the tranny and motor. Is it a huge pain to just take the t-case out to make more room? Or is that a waste of time?

I think I know, Backwoods Brown. It was only an option on 2 doors.

I don't even know what hi-steer is. Ryan, or anyone care to elaborate? I've been wondering about that for a while.

Oh man I think I may have up and did it. Got that little bastard out, but I really dinged up the crank. I forgot my camera again tonight -- I'll have to get some pics up tomorrow so you guys can tell me what you think. I should have given up for the night but instead... I reached for the air chisel. It wasn't pretty. The outter edges that actually contact are barely burred but the back and the lip are a little rough. I smacked it pretty hard with the hammer and missed a few times in a fit of rage. God only knows what shape the bearings are in. For anyone who got that out with the motor in place. :bow: Just thought of someting else. Someone said I may have to shim the starter. Any trick to putting that back on, or is it as simple as bolting it up. I didn't see any type of shim when removing, but that doesn't mean there wasn't one. I also want to thank Slick. She gave me her # to call if I had any questions. I think that is really cool.