Earth1

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.

Welcome to a great place. Where are you in CO? I'm in Denver. Always looking for Pathys to go offroad with. Please holla sometime.

Hi from Denver. Give me a shout if you're ever looking for someone to wheel with or need help wrenching. Don't hestitate.

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.

I am having some major issues getting the damn AT converter bearing off. I've broken 3 puller tools, 2 different kinds. I've beat the crap out of it to the point that it's a little deformed with no luck. In the process of swinging away with the hammer, I've struck the back of the crankshaft or whatever the flywheel bolts to. I can't find that piece in the manual, and don't even know if it can be removed. Could a couple of knicks throw the balance of that thing off? Can it be replaced easily? Any more ideas how to get the pilot adapter out? I really don't want to order a special Nissan tool, but I don't know what else to do. :furious: I want my truck back!

Amen AK. I'm sure Lee and Phil aren't willing to give up details on their design, but with some research you could come up with something that will work for a good CL. Honestly, it kinda sounds like a project to do just because you can. Nothing wrong with that, but by the time you invest the time of design & testing and cost of materials etc, you could be up rollin with some new Calmini or LP steering and fixing your broken tie rods on the trail with the rest of us. The weak link on those systems are probably still the TRs. CVs would make sense as the next, and that isn't too good. If a bent TR will reduce the likelyhood of a broken CV or ripped boot, maybe it's better that way. I've had a basic suspension lift with Calmini UCAs for almost 2 years now and luckily no CV problems. I'm sure it will happen sometime though. Let us know how your turd polishes up.

I agree with V6 about the pitman arm. You'll be fine with the stock piece. I think you may be missing someting with the CL/TR issue. The tie rods are weak, no doubt. If you come up with a decent soultion that's time/cost effective and durable I'll be right on your tail. I'd love to get some better TRs. That being said, the balljoint in the stock CL is a typical BJ and can only flex so far, then the TRs start to take the flex. Bent TRs are likely due to the stock CL design, along with weak TRs. The LP CL doesn't use BJs, they mount a round joint-like teflon lined ball bearing in their new end peices, and the BJ stud is replaced with a solid bolt and nut all the way through the new bearing and CL/ TR ends. The end swivel is greater with the LP setup. I think they may also reinforce the length of the CL with a weld bead, I could be wrong. I'm not trying to push their product on you, I just wanted to make sure you understand what the design is since I have some experience with it. If you have access to a decent machine shop, you could probably design your own CL, like a hybrid between Calmini and LP, along with those new TRs. Something to consider, suppose you fab some kick az steering setup with indestructible TRs. What is going to replace the TR as the weakeset link to the system? I dunnow? With the TRs as the weak point, they are an easy part to get to and change in case of a mishap on the trail. Good luck man.

Thank you Slick. Mine looks more like your new one than the old one. I think I'll wait until my tranny takes a dump until I replace that. I think it's possible I broke the bearing pulling out the engine. I spent a huge part of the day screwing with that !@#$ ATM bearing adapter. The first puller I rented broke. The second had been repaired at some time with 2 different puller arms and wouldn't line up straight so it wouldn't work. The third was a completely different type and the teeth were too blunt to catch the groove. I'm working on this thing out in the sticks, so everytime I leave it's a huge PITA. Today was pretty much a huge waste of time. I'm at the end of my rope tonight. Tomorrow I'll be resorting to the BFH. Should be cathartic. At least I got the new spark plugs on today. I'm trying the NGK Irridiums this time, I used NGK BRK6ey's last change. That #6 is actually the easiest to change when the engine is out, kinda weird to be able to see it. Cleaned up the plug wells and used some anti-seize and boot protector, which I've never done before. Should make the next change a little easier. And I found my #6 plug on my old motor had a crack in the insulator, likely the cause of the weird misfireish problem I had. If I can get the clutch up on the new one I'm ready to install. Just pluggin and tweakin after that.

Clutch issues: What is a normal clutch plate supposed to look like? Mine has a bunch of cross-hatched scores on the pads, and it might be pretty worn. I just had the clutch rebuilt a year ago. The manual says the pad limit is 3 mm from the rivets. I measured it as best as I could and it's pretty close to that. Is the tolerance a super finite measurement, or shoud it be considerably more than 3 mm? The pilot is cracked (several small pieces came out) and two of the plate springs have a knick on them. My clutch has been tricky for a while, but I thought it was just my 32s. I'm starting to think now that they took me on the clutch repair, and somehow just tightened it up to make it feel better. There is also a slight groove on the flywheel plate. None of this seems like signs of a year old clutch job. I'm gonna look at a new plate to compare and decide from there what to do with the mechanic that did my clutch. Should have done it myself.

Here's the one I wanted. www.nissanoffroad.net