AK9849cy

I quit taking detailed pics a while back. It was somewhat fun to post up eye candy for folks to enjoy..however for me times have changed. With two kids in multiple activities(hockey, violin, dance, wheeling, etc) the extra time is not there that I once had. The thread is one thing.. then the multitude of questions(pms/emails) start to take time I no longer have. The bumper was built for this build in mind. It relocated the radiator into a 300z type configuration. Thus providing the pathy some room for an intercooler where the radiator once was. The cross member that the radiator once sat on is removed/replaced in order to make it all work together. The bumper partially mounts on the front of the frame this normally covers (unless you are sporting a body lift). Bumpers are something I have tended to have an eye for.. however I really don't like making them. They take a ton of time to make and folks tend to think they can copy it for 200 bucks. Well the materials may add up to that.. however the thousands of dollars in tools I have in order to make it happen don't. So I end up answering multiple pms for folks to realize the fabbing hobby is not cheap. I know it is a bummer.. With time being a commodity in the upcoming years, you will probably see this pathfinder and our 2000 xterra being built over the next 6 months. Then I will be backing off to a build a few items that folks need, like the pan hard drop bracket or a few items needed for a reasonably priced sas, that do not take a big chunk of my time to complete. Buy the way, girls ice hockey rules. I have had more fun watching my 8 year old daughter play than can be believed. I grew up without hockey, so when the daughter came home and stated she wanted to learn crossed my eyes a little. She smiles every second she is on the ice... that is all that matters...

Different clearances definitely come into play when going with forged pistons. I tend to be the kind that warms up the car before driving anyway. Guess I got into the habit with the diesel tow rig (remote start is a wonderful thing). MR510 your build is sweet! I went through mine a couple years ago.. then got side tracked when something else came along. The pistons were clayed and took it back apart to smooth out the valve reliefs a bit and put back together. I have another set of heads that need to get cleaned up/ported.. there is a box of Ferrea valves, new schneider springs, new Nissan lifters, cam pulleys, schneider regrinds, etc setting there for later tinkering. I do like seeing 225 horse from yours! It makes mine more likely to happen down the road. Thanks! Did you ever happen to weigh that VH45? I hear rumors that it is lighter than our cast iron VG's? I wheel with a Toyota group that runs turbo engines with lower compression ratios. I think with our stock t-case ratios it would totally stink. However if a guy is honestly going to make a habit of wheeling on harder trails lower transfer case ratios become a priority in any case. Over the last 5 years my rig has had the 3.92's from Calmini. It is amazing how it changes the capabilities of a vehicle. The only time they are a detriment is in deep mud.. nice to have a little wheel speed. Thus a tcase doubler (like the one Northwest Fab make for our rigs) is nice. It gives a rig multiple ratios for whatever the trail dishes out. On that note... most of these rigs are daily drivers on a budget. There are a few of us that could afford something newer but have a thing for the WD21 style. However, I would imagine bang for the buck is king. It is really hard to beat dropping in a low mileage VG33 with the serp accessories. My hardbody when running 37 inch radials gets 18ish. It is however lightened up quite a bit and regeared to 5.38's. But needless to say it surprised me. There are many people running the factory Nissan supercharger getting 8 miles per gallon. Not sure what the problem is.. however they tend to blame it on a bad knock sensor putting it into a de-rated mode. Some put a resister in place of the knock sensor to try to troubleshoot it with mixed results. One of my very close friends just bagged his supercharged V6 for something else. He chased this very problem for 2-3 years. For the original post... what are your plans for this build? Wheeler, tow rig, more zip??? I used VG30dett rods.. got new bushings from. HERE

I had a Ford engineer put my VG34 with vh45 pistons through his calculator... It was something like a 10.34 horse gain over a vg33e. So if a fella put cams, port/polish, headers, maybe even bigger injectors on a VG33e (Like a VG34 build would have) the gains would be be negotiable for the amount of work. I put a VG33 in my 87 HB and the torque was noticeable. For the 180 bucks that was spent on the engine (250 with the serp accessories) it was a very nice upgrade for the dollar. It would be neat to see what a VG34 gets on a dyno.. Mine is setting in the corner waiting for its owner to kill one of the other VG's.. The Z31 folks tend to have a problem with ring land failures on the VG33. The builds with success normally have custom pistons. Kinda thinking my VG34 may end up with them too.. these new turbos spool fairly fast and are the ticket here in Colorado. The superchargers are a set ratio where the turbo goes for broke. Some 8.5:1's and 12-14 lbs would probably work really well. Looking back.. A VG30et has been the most economical deal so far. Leave it stock with some bigger injectors/intercooler and a fella is at 350 horse.

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The only thing I can think of that a 3.3l would help out supercharger wise is the bigger crank snoot would handle the pulley load better. Otherwise if boosting the measly 17HP the 3.3 gives ya is hardly worth the extra effort. A fella is going to have to swap out a few things (ECU,Injectors,etc) in order to push enough fuel anyway. Why add to the effort.... I have always been told the 3.3 pistons can't handle the boost as well either. So another thing to put in your list of research to be done..

Just supercharge the VG30. Nissan poked the 3.0l out to a 3.3l for the R50's to gain what? 20 horse! So what is another .1 going to get ya? They also cleaned up the ports in the heads with the 3.3... . However guys are getting an easy 350 horse by boosting a 3.0....

What I will go through to get exactly what I am after sometimes... When will it ever be good enough! Total redo on the front sas for another 1.5 inches of uptravel! This will allow for "No Lift" and 35's. Needless to say this new design will cut about 10 hours off future builds too.

This is on the way to Dowser... the poor bracket will probably have to sleep under his pillow for a couple nights before his truck will see it!

I may make something like this down the road.. My 8 year old girl decided last spring to play ice hockey.. never thought I would enjoy watching her play like I do. Needless to say it is cutting into the fab time.

Here is a good photo showing how the existing holes in the Nissan frame do not line up. This problem was adjusted for by making the holes in the bracket that same layout. Then bevel washers were used to compensate for the misalignment. The bottom of the mount is boxed in as much as possible. This bracket will be 2.5 inches closer to the ground when the wheel is stuffed thus making it more likely to be in harms way. Two ears hanging down for a bracket just wasn't of my liking. Here is a quickie (non rehearsed) video I made to explain some of this stuff. Sorry, I tend to be more of a thinker than a talker when it comes to technical details.

Well the first run is about to happen. Dowser came up with the idea, so he is going to receive one for free for testing and maybe a good install writeup. Waiting on some grade 8 bolts to show up for the kit.. A setup will be headed his way as soon as those appear for a generous beating. Soon after you will see the availability posted on this thread. The first run (10) will be a group buy deal at $50 plus shipping. Thereafter they will be available on a "Grandpa X" Ebay store for $69. The later units will most likely sport a powder coating. Down the road my hopes are to honor group buys at a price break via the forum.

Kinda funny how one little bracket requires so many little things.

We'll see how many I sell.. may be a limited time offer.

One is done finally....and being that my rig is not lifted 3 inches in the rear.. just need to find a local lifted dd rig to test it on.

I will start a new thread with the final product here in a few days.. it will explain why it is built the way it is/price/etc... I imagine it would have to be in a vender thread...

I could move that hole a little.. the bolt would not be going perfectly through.. It beats trying to drill under your rig.

BINGO! Anywho.. been working on it.. building it a few times to fine tune the little things that make a difference. I was going off a diagram floating around here for some of the measurements. Once the pan hard bar was removed I found a few of the measurements were different than expected. Not saying they were wrong.. just not what I was thinking when this unit was designed. Therefore you will see some areas where I had to weld in a gap in order to make this one work. So here is beta 3... the next unit will be something that I would sell if someone is interested. Here you can see how they evolved. The last beta.. a few things to change here and there.. however what it will look like.. . . . . . . . . . OK.. here is the one thing I didn't expect. The upper holes on the OEM mount are not aligned (about a half a hole off). The front upper hole needs to be either drilled, reamed or ground towards the tire (about 1/4 inch) in order for a bolt to go all the way through. . . .This upper hole... .and... next pic... . . . This upper holes are not aligned.

Ya, crazy flex just makes a rig champ of the ramp. Which if that is what a person is after, build away! Springs that fall out of the seats (for more flex) don't interest me anymore.. The Red pathy was a scary ride in Moab... all that off-camber and nothing holding it down. As weird as it sounds my leaf spring HB does way better out there. The HB weighs a lot less.. which is a big help.. but the leaf springs have to be forced to drop for flex. If the rig is tippy they tend to hold it down better.

How heavy is an XJ? We are talking apples and oranges here.. First of all the housing will bend.. XJ guys have to truss the heck out of them. The internals can be made to be almost as strong as a D44 with the super 30 stuff. So totally beef up a 30 to be where you would start with a 44... The front drive shaft will always be turning. You can't unlock the hubs.. so if that front drive shaft is not perfectly aligned (with the pinion) and balanced you will hate driving it on the highway. If a fella is going to invest the time and money into an SAS... why? There is a reason why 30's are cheap... and that is why the question was asked. RCV axles shafts (D44) are guaranteed to 40 inch tires SWEET!

Dead giveaway...

Final hint..

another hint...

The BOV noise makers are kinda funny! Those things get old listening to them in other peoples cars.. mine will vent into the intake somehow.