mws

Gotcha. If you want to hook up stock EGR and AIR, you will need to use -1 set like you have. The -2 has only 1 bung. I fought the stock tubes for over a week before they came out of my manifolds! I soaked in PB twice a day, and heated them up every night while loosening and beating the hell out of them with hammer. It eventually worked, although I did have to resort to a pipe wrench on the air pipe.... and then ground new flats to fit a wrench on it.

What emissions requirements do you need to comply with, and how much $$$ and time are you willing to put into it?

Well, you asked..... I would have expected to get a cheezy stick on cover for the bottoms of the doors, just like what the photo is showing.... I agree that this is a sloppy use of the term "rocker panel", but hey, people are routinely using the term "motor" for an internal combustion engine, and "hot water heater" for a device used to heat cold water, and "I could care less" when they really mean they couldn't care less, and even go so far as to use the word "music" in the same sentence as "rap"... My point: sloppiness of terminology is quite common and even accepted in our society so the wise consumer has to make caveat emptor their mantra.

I'm with Slick on this issue. A frame that is so rusted out it is falling apart is a lonnnnnnng way from being safe. If you are the only one using the roads, drive it at your own risk. If anyone else uses it, you need to park it. Just imagine what will happen when a control arm rips loose like the crossmember did and the rear axle pivots sideways.... You ain't saving that situation.... Or the spring perch shears off and the body collapses down on the tire, locking it up. It will be dramatic. Warnings that something bad is about to happen? It's already given you all it will.

Yup. That's what I encountered, but yours looks even worse. This makes me think even more so that the root cause is body shift on the frame. I see a plug in the air injection pipe bung. Are you also plugging off the EGR? In that case, you may be able to use the -2 version. Note, I said may - I have no idea if there changes other than those to allow room for EGR bung! Derrr.... on edit, UNCC's experience makes it appear the -2's should fit in the '87 if the EGR and AIR do not need to be hooked up. You also loose the hot air stove for the intake, but that could be overcome as well.

Just so you know, the CalMini kit does nothing in the way of changing CV joint angles. The UCA's help correct upper ball joint angle, but that is all. The T-Bars just make it rider firmer/harder.

UNCC - You are using '95 headers, right? There are some differences between the pre '90 and post '90 sets. The bad difference is the need to move that upper pipe to make room for the EGR fitting off the back. I had the same issue on our '87. I suspect there is some variation in engine/body positioning that leads to this. If the body is shifted to the passenger side, the clearance is reduced. Loosening the body and shifting to the driver's side should be possible. But a reallyh good jolt could move it back, possibly leading to steering seizure. My short term (and fast) solution was to grind off the bolts and stuff that were hitting. Long term would be a small body lift.

My opinions: - Torn CV joints. Cranking T-Bars to get a full 3" lift is known to be rough on them as it forces the driveshaft to make sharp angles. Not having the bumpstops that prevent excess droop travel definitely compounds the problem. Solutions: Install bump stops and reduce front suspension lift. Or just change CV boots regularly. As they age, they do get less flexible and are more prone to rip. - The shock: I suspect the root cause was the failure of the lower mounting eye. After that tore loose, the shock hung up on something and bent the rod, preventing the seal from functioning.

A/C suddenly went bye-bye. Root cause: The A/C compressor pulley was rubbing on the high side hose when the engine torqued over. OK when idling, but when accelerating, it would just kiss. Wore through hose. With a 3" body lift (on TBI engines, anyway), the high side hose gets pulled tighter and ends up rather close to pulley. Take a very wide zip-tie and hold it back at least an inch away from pulley. Fortunately, the same hose on little black was in excellent condition, so it only cost me $300 to get seals replaced and system evacuated and recharged. Good thing - expected to reach at least 107 by end of week....

If you plan to keep the truck for a few more years, I recommend going with a factory OE Nissan clutch. They are probably the best you can get. Absolutely stay away from Centerforce. If your local dealer is one of those that use parts as their cash generator, do a little web surfing. There are many Nissan dealers that will sell you the parts for pretty darned good prices. Easiest is to pull the trans. To pull engine, you need to pull front diff. You will need to remove transfer case to pull trans. It is a lot of work, but all doable. Not the easiest to tackle if you're a first timer, but if you have good mechanical sense and patience, you can do it. A couple friends to help lift and align the trans will be very helpful. It takes the pros the better part of a day to do it right, so figure on it taking you at least 2 or 3 days of patient and methodical work. You will need friction disk, pressure plate, throwout bearing as a minimum. If flywheel is in very good shape, you can have it resurfaced. If it is noticeably scored, you should replace with new. It is also good idea to replace pilot bearing while you're in there. Do it all right, and she is ready to go for another 100-200k miles. Cut a corner or two, and you may be back in there within a year. Do it right, do it once. I would park it now unless you are planning to replace the flywheel. When it is slipping, it is generating a lot of heat and that is very hard on the flywheel.

Err, on my '87 and '88, there are 5 screws holding on the front panel. - 2 at top under vents - 2 at bottom - 1 in ashtray slot Take those 5 out and it all gets obvious.

Yeah, right! If you want it done right, you need to do it yourself.

Modern cars have knock sensors that sense knocking and retard timing (and other performance robbing adjustments) to accomodate bad gas and minimize damage - so you should not hear it. But you will see mpg reduction - sometimes. Knock happens far more often when cylinder pressures and temperatures are higher - like when accelerating, or when climbing grades (anything above about 1/4 throttle). So if you are just droning down a highway at reasonable speeds, it will run equally well with either - and return about the same mpg. However, when climbing grades or driving around in town, the low octane will result in more knocking and the timing (and performance) will be affected far more often and you will see a noticeable difference. Other factors: Air temp (hot temps mean higher engine and combustion temps and more knocking/less mpg) What the octane really is (name brand gasolines tend to be more consistent and higher than off brands) My behavior in my 2000 Maxima to minimize cost (same basic engine, also recommends 91): Around town in winter: 89 Around town in summer: 91 On a long road trip in winter and NOT in the mountains: 87 Long road trip in summer on the flats: 89 Long road trip in summer while crossing Sierras or Siskiyous: 91

Unfortunately, the Taurus fan won't help this situation. Once you get over about 40 mph, the fan does nothing. The air is being rammed through faster than any fan could pull. Assuming water pump, thermostat, head gaskets, etc. are all in proper working order, what you need is more cooling capacity. If you have the thin one, get the thick one. If you have a thick one, get a new one. If the coolant hasn't been changed on a regular basis, the radiator is probably corroded and/or sludged up. My nephew's 13 year old cherokee was over 1/2 full of goop when he got it due to lack of maintenance.

Yep. It does. The pistons on the '87 did have crescent shaped valve reliefs cut into their domes.

No teflon needed on brake fittings. The seal is formed at the flare itself. Brake fluid pressures are on the order of 1000's of PSI, so no form of thread sealant would be adequate to seal a leaky flare connection. Generally recommended that you tighten, loosen, and re-tighten new lines a couple times so the flare conforms well to provide perfect seal from the get go. You are using flare nut wrenches, right? Open end wrenches will round off 95% of the time.

Little grey came with the thin radiator. It did OK and never truly overheated, but it did get very warm and I had to keep an eye on it when temps got near 100 and I was rolling slower than 20 mph or so. Adequate, but just. I would suggest putting more effort into finding the thick one. Did you try Rock Auto?

Bummer. 2 issues at once. Leaky fluid = bad MC seal Air hiss = booster leak

One more option IF (and ONLY if) you are skilled in metal working and have the equipment is to modify the UCA's themselves.

My suspicion: Where the cam was had at least one valve near full open. It rotated a little and the spring pressure pushing the lifter against the cam lobe kept it turning. So now to return to original position, you have to re-open that valve, which takes quite a bit of force. I struggled with this once. The cam did NOT want to stay where I wanted it - it kept wanting to rotate one way or the other due to a couple valvesprings pushing on their cam ramps - one CW, one CCW. What's that mean? I'm with 88. As long as the crank didn't rotate, the odds of anything being damaged are extreeeeeeemely slim to zero. Rotate it back. You will need tool assist to overcome the valve spring force.

Yes. Easy way is to pick up a body damaged 90-95 with a blown automatic for $300 and start swapping parts!

A topo map with BLM and NFS lands marked is your friend. Generally, BLM land is open to use - but NOT abuse. Private property is not. Thes days, NFS land may or may not be. The worst part is that it doesn't have to be posted one way or the other and they are drawing lines and opening/closing trails in a somewhat spastic way due to some re-interpretations of laws. You're just supposed to "know", I guess. Our experience on dirt bikes is that if you have a respectful attitude and are not tearing things up, the gendarme is likely to just advise you that you're on currently closed trails and will tell you where it is legal.

FYI, your oil already has stuff in it designed to do exactly that!

My memory ain't that great, but 2.5 qts feels about right. Others?

They speak wisely. 2.25 is enough for a low rpm 3.0 liter, 2.5 would be ideal for the 3.3. Anything bigger than that is overkill and will cost a little low end torque.