mws

Hardwaretoad - do you know what model of Alpines you used? Especially the 6x9's? Thanks!

I think you're right. I was just lamenting about that with my nephew this weekend - it's a bummer such a fine machine gets such limited support. It is MUCH more difficult and expensive to do a good IFS, so you need to be able to sell a bunch to recoup your design and tooling investment. Combine that with how relatively few Pathys there are, And then factor in how remarkable competent they are stock, and well, there just isn't enough demand.

I want to get a couple sets of lights and would appreciate leads on the well made, well focused high quality stuff I should be looking for. I am NOT looking for blinged out purple/blue/ultra white blue beam crap - which seems to be 90% of what I can find these days. I want pure lighting function, and lots of it! I have not shopped for lights for a decade or so, so I do not know who is making the good stuff anymore. And I would prefer non-Chinese made for moral issues. I see Greg just got some new PIAA's. Hella used to make some nice stuff. KC's were wildly popular for a while, but I never knew how well they actually worked... So, for those of you in the know, what brands and models would you recommend? 1) Off road lights for the Pathy to be mounted on roof rack. Good, efficient lights for lighting up the trail ahead when off-roading at night at a "slow to conservative to maybe moderate" pace. I DON'T need or want racer style ultra focused pencil beams to light up 2 miles ahead when bombing at 85 mph, just something to really light up the trail for a couple/few hundred yards - something to reriously supplement the stock headlights from up high. I will be adding a Quest alternator, so I believe I can get away with 100 watt bulbs. I already have fog lights that I re-aim out and down to light up the edge of the trail and ruts. I wish I could afford HID, but I can't. Prefer under $150 for a set if possible. 2) Fog lights for our tow van. Something that really lights up a broad swath for about 10-50 feet out. We get some serious tule fog here! I've tried a couple brands of lights (not cheap ones, either), but the focus flat sucked. Not enough focus up and down, and too much side to side. I need something that emits a "slot" of light for the soupy 20' visibility stuff - very tight vertical focus so there is no glare. One set I tried turned out to be a "bluish" light, which I've learned is especially horrid in the fog. Prob 55 watt, but I have a 170 amp alternator so more is OK. TIA!

One way to do this is to add a one more Bosch style automotive relay to the circuit. This is switching a low level signal so a standard relay of 2 amps or more is all you need. Did you notice that these relays normally have 5 pins, and you use only 4? This allows you to use them as "normally open, activated closed", - OR - "normally closed, activated open". It is this latter funtionality we'll use in this application. Wire it so it interrupts the low speed fan TRIGGER signal (not the 12 AWG power line) when you activate it via the high speed switch. In other words, it is wired in parallel to your high speed fan relays, but is switching the SIGNAL to the low speed relay OFF when activated. Put it in the SIGNAL lead right before the low speed fan relay using the "normally closed" contacts. So when this relay is NOT activated, the signal flows through exactly as it does now to activate the low speed fan relay. When you flip on the manual high speed switch, this relay activates and opens (interrupts) the signal going to the low speed fan relay so it switches off. That make sense?

Well, I wasn't going to admit this for fear of revealing just how disturbed I tend to be, but oh well.. It gets soooo bloody hot here, I want to have mine set up to evacuate the under hood heat after shut down. Some cars have this feature, and I think it is a very good idea to avoid extreme heat soaking. I'm going to wire mine in as follows: - High speed by manual switch only, just as 98 SP did. The dual 30 amp relay sounds about right. - Low speed normally activated by thermostat only when key is on. - I'm also going to add a timer to the low speed to run when key is off. I think I've got a circuit (555 timer, a few passive components, and a transistor switch) figured out where the fan will continue to run a set amount of time after I push a button. Pretty simple idea - if the engine compartment is really hot at shut down, I just punch a momentary contact switch before I get out that will start the timer that provides a secondary input to trip the fan relay until it times out and shuts down again. On a side note: I have a HUGE supply of wire I picked up surplus - from 10 to 24 AWG wire - really premium stuff suitable for standard under hood use. Literally dozens of spools, many colors, some with thousands of feet. If anyone wants just a few feet and can't justify buying a whole spool, send me a buck for shipping and I'll send you what you need. PM me.

OK Earth1! Looking forward to your results! I need to order a new bushing kit for my tow van and was resigned to going with rubber, but I'm going to try and hold off as long as possible to hear what you're finding. Crossing my fingers on the Neosynth...

Awesome post, Trainman. In my opinion, flooding the forum with facts is always OK!

Oh yeah, you gotta do a swap. This is the same basic engine as used in the old 300ZX, and we all know what a hopeless slug that was.... * Removing tongue from cheek * I believe this is a fundamentally "OK" engine with a lot of unrealized potential as tuned in the Pathfinder - it is tuned totally for a flat torque curve and low end power, and is very restricted at higher RPM. I think it needs a lot of help as well. Swapping in a higher displacement and more modern higher efficiency engine is a great option for those who have the resources and ability, and live in an area where they can do that and still get it registered. For those of us that need to comply with smog regulations, it is a bit tougher. I believe the most predictably legal approach would be to to borrow Nissan's lead and tune it like the 300ZX. Swapping the heads, CAMS, and MPFI/ECU/intake/fuel supply system plus a set of Thorley headers and free flow cat and exhaust would really wake it up, and should pass most visual and tail pipe smog checks. That combo has already been proven to be able to pass smog, and all parts look close enough that most smog check techs should not even notice. If it still passes sniffer tests with room to spare, boring it as large as possible would be the next step. Any more tweaking and passing smog gets pretty much impossible. I drive around and cruise wrecking yards with one eye open for totaled low mileage non-turboed 300ZX's. It's going to be a bit more of a challenge for me as I currently have TBI and techs are not supposed to pass MPFI engines, but I should be able to get it OK'd at a referee station and re-classified to the year of the engine.

See Product Reviews Forum for the results of my pump test.

The limiter in both areas is depth. I had no problem putting a set of shallow 6.75" Infinity's in the door, but the 6x9's I had lying around were too deep for the rear - the magnets hit the body. Those may have been abnormally deep... So I went with 6.5" in the rear. A "standard" 6.5 or 6.75 will not work in the doors - they will interfere with the windows. Check out Crutchfield.com for recommendations on what will fit in easily. And of course, with enough effort and money, you can make anything fit!

I may be wrong here, but is it not better to mount an amp on a piece of wood or other non-conductive surface? Nice idea for the stealth install though! Not a problem IF the amp is properly designed, built, and installed. There is a very slim chance of inducing some ground loop issues if the ground wire from the amp is mounted a long ways away from the amp - but it never should be. The shorter the better.

Don't know the answer to your specific question, sorry. You may already know this, but just in case: Optima's have considerably less capacity than a regular wet cell battery (a little more than half last time I checked). This only poses a problem if you want to have your battery power loads when the engine is off like stereos or lights. Other than that, they are fantastic batteries.

I just heat up the needle and bent it back... but that only lasted until temps started exceeding 105 again. It has now crept back and is starting to rub again. This time, I'll heat it, bend it back, and then epoxy a straight pin or sewing needle to the back of the needle to brace it straight.

Ordered an IR 121K-6 super duty hammer and 2 other bits (total of 8) for $100 delivered... Oughta get 'er done!

AT's have become extremely complex little buggers. I'd confidently argue that they are more complex than an engine. When all is well, they are quite convenient. But when one little thing goes wrong (and there are literally THOUSANDS of things that can go wrong), it gets ugly. It's quite challenging to rebuild one and have EVERYTHING go back together and work perfectly. So I usually recommend getting a known good lower mileage used OE transmission over getting one rebuilt.

Urp.... I'm the only one in the 6+ category? Come on, there's got to be more "collectors" out there! FYI: A collector is someone who collects cars of unique value or character. A "collector" is someone to whom stuff just seems to migrate and stick...

Pawn shops are always a great idea... unfortunately, we only have one in town but lots of people aware of it. The supply and demand curve is way against me - anything decent gets picked before it even hits the shelf. I also had good luck with Husky tools in the past - but then they got popped by the FTC a few years ago for advertising and labeling tools as "Made in the USA" when they were actually imported. So I have boycotted them ever since (I'm kinda cranky that way). But since that was several years ago, it is quite possible they have since cleaned up their act... Anybody know?

Want to pick up a decent air hammer/chisel to simplify rebuilding the front suspension on my tow van (getting 20 year old A-arm bushings out is a bear!) Anybody have any brands/models they recommend? Or recommend avoiding? I see prices from $20 to $200+... I want adequate power to destroy old bushings, but I don't need it often enough to rationalize buying a really nice pro model. I already have chisels.

Hee-hee! Reminds me of my nephew's stream (small river?) crossing lesson on dirt bikes. He decided to try the narrower section - his thinking being narrower would be easier! He rode in only to discover it was close to 7' deep. One handlebar end and his helmet was all that could be seen. Moral: Narrower usually means deeper!

Hmm, starts quiet and then gets louder? So it varies with temperature... Oil thins out as it heats up... and metal expands and fits change with temp... A somewhat inconclusive, but quick and easy diagnostic check I use: Change the oil and see if the noise behavior changes. Use the heaviest grade of oil the manual recommends. Or just drain off a quart and add a thickener like Lucas Oil Stabilizer. If no change at all, more likely exhaust or something like that. If it goes away and stays away for quite a while, I suspect a leaky lifter that is going out or a sloppy bearing of some kind.

Not intentionally... But I see we use the same paint care system...

I was going to... but then I thought... You know, if it looked better, I might worry about scratching or denting it. As it is, I really don't care if I did scratch or dent any more. So I have more fun! Here's a before, after the previous owner got pegged by some high schooler in a Civic. I hear the civic mighta looked just a touch worse!

Me thinks pathy's as "funtionally attractive" as mine ain't gonna make the cut... At least I hammered the fender back down into a vertical orientation... and I have since sledged the bumper back straight enough to bolt on. And glued the grill back together..

Yup, that would be the variable viscosity approach I mentioned. If it can be dialed in, it would be much cheaper than using all the various valving. And yeah, 99% of consumers believe the existing tech is adequate. As I did. Until I experienced better. Now I consider them "the annoying compromised turds I gotta live with until the aftermarket offers something better at a reasonable price". Riding dirt bikes and feeling what a high tech suspension can do for control, comfort, and safety was just mind blowing to me. Feeling the difference from my damper rod (piston and orifice) damped forks on my old KDX to the rather trick suspenders on my '04 KTM is literally unbelievable. These things can controllably absorb huge amounts of energy from big impacts, yet are plush as a caddy on small impacts. Imagine that on your truck - no bottoming - even off 2' jumps, yet smooth and plush enough to drink coffee on a wash boarded gravel road at 45 mph. It is possible...

Also look for broken wires or damaged wheel speed sensors.