lowrider

i found the same hole in my truck, i went through some DEEP water and the driver's side carpet was soaked. Pulled up the corner as i thought a drain plug was missing and found that hole. Stupid nOOb question --- how did you get the carpet off? i couldn't figure out how to get it up and over the shifters and now i feel dumb. any thoughts?

what kind of alarm is it, vidro? Try unplugging the main brain of the alarm, leaving it unplugged for 10-15 mins., rearm and try it again. Post results, we'll go from there.

If you need help, let me know. I run an infopop board (http://calgdsm.infopop.cc/groupee), soon to be a vbulletin board, and am very familiar with the ins and outs of the moderator functions on invision, just a warning, i'll be lobbying heavily for my own forum for all my writeups.

From lowriders '101 ways to woo ---- an unofficial guide to bachelordom' Elias' foolproof date -- the nice thing is this meal goes good any time of year, and the ingredients aren't seasonally-specific, the salad recipie i got online and it's fantastic, the rest is original. Including the wine, depending how expensive your pallet is, to buy every ingredient you need shouldn't cost you more than $120-$140; and compared to what you'd get in a restaurant for that, it's a good bargain, not to mention the accolades you'll recieve from your g/f or b/f. Wine selection (use your favorite brands and vineyards you know & trust) Predinner wine - a light shiraz or valpolicella Dinner wine - a medium chardonnay or sauvignon blanc Post dinner wine - a full bodied bordeaux or a good quality hecula Warm Spinach, Mushroom and Goat Cheese Salad: 3 bacon slices, chopped 1/2 large red bell pepper, cut lengthwise into thin strips 6 ounces crimini (baby bella) mushrooms, coarsely chopped 1/2 10-ounce bag spinach leaves 1/4 medium-size red onion, cut into paper-thin slices 1/3 cup olive oil 1/4 cup white wine vinegar 1 tablespoons sugar 3 ounces chilled soft fresh goat cheese, crumbled (about 2/3 cup) Cook bacon in large skillet over medium heat until brown and crisp. Using slotted spoon, transfer bacon to paper towels to drain. Add bell pepper to drippings in skillet; sauté 2 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer bell pepper to large bowl. Add mushrooms to same skillet and sauté until tender and beginning to brown, about 4 minutes. Add mushrooms to bowl with bell pepper and reserve skillet. Add spinach and onion to same bowl. Add oil, vinegar, and sugar to reserved skillet; bring to boil, whisking until sugar dissolves. Season dressing with salt and pepper. Toss salad with enough warm dressing from skillet to coat. Divide salad among 2 plates. Sprinkle with goat cheese. Main Course: Chicken ala Elias Roasted Potatoes Asparagus Roasted Potatoes: Parsley Chives Rosemary Olive oil Crushed Garlic clove Lemon juice Grated Lemon peel Salt About a pound red-skinned new potatoes, quartered Blend parsley, chives, rosemary, 1 tablespoon olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, lemon peel, and some salt in a small bowl Preheat oven to 400°F. Toss potatoes and some more oil in large bowl. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Arrange potatoes, on rimmed baking sheet or glass baking dish. pour the bowl of herbs and oil over potatoes Roast until potatoes are golden brown and tender, about 45 minutes. Asparagus: Clean it, cut root ends off In a large frying pan, bring water just to a boiling point with salt. Toss asparagus in, one layer deep, the water level should be just a hair over the asparagus When they are wilted to the point where a stalk is limp when balanced on a fork, they are done (about 3-4 mins tops) Serve immediatly Chicken ala Elias: 2 medium sized chicken breasts Fresh prosciutto The freshest Brie or Camembert (Brie is much more prefferable for this application) you can find, about 6 slices cut into 3"x1" strips Olive oil Chardonnay (cheap stuff) Garlic cloves, sliced razor thin (you can actually use a razor blade to slice them super thin, got that tip from Goodfellas) Preheat oven to 400 Make a 3" or so incision on the side of each chicken breast, about 3" deep, being careful not to poke through to the other side Slice prosciutto into 1/2"x1" strips Stuff as much prosciutto into the breasts as can reasonably fit, stuff into sides and back of your incision, just don't break the breast onto the opposing side. In a large frying pan, heat olive oil until hot, add the garlic you've sliced until it liquifies. Toss chicken breasts in, stuffed side down first to seal in the prosciutto rotate the chicken breasts as each side turns golden brown. Add some chardonnay until the pan stops spraying, braise the breasts until the remaining liquid in the pan is brown and syrupy Coat the bottom of a glass baking dish with olive oil and remaining garlic slices Add the chicken breasts Place 3 slices of brie on each breast, pour the liquid from your pan over the breasts Add a cup or two of wine, dont overdue it, if you do, the chicken will be dry when its done Bake for about 45 mins, or until the juices of a breast run clear when poked with a fork. Dessert: I'm not a sweets guy, after a heavy meal like this, i like an espresso and maybe a slice of fresh, dark chocolate before the bordeaux or hecula comes out. The nice thing too, is the additional brie and prosciutto you didn't use you can convert into a nice and easy predinner snack with some crostini for your beloved to munch on while they're watching you create this masterpiece. Your all very welcome.

Likely its one of two things: the new belts are now streched (they're supposed to) and because they are now slightly longer, they are no longer tensioned correctly. DIY or take it back to the shop for a readjustment, it is retardedly simple to retension the belts on a VG --- or --- one of the pulley's became glazed as the old belts wore out. The pulley in question would need to be removed, the mating surface sanded down, and reinstalled. Not that hard to do, but not that likely either good luck

In my ongoing yet sometimes fruitless quest at fixing my pathfinder myself, and though there has been some discussion on this in the past, i haven't seen a full write up, therefore....here you go (and in the spirit of the t-stat thread http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=6268, i have included the right way and the lowrider way ) The right way: If your truck is lifted (even just the t-bars cranked) you shouldn't need to jack it up to do this Tools: 3/8" rachet 2 6" extensions 14mm socket 12mm socket 10mm socket Before you do ANYTHING, disconnect the positive lead coming off the battery. The starter wire is live and you can easily hurt yourself/weld a tool to your motor if you skip this important step Remove the skidplate Hop underneath the truck and look up and next to the oil filter, that's the starter. Now follow the harness that contains the starter wiring and look for the big red connecter that's an a 16 ga yellow and black wire that comes out of that harness and attaches to the side of the block. Disconnect that wire, it's the oil pressure sending light wire and since it runs in the same harness as the starter, it will accomodate removal with the starter wiring. There are two 14mm bolts that run through the bellhousing and attach to the starter to hold it in place. To get to the top one, use the 2 6" extensions on the 3/8" rachet and remove the top bolt. The bottom one, you can't fit both extensions on, so just use 1 6" extension. You won't have much of a sweep, but you'll be able to get it out quickly nonetheless. Ok, now gently pull the starter down and forward so it comes off of the bellhousing. At this point, reposition yourself at the front of the truck, it will make the next steps much easier than trying to reach all the way from the bellhousing. Looking at the front of your truck, you'll notice the hardpipe that's integrated into the lower rad hose has a small bracket on it that attaches to the block with a 12mm bolt. Remove the bolt, you will gain an additional inch or two of clearance, making starter removal and reinstallation much easier. You'll also notice a wire loom hanging down with its own tab that attaches to the oil pan with a 10mm bolt. Remove it as well, as it will make the removal much easier. Okie dokie, now you can remove the starter. If your right handed, put your right hand up and next to the exhaust manifold and support the bottom of the starter. Take your left hand and put it over the centerlink and grab the back of the starter (the part that's facing you) Gently work it towards the front of the truck, you will need to rotate it as you pull it out so that the solenoid can clear the centerlink as well, take note what direction and how far you rotate it as you pull it out, you will have to do the opposite to put it back in. Now the starter should be out. Disconnect the wiring and your almost done, and that shouldn't have taken you more than 30-45 mins. (Good time for a beer break) Clean the starter, rebuild it, replace it, whatever it is you're doing to it and prepare for reinstallation. (Another good time for a beer break) To reinstall, just do everything in reverse, make sure you reconnect the wiring BEFORE you put the starter back in, it's a real PITA to get at once the starter's bolted back in. The lowrider way: Buy a 1992 Pathfinder Wheel the living sh*t out of it every weekend for 2 months straight and finally gum up the starter Buy a Chilton's book for an 86-89 Pathfinder and trust it Look at starter removal pictures and attempt the dumbass 'chilton' way by removing bolts and trying to remove starter out the side of the truck in between the oil filter and frame. Realize this is the wrong way once you gash your finger deep enough to need stiches and consult the nissan factory repair manual, which uses such procedures as 'remove passenger side exhaust manifold' Realize there's no way in hell you're doing that, and you'll need to remortgage your house to get the dealer to do it. Crawl back underneath the truck you haven't cleaned very well and get large chunks of clay based mud in your eyes, let out a streak of profanity as you attempt to 'muscle' the starter straight down. Call your truck such descriptive adjectives as mother f**king assc*ck piece of sh*t f**king monkey sh*t son of an ass, then realize that really doesn't make matters any better. Have a smoke (why I didn't do this before is beyond me) Call your buddy Dave when you realize he's replaced 3 in the last couple years He advises doing it the above mentioned way, success at last Leave it to beaver.....

Good luck man, i hope this will make the process go a little more smoothly for ya: http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=6268 Cheers.

No, not harsh man, thanks for the heads up.....and apparantly we got lucky.... Hmmm...this mod costs me ten bucks, so i don't think it would be cheaper to weld the diff, even if i could. I know too, since there's zero play with a welded diff, it's alot easier to snap an axle or other parts....i know mine's tight, but not welded tight. The other thing, is it can all be changed right back to stock by simply taking it apart again, removing the extra discs and putting the springs back in (though i have an extra LSD third, so i'd just as soon fire that back in) so if someone was to do it and didn't like it or it became undriveable/unsafe in winter, an afternoon later and it's back the way it was. Just my .02; like my other write ups, do with it what you want

BTW --- i take no credit for this, johnny b (hillclimber) was a HUGE help, and he deserves the kudos. This is yet another 'poor mans' solution that seems to work better than the real thing. I have a certain penchant for not spending lots of money on things I don't need to (leaves more money for going out), so I'm all about mods like this. This is actually a very simple procedure. These are instructions for a 1990 and up pathfinder, but if I'm not mistaken, the Xterra/Frontier uses the same rear carrier and the same LSD setup as well as hardbody's, so it should be exactly the same (or VERY similar). What you'll need: About 4 hours Jack Jackstands A truck with LSD or a donor LSD third member Friction discs from an LSD rear end 3 qts. Of 80W-90 LSD gear oil ABS-safe brake cleaner Chock the front wheels. Put the tranny in neutral, e-brake DOWN (can't stress this enough), jack up the rear end, support the rear, remove the fill plug from the rear diff, remove the drainplug, start draining gear oil (it takes a while to drain, so it's good to do it while you're working on the rest of the truck), remove rear wheels and brake drums. Ok, now you should be able to see what's going on underneath there. There are 4 17mm bolts on the back of the brake drum that attach the rear axles. Remove them, be careful with the next step as it may piss gear oil. Gently pull on the drum and slide the axle out as far as you can (try not to bend brake lines, etc). Repeat process on opposite side. Putting the truck in gear will make the next step easier. Ok, now take a look at the rear driveshaft. There are 4 17mm nuts and bolts that attach the end of the driveshaft to the third member. Remove them, the easiest way to do this is with a 17mm socket on the front, and the open end of a 17mm wrench on the diff side. Once the driveshaft is unbolted, hang it up with a bungee or something so it's out of the way and won't fall out of the tranny. The rear swaybar needs to be disconnected next. There are 4 14mm bolts that attach it to its mounts. Remove them, swing the swaybar up and out of the way and tie it up with a bungee too. Ok, now you're ready to remove the 3rd member. There should be 11 14mm nuts that affix it to the axle housing. Remove them all, the rear end will stay in place after their all removed, so don't worry about that yet. Ok, now you'll need to gently work the third off, put pressure on the top, then the bottom, side to side until the seal is broken, then slowly ease it out. It weighs about 80 pounds, so be ready for it. If it doesn't want to come out, you may need someone to pull on the axles as you remove it to release it all. Ok, so now you have the rear end on your bench and you're about halfway done! the hard part is over, i promise. Drink a beer, you earned it (unless you have a bad hangover like i had when i did this) The LSD 3rd member is pretty simple in operation and execution. Right now, you'll want to grab a piece of cardboard, draw a picture of the diff as you see it, and punch holes where the bolts you remove are going to go, as they all need to be put back into the same places they came out. *VERY IMPORTANT* Ok, so by now you should be ready to take the end caps off. Note the two 10mm bolts and clips on the carrier. These clips are designed to hold the lash adjusters in place. Mark the lash adjusters with marking paint or a felt on each side, this will make reassembly a hell of a lot easier. Remove the clips, remove the bolts that attach the endcaps, remove the endcaps (lash adjusters should come out with it) Gently remove the spider gear and lsd assembly, lay that on your bench, move the other stuff off it and grab another piece of cardboard. Ok, so you should see a gear with a @!*%load of bolts in it and the lsd assembly bolted to it. Remove the '@!*%load' of bolts from the gear and lift it off *TAKE NOTE HOW THE GEAR IS ON AND WHERE THE BOLTS CAME FROM* Gently lift the gear off of the lsd assembly and see what you're dealing with, have another beer wile reassesing. The LSD assembly contains two packs of discs and the spider gears, the discs are what creates the 'slip' part of the LSD. The spider gears must remain in place for reassembly, so don't touch them anymore than you have to. The discs are held in place with a clip on each side, remove those clips and discard, you will not be able to use them, nor need to use them for reassembly. The packs contain 2 spring discs, and a handful of fricition discs that act as a clutch. These discs are specific to which side of the LSD they come from, the tolerances are apparantly slightly different depending which side, so don't confuse them, and make sure you're donor discs are from the appropriate side of the donor LSD. What i did was remove the convex shaped spring disc (you'll know it when you see it) and replace it with 2 friction discs. The friction discs you'll notice have either horizontial stryations to them or a spiral shaped stryation, these are opposite, so if you are adding a spiral shaped one, make sure it is against the opposite one and the remaining spring disc. We snapped a carrier the first time we did this by putting 4 new discs in per side, no dice. 2 is all you get and it's TIGHT like that so i wouldn't worry about putting more in and possibly breaking a carrier (we had 2 spares so it was ok) Ok, that may have taken a while to get it right. Put the LSD back together the way it came apart, you'll notice the bolts that hold the gear together to the LSD are in a circle. What i did was gently tigthen one, do the one on the opposite side, etc, until they were all torqued all the way down and it ensures it was put back together evenly. Clean out the 3rd member case and lube with a bit of gear oil. Reinstall the LSD and gear, and set lash by realigning those adjusters prior to reinstalling the endcaps. Reinstall endcaps and check lash using marking paint and spinning the diff. The marks should come on on the main gear gently, feather in and taper out before the end of the gear. If this isn't set right, it can cause premature wear on the gears and the axles. If you're unsure on this, you can take the 3rd in and get the gears set up again, but you really shouldn't have to. Use black high temp RTV sealant around the 3rd where it attaches to the axle housing, it would suck if it leaked and you had to do this all again, right? Reinstall the 3rd, you may need someone to pull on the axles with reinstalling so it slides in properly. Put the truck back together, clean out your brakes, add gear oil, and test drive. You'll now notice that your rear is LOCKED. There is no 'slip' left in the limited slip, and you essentially have a spool (though not techinically, but i'm not going to argue semantics over this over a $10 mod). Your tires chirp around corners, you have INSANE off road traction, and winter driving will now be one sketchy experiance. I will be adding 'Synchroslip' fluid to my diff as the chirping and barking is a little annoying, and winters coming, what this fluid does is allow some slippage between the friction discs. No, i don't have pics, sorry. Happy locked wheeling! -bounce-

Oops, i just realized i posted this in the wrong forum. My truck is a 1990+ WD21 pathy. Can a mod move this? Or given the fact that it's a general procedure for the VG30I, should it be in 'the garage'? BTW --- thanks for the accolades, gentlemen, look for my upcoming features 'fun with starters' and '101 wrong ways to replace manifold studs'

I bid on this thing two weeks ago, the same item was being sold by another seller, and the current seller won the bid at $65, i didn't want to pay more than $50 Usd, by the time you exchange it and ship it here, would have been about $75. Now the buyers buy it now price is $85. Not that i don't think people are entitled to make money, but that kinda chokes me that the buyer didn't buy it for his nissan enthusiasm, just to make a few bucks.

Same thing i did, worked like a charm, and i'm a fellow dsm'er/pathy wheeler...weird.....check out my site http://calgdsm.infopo.cc/eve NOt a great pic, but you get the idea of how it's mounted:

- Relax. Center your chi...prepare to be upset you bought that truck in the first place. Send your wife, girlfriend or main squeeze away, tell her to take the kids and come back in a few hours. - Open hood, open beer, light cigarette while you wait for the motor to cool. - Remove skidplate. Open rad at top, be careful not to hit yourself in the eye with hot coolant, it hurts. - Open petcock at bottom of rad and drain rad. into a drainpan. see above for safety advice. - Remove upper radiator hose. Remove lower radiator hose - Remove fan...4 10mm nuts hold it on - Remove fan shroud 4 10mm bolts 2 on the left, 2 on the right - Take a break, open new beer, light new smoke, recenter chi - Remove radiator, 4 10 mm bolts on top, lift out - If you truck is equipped with a/c, remove the idler pully assembly from the top of the motor, 12 mm bolt with loosen tension, 3 more hold it to the block. - The thermostat is located inside it's housing on the left side of the motor, follow the hardpipe from the lower rad hose and thats the housing. - Prior to removing thermostat, position your drainpan under the housing, it's gonna piss fluid - 3 12mm bolts hold the thermostat housing together. Remove them. - By now the thermostat has probably fallen out, some genius at nissan figured it was a good idea to not only stuff it way into the motor, but also mount it upside down, curse said engineer and use graphic words that start with F, C, B, and Monkey S. - You'll notice there's no gasket, use red gasket maker and seal it up, be VERY sparing with it, if you put a TINY BIT on the new thermostat on the engine side, it will stick in place while you tighten the housing back together; you don't want this thing to leak once you put it all back together, that would really suck, wouldn't it? And having it stuck shut again cuz you slathered too much on would be worse, right? - Hose your rad out while its out of the truck and flush it. - Put your truck back together - Add new coolant, check for leaks, you tightened that petcock at the bottom, right? Don't do it the way i tried to fix my cooling issue, which consisted of: - Take the lazy route and try to fix cooling problem by swapping coolant. Burn eye by not wearing safety glasses as hot coolant sprays out of petcock. Let a blue streak of profanity out at full volume not realizing two little kids and parents are walking by. - Take truck for ride, cools worse than before. - Ignore your buddys advice and attempt to skip steps like removing rad, fan and shroud. - Cut the living crap out of hands while removing housing, becuase you took off mechanix gloves when they got wet from coolant - Realize you drank all beer at the nissan jamboree - Realize you are short a tool, get roomate to give ride to can tire - Come home and smoke cig in almost one draw, roomate sees frustration and jumps in to help - Watch and feel useless as roommate executes proper repair procedure after 2 failed attempts of reinstallation and removes rad and associated parts - Take truck for a ride, problem solved, buy new pack of smokes, drink a rum and go to bed. Oh well, i can't be good at everything..... -thnkboutit-

8 MORE DAYS.....

turn your head to the right: that's where my brushguard went through the condenser...was an ugly occurence, but it saved the rad.

I may have more coming, will post if i get them

As promised http://4x4.bounceme.net/gallery/view_photo...&id=Picture_014 same as the first album, use the buttons on the toolbars and there's two pages as yes, it was a challenging trail, though i suppose i'll get flamed for saying that..... sssh

another, should have a bunch more linked in a couple days (patience v6... )

another

I'll post more as i get them from the rest of the boys http://www.machinegod.org/subdermal/toyjam05/toyjam05sun.wmv http://www.machinegod.org/subdermal/toyjam05/jeeprescue2.wmv

well, you'll be happy to know we did some 'real' wheelin yesterday, good challenging (for a stocker anyway) trails, some steep technical @!*%, big stream crossings and some good slate climbs. I'll have pics up in the next few days

is there fairly good size hard lines in and out of it? i believe your looking at your air conditioning condenser

Word. that's way nicer than what i was gonna post.

that runners top also retained the stock rear window...my roomates truck, its pretty cool

Alberta Canada, the park is called indian graves That SAS-ified pathy is Kevin, a guy in our group....he runs 35's and my truck has to be bigger than his, you gotta have goals