Harbinger

Time for a Thanksgiving update! I manged to get some things done last week, and got down there yesterday also. This is really becoming a story of bringing a parked truck back from the dead, so bare with me. All the transmission bell housing bolts are in and torqued. I've got Redline MT90 in the tranny and the transfer case. Also changed out the gear oil in both diffs. Both shifters are installed! I've got a new track bar installed, while I try and get the bushings replaced in my old one. I know, not transmission related, but wanted to install my drop down bracket since I need an alignment anyway. Changing a cracked lower radiator hose revealed a hole in my radiator. I pulled it yesterday, and the guy I'm working with soldered it back up. All seems to be good now, but we'll see how she holds pressure later. Current hold ups: I seem to have a ton of banjo bolts and none of them are the right length for the slave cylinder. Will be calling the dealership tomorrow, and hopefully they will have the correct length. Looked for one in the scrap yard yesterday, but all Nissan currently in the yard are autos. Reinstalling my starter - I have the main power cable on the starter, but am not sure where the other plug that grounds the starter body goes. Coming from the harness, I have one plug, and one random female spade connector. I know the oil pressure sensor wiring is part of this, but with my lack of notes, it might take some playing around to figure out what goes where. So other than those two issues, I just have some wiring, and then we'll go about getting her started! I'll be back working on her on Friday.

What Nefarious said. The 1996+ 5 speeds have the higher fill plug, so thus you don't have to over fill them like the older ones.

Today I: Finished installing and torquing my bell housing bolts. Got the last two bolts in the transmission cross member. Installed my starter. Didn't get to hook up the electrical yet though. Also drained the rad to replace both hoses. Started filling it back up, and realized I have a hole in my rad, pissing all over the inside of my engine bay. The guy letting me use his shop said he can solder it shut, but I dunno. Either way I have to pull it. Also noticed some oil leaks that I need to chase down. It really was one of those days!

Ok, I'm overdue for an update. A couple weeks ago, I had the truck hauled down to a friends shop. Last Saturday, we Installed the clutch, and replaced all associated springs,bearings etc. The Transmission is mostly installed, I just ran out of time to give things a final check, add fluids, etc. The torsion bars are back in too, as are the drive lines. Interestingly enough, it looks correct, despite us not modifying the transmission cross member. On the transfer wiring, I ended up running the joined green wire to a separate ground. *shrug* I'll be headed back down on Friday. Hope to do a double check on all the bolts, fill and bleed the hydraulic system, and do some maintenance. Noticed my lower radiator hose is cracked and leaking, so am flushing the rad at the same time. Also have new gear oil for both diffs. I'm getting close!

I'm in the middle of swapping a 1998 R50 5 speed into my truck. Bolt patterns are the same on both ends, but have no idea if the gearing is different.

Finally got the new transmission mounted up, and the new sway-a-way torsion bars installed. Should be finishing her up in the next week or so. I can't wait to have my truck back!

X2 - Angle grinders are very useful in the welding world. I have two of them at school. The most common size is a 4.5" - which you can then run a 5" sanding pad on. Don't forget your PPE though! (Personal Protection Equipment). If you have to ask why, just google "Angle grinder injuries". I prefer the ones with the paddle switch. It acts as a dead man switch, and turns off power if you let go of the handle. I've not had much luck using wire wheels to remove mil scale - but a fresh 36 grit sanding pad usually does the trick. Without a break or other bending apparatus, with an angle grinder and straight edge, score a line in the plate, and that will assist in bending it. 110v Migs have there place. Mostly for portability and working with thinner sheet metal. Get into the larger machines, and you have trouble finding rollers for smaller diameter wires. I concur with GrimGreg on the saws. I've never used a cold saw, but all we really use at school is band saws. If I had the money and the space, I'd buy an Ellis. http://www.ellissaw.com/. We have an abrasive chop saw, but it's really only brought out for specialty cases, working with hardened metals, etc.

Sent from my LG-VM701 using Tapatalk 2 The Hardbodies ran until 1997 here in the states. IIRC they still came with vg30s.

Any luck with the cad drawings B?

Ahhh, that's good then. From the pic, it looked like it was welded to the body.

I hear that! I still have systems with IDE ports for similar reasons. Nice work! Thanks for posting this thread, it has been a good one to follow!

Thanks! I rebuilt my clutch master cylinder tonight. Reinstalled it and hooked it up to the hard lines. I'm nearing the end of what I can do while I wait for those engine bolts. Regarding the transfer case switch wiring, I found this blurb in my searches. taken from here: http://www.nissan-offroad.co.za/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=180&start=25#p2238 So if the two transfer switches are wired in series, might it be best to just leave them connected, and not run them anywhere else?

Fixed. I got the lower clutch hydraulic hard lines, lower connecting block, and the (new) soft hose installed tonight.

Let me restate things, for my own clarity. Building this harness, I have the original engine side plugs and wires that came with my pathy. The 76M connector has 4 wires. Two for the speedo (Red & White), and two for the neutral and 4x4 transfer switches. (Yellow/Black & White/Black). There is no green wire running to the connector, but both of my AT switches have a green wire coming from them. I have a 78M (The MT's version of the 76M) from a 94 stick shift pathy, and all the drive train plugs it ran to. IE the MT neutral switch, reverse lights, speedo, and the two transfer switches. The single wire transfer case switches here use the same Yellow/Black and White/Black combination. I also have the 76M connector from a 92, AT pathy. It had the Yellow/Black, White/Black, and green Wires. Here the green wire ran back up to the engine bay and into the harness through the 76M connector. So at some point after the changes made for the 94 model year, they ran the green wire elsewhere. At this point I'm with you in thinking the green wire is a ground for the switches, but I'm still wondering where it went. (NEVER clean the garage while a project is underway, I'm telling ya) I'm half tempted to ground it out to a nearby frame point, but want to do more research first.

If the donor 2wd came with xe level tires, (235/75's?), and your truck came with 31's, that could explain it. Different tire packages came with different speedo gearing.

Thought so. Well got started on the new wiring section running from the engine bay to the tranny/tcase. Hit one snag on the tcase switches. The problem being that the AT Tcase (which I still have) has 3 wires for the two switches. A yellow, white, and a green one that is tied to both switches. The MT t-case switches only have one wire each. Meanwhile, my 76M connector has 4 wires, two of which are the speed sensor. The other two wires on 76M match the yellow and white wires coming out of my t-case switches. This leaves me with that shared green wire and no where to take it.

Call it in to where? Nissan? I already pinged Alkorail (sp?) about it, so I'll see what his reply is.

My truck started as "Pathy" which later morphed to Apathy. Shortly after coining that name I let it sit for two years waiting for a transmission swap. Worst truck name ever.

A number of people have done this swap, but IIRC, all of them have been on VG30/33 trucks. I'm guessing it would be fairly straight forward, but you would have to find a donor MT that was also from a TD truck. I could be wrong of course, as we don't have the diesel here in the states. Mine is still in progress, but beastpath and a few others have completed theirs with good luck. http://www.overlandtrucks.com/system-f/NPTC.pdf http://overlandtrucks.com/system-f/Transmission%20Conversion%20Manual_final.pdf http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/topic/23822-starting-my-at-to-mt-swap/?hl=swap http://www.nissan4wheelers.com/topic/auto-to-manual-swap-in-progress?page=1

OEM snowboard holders, for the OEM roof rack. Pulled them off a 1994 I found in the local scrap yard. Just have to figure out how to change the lock cylinders, and I'll be in business! Also grabbed a new lower dash piece (don't need one with a gauge hole in it now), a set of OEM spark plug tools (Didn't have those before!), and a skid plate for the transfer case, which mine oddly didn't have.

I found one of the first drafts to the overland r50 swap I posted earlier. http://www.overlandtrucks.com/system-f/NPTC.pdf He was more clearly stated with his wiring there, and I was able to verify the pin outs (despite the wires being different colors in the FSM), that the green & black wires coming off the 7 pin, 80M connector are indeed for the reverse lights (Or rather, for the inhibitor switch's "Reverse" position). The larger, other 80M plug (Brown/Black wires) gets connected to the MT Neutral switch. So couple that with adding my speedo back in to the 76M plug (I believe), I should be fine. When I traced what I think to be 81M on the j/y pathy, it led to the top of the AT. Don't the 4 wheel drive pathys get their speedometer readings from the transfer case?

Thanks Adam, This is my current understanding of those plugs, after a few days browsing the FSM, and tracing the wires back on a 92 J/Y pathy over the weekend. The problem I have with wire colors, is they change after they enter a plug. The colors on 79M don't match the FSM until you check the wires actually coming from the harness. I grabbed a 76M connector that has two switches for the transfer case (Out of an AT 92). I figure I can mix and match that with my 76M to add the red speedo wire. Found a almost mint (for being in a jy) 94 MT over the weekend. Finally was able to grab a fairly rust free lower clutch piping, so I won't have to bend that myself. Grabbed it's ECU too, just in case I want to swap that out sometime in this process, or if it will simplify some of the wiring. I'll probably go back to the JY and get the truck side connectors for the MT, and just wire them up into a new harness using what I have already. My engine bolts are on a slow boat from Japan apparently, due to be here on the 25th of this Month. Still though, I'm getting closer.