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Rallybob

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Posts posted by Rallybob

  1. I spoke with Clark Steppler at JWT a few weeks back, inquiring about turbocharging my Pathfinder. He said the stock VG30e MAF was good up to about 270 hp. I think that if you are making less power than this, making it bigger isn't going to do anything for you.

     

    JMTCW,

    Bob

  2. If you snap studs they cannot be repaired with the engine in the truck!!! Good luck.

     

    It's a pain in the butt, however it's possible. I had three broken studs in my Pathfinder. I went to remove the manifolds, and even with heat and PB Blaster, two more studs broke...so I had five to drill out and extract out of the original twelve. All of them were broken off flush with the heads.

     

    I removed the rubber splash shields in the front wheel-wells and removed the front tires. I also used extended drill bits (12" long, one 1/8" pilot drill and another *just* smaller than the 8 mm studs). I used a spring-loaded center punch to center the drill bits.

     

    It took a long weekend, but I got them all out, and ran a tap through every hole to clean the threads. Then I used some stainless studs I got from MCMaster-Carr, some thick stainless washers and stainless nuts, and anti-seized the heck out of everything before re-assembly. So far so good, it's been a few years now since I did them.

  3. Would you care to come and do that for me? I'd pay you of course :D

     

    I don't think I'll be repairing any Pathfinder frames again! I really hate welding to old rusty metal. At some point I will restore this truck when I have the time and money. It's probably not worth the trouble to do it, but I'm keeping it for sentimental value since it was my sister's. She died about 10 years ago and this is about the only thing I have left to remember her by.

     

    When I go that route, I'm going to build a complete new frame from scratch, and I will lose the torsion bars and go coil-overs up front. All TIG welded (my preference), and welded up on my chassis jig. I figure I can incorporate a body lift directly into the new frame rather than make taller body mounts, and I can strengthen up the known weak areas, as well as completely box the frame (no holes) to avoid water egress. And I'll have the frame powdercoated too.

  4.  

    how much of a PITA was it to drop the tank?

    In my case a major PITA. I have a trailer hitch in place, the hitch bolts are heavily rusted (won't come off), and when the tank got dropped the gas tank flanges straddled the hitch and the panhard bar. So I had to tilt the tank at a pretty severe angle to remove it. Of course, the tank was nearly full of fuel and awfully heavy. Even with my lift and a tranny jack it was a lot of work.

     

    If I didn't have a hitch it would have been very easy, even the gas tank bolts came right out, and they've got loctite on them from the factory. Nice thing is, Nissan saw fit to make access to the fuel lines and the fuel sender very easy, so I replaced all the hoses and clamps when I re-did the metal fuel lines.

     

    My bumpstops have been missing for a few years now...:)

  5. How did you weld the hole inside and around the coil spring perch on the inside of the frame?

     

    I welded the inner part of the frame from inside the frame, after the outside skin had been cut off.

  6. I downloaded some pics tonight of the frame damage I had. I only realized afterward I didn't take any pics of the repairs on the passenger side. but it was pretty similar to the driver's side.

     

     

    4087826184_aa002cf808_o.jpg

     

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    4087826648_9a6f19f904_o.jpg

     

    4087827216_51be3a93dc_o.jpg

     

    4087068397_7e4b3bcce2_o.jpg

     

    4087068623_4f025cbb01_o.jpg

  7. I've been thinking about this option lately. I have an older T04B turbo I think would work great on my '92 Pathfinder. I spoke to Clark Steppler at JWT, he said my stock MAF maxed out at 270 hp (no problem, I just want a little more torque and passing power), and recommended 370 cc injectors plus their turbo reflash.

     

    The big issue will be where to put the turbo. I think I will end up retaining the driver's exhaust manifold, and making a cross-under pipe by the oil pan, then inverting the passenger exhaust manifold so the outlet faces 'up' and forward. I'll move the battery to the rear of the vehicle, relocate the PS reservoir and a few of the wiring bits, and will fit the turbo right up in the front corner of the passenger side engine compartment. An intercooler might be a tight fit, so I'll consider scrapping the A/C.

  8. It's probably worse than it looks. I did my rear framerails last weekend. My Pathfinder had been getting 'weird' feeling for lack of a better term. Felt like a convertible crossing railroad tracks, lots of shudder over bumps, etc. I found cracks around the panhard bar mounts on the frame (3/4 of the way around!). Also found that the upper spring perches were at different heights from bending.

     

    I used a needle-scaler to clean off the surface rust, and soon found out that the metal was paper-thin in many places. On the passenger side I ended up replaced 3-sides of the frame rail over a distance of almost 30"! The only intact metal was the top section of the frame, the sides and bottom were essentially gone.

     

    It took me about 4 hours to repair the driver's side, but the passenger side also had rust at the lower trailing arm mount, and the fuel lines were so rusty that when I tried to bend them out of the way all three lines (pressure, return, vent) snapped and started leaking fuel! So I ended up removing the gas tank (PITA with a trailer hitch BTW), and replaced all the flexible hoses, hose clamps, and the metal fuel lines. I used stainless for the hard lines, I don't want to do this again! So the passenger side took me almost three days to complete, working about 5-6 hours per day. This was on my car lift, I can't imagine doing this on the ground.

     

    Bob

  9. The muffler I ordered is the same length as the stock but not nearly as big around. What would be the side effect of using this muffler?

     

    As a general rule a thumb, the smaller the body of the muffler, the less packing/sound absorption material it will have. So it will probably be louder than a comparable larger muffler. Of course the general design of the muffler has a lot to do with the sound levels as well.

     

    Bob

  10. That's absolutely correct, you really want zero backpressure, no matter what engine. However, the trick is to balance the lack of backpressure with the need to maintain exhaust gas velocity. Otherwise we'd all be running 4" exhaust systems. A bigger displacement engine with higher airflow, higher compression/etc....can handle a larger diameter exhaust without a significant reduction in velocity, but a stock engine needs to be careful to not go too big.

     

    I went with 2.5" as my main exhaust diameter based on previous experience (I've build a lot of road racing engines over the years). I used a Magnaflow 2.5" muffler (5" x 11" body and 22" long).

     

    I extended the 2" primary tubes off hte manifolds to merge behind the transmission. I stuck two small Magnaflow cats further upstream (next the the tranny), and shielded them with .080" aluminum to keep radiant heat to a minimum. My torque has improved compared to stock, and higher rpm power is better as well. Mileage seems to be the same as before however.

     

    HTH,

    Bob

  11. When I replaced my manifolds and the six broken studs I had, I removed the front tires and the rubber fender liners. Made things a lot easier. I also used 12" long drill bits (one 1/8" pilot, the other just under the 8mm stud diameter) to drill out the broken studs. Everything I put back on was stainless steel except for the new manifolds. I made the entire exhaust from 2" stainless downpipes> into> 2.5" main exhaust. Used stainless sheet metal clamps instead of u-clamps, etc.

  12. Well, if you want a decent quality welder that actually welds nice, I have been super impressed with this thing.

     

    Hobart Handler 187

     

    While I don't actually own one, my cousin does. I'm just very impressed at the way it welds thin sheet metal with ease, and at the same time it'a capable of welding 3/16" efficiently and with good penetration. It's also relatively cheap and has good brand support (made by Miller in fact).

     

    Granted, it's 230 volt, but anything with any power tends to be. My own shop has an Airco Dip-pack 200 (made by ESAB) mig welder and while it welds thicker metal like butter and has a 60% duty cycle at max capacity, the Handler 187 is far more user friendly and lays some really nice beads. Of course I prefer tig welding my sheetmetal whenever possible (Miller 250DX), but that's just me. It's slow, but the reduction of HAZ and minimal grinding make it worthwhile for me.

     

    Bob

  13. Wow...I just read this and must say you showed remarkable restraint. I'd have admittedly reacted differently. I would have let the bastard go the first time I caught him in the act...in fact I'd have stayed hidden and not shown my face. Then I'd have followed him to HIS house, bringing my cordless drill w/unibit and my cordless sheetmetal shears. Once he was asleep, I would have systematically removed EVERY outer body panel from his Civic, and left them on the ground for him to see in the morning. He deserves no better treatment than that.

     

    My compliments once again on your cool-headedness.

  14. Another bump to the top from this newbie.

     

    Glad I read this, as today I took my heater apart and found not only a blocked heater core (leaves and pine needles), but the remnants of an old mouse nest. The nest had centrifuged within the fan basket, and made a heck of a lot of vibration and noise, especially in fan position 3 or 4. Now, no fire threat, no noise, no vibration, and a heck of a lot more heat! :aok:

  15. Okay, newbie here....so please don't persecute me right away. I did an extensive amount of searching and couldn't find my answer. I did find out that there is a 'small taper' and 'large taper' pertaining to the early vs. later WD21 tie rod ends. However I couldn't find an actual listing of the taper angle in degrees or inches per foot. I'd like to build my own upgraded steering system from scratch but need to know which angle parts I need to source.

     

    Typically you'd have 1.5" per foot (7°) and 2" per foot (10°) as the most common automotive tie rod and ball joint tapers. I know my Nissan Sentra is 2" per foot for example, as are most GM cars. Short of disassembling my Pathfinder and checking the taper against one of my reamers, I have no way of knowing what it is.

     

    TIA,

    Bob

  16. Hello Bob and welcome to NPORA.

     

    It sounds like you are doing a good job with the pathy already. Other than rust, some other things to pay attention to are the timing belt, the bushings for the rod from the lower control arm to the frame and the center link. Let me repeat timing belt. The replacement interval for your truck is every 60k miles. If there is any doubt when it was last replaced, plan to do so soon!!

     

    There is information on suspension work here, everything from 'poor mans lift' to solid axle swaps. Try searching for the information, then post when you have questions or problems.

     

    B

     

    Thanks for the welcome. I did the last timing belt myself, but that was in 1999! I replaced all the accessory belts last week, and luckily I had written the date and mileage of the last timing belt change on the A/C tensioner plate...so I'm already overdue by 8000 miles. I knew my father wouldn't remember if he had serviced it since then, glad I wrote it down! So I bought a timing belt and am just looking to free up my lift again to change it.

     

    I did all the front end steering parts about 80k ago, and added a steering dampener back then. Everything still feels very tight. Looking to upgrade to an idler arm stabilizer however. Still feels solid, I had it up on my lift and checked everything out. Other than the frame, nothing really scared me. Those bushings you mentioned...they're intact but not looking great! It's on my 'to do' list as well.

     

    I'd like to do torsion bars, rear springs, and all the bushings ideally. And maybe a body lift. I want to fit 31 x 12.5 x 15 tires under it, I prefer the 'wide' look rather than just taller tires. So I'm going to have to make some custom fender flares, just haven't decided if I want to make them in metal or composite (I'm a fabricator so either is no big deal to make). Then a front and rear bumper, roof rack, etc.

     

    Thanks again,

    Bob

  17. Hello all. I recently aquired a 1992 Pathfinder. It was bought new by my sister, but she passed away some years ago and I inherited it from my father a short while ago.

     

    Since I have no intentions of getting rid of it due to sentimental value, I decided I will do a pseudo-restoration to it as well as make some upgrades to suit my needs. Naturally, being a New England vehicle it has significant rust: I recently repaired the floor under the rear seat and built a custom stainless exhaust for it as well. It has the typical rear framerail rot and the rocker panels are starting to go....however I had a local shop bend me up some 14 gauge steel rocker replacements so they won't rot out again in my lifetime.

     

    Anyhow, I'm looking forward to getting some ideas here about typical problem areas/solutions, as well as upgrades to the suspension. Thanks in advance.

     

    Bob

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