M in KC

Driving the the 'finder to work and school the other day a heard a "clunk" in the front end as I transistioned off the driveway onto the street. A one time "clunk" I thought it was odd but hey the darn thing is 15 years old give it a break. I looked under there but nothing was obvious. Drove her anyway. The steering seemed to pull a little to the right but again nothing that's not manageable we have high road crowns around here. Fast forward, I'm going out to lunch, I'm backing out of my parking space and Grrrrr my left front wheel is rubbing on the fender well. I look at it again this time it's slightly more obvious what the probelm was. The left compression rod on the bottom of the arm broke where it attaches to the frame. I can't imagine what the driving sensation might have been like at 65 mph and that thing decided to dislodge itself. Thanks Big Guy. :bow: Upon examination the rod had been at least cracked for some time since there was copious amount of rust at the fracture point. I going to change the lt and rt at the same time along with the bushing and fasteners. M

Studs area essentially a bolt that is threaded on both ends instead of one end with threads and one end with a, well a bolt head on the other. The studs screw into the head, the exhaust manifold slips over the studs and a flat washer, a lock washer and a nut secure the manifold to the head. The real biotch with these motors and the factory exhaust maniflod studs is space, assuming your motor is still in the vehicle and the realtively close proximity that the water jacket is to the threaded hole in the head that receives the stud. One misguided drill bit, off center, too deep, too big, etc and you have real problems. Best bet is to get the old manifold and down tube out of there and see what you have to work with. Undoubtled you have at least one broken stud. As said prior the difficulty in removing it will be predicted on how it is broken off. As MWS sez patients, is your most powerful tool here. Get a good can of the paneher piss of your choice and soak the broken stud(s) down a day or so in advance prior to attempting to remove them. There are a marrid of ways to remove the studs all of which have been discussed here numerious times for this is quite a common problem with this vehicle. Hit the search function my friend. If that doesn't help keep asking away there are some pretty good wrenches on this board and they will steer you straight. M

Virgin, my hitch as been wired as you described since I bought my 'finder 15 years ago and it still works as good as the day it was installed. You just have to keep the wires clear of the hatch latch.

OR99, consider running the prescribed amount of Sea Foam in your crankcase. My '91 exhibited the same symptoms of oil consumption as you describe. 5 oz. of that stuff and my valve guide seals are tight again and i haven't had to add a drop of oil between changes since. JMTC M

UNCC, a local tire shop did the same trick to the wife's Max. They ened up making it right in the end. An air impact gun the in the hands of $8.00/hr tire monkey is a dangerous thing.

Do a search for the voltage regulator. Mr. Jim or some one did an excellent how-to on replacing this part. I did mine last year it's about a $30 part from the stealership and about a 30 minute job. An additional tip for whom ever did the write up is to use a putty knife or similar to pry the top of gauge cluster out from the dash board. GENTLY. Once out and disconnected, now is also a good time to, again gently, pry the gauge cluster's clear cover off and and get all the dust and crud out from behind it. JMTC M

If you haven't and while you're in the area of the MAF you might get your tooth brush and carb spray out and remove the carbon off your throttle body. I don't feel so bad at 18+ mpgs. Then again you've got a few mods that will errode your fuel economy. Where are you driving mainly in the city, wheelin, highway, or some combination there of. Driving habits play a big role in fuel economy as well. I can get 4 additional mpg's in the wife's Maxima if I drive. Granted we get to where we're going a damn site faster if she's qualifying, I mean driving. Is Nissan on the NASCAR circuit? I didn't think so. I'll have to remind the wife, again. M

What exhaust studs is your shop using? I'm assuming Nissan has abolished/discontinued the junk original studs and list a superseeding p/n. If I'm not mistaken you need the ZX 300 exhaust studs. I'm sure some one will chime in if I'm off base. M

Since this thread is near the top again. Here's a couple of action shots of my 20 mo. old Llewllin Setter Rosie. I'll have to look for some shots of my English Setter Molly later. M [/url] [/url]

Very nice indeed.

Yep, you must have the sport/power package on your '91 as do I. These should be electronically dampened in the shocks themselves. I didn't take mine apart when I replaced them a year or so ago. But there isn't any air line to any of them just the water tight connectors. Do yourself and your tires a favor and change your shocks. You won't believe the difference it makes whether you're on the street on off-road. You should notice a "stiffer" feel when the "sport" selector is engaged and a "softer" feel for the touring. It's more of a gimmic than anything else and definately not worthy of NISMO repalcement parts in my opinion. Go get some Rancho's, Monroes, Bilstein, etc. that suit your wallet and your driving habits. JMTC M

Packie, I can get mine out on my '91 with Pacesetters. It's no treat mind you but it can be done and it's just about as messy as the stock manifolds. The universal oil filter reloation kit mod seems to be the thing to do. There are several posts about the filter relocation kit around here with different ideas regarding mounting and plumbing. BTW I opted for the factory black coating and did the hack rattle can high temp paint thing in cherry red only to see my work go up in smoke when we fired the motor. You would of thought that paint turned my 'finder into a two-stroke motor for about a half an hour. Talk about your headaches. I had the same EGR fittment issue on mine and my pipes are a nice burnt rust, black and white color now outside of the flanges which are still cherry red. pssd M

Tha'ts our man. Mr. Pickles with the action photo in the flippin' rain of a wiper none the less. It's great to have you around. M

Thanks Pezzy! Filthy, my national heritage is primarily Polish. AKA Poll. Now I've done it. Let the polish jokes begin! Really I find them quite amusing. M

SteeevO, do a search here. Wagner, Warner or the like makes a stepped slip joint clamp. I got mine from Summit Racing about $15.00. This is the ticket for both the Thorley's and Pacesetter slip joints. If I remember correctly you're after a 2". Search for tacoman. He was one of the original authors of this part. This clamp beats the pants off of any HD muffler clamp. I know I tried several before I ran across this little jewel. M

Pezzy is that a program, download, image hosting site or other? M

MZ I think i've got it. I don't have the fancy thumbnail thing (that will be our next lesson) but at least my pic is visable. Thanks buddy. M

OK MZ I'll give it another try. M

Ok get a reply message all set to go, insert my image from my hosting site and I get a "dynamic pages in the tags are not allowed. So no reply message and no picture. Will someone please help the Pollock out here. No offense to any other Polls out there. Thanks in advance, the technologically challenged. M

Chimpanzee's wearing human masks using a twig to hunt for insects in the keyboard? Holy shnikes is that funny! I really needed that at the end of the day. M

I 've heard the Kids n Pet stuff works really well. It's nice to get someone you trust to defend it. I have an '03 Sequoia (I know it's brand T), that a grocery sack of meat got left in for let's say about a week. Can you say yummie? I to have tried in vain to ge the stench out with little success. Off to Wally World or Target for some enzymes. And since my 'finder doubles as my huntin' rig it can get pretty fowled out as well but nothing like 10-15 lbs of rotting beef and pork. :oops: M

Fortunately or unfortunately I've got you beat here 141K and change on the original equipment pads front and back. Ya a bunch of highway miles but offset with some towing of my 20' I/O boat. I don't engine brake much but I do employ the "go for green" phlisophy when driving in town. Attemptng to intentionally not use my brakes between stop lights. Granted it's probably easier with a MT than an auto. M

Ditto to Simon's post. I wondered where these two guys have been. Usually they are Johnny on the Spot when peeps have a question or a problem. But w/o or with limited web access it's like that part of the libary of knowledge is locked. No dis to the others that chime in with their words of wisdom. Call the fee what you will Call it a passion fee. Afterall we are all passionate owners of the red-headed stepchildern of the 4X4 community. Another thought to raise $$ for site maintainance/ admin is by selling something(s) on ebay though the board or individually 'finder related or not and then deposit the funds into the NPORA account. Dunno it's just a thought. We do this on another board and it seems to work out. Ya I know its a coordinated effort and everything. And there is always an annual fee for use approach. M

Get at least a 5-10 lb extinguisher anything smaller and you'll just have a paperweight. Purple K is a good extinguisant. The extinguisher will have a "k" in a purple/magenta square on the extinguisher. Other wise an ABC extinguisher is what you're after. How to operate P.A.S.S. P= pull pin. I know this sounds stupid but I can't tellyou how many people I've trained to use an extinguisher who race up to the fire and forget to pull the pin. A= aim. Aim at the base of the fire. Yes I know the top of the flames are tempting but aim at the base of the fire. This is where the fuel is and that is what you are trying to cool, oxygen strave or encapsulate depending on the extinguishing media. S= squeeze. Yes again people magically thing the extinguishing media flows out of the extinguisher on it's own after the pin has been pulled. S= Sweep. Sweep the extinguisher from side to side at the base fo the fire. Always, always stay between the fire and your exit should you not be succesful in your incipient stage fire fighting. Check the silly thing(s) every few months to make sure the gauage is reading charged. Anything under fulling charged get it recharged or buy new. Slightly over charged is O.K. And once a year take a rubber mallet and give the cylinder a a couple of raps to make sure the powder stays free-flowing. Temperature extremes and constant vibration can make the powder pack down in an extinguisher over time. This Public Service Announce has been brought to you by the fine folks at Fingerless Phil's Fireworks Emporium, who invite you to come bang with the gang on the next Independence Day. M

Slick you're killin' me over here with your explanation/description of splines! You go girl! Sometimes you even make me feel inadequate and I consider myself fairly mechanically inclined. You're the goods babe keep it up! Can we get a Jack and Coke for the lady please.? M