MaritimeMan

In all reality, yes the old head is probly fine. However, in my experience, you just just don't take that chance. With one valve train not even operating under extreame conditions, and the other most likely being loaded well beyond its design parameters, I just wouldn't risk it. A set of running head is much better for now, cause that gives me more time to play with the old ones, maybe even have a set of high performance ones built up for later.

LoL just wheel over to the construction site with a buddy and see how fast you guys can do the "2x4" relay.

/\ what he said, yes please! I'll call ya about em.

Hmmmmm I think you may be on to something here...... Seriously, yes, I am amazed as well that it was able to run and drive on one bank. I wouldn't recomend it, but then again, turnin a V6 into a slant 3 isn't a great idea either. I'm not exactly sure where I'm gonna go from here. A top end rebuild is definately a band aid, and if I go that route, I'd do it as cheep as possible within reason. I definately think at least one new head is in order, and probly two while I'm in there. I am in a situation right now where I am broke and working isn't an option, which makes the band aid fix more plausable. P1 gave the idea of top endin the motor to squeeze another 20k out of her, and by the time that happens, I will be in a much better position, and I'm likin how that sounds. So to summarize, if any one has a seat of heads that came off a good running motor and is in the Seattle area, gimme a holler. I'm not in any huge hurry, but it does pain me to see her sittin in the driveway with no means of movin on her own. In the end, I'd like to cram a VG33 in her, but like I said, thats down the road in another place and time.

Dunno I'm bummed that my truck isn't runnin, but I can't go too far any how with my medical condition. Plus, I kinda think it's damn cool I BROKE my camshaft. I mean, common, who does that? Well besides 88 that is.

I bet 88 hasen't done this one. Just a quick story to put everything into persepective; I was moving from Bay area Cali where I had gone to school, back home to Seattle. We had rented a 16' moving truck to fit all my crap, and my Dad was driving that and myself and my brother in the Pathy. I stopped for gas before I started the climb on I-5 through the Siskiyou mount pass, and everything was runnin great. Had to downshift to 4th for a couple climbs, but she was runnin strong. Any how, on the way down the backside into Oregon, she start runnin real rough. Pulled into Medford where my Dad was waiting with the truck (he had a head start) and called it a night, in the morning, I pulled the timing belt cover to check things out. Everything looked fine and lined up, changed the fuel filter, put in som e additive, and figure I had some bad gas. I tried to drive up the 5 a bit more, but the most I could manage was about 30mph on any kind of upgrade, and she wasn't clearing herself out. A nice blue puff, then a huge black cloud every shift out the tailpipe. Any how, pulled over, rented a trailer, and towed it all the way back to Seattle. I did a compression check first thing, and on cyl 1,3,5 I got 120, 90, 120psi. Hmmm ok, bad compression on one bank, gives me a place to start. Ripped everything out, and took off the timing belt when I found the problem. I'll just let the pictures tell the rest from here. Just to clear up any confusion, Yes, that is my camshaft from the odd bank head. After I removed the timing belt, I found the cam gear could spin in circles, and even pull out about 4"!!! Yay for me I win.

Sup B. The first one looks like a Trailmaster lift kit. I've heard good and bad about them, but more good, and more pain in the ass, not detrimental bad. That second though looks pretty good. Once again, though, your front end is so buggered up, you have a joy-fest putting that in.

I will second the statement that the dashes are the same. If you look to the right of your steering colume just under your dash, you will see an upside down U hole that is nicely filled by a dash matching platic piece. That is where the pull handle would go on a H body. But alas, I do not know how the cable is routed either. Ask 88, he's been under enough of em.

I have one on the WD's no one has said yet: The dash configuation, in regards to where it meets the front windshield. I had a friend loose his wallet out the window when he tossed it up on the passenger dash and I took a left turn shortly there after. Needless to say the window was down and we had to turn around. You can't put anything up there without it sliding back and forth or just straight off when you accelerate. That has always bugged me a bit.

SO since Toyota went and redid the Land Cruiser in new retro puke, how long do we have to wait before Nissan "remakes" the Pathfinder closer to older (read WD21) styling and (gasp) function?

It sounds like you are sayin there is slop in the hole where the stub screws in. Run a tap through it to try to clean it up and see if it'll tighten then. If that doesn't work, you can run a heli-coil in there to get it back to original size.

haha yeah, and you put on a 3" body lift, then it's like cheating. Seriously, one of my favorite details of the vehicle is the overall comfort. I have ridden in every seat, and I can't really say that there is an uncomfortable seat. About the only uncomfortable places I have found is riding in the cargo area on a bumpy road, or on the roof, but I don't think they had those in mind when they designed her.

#6 Spark plug location I mean where better to put a spark plug. I'd really like to shake the hand of the engineer that put that there.

HAHA nice disclaimer, not too shabby on the write up too, might have to give that a whirl.

Statikus did a good write up on the PS body lift. I used that along with the instructions and had no troubles. Statikuz's write up

Nope, the one I am using has the O-ring at the attachment point. I preload it like 88 said, but when I turn it over, I get a hiss of air getting past. Maybe I'll just go buy a different one and try that.

Does any one have a compression tester guage that they recommend? I have been usin my room mate's, which is nice, but I can't get it tight enough to seal, and since the plug holes are so deep, it's nearly impossible to get a wrench in there to tighten it. What I am thinking is some sort of solid tube that could be tightened from the top, then the guage connected to that. Is there anything like this out there? Thanks for any advice and or recomendations. M.M.

Nah, I have a full tap and die set for metric. It one of the real nice ones with all three taps for each size. (Tapered, medium, and blind). The fun part is going to be getting it in there straight due to the slant of the surface in repect to the orientaion of the hole.

Well I figured it out, seting base timing is just going to 15 BDC. I know on some older rigs like by buddy's 87 Blazer, there was a wire off the ECU that had to be grounded in order to properly set the base. Otherwise, the computer was always compensating and wouldn't be properly set. I talked to a Nissan tech, and he said this wasn't the case. This condition is common on older rigs, but not on Pathfinders, so no worries there. Thanks for all the input guys. Hopefully soon I'll get it all figured out. Yesterday I found my intake leak and replaced the manifold gaskets to the heads, as well as the fuel rail O rings. Unfortunately, one of the bolts for the intake manifold stripped out, so now I have to tap it and get a bigger bolt. They are 8M so it looks like I can bump up to a 10M no problem. Grrrr. Once again, thanks for the input.

Ok so I solved my high idle problem, it's a timing issue. Now idle is down to 800 rpm but it backfires and has no torque when driving. Has any one here set the base timing on a Pathy before? By base timing, I mean shorting out the computer and making the engine run on it's own without input from the advance. This prevents the comp from advancing or retarding the timing so you can get close to as good as it gets. I am really frustrated at this point, and am about ready for the c4 fix. Perfectly safe till you add an electrical charge. Go Boom.

I can relate to your frustration. I'm having an ongoing idle issue, tried everything I can think of, replaced everything electrical, and still, idle sits at 2k. I've had two shops look at it, and they can't even figure anything out.

Slick, there should be punch marks on the sprockets themselves. Just line all the punch marks up with the ones on the new belt and you sould be fine. This is assuming your new belt already has the marks put on it, and the direction it should go on. Since you have the valve covers off, you can verify the timing is in proper order by pullin plug #1, watchin for TDC, then watching the valves and the distributor for compression, ignition, exhaust and intake.

search around the forums, there quite a bit of info on the subject. I personaly use the 40 series, which sounds great, and performs well. Can't really comment on the 50 series, as I have no experience with those, however, once again, search around, there have been plenty of discussion on the subject of flowmasters.

Heli-coils are a great, solid solution. A little known fact, but heli-coils are actualy military-grade, which means extra heavy duty. If it gets the military stamp of approval, then it'll be fine for about the same amount of crap we can thoss at em.

Thick rubber flooring works great too, is easy to come by at hardware stones, and is what 88 used for his and the ones he made me. I think mine are 3/4".