Tungsten

You can lift without it but the rear axle will get shifted over to one side, which is not going to be fun in alignment. There is also going to be more sideways movement between the axle and body. Either the drop bracket or a longer panhard rod should be a good solution but it is better to keep the panhard rod as parallel to the axle as possible so the drop bracket is a nicer solution. Something like this would be cool: http://www.sonoransteel.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=18 Too bad it's for a 4runner but I imagine it should not be hard to make your own. You're right it's not absolutely necessary but I would run it for alignment purposes.

There really isn't much you can do with a VG motor because most of it already is as good as it can get. Here are some items I can suggest: Do a full exhaust system in 2.5" with headers to increase the flow at higher rpms. Install an electric fan to restore a little horsepower. Port the heads. (Nissan for some weird reason never finished the head castings so there are small steps left in the valve holes.) Swap to Euro or VG30E camshafts. Increase compression with flat top pistons or a turbocharger. (Some Xterras with a VG33E came supercharged.) Now I don't know of any flat top VG33E pistons being available but you can bore the 3.3 to a 3.4 and run VH45DE pistons but duplicate the VG30E valve reliefs in them. These mods should get you where you want to be.

This is all true. Just putting bigger tires will increase the COG. Bigger tires won't have a sketchy effect on the body though. If I was going to do a body lift, it would only be to clear larger tires. From what I know you can stuff up to 33x10.5 without running a body lift. There is no need for an extra increase in COG from the body lift either. The whole issue is the body lift mounts are fragile in a rollover or in a serious collision. You can literally tear the body off the frame. There are things you can do to sort of reinforce the body lift but they might need some fab work. For the sake of safety I do not recommend doing them if they are not necessary for the application. They do look cool but there is that safety trade-off. The air bags that go inside the springs are actually pretty good. I know some people that actually wheel with them. They allow you to tune the spring rate and height to what you want. They also can help off-road by helping you lean into a hill and things like that. Lift coils are fine but their drawback is that they will throw off the alignment at the rear axle. A panhard rod drop bracket is necessary for a 3" lift coil. I remember GrandpaX was making those so you can contact him. The factory UCAs at the front will crank up really high. You may only need aftermarket ones if you don't have enough shims for alignment. The aftermarket ones are basically just longer. The biggest issue with cranking the front suspension is the CV shafts going out of angle. One more thing: Don't forget the idler arm brace. This has been covered multiple times around here. Forgot to mention that all this was from my personal research. I was looking into a body + suspension lift myself but just decided that I did not need it based on what I do and where I live. Lifts add complexity and are harder on parts. Just think about if you really need it first.

I don't recommend running a body lift because it will increase your center of gravity and make it easier for the truck to fall off the frame in case of an accident. You can crank the factory torsion bar suspension in the front up to the maximum of the UCA being about 1/2" away from the lower bump stop. Look into bagging the rear springs to get a matching lift at the rear.

This may get locked in the near future but I felt like posting this anyway so it's away from all the other threads. I know what some admins are going to think about this. Look at this guy finally not screwing up any other threads with his bs. Well I have things to say about that... Of course I will try to post this rant in such a way that it does not violate any forum guidelines because I did accept an agreement when I signed up. First off let me start with the good. NPORA is a great forum to turn to for information about how Pathfinders work and a great place for some amazing photos that have a story to tell. Just look no further than Truck of the Month and Truck of the Year. I even got to meet some cool people on here, make some friends, and actually see some of them in real life by driving to their house. It may sound kind of controversial since you know what's in the news about meeting strangers but I never had a problem and pretty much liked everyone that I met with. Every so often I visit NPORA either for some information or to share some new and interesting information. Just look at all my modding threads I have started. I don't do this because I have no life. I do have a life outside of NPORA, I don't just sit on here all day. In fact, I don't even like staring at glowing rectangles all day long such as computer monitors, smart phones, and tablets. I don't want to destroy my eye sight doing so. Anyway, I go on here because I want to see what people are doing to their trucks and share some of what I'm doing. That also includes repairs and maintenance. Now for the bad and the ugly. While I try to be clear and concise and accurate about what I post, every once in a while I may post some wrong information because I interpreted something in a wrong way. I connected the dots so to speak but there was one dot missing and now all the information I posted is wrong. Most of the time the wrong information may come from what I read in other online sources. It's the Internet after all right? Or it comes from me not properly doing something because I didn't read one step properly or missed it. Or maybe I came to the wrong conclusion... Point is mistakes can happen. No one is perfect and no one knows absolutely everything. People learn from experience and sometimes a part of that experience is making mistakes and having them corrected. Which brings me to my actual issue. Some people on this board, including administrators who know who they are, take everything I post way too personally. I just come on here to have a discussion about things and not to fight about who is a bigger idiot or who has a longer or lower gauge extension cord. This is not YouTube for crying out loud, it's a forum. Forums are always filled with actual discussions and not people that like to play a game of insulting each other. That's what the PoHo section is for... What I'm trying to say is I just like to add to a discussion. I'm not here to insult someones mother. If my addition is good people just seem to go along, which is fine. However, if I make one small mistake an entire colony of sharks gets sent after me. I get called out for being an idiot and being a turd that doesn't go away. Thanks guys, really appreciate the compliments there... Nothing I post is personal and I try not to be personal even though sometimes people can really provoke me to fight back and be angry. Stop it, I don't want to do this. If I don't like something or post something negative it doesn't mean that I'm calling the person responsible for it an idiot. It's just my opinion and that's all. That doesn't mean people have to agree with my opinion. Also, if there is something wrong with what I post, there is no need to get off on a tangent. All people really need to tell me is that this bit of information is incorrect and maybe try to state some reasoning. I will follow up and say something like: "nevermind that was wrong" or maybe ask some more questions as to why it's incorrect. Finally, to conclude this rant, I want to explain why sometimes some of my messages can be so called angry sounding, which is what I have been getting from some members. The problem is that on the Internet it is hard to interpret a tone of voice. Nobody speaks, they just type. I didn't drop out of grammar school. I was taught to write in complete sentences and try to avoid grammatical and spelling errors. At the same time I try to be clear, concise, and to the point. Meaning that I like to get my point across in as little amount of wording and sentencing as possible. So like I said, I'm not here to pick fights, I'm just here to discuss things and state an opinion every once in a while. If you made it all the way down here and were actually interested in what I had to say, here is a coffee:

It's wired to be switched at the hot side. The grounding is directly to the battery. I hooked them up exactly like 9004s just with different connectors. I know the H4 calls for a common +12v and 2 grounds but it will work as a 9004 too with a common ground and 2 +12v connections. The reason this works is that electricity will flow either way through a filament since there is no polarity.

Here we go with the name calling again... I didn't call anyone out here. I know I can be wrong sometimes and should have asked more questions before posting certain things but it's all purely professional. I looked into these things before you dickhead and didn't find anything. Enjoy your Californian dictatorship laws dip@!*%.

The voltage regulator could be malfunctioning in the cluster. It's either that or your alternator's voltage regulator is going berzerk.

I didn't know the economy was that bad in California

True. Approvals are expensive. If you made a set like the Thorleys AND paid CARB a few thousand, they would be smog legal. I'm pretty sure they have their own rules on how they grant approvals. You can pay a bunch of money and have your approval denied too. Not disagreeing here just adding some info. No I see how that works now, MY1PATH already explained it in the other thread. I still think it makes no sense but I'm not going to argue with state law makers that think a gun made from lego bricks is an assault weapon. You can only buy the size that came originally equipped. So your only choices are 2" direct or 2" universal. The direct fit is made to fit directly into the OEM system. That's what it says on their website. I would go ahead and delete stuff now but the edit button doesn't work anymore. It's like one of those moments where everything makes sense but then there is one last piece that changes everything and makes me look like an idiot.

If I lived in CA and had to go through that I would probably just move over to WA or some nearby state. Unless I had unlimited funds to combat CARB regulations, which I would. That is ridiculous. I thought NJ was bad... Here they just use a mirror to make sure the exhaust is properly installed and is not leaking. There is no specification on the size of the muffler or the catalytic converter as long as it is in the right place relative to OEM. They put a sniffing probe and told me the exhaust was nicely done. That's about it. MY1PATH or Precise1: Do any of you have a link to the documentation on the CA's DMV site on emissions compliance or any related documents? Now it makes me want to look them over.

I would argue this. Do they actually get under the vehicle and measure the inlet and outlet size?

^ sorry for the thread jack but had to put this somewhere as there are people confused about muffler and catalytic converter size affecting emissions nevermind lets continue here I just came across the older thread http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/topic/32573-buying-a-new-magnaflow-cat/page-2

The only reason why Magnaflow sells bolt-on 2" flange cats is for the factory exhaust system. They are literally made to just drop right in and are not any different internally than their universal converters. You can get a CARB compliant universal cat in your size and weld on whatever flange size you need or just slip it over the pipe and weld it. That will pass inspection. If they were so anal about having a factory exhaust then they would not even let the headers through. The only reason the Thorleys have certification is that they have a EGR bung and they do not remove any catalytic converters out of the exhaust system since WD21s never came with manifold cats. I still have a hard time believing this CA compliance stuff. AFAIK the CARB certification is a must for a catalytic converter to be sold in CA but that's about it. There is still a possibility that I could be missing something. However I got the same numbers out of the machine running a 2.5" catalytic converter and a 2" catalytic converter.

H4 spec is 60/55 Newer bulb designs should be 65/55 9004s are 65/45 and halogen sealed beam is 65/35

Do you have a diagram of how you wired it up?

That's great. Higher wattage than 60 for high beam will be beneficial in some situations and you are still keeping the 55 low beam which is perfect.

You don't have to clean them because they are glass. They tend to stay looking fresh forever. There is no difference between premium grade light bulbs and regular light bulbs unless the new bulb has some different wattage rating. In fact I bet you will get more light if you stick a clear regular bulb in there. The dullness on one side is probably coming from one wire being longer to the battery than the other. What wiring gauge did you use for the relays?

The inlet and outlet size of the catalytic converter does not affect its emissions. I verified this myself. The cat has to be CARB certified for it to be legal in California. All a bolt in cat does is include the flanges. The primary collectors (after the smaller primary tubes) on the short tubes seem to be 2" and not 2.5" just like the down pipes and cross overs. The cross overs are also 2" so the lap joint band clamp should be 2" in diameter. The only size change I see is after the Y-pipe where it exits into a 2.5" pipe. FYI the short tubes were actually proven to perform better than the long tube variant on the VG30E. I have to dig that bit of information up again where I found it.

I love this mod but does it confuse the transmission computer?

oh look a pathy pulling a jeep thing

Both down pipes are 2 inches so by them meeting at a Y-pipe and going into a 2.5 inch pipe actually does nothing. The 2 inch down pipes are still larger than what the factory cross over is. You can reduce the 2.5 outlet back down to 2.25 or even 2 with no problems if you use a special reducer. The reason why they went with a 2.5 outlet is that generally some of the best mufflers are actually 2.5 inches in and out. So you can run a 2.5 inch pipe from the collector back or smaller if you do a reducer so it doesn't just shoulder down.

I had to make a wiring harness that took power from the dome light circuit. On the real deal, the power for the visors comes from the marker lamp circuit. You have to turn the parking lights on to use the light on the visors. I just wanted them to light up when open which made more sense to me.

Them Fans

I use it for passing on the highway. If I have to pass I just push the power switch and step on it. It's very effective although using the power mode vs turning off overdrive is really a moot point. The only difference is that the power mode lets me rev higher before up-shifting. In short it does work and it's especially fun if you have a custom exhaust set up. You will lose fuel faster than a top fuel dragster though.