fishead

Much cheaper then child support would be to just hydraulic lock the engine, then blame her.

I just wish it paid enough for me to buy a house in this area. Picture of me doing the original installation: I'm the guy sitting up top just astern of the satellite dome.

I wouldn't say my self confidence was lacking, just all the other resources. Last month I was fixing a searchlight on a 230' yacht in drydock in Italy. Wouldn't say I am scared of taking stuff apart, just scared that I am never going to be able to afford a house with a garage in this stinken town! Besides, it's cold outside... Your posts helped me realize that it was more then just unbolting it and lifting it out. Now to finish installing the CD player so the kids don't drive me crazy asking for "mother goose rocks" http://www.mothergooserocks.com/headandshoulders.html

Bought my '90 with locking lugnuts on it. Searched everywhere for a key, but couldn't find any. Used a grinder to make 2 flat spots being REAL careful not to hit the sweet chromie rims, then put a large crescent wrench on them. Came off pretty easy. Just the other day I was looking for my papers so I could re-insure it... and found the key in the glove box!!! Where the carp was it when I was looking??? Anyhow, if you are putting nice tires on, you gotta have locking nuts. Buddy of mine had a '68 mustang with American Racing rims and Eagle T/A's. He went out to his car one morning to find it sitting on a pair of jackstands with all the lugnuts off the wheels except for the locking ones. There was also a pretty sweet hydraulic jack under his car. He happily put the nuts back on and tossed his new jack and stands in his trunk. Locking lugnuts rock unless your tires are crap.

I am headed up the Okanagan Valley tomorrow. FFO. Forced Family Outing. Doing a circle visiting various outlaws in Keremeos, Osoyoos, Kelowna, Barriere, and finally Little Fort. I found a sweet BC map book with back roads on it. Little does my wife know, but we are turning this road trip into an Off-Road trip! According to the map book, there are a few corners I can cut to shave some km's from the trip. Oh, and if there isn't much snow on the coquihalla, I am gonna attempt the toll bypass. Next time I am headed up to Kamloops with the guys as opposed to with wife and kids, maybe we can meet at the Bachelor Heights OHV zone or something.

Thanks for all your advice guys, and Slick. Especially Slick. Without your wonderful advice... I might have tried my engine swap myself I am just a bit short on space, time, know-how, and tools to attempt an engine swap. Plus, I have a good mechanic. Long story short, I have a junkyard motor with 140,000KM. Also installed is a main seal, and a new clutch. The throw-out bearing was going, and I was stressing about what to do when it went. Not an issue any more I Really would have liked to do it myself, but my boss keeps sending me to Italy, and there is too much work to be done at work. So I paid my mechanic. Final bill came to about $3K CDN. If I had known it was going to be so much, I might have picked a different route. Too late now though, so no sense complaining! She sure has a lot of power now! Has always been gutless for me, and a real fuel pig. Today on the way home from work, I was thinking that if I am going to keep her (she owes me now!) I better fix that rust bubble forming under the front passenger door, so I stopped at Canadian Tire to get some paint. When I got home, I gave the bubble a bit of a punch just to see what I was up against, and knocked a hole in her. DOH! That was a couple hours ago. I ground off the thick layer of Bondo, cut the rusted metal off, and layed some fiberglass on. I am a rookie bodyman, but I think it will work. It is almost freezing out right now, and am going to wait till it warms up a bit again before I try to make it look purty. Till then, as long as I keep it dirty, you won't be able to tell the difference between the Tremclad and the Nissan paint sssh

Just noticed on that EBAY posting. That water pump looks like a 2WD water pump. Not the same as the 4WD pump.

I think my timing belt was only $30 CDN from the parts store. Ebay is cool for hard to find parts, but stick with your local guys for parts like a timing belt. Plus you get to look at tools while you are there. Even the dealer isn't very much for the belt. Pretty sure the VG30E is a VG30 Engine. Oooh, pretty blue tape. I agree with Radar on making a permanent mark. That way you don't have to mark it every time you pull it apart. Getting to be a habit of mine My "new" engine is missing my mark on the intake manifold. Sounds like you are having fun though, and that's the main thing! Also a good time to get all the feathers out of your radiator. I find that pieces of small birds can hamper the cooling ability of your rad quite severely.

Plug #1: This is the front plug on the passenger side. Put a mark on the intake manifold just above this plug wire. When you are at TDC, if the rotor is pointing anywhere near this mark, it is the compression stroke. If it is way off, it is the exhaust stroke. ILoveMyPatty I would LOVE to help you with your Tbelt, but... it is a bit of a drive. Next time you are headed to the coast, send me a message ahead of time and maybe I can help you out. We could for sure do it in my driveway on a Saturday... provided we had enough beer :-Þ

It kinda glazes over the harder parts (at least for me). Things like removing the crank bolt. I didn't want to have to pull the starter to jam the gear, so I found a piece of metal about 3 feet long. I used a pulley to transfer the bolt pattern of the vibration damper onto this bar. I then bolted my bar onto my vibration damper. This allowed me to crank on the bolt without the engine turning over. Maybe you don't need to do this if you have an impact gun. The bolts for the belt covers are all different. I had a buddy draw a picture of the covers with a circle for each bolt. Then, when I pulled each bolt off, I jabbed it into the side of the box in the corresponding hole. Much simpler to re-install. If you gotta drain the rad fluid anyhow, you may as well pull out the rad. I think it is only 2 (or 4) bolts. Then you can toss it in the corner where it is safe from slipping wrenches and such. I hit mine once and scared myself. Busting stuff while trying to fix stuff... sucks! Spark plugs... why would you need to take off spark plugs? Instructions say to replace water pump before removing, or even loosening timing belt. I couldn't even come close to removing pump without fully removing belt. Maybe I missed something? In all an easy job, but I don't think that how-to is very exhaustive. I also found the Haynes manual told me to do a LOT of extra stuff I didn't need. Fortunately I had a buddy who had done one before stop by off and on to give advice. First time I did it I took most of a week. Now I could prolly do it in a Saturday. Mine was a VG30E on a 1990 Pathfinder SE-V6 4X4. Pic's look the same on mine, and are prolly the same on yours. Good luck. If you are in the Vancouver BC area I could drop by to lend a hand. Otherwise, let me know if you want a pic of the tool I made.

If it is mechanical on the passenger side that isn't working, it is pretty easy to fix. When I bought mine, the only lock that worked was the back hatch! The front doors were pretty simple. The little plastic pieces that tend to wear out are pretty cheap at the dealer. I was suprised at how cheap and easy it was to fix. Electrical problem? Um... take it apart and clean everything? I am an electronics technician, but have never pulled apart power locks (yet) so can't advise on that.

I used a buddy that's a machinist. Told him I would kick his @$$ if he broke anything. He said that using a reverse drill is very risky, and he didn't want to do it. If you are drilling into the bolt and it starts to spin, if you aren't 100% parallel to the bolt you run a huge risk of breaking the drill bit. Now you have a hardened piece of steel stuck in your head. Never fun. We used a carbide machining bit to carve a dent into the head of the bolt, then drilled a 1/8" hole and hammered in an easy out. Removed 5 that way. They weren't seized which was good. I found that because the bolt doesn't bottom out, they shouldn't be too tight. It really didn't matter though because 1000km later, my engine blew. Got a "new" motor from a junkyard with totally seized bolts. My mechanic sent it to a machine shop and forwarded the bill to the junkyard. Couple more weeks and I should be back on (off) the road!

I got halfway out of my seat to go take a picture for you... then remembered that it is under my seat, in my pathfinder, on the other side of town, locked in my mechanic's shop awaiting an engine transplant. Sorry dude... anyone else? And I agree. Them Japanese engineers sure thought of the details for us. Right down to those little clips to hang the seatbelts on when you fold the back seats forward. That sparkplug tool ROCKS. I was cursing the engineers trying to figure out how to get at #6 when I happened to glance at the bag of tools I had idly tossed onto my work bench. Schweeeeet.

Squamish? Dude, wish I could have helped you. I am in Maple Ridge. I was able to drill out 5 broken studs on mine. Wasn't too much work actually, but did require the help of a buddy that is a machinist That was before my wife ran low on oil while I was out of country on a business trip. Anyone else find that the dipstick SUCKS to get a good reading off without dipping 10 times? Got a "new" engine from a junkyard, and the studs are worse then my ones. My mechanic tried, then gave up in frustration. He sent it off to the Lordco Machine shop and is going to pass the bill onto the junkyard. Want a REMOTE place to go camping that requires 4X4? Check out Adams Lake. Some buddies and I went up there in the spring and found an abandoned logging road. 6km of running over trees 6feet tall, crossing washout ditches, and chopping up blowdowns gets you to a huge landing with piles of firewood everywhere. Wasn't on the lake, so no water, but was still a blast. Nearest person was far enough away that we didn't hesitate to toss a small (new) propane cylinder in the fire. But that's a different story! The price you paid for the manifold is about what I was quoted by a buddy that's a mechanic.

Dood, right on. I drive past you every morning at about 6:25ish, and park on that thing we call a bridge on my way to Port Moody. We should go fishing some time. So... talked to my mechanic, and he called up his junkyard. They have a VG30E from a super clean looking '94 with 150,000 KM on it for $995 Canadian. I don't think I could get a JDM for that much after exchange, and duty. Plus, this engine comes complete. I wouldn't have to pay for him to swap intake manifold, injectors, or anything like that. I am going to get the engine on a pallet, and haul it into our office with a pallet jack (we share a parking lot with them). That way, I can pull off the exhaust manifold in STYLE!!! Oh man, I just realized that 2 months ago when I drilled out 5 broken studs... waste of time. :-(

Yup, Canada. Vancouver area, Maple Ridge to be more precise. About 25 miles further then Ferndale. I was gonna say "I just DID the exhaust bolts", but that would be on my old engine. Doh, I gotta do them again? I am thinking it would be easiest to drill them out while it is in the back of buddy's truck, eh? Thorleys and oil relocation... I so wanna, but am borrowing for everything already. I guess I would have to do the T-belt though, huh? The water pump on my old one is only 6 months old, so I will prolly just steal that. I am gonna call those guys some time next week. Thanks Casey.

Hmm... I added myself to the Frapper Map, guess I better look in my profile. Thanks. I am about 100 Miles (as the crow flies) north of Lynnwood. I could easily borrow a buddy's Diesel Dodge Ram and go pick one up. I contacted one company, and they wanted $195 to ship it to me. The Cummins TD would cost about $30 to drive down and back. Do you have the name of the company by any chance? I emailed several and got responses varying from $500 to $2400. I would like to go with one that I have heard something about. My wife wants us to wait for a few months before we fix the truck as the Honda I am driving in the mean time gets about 30mpg. That friggen car has 435,000km on it and runs perfectly. My buddy just took it through Air Care and it passed perfectly. Problem is, it has 2" of clearance if even... I wonder if it would make a good Radio Control project...

Thanks Slick, very interesting read. Talked to my mechanic last night, and he said that it would be about $500 labour to swap engines. As much as I would LOVE to do it, my driveway is pretty much the only place I can work, and it is too slanted. Maybe if I buy a house one day... I'm thinking JDM engine too. For the same amount of money, I can buy a parts truck with 250,000KM. As much as I would LOVE a spare... everything, having a young engine would ROCK. Thanks for your help guys. Chris.

Wow, that looks pretty serious. Not sure if I can get a flat spot to work, and driveway is definitely too steep to sit on jack stands. I have the manual transmission. I didn't know I would have to pull the axle and transmission to get the engine out. Maybe I need to re-think this. Thanks for the run down. If you could get the manual, that would be fricken sweet. I have a Haynes, but find they tend to be lacking in detail sometimes, usually when you really need it. Taking her off the road tonight and going to be driving a Honda Accord until I get 'er done. Might get a quote from a mechanic. chris

Hmm... is 2,890 miles (as the google flies) close? Thanks anyhow, Western Canada for me :-) Talked to my mechanic, he agrees with you guys. Prolly the rings. You make the engine swap sound scary. Is it going to be that much more difficult with a slanted driveway? I found a '92 with no transmission for $800 that I might pick up. It is close enough to my house that my buds and I are thinking of buying it, then towing it in the middle of the night using my plates and a buddy's truck. Anyhow, any advice is appreciated. Any links to "how-to's" would be nice too. I have tried searching this site and others, but haven't had much luck. How much is a JDM engine, anyhow? I don't REALLY need all the spare parts that come with a complete truck. Thanks, Chris.

Hmm, thanks 88. I guess I better do a compression test then, eh? What's it like for pulling the engine on these things? I have never pulled an engine before, but am willing to give it a try. I see in the local adds a lot of pathy's for parts. I think I can get an engine for a couple hundred bucks, and if it isn't too complicated, swap it in. Also, would a '93 V6 swap right in without sensor modifications? Thanks.

Hey guys. A couple weeks ago, I had an issue with my Cat being blocked. Before I had it fixed, the engine seemed to get pretty hot. Now, I'm burning oil pretty bad. My dad said that I prolly cooked the heads and burned out the valve seats. Is this likely to happen? Could the bottom end be done as well? In the last 5 days I have thrown in about 5 liters of oil. I put in some "gunk, stop smoke" and it made it 90% better. Not a long term solution, I know. Should I pull off the heads? I have a little bit of mechanical experience, a few tools, and a garage. Or should I pull the engine (sounds scary), and throw in a junkyard engine? Or maybe this is a perfect opportunity to cram in a 350! Regardless, I have lined up a Honda Accord to drive in the mean time. My fuel savings should pay for the repairs to my Pathfinder!!! Thanks for all your advice! Oh yeah, its a '90 WD21, SE-V6, 4X4, Manual, 280,000+Km

But you forgot to say when you were going to change the timing belt

Wow, I have PILES of power now! A combination of timing prolly off, exhaust manifolds leaking, and bad cat have been plauging me since I owned the beast. For the first time ever, I can use 5th gear! I knew there was always a problem, but you can only do what your budget allows I guess. Total bill was about $750 (Canadian). The high flow Cat they threw in was $350. That's about $400 labour. Considering their rate is $80 an hour, they are only billing me for 5 hours which I know is WAY less time then they put into it. Prolly helps that I am fixing the autopilot for his boat. Next project? Oil relocation, or building a new center console. Man I hate that console that I have. No place to put my coffee!!! WHAT were they thinking?

My mechanic finally found the problem. Crapalytic Crapverter. That's the short version. Long version: First. Bought the truck, drove it once, then parked it because I couldn't afford insurance on 3 cars and had a beater Escort plus wife's car. Changed the T-belt, then put the escort up for sale. Sold escort, insured Pathfinder and drove it. Once I was driving it for a bit, I figured it was gutless (mostly after first offroad trip after crawling up some pretty steep hills). So, I changed everything affordable, no help. Everone online says my leaking manifold was to blame. Fixed that, LOTSA power... for 1.5 tanks of gas, then it starts again. Take to mechanic. He is pretty busy, so looks at it when he can and tries lots of things. First he checks the Cat, looks good. He can't get timing quite right, we look at T-belt. Weekend comes, I take it home, but it gets WAY worse on the way home. Test compression, then un-burry T-belt and confirm with marks behind pulleys and TDC #1. I notice Rotor not pointing to the dot, and I can't get it to point to the dot. Pull it out, and MAKE it point to the dot. I set timing to 15º BTDC. No noticeable difference. Today, Mechanic swaps ECU, and a bunch of other junk. End of the day, he says to me "I bet you dropped a paper towell in the manifold when you fixed that". I am crapping bullets. He was ready to kick my (|) if he found it was my fault!!! So, he disconnects the "Y" pipe, and it revs up FAST. It is a pig to pull off, so I told him that I was gonna catch the train home and see him tomorrow. The train station is across the tracks from his shop. I got to the platform, and yelled across the tracks "So?" and shrugged. He yelled back "It was the Cat, not your fault". I yelled back "So you don't have to kick my ass?". He shrugged. So, tomorrow it will be done. I had previously (like last Thursday, a couple days into it) asked what the bill was going to be so far, and he said "we don't work like that. We will wait till we fix it". You know what they say, a good mechanic is worth his weight in gold. I am not unhappy that it took so long to figure it out, I will judge him on how he bills me. I was a robotics technician for 4 years, and know that a simple problem can elude you for a LONG time. It isn't until you find the solution that you can really see how simple it is. But I traded that in for building navigational cameras. Same crap, just a MUCH larger commute. Next week I have a 5,000km Commute. Thanks everyone, I appreciate all your help.