Mr.510

The new rest area is on the highway that passes through Elbe and I'm sure it's not possible to miss it. To give you an idea of just how small Elbe is, the population is 29! *cue dueling banjos

The NW Forest Pass is for Federal land. Evans Creek is on National Forest land so the money goes to the National Forest Service. The Discover Pass is for State land. Basically, almost anywhere you want to drive on a gravel road in the forest in this state you need a Discover Pass. I gotta check both my passes too!

Uhm, the 25th is Sunday! Oh, and it looks like my exhaust will be done in time! I took the truck down at 8:00 tonight and they're going to try to bang the whole works out in a long day tomorrow. This includes prototyping and making bending patterns for all the parts back to the cat for my new Y and Mid-Pipes.

I'm really looking forward to this run. It'll be six and half weeks since our last run to Walker Valley, no wonder I'm going through withdrawal! I'll have the rest of my Swampers tomorrow. Gonna have to Sawzall my quarters for tire clearance as they are much bigger than BFGs of the same numerical size. Looking like my exhaust is going to be a temporary arrangement as well but whatever... worst case I'll take my earplugs and run open headers if I have to! Maybe we should do a list of who's going? I'll start it with the ones I think I know, copy and paste to make changes: Going: 5523Pathfinder Mr.510 silverton Maybe: Kyle94

Actually, even at stock ride height aftermarket UCA's can help the off road performance of a Pathy quite a bit. They allow much more droop travel than stock. This is a good thing as it increases front suspension travel. It improves 'flex' in the front and helps to keep the front tires in contact with the ground. They would be most helpful on the trail if you remove the front sway bar or use quick disconnects. (This alone makes a huge difference.) I am going to modify my front suspension to duplicate the extra droop that aftermarket UCAs allow but, like most things, I'm going to do it a different way than anyone else has. If it works out as planned I'll offer these parts as a 'kit'.

I have several sets of heads available, probably at least one set each of the four different casting numbers produced. VG33 heads are sought after, especially by guys building high-boost turbo engines, for their larger 10mm exhaust studs and better intake port shape. The cams are junk compared to VG30 ones so you'd want to swap in your stock cams if you got a set of these heads. What's the casting number on the heads you have now? (It's cast into the outside of the head, just below the valve cover gasket surface in raised writing.) To make it easier to find/decipher, the possibilities are: V52, 21V, 85E, and OWO. Like the others that responded I'm curious why you'd rather buy a set of heads to rebuild rather than sticking with the ones you already have?

An idler brace made for a LHD Pathy will not fit a RHD Pathy. Does somebody make idler braces in Australia? I would think these trucks are popular enough Down Under that somebody would offer them. If there isn't one currently available maybe Tex can whip up a batch? I could produce them but would need a RHD idler arm assembly to build a fixture... and shipping cost would be a deal breaker.

Just what the title says: What's your username mean and/or where'd it come from and/or how'd you get it? I've wanted to start this thread for a long time. I searched and didn't find one, if there is one please point me to it. Feel free to show us a pic or two if it helps people that otherwise might not "get it" to understand. I'll start: Mr.510 is a reference to my being a totally old-school '68-'73 Datsun 510 fanatic. I was first called Mr.510 when I was 14 years old, I think? I'm primarily known in the 510 world for the bolt-in VG30 conversion kit that I produce for these cars. For anyone that may think "Why would somebody like early '70s Japanese shi_boxes enough to be named after them?" My 1971 Datsun 510 Wagon with carbureted VG30, maybe 190hp/200tq? I doubt it but it still eats Mustang Cobras in straight lines and Porsche Carerras in crooked ones: (I this color, it's my favorite of all factory Nissan colors ever. Dimers call it "caramel".) And my 1970 Nissan Bluebird SSS Coupe' with VG30DET 538hp/484tq @ 16psi. It ought to be fairly rapid if I ever finish it:

Nissan Motorsports used to sell fenders like that too. You need them with a long travel 2wd pre-runner front suspension. Even trophy trucks have massive front flares with high arches like that with relatively tame rear flares. The front of any desert truck is a foot wider than the rear, it's the nature of the beast for good handling at high speed over bumpy terrain. Kinda funny looking, until it's sliding sideways toward you at 100mph!

PaMountainbiker

Yeah, that's "Mike from Evans". He beats that poor truck harder than I've seen anyone beat any truck. It is completely stock, not even an idler brace! After wheeling with him a few times and seeing him back up and ram that thing over stuff the way guys with buggies do I have a lot more confidence in my truck making it home without breaking! A set of well built sliders and a rear bumper that wraps around to the rear wheel openings would have prevented 98% of his (and my) body damage.

One of my goals for this Summer is to map every single trail at Elbe with my rugged laptop's integral GPS. Then I will produce an accurate map in an electronic format so people can load it into their GPS and know exactly where they are and how to get where they want to go. There are many miles of unmarked, unnamed trails at Elbe. They criss-cross the main trails and access roads in the most confusing spiderweb mess of a trail system I've ever seen. The guys at NWJeepn will put it on their website. It's the 'go-to' site for trail information in the NW, even the DNR and FS have links on their sites to it.

I'm also running no EGR or cat and haven't for a very long time. FYI: Your EGR probably doesn't work anyway. I build two barrel Holley intakes out of TBI manifolds and something like 75 core manifolds have come through my shop over the last ten years or so. There have only been a couple out of all those intakes that didn't have the EGR port plugged solid with carbon! I would leave the charcoal canister as it's the only really effective way to vent the fuel tank without having the truck always be full of gas fumes while wheeling in hot weather. You also need to keep the PCV system. It keeps fuel vapor that gets past the rings from condensing in the crankcase and diluting the oil.

I replaced my TPS today and the VG34I runs much better. While out test thrashing it I blew the doors off a Scion TC in a stoplight drag race. Not that TCs are what I'd call fast, but at least the Pathy does better than just keeping up with traffic again.

Yours isn't the 'proper' version, it's got too many doors! From the 1994 FSM: Somebody is going to have to play with some resistors or a potentiometer to see how the resistance effects the ECU wanting to throw codes. Since it's not a simple on/off temp switch and there's no data in the FSM for a range of temperatures it may or may not work to install a simple resistor in it's place.

I don't recall where the ratios are listed but the HD transmissions actually have a higher first gear by a little bit. You cannot feel the difference, even with serious wheeling. 3rd gear is direct drive so it's the same and I think the overdrive is also the same ratio as the original Pathy trans. The HD transmissions do not have any of the issues the earlier transmissions do when they get old. They are much beefier as they were designed to hold up to the more powerful VQ engines. Why they beefed the S/C transmission further I have no idea as they don't have as much power as the VQ. I guess they must have figured those trucks would get the crap beaten out of them on a regular basis. When the transmission shifts is determined by the TCU as these are computer controlled automatics. If you're talking about mushy, 'slippy' upshifts that's because your trans has many miles and the clutches are showing their age. I *highly* recommend putting at least an 18k GVW rated trans cooler on every Pathy regardless of how it's used or which transmission it has. One of the worst things about having a heat exchanger in the radiator is that if you overheat the engine you also overheat the transmission. I doubt that most people realize if you overheat the engine you need to change the ATF ASAP. VGs will take serious overheating better than most engines (they have 13 head bolts per cylinder head!) but the transmissions will not. Another thing that will make any of these automatics live longer is to run them in 'Power' mode anytime you're not on the freeway. This raises the shift points and makes the trans shift harder. The harder an automatic shifts the longer the clutches will last! Slippage on upshifts makes heat and wears the clutches.

One of us will nominate you and I'm voting for you whether you like it or not! Thanks for the votes guys! And thanks again to Dennis (silverton) for taking the pic. In fact, other than the obvious 'poser shots' where I'm not in the truck, most of the pics you've seen of my truck were taken by him. We almost always wheel together so my albums are full of pics of his truck and his albums are full of pics of mine.

You'd want an '01-'04 Xterra automatic. '00 is the same as your stock transmission.

The X transmission is the same length and the Pathy TX-10 transfer case bolts right to it. You need to lengthen the vent line as it's in a different place on the case but it's otherwise a direct bolt-in, plug-in swap. If you happen to find an auto trans from a supercharged X it's even more heavy duty, with an extra plate in each clutch pack vs. the regular HD trans. The S/C X trans also has a turbine speed sensor that is not used on non-S/C trucks but it doesn't hurt anything. You do have to pull that sensor in order to remove the torque converter from a S/C trans! Note that you also have to swap the flex plate to use the transmission from a S/C X. Worthy of note here is that the Nissan designation for all three of these transmissions is the same: RE4R01A. There should be a stamped aluminum tag under one of the case bolts toward the rear of the trans that has an easily deciphered date code. All RE4R01As are the same strength from '88 through the end of the '00 model year.

I'm in!

Thanks for taking that pic Dennis.

You guys are funny. I was definitely having fun in the snow that day at Elbe. I don't currently snow wheel as my truck is locked in both ends now and that makes for super-sketchiness with All Terrains. It's great on snow covered roads, trails not so much. This is why I don't have any newer snow wheeling pics.

The pedal shouldn't have 2" of free travel before there's resistance. The problem is almost certainly in the clutch hydraulics. It's possible there is just air in the system. If the slave cylinder is dry you don't have a leak down there. Is it using clutch fluid? If it got low at some point that's typically how air gets into the system. Also, brake fluid absorbs water and if the fluid is really old oxygen from said water will eventually collect and become 'air' bubbles in the system. If you do need to replace the slave cylinder I highly recommend replacing it and the master at the same time. If you replace just one the other seldom lives more than a year. Replace both together and they typically last 20 years if they are quality parts. No reputable shop will replace one or the other anymore, FYI.

Sounds like your clutch may not be releasing all the way. I would start by bleeding the clutch to be sure there is no air in the system. Also check to be sure your carpet or floor mat isn't keeping the pedal from traveling all the way. When you depress the clutch pedal how far does it travel before you feel significant resistance? You should be able to pull it out of gear when there's little or no load without using the clutch. As the load increases it gets harder to do. At full throttle it should be almost impossible to pull it out of gear without depressing the clutch, especially in the lower gears (not that I'd do it on purpose!).

Tonight I built a set of headers for my Pathy: Tomorrow I'll take them to be ceramic coated. Next up will be prototyping the Y pipe I'm going to produce for these trucks. I'm going to do full exhaust with a Flowmaster at the same time so this VG34 can finally breathe. I can't wait to see what it pulls like when it's not exhaling through a damned straw!