JamesRich

The biggest problem with them is they are bolted to the frame down low and then it extends up high enough to make a pretty good fulcrum or lever. Basically it doesn't take much force on the high side to bend the front of your frame up. If you hit something hard enough to bend it back against your grill, your frame will be bent too. A lot of titan guys found this out the hard way too. James

I got a chance to look over the two ECCS wiring schematics. A few of the colors are different but the wires seem to go to the same sensors, and the 89 has an extra wire for a exhaust gas temperature sensor. It should be ok to run the 89 ECU on the 87 wiring. If you have time it won't hurt to plug in the 87 ECU just to see if it runs the same. If it does at least you'll know you have a spare ECU. James

If you are using the 89 ECU with the 87 wiring that could be giving you a problem. I'm not sue if the wiring is different but the ECUs are. Here is the trouble shooting pages for the TPS from the 89 D21 FSM If you want a copy of the 89 D21 FSM PM me an email for a link. The only thing I have on 87 is a hard copy. If I get time this afternoon I will sit and compare the ECCS wiring schematics to see if the wiring is the same for the 87 and 89. James

Since it ran good before and hasn't since you installed the new motor, I would check your wiring harness. Make sure you don't have a pinched wire between the bell housing or under the intake or throttle body. Next try the service bulletin craftsman67 posted. I ran this test on mine to make sure both injectors were working and it ran alot like you are describing. You could have a problem with the plug for the injectors. Also releasing the red and green wires from the connector is a real pain in the ass so good luck with that. James

I'm sorry guys, when I posted the scan page from the FSM I was in a hurry and didn't notice it was so small and useless. Notice also the all clear code is 44 instead of 55 I wouldn't know how to clear the codes either, I use my old snapon scanner. James

The problem your having is the 87 codes are different from the 89 FSM. In the 87 a code 43 is the injector, same as the code 51 in the 89 FSM. Here is a scan of that page from the 87 FSM. My book is kind of brittle so I don't want to push it down too hard on the scanner. You should be able to follow the trouble shooting for code 51 in the 89 FSM. Keep watching ebay to try and pick up a 87 copy of the FSM, I'm finding more and more differences that make this book worth having. James

Damn at that price I guess I'll just grab a few more out the pick a part. James

I was wrong again! It wasn't crappy fuel, that was just a coincidence. On the first day of a 5 day hunting trip it rained on us half the day. Truck started fine but was farting all the way back to the camp. Next day if I shut it off and tried to start it again in a few minutes it would not start, once it was running it ran good though. The last time it took over three hours before it would start. Next morning I fired it up and drove home an hour and a half with no problems. Once at home I shut it off for 5 minutes and it wouldn't start. Checked codes, crank angle sensor. Plugged in a spare distributor and it would spark like crazy when I turned it. I wasn't ready to convert it to the newer style distributor and chance heading back in the woods so I took the sensor out of the spare distributor and put it in the distributor on the truck. Truck ran great so I went back hunting and didn't have any other problems, accept alusive deer! Does anyone sell this sensor yet? I remember years back nissan was famous for this problem with the sentras, and you had to buy a complete distributor. I would like a spare sensor to keep in the truck so next time I could change it on the spot, it's easy enough. James

Awesome white up! You have skills and a lot of nissan knowledge, and parts. I have a VG33 to put in my pathy and would love to build it into a VG34 but I don't have the equipment to machine those pistons. Doesn't anyone make a .060 over piston for the VG33? After seeing the problems people run into mixing and matching parts, my plan is to use a VG30 crank in the VG33 block then use a VG30 oil pump and other accessories. I should be able to remove the block plate, add the threaded fitting from a VG30 and put my oil filter on the side of the block like the VG30? I know most people don't like the oil filter next to the starter but it has worked for this long. Thank you for all the pics, I knew the heads needed work but now I know exactly what to do. I was planning on converting my fuel injection over to the VG30E setup before changing the motor, I'm surprised you used the TBI setup. That would be alot easier! Do you think you will need to reprogram the ECU to get the full extent of your motor, or are you not worried about it just as long as it runs good? James

If it's like the VGs here in the states the crank pulley on the VG33 is different and the crank snout is larger so you can't put the VG30 balancer and pulley on the VG33 crank. The only way to put the VG33 in place of a VG30 using all the VG30 accessories is to put a VG30 crank in the VG33 block. Then you will need to use the VG30 oil pump too because of the different size of the crank snout. Nissan nut covers all of this on his site. Nissan Nut Also you can't just put VG30 heads on a VG33 block. Some of the water jackets don't line up. This web site Project Pathfinder Explains what you need to do to make it work. James

I took her hunting, actually she took me hunting. It's so dry out here that there is 6" of powder dust on almost all the trails. Still have a few mud holes though. I have to use 4 wheel drive just to keep it going straight through the dust. Here's a shot of my dependable little pathy waiting to take me back to the camp with a good inch of dust on her. This is what it looked like from inside after turning on the wiper. I'm sure glad I'm not on my 4 wheeler now! James

I like that snorkel, what brand is it? James

Sounded like a fun day! It could have been a bad connection between the cable and solenoid. Now that you have the stud tightened down you should be able to get the cable properly tightened on it and your problem might be gone. Apparently she just wanted to spend some time with you. James

Thats exactly what it is. This way the solenoid at the starter is not transferring power to the starter any more only pushing out the bendix to engage the flywheel. The ford solenoid is transferring the power to turn the starter motor. The large cable would go on the "out to starter" terminal. The other diagram looks like it is connected where the battery cable originally goes so it would be using both solenoids. The only advantage to that setup would be to not have the battery cable at the starter hot all the time for short reasons. This setup is usually used if moving the battery to the trunk. If the large cable from the trunk to the front of the car shorts to the frame your car won't catch fire. It just wouldn't start. But the solenoid at the starter is still transferring power and dealing with the heat problems. If the contact plate in the solenoid at the starter is worn it will still have starting issues. I can see one problem with this setup which is why I wanted to try it before posting it. The solenoid on the starter doesn't send power to the starter motor until the bendix drive is fully out and engaged in the flywheel. With the motor starting at the same time as the solenoid pushing the bendix drive out it may just grind instead of engaging. I will have to get with some of my electronic friends about a half second delay to engage the ford solenoid then it should work. James

My fuel leak was the return line at the tank. The PO had replaced the line with a piece of 3/8 fuel line and just cranked the clamps down. I replaced it with a piece of 5/16 line and put two clamps on each side. The line was around a foot long and goes from the sending unit to a pipe at the frame. I went to my hunting camp yesterday and did some light wheelin. It's pretty dry out there so not too many mud holes. I locked the hubs when I got there and rolled up to 45 mph in 2wd with no vibrations. No binding up in tight spots on the trails, so far they work just as good as the factory axles. Time will tell how they hold up but all good for now. James

Changed my CV axles with new replacements from O'reilly. They look good, the outer boots have more pleats than the originals. might help them last longer. I measured the outer shafts where the needle bearings ride and it was within .001 for the factory axles. They fit perfect with no issues. I'm going wheeling today so I will see how they roll. Also changed my oil, hadn't been paying attention I had almost 6K since last oil change. At least I know it doesn't burn any oil it was still full on the stick. Also fixed a fuel leak I have been smelling for a long time next to the fuel tank but could never find. Hopefully my fuel mileage comes up now. James

I'm planning to do a write up when ever I get a chance to do this but could be a while so I'll try to explain. The solenoid on your starter does two things. It has a large contact plate that connects the battery voltage to the starter motor and it pushes the bendix out to engage the flywheel. With the contact plate next to the engine and exhaust it gets really hot, the extra heat increases resistance. When the contact plate gets worn down sometimes it doesn't hit the contacts with enough pressure to complete the circuit and you just hear the click. The solution is to move the contact plate away from the engine using a ford solenoid like you just changed on your buddy's truck. You will have to go from your battery to the ford solenoid then to the second terminal on the starter, the one that the power comes out of the solenoid and into the starter motor. This will activate the starter motor but you still need to activate the solenoid to push the bendix out. Run a small 14 gage wire from the large terminal you just connected on the starter to the small terminal on the solenoid where the factory wire goes to activate it. Now when the ford solenoid kicks off it will activate the solenoid on the starter and send full voltage to the starter motor. Since you already did the relay mod you can leave all your wiring in place. Just add a 4 gauge cable to the second terminal of the starter solenoid and run a wire from your relay mod to the ford solenoid to activate it. I wanted to try this on my parts truck to make sure it works on a nissan (it's a popular chevy mod) and post pictures but if you understand the principle you should be able to make it work. James

Yes the 3.3 only has two holes for a puller they don't normally have anything bolted to them. I had actually retapped the balancer on my quest 3.3 before I got the pathy, so when I got to that point I knew exactly what to do. And B, I didn't go about it the machinist way and look up all the info like you did. A 1/4-20 bolt would try to start so I made some threads for it. I actually figured this out on my Suzuki 4 wheeler years ago. The bolts for the skid plate would get stripped after a while from rust so I tapped them out to the next size I had laying around. James

I didn't have the correct bolts for the balancer puller either. The metric bolt hole is a close enough size for a 1/4-20 tap though. I just ran the 1/4-20 tap into the metric threaded hole. It cut enough threads for the 1/4-20 bolts to work with the puller and didn't mess up the metric thread so I could put the metric bolt back in on reassembly. Just mark the two holes so you know which two for next time or put two small 1/4-20 bolts in those holes. James

Yea I know about hunting trips, our season is about to start. Hunting is the main reason I bought this truck so it has to be rollin when the season gets here. Get some of that aluminum based moly grease that Steve_RI suggested. Thats why I love forum, someone will save me the learning experience that he had to go through. As for ball joints and tierods I got all mine from O'reillys. I didn't get the lowest grade but not their top grade either. I just made sure they were all lifetime warranties. One thing I forgot to check till I was home on the ball joints having a grease zerk. They ordered them for me so it wasn't like I could just refuse them. The boots on them are already cracking and I can't add grease so I'll just keep an eye on them till they get some slack and try to upgrade to a better joint. So just make sure they come with zerks when you are ordering them. James

I have never used zimmerman but I do have a set of frozenrotors slotted rotors on my titan with the hawk pads. There prices are great for a cryogenic treated rotor and they have been holding up to some abuse with no issues. Keith is a member here and a great guy too so you will get great service from them. James

Raxles.com doesn't post prices so yes they probably are expensive. I went to O'reillys yesterday and ordered a set, $165 for the pair and they will be here thursday. I'm sure the quality of O'reillys and the cardone are the same, I'm just paying more for the convenience. Hopefully I can swap them this weekend because the weekend after that is the opening of muzzle loader season. When you think you'll have a chance to start the rebuild of your front end? I'm anxious to see how those bushings go. James

These older owners manuals were combinations for the truck and pathfinder so it probably means that only the 2wd pickups with single cabs and WDs with four cyl had the small tank. I just pulled my head out my ___ and went check my excel mileage spread sheet I have kept since I bought this truck. The most fuel I have ever put in it at once was 17 gal so it's definitely not a 15 gal. Actually I had never paid much attention to the size of the tank but my gauge must be on empty when I have around 5 gallons left. My truck has the sub gauge but it doesn't work so I don't push it. James

So ain't it about time for a new sig pic? James