JamesRich

Where's the picture of the two hot ladies you helped? The least they could do is pose for a picture! James

Whoa slow down, you done passed me up! I'm not looking for a dragstrip motor just what they accomplished with that project pathfinder, more power and economy. Of course that stroked 4.0 sounds cool. Definitely want a VG33 later but I hate to ditch this little VG30 right now, it still has good even compression and doesn't burn any oil. I don't mind yanking the heads though! I'll probably have to just to drill out all the exhaust studs that will break! What I've been thinking is for now, convert fuel injection over to a OBD2 port injection, pull heads and do some mild porting, (a buddy of mine used to have a flow bench I'll have to check with him) and put some good cams. A set of headers and good exhaust system and I'll think I have a race truck compared to what I have now. Then I can sit a VG33 on a stand in my shop and slowly build it.

For removing a seal like the cam or front crank I drill a small hole in the face of the seal and use a small auto body slide hammer dent puller to pop the seal out. Just be careful when drilling the seal that the bit doesn't walk and hit the sealing surface. As for loosening and tightening the cam gears, do it with the belt still on. James

I can't stop thinking about this motor build! I never looked into the capabilities of the VG33 but now I see there is no reason to swap a V8 into our pathy when the little V6 can do what we need. So in your opinion the VG33 heads are better than the VG30? My VG30I is a 3/87 production date. Missed it by a month! The article didn't really explain why use the 30 over the 33 heads. Also I don't have a parts bin full of Q45 pistons so I think standard VG pistons bored slightly over should be good enough. He used nissan motorsport cams, are those not available anymore? I didn't find anything on his link. I knew these engines could push more power but to get better fuel mileage too would be great. Right now my pathy has neither power or fuel mileage. I see I need to start checking out that VG website. Only problem is I'm broke right now! I need to stop buying guns and save up for a motor. I will need to swap the injection system over too. I need to find a newer pathy with a burnt auto for cheap. James

If you have oil leaks from both sides it might be more than just those two seals. I would pull the motor out and reseal the whole thing. It's alot easier to change all the seals and gaskets with the motor out. James

Talk about smarter than the driver, I just had to replace what is effectively the blower motor resistor on my 06 titan with auto climate control. For the body computer to determine what speed to run the A/C cabin fan it monitors the temp inside the truck, temp outside the truck, sun load from a sensor on the dash which also tells it when to turn on the headlights, engine temp so it's not blowing cold air when you want heat, and vehicle speed, huh! All this just to determine what speed to run the fan. It may be smarter than the driver but I think its confusing it's self too! Makes me like my pathy even more. James

If your heater core is leaking it will make steam inside the vehicle, but you would smell antifreeze. James

I use a hitch basket too. I'm thinking of making an extension for it because I cant put my ice chest on it with the tire in the way. Once I get it sticking out that far I might as well just pull my small trailer though. James

Really? I will have to try that. I even tried rainx on my helmet and it still fogs up. I guess I'm just full of hot air! Funny story to go with that. My helmet is a modular flip up and after I put it on I leave the drive way with it up and flip it down once I start rolling. Sometimes it fogs pretty bad but the wind slowly clears it so I flip it down and watch the lines on the side of the road till it clears. (this is at 4:00 in the morning so roads are usually clear) One morning while waiting for it to clear suddenly I feel the whole bike lift and almost through me off! It takes alot to lift a 750# bike plus my 200# off the pavement but it was a big possum. I hit him square across his back lucky for me (not for him) so I didn't lay the bike down. For the next two weeks I had to ride with the visor flipped up till I passed his remains so I didn't run over him again. We got alot of critters crossing the roads down here, I do live in a rural area. James

Now why did you have to go and post that link! Now I'm ready to build a motor like that. While looking for the reason as to why use the 3.0 heads on a 3.3 block I think I found a mistake in the article. He states he is using late VG30E heads. Then he says they came from a wrecked xterra. Didn't all xterras come with 3.3 engines? James

Nunya's right they are exactly the same even the plastic cover that goes over the wires. I grabbed two distributors so I would have a spare. One from a 97 quest and one from a 94 pathy. The only visible difference is the metal tab that holds the wiring harness to the bottom is in a different position making the wire a little shorter. The sensor I mentioned earlier was bolted to the block not the distributer. The pathy I pulled the distributor from had a sensor just like it bolted to the intake plenum right behind the coil. Makes me think it is a knock sensor. Also I remember someone stating that the throttle body on the 4 cyl was the same as the V6, so I grabbed one of these too off of an 87 truck. I also grabbed an extra set of tail lights for insurance. As long as I have a set on the shelf I will never break one. A throttle body, two distributors and two tail lights right under $80, I love pick a parts! James

Yea he may get luck but thats a silly question to ask. What's the first thing anyone does when their engine stalls? Say "what the hell" and hit the key! Lol! James

Thanks Nunya for the quick response, you rock! I had remembered the plate and having to dent the valve cover too. Just wasn't sure if I needed the coil and any other small parts. I would like to swap to the mpfi in the future but with a 3.3, the efficiency of this TBI setup sucks. My brother had the same setup on a 86.5 2wd hardbody that was much more efficient. The only difference I see is the gearing wasn't as low on the hardbody. It had way more get up and go too. I will have to see about getting hold of a donner truck for the 3.3 swap though and move everything over. This dizzy swap is just because these guys say its a better distributer. James

I'm sure someone wrote one (My1path) but I can't find it. I think it was Nunya that said a Quest distributor will work too. Right now there are two quest (93 & 97) and two pathys (94 & 95) in the pick a part that all have distributors so I cant resist grabbing a few for future projects. Do I just need the distributor? Any other parts I should pull? The quest have a little sensor plugged in right next to the hold down bolt, anyone know what that is for? I will go yank both pathy distributors today because they usually go fast, y'all let me know what else I need to go back for. James

So how did you fix your odometer? Do you have to remove the face to get to the gears? My trip odometers won't reset sometimes so I was thinking about getting in there and putting some graphite. I don't know if I want to pluck the needle off though, with my big fingers I'm sure to screw something up. James

The wrecker drivers always get to go out in the worst weather. Like in the pouring down rain with hip boots on trying to latch on to some idiot that hydroplaned off a curve into a flooded ditch! By the time you finally get them out you realize the hip boots did you no good and will be really hard to get off now that they are full of water! You guys really got to like your job! James

Pull the wire off your sensor and short it to ground. The gage should peg out hot, with it unplugged and key on it should stay all the way cold. James

If I stay off the interstate I think around 2600 rpms it gets 16 to 17 mpg. My engineering didn't help so I guess I can take the vise grips off. I will just have to ignore the fuel mileage till spring then fix my exhaust and go from there. I just don't understand how a 3L motor can burn this much fuel. My 5.6L titan does better than the pathy on fuel mileage both highway and in town and it has some ass under the pedal. If it's going to burn that much fuel it should at least has some power! James

You guys up north can get y'all selves is some crazy @!*%! I think it would take an hour for my butt to let go of the seat after some terrain like that! I like Louisiana's nice flat mud holes. Only problem is the 3 hours bent over with a pressure washer to get the 5 inches of caked on mud off once I get home. But hey I'm filling in all the low spots in my yard with the mud I bring home. Extreme90path If you would like closeup pics of my KMA bumper I can try to take some this weekend. I have some decent pics here from when I first put it on. http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=27760 James

Let us know how it works when you put it back together. My passenger window works but runs slow till it's half way up. It's really slow when its cold. I hosed the tracks down with silicon spray but it didn't seem to make a difference. Maybe I need to clean my motor out too. James

Thats some really nice looking install jobs y'all did! James

Should be just like any other 12V motor. Make sure your shaft bushings aren't worn and well greased. Brushes aren't worn to nothing and still have good spring tension on them. While you have it apart check continuity on the armature, for shorting the the center shaft and between the segments. When I read the title to this post and who had posted it, the first thought that popped into my head was "no but I bet you already did!" James

I haven't changed the brakes on my pathfinder yet but the slotted frozen rotors and hawk pads made a huge difference on my Titan. This combo stops so much better that before I got used to it the pedal felt spongy. Then I realized that it felt soft because I wasn't pushing it as hard as I used to to get the same braking force. When the rear need changing I'm ordering another set from frozen rotors. Same for when the pathy needs front brakes. James

Awesome! I cant wait to see your progress, post lots of pics as you go. If someone can stuff a chevy V8 in a wd21 your swap should be possible. Have fun with the wiring though! James

We'll see, I did some Cajun engineering! I clamped a big pair of vise grip pliers on the flange to hold it together Lol! It slowed the leak down but didn't seem to make too much difference with the O2 running lean. Maybe it needs a little run time to register the difference. I'm going hunting this weekend so I will see if it makes a difference. I hope I don't loose my vise grips! James