ColoradoGMA

it's still pretty short, overall... the rear deck is 36" L (nose to rear) x48" wide (drivers to passengers), and the front is 28" x 48" so, it'll only sleep one, in reality, unless you're really really short. if i put the front seats up, that adds a few inches of over lap, which is nice... i made it pretty "tall" too, so i could fit lots of stuff underneath. now i need to figure out a way to hang some bug netting in the windows, so i can have a cool night breeze without the little bugs sucking my blood. a little privacy would be nice, too... but, mainly, it's just a fun project. happy pathfinding!

for a long time, i've had the idea of building a deck in the back of a SUV... that way, i could sleep on top of the deck in my truck on fishing trips and store my gear below the deck in tubs, etc... so, i finally got around to working on it this week... i built it in two sections... one for the "way" back, that can stay in when the rear seats are up, and another section that can go in when the seats are folded down, creating one, large flat deck. i used some turnbuckles to secure it to the floor of the truck, to keep it steady. i'm pretty pleased with how it looks, and i can't wait to try it out soon!! i'll try to take some higher res pics soon... whee!

oh... right on about the lines and teeth... that makes sense, i suppose, since the belt would have to go through either three or six full cycles to get lined back up... and re: the cam seals, i was just saying... even with some tapping we had to perform some violence on the existing seals to get them out... thanks for the follow up, fellas.

finished the job and it started right up!! yee-haw. several little tidbits that i think might help newbies to these kinds of projects (because i'm something of a newbie... just moving on to this level of work after changing a few alternators, etc...) - buy a set of misc. size plugs/ caps to seal up the hoses and nipples (hehe) on the radiator as you remove hoses early on - have lots of drain pans for both transmission fluid and coolant, as both will run out when disconnecting said hose - on my 96 pathfinder, i found out (too late... after cracking it pulling it out) that the fan shroud has a way to clip out part of the bottom half of the shroud. that would have made removal way easier - plan on having plenty of room to lay things out, so you can remember what order you removed items. it's an intense job and it gets a little fuzzy on re-attachment - loosening and removing the power steering pump belt is a pain. the tensioner bolt is tucked away and hard to get to... best access is from the bottom, on the ground. a side-ratcheting box end wrench is ideal for this job. a normal ratchet doesn't really fit and it is very fiddly with a non ratcheting wrench. also, when you've removed that belt, it is an ideal time to go ahead and change your oil filter, since it is right there. - the cam shaft seals are a PAIN to get out, it'll take some digging... - i used a steel brush attached to a drill and a dremel with a steel brush to buff the paper gasket residue off from where the water pump was sitting, and to clean the thermostat housing, etc. worked really well and then i used some compressed air to blow out all of the residue. - rent or borrow and air compressor and air wrench. made this job SO much easier. i don't know how one would remove the cam shaft bolts otherwise... would have been a much harder job without air power. - once i got it all apart, the previous mechanic had NOT lined up the lines on the belt with the dimples on the cam sprocket. watch out for that kind of thing... the dimples on the sprockets TRUMP the lines on the belt, if the belt has not been installed properly. - and as others have said, slow and steady wins the race. read and re-read and think carefully about each step. thanks so much for this write up and for those who've contributed. it is a MIGHTY GOOD feeling to turn that key over and hear that engine start up again after such a big job... good luck, y'all!!

yeah, my buddy brought over his compressor and impact wrench... i don't know how people would do this job without air... ahhhhh...

what's this lower bearing? i've not seen it mentioned in any of the other parts of the thread, but i could just be overlooking it...

oh, one more thing i need to get straight... so, you're all the way into the front of the engine, and you've set everything to TDC, you've removed the t-belt and now you want to replace the cam seals... how do you go about loosening each cam pulley to get at the seal? i'm assuming there's no way to loosen those cam bolts without moving that individual cam off TDC. it okay to jack with the position of the cam while you're working on that one, and then reset it to TDC before moving on to the other? OR, do you loosen the cam bolts, THEN set to TDC, then remove the belt, the cam pulleys and seals etc, etc? just trying to get the order right so i don't screw myself over. thanks, GMA

so, i'm going to be tackling this job this weekend... my questions are about parts: are the off the shelf parts from autozone/ checkers/ etc. good enough, or is it worth it to wait a bit and order nissan factory parts? mainly, i'm worried about tensioner and water pump. is there an marked difference between factory water pump and off the shelf stuff? thoughts? opinions?