88pathoffroad

Lie underneath and do some bench presses while watching the suspension parts, then you can see what's loose or missing.

If you want replacement parts, a dealership or junkyard are your first options. Ebay maybe, but I can't remember ever seeing weatherstripping on Ebay for a Pathy.

There's not really that much debate on what axle to use for an SAS. If you go the easy route and don't change t-case and trans, you get a driver's drop D44. Plenty strong enough with a few upgrades. Lots of people have them. Good axle choice for a budget build, which is what most people want. If you want something else, you'll pretty much have to change transmission, t-case and go with a different front axle. Expensive and you'll pretty much have to engineer everything yourself...steering, driveshaft, etc...

The only problem changing gearing is that the ring and pinion alone cost over $500 just for the parts. Each axle. It's not cheap to re-gear, which is why nobody does it unless they have a large amount of disposable income.

Does the current rag joint have play in it? I'd suspect steering parts lower down first for looseness.

XE is the base model. XE's with no extra options had manual windows and door locks, etc. You COULD get any other option offered on the SE installed in an XE if ordered that way, though. Hence, a lot of XE's have power windows, electric mirrors, etc. Most XE's have black trim and bumpers. SE is the next step up, commonly referred to as the Sport model. SE's usually had all the goodies like better dash gauges, power windows, locks and mirrors. A chrome package was available but not always standard issue. LE is the flagship model. LE's usually have leather seats and all the goodies. But again: some accessories were still optional. AFAIK most came with the chrome package. There was a lot of mixing and matching, so I couldn't say for sure what trim level a given Pathy is until decoding the VIN I think.

They're ALL hydraulic clutch systems. Funny, that's the first time I've heard that one. Yes, people with an MT have installed Thorleys. MaritimeMan is one. Martin (mws) is another.

Let's start by finding out what the Pathy has to begin with and go from there. If you have a stock Pathy with shot tires and steering, it's fairly obvious where you should start modding things, but hey. Diff'rent strokes...

Mine had no amps. Came with a two-knob AM/FM/cassette, but different than yours. You can check under the dash and behind the glove box for the other end of the antenna connector. Maybe it's pulled loose or has abraded through somewhere. Try wiggling the antenna with the stereo on and see if it crackles. No idea on the power/sound issues. Call Metra and ask them what's wrong with their product! Otherwise, rewire the whole thing yourself and start snipping wires.

I have a couple of those pics from MM...hold on. Here we go!

You should have seen what I had to do to Rami's steering shaft. I had to weld a piece of tubing to it with a washer tacked to that while I pounded the piss out of it in a vise. Then I had to grind down the welds and make it pretty again. All that aside, have someone else turn the steering wheel for you while you listen to see exactly where the squeaks are coming from.

My GOD, who pays $95 per diff to pull two plugs and put new gear oil in? OW! Yeah, funny they didn't suggest replacing the exhaust, that'd be a whole 'nother bag of worms. A thermal element/wax choke is used on 87-89 VG30i's for cold idle speed. I didn't think 97's had that. *looks* By God, they DO have one. Right on the throttlebody. That'd be easy as anything to replace yourself. On the CV boots, I just buy new boots for $11 each and rebuild the axle. It's cheap, easy and saves a TON of money if you can do it yourself.

105,000 miles is your limit.

Yup. People have been doing that for a while now.

I know, it's still slow. I have to open a trouble ticket with IPB to get them to mess with it. You think you can do better than I already have on smilies?

*goes to look for smiley packs to upload* Weeee OK, I fixed all the disappearing smileys, now I just have to find more.

I'll take a look at the smiley setup, I'd jump up and down if I can add new ones. The old board had no settings for uploading new ones. Fixing the header pic soon...

About an inch or so, height-wise. 'Course that much will still change the alignment.

Yes, the problem I'm experiencing stems from the prior owner of my UCA's, who cut off the bumpstop tabs. My line of reasoning is, why not just drop the diff so it doesn't chafe so bad and be able to have my cake and eat it too? It's just a mod, I don't expect it to make the Pathy much better but I want the chance to try. I'm not advocating everyone else do it, just trying it out myself.

The diff drop we're talking about is a simple round bushing with the center hole located closer to one edge, not centered. That way you can simply change bushings and the diff mounting point is now a little lower; it's simply to ease the angles on the CV's at full droop. Pic of the SLR drop kit:

Whoops, sorry. I got the opposite word of what I meant. You are correct, sir.

It's been said numerous times. 3+3=33 A 3" BL will work better for 33's cause it's not a static lift, it permanently lifts the body. The body will always be 3" higher than stock no matter what. You STILL have to trim a lot of fender. A suspension lift gives you 3" upward but the downward travel will put you right back at stock height over bumps, etc. That's why with only a 3" suspension lift 33's will rub BAD.

Crank 'em up a little more again and trim.

Crank 'em up a little more again and trim.

The point is, I'd like the max amount of travel and use I can get out of it and relocating the diff down a little helps a lot in that department. Your method is fine if you stay near-stock, I simply would like a little more out of mine.