Slartibartfast

A timing check would tell you, unless you've adjusted the distributor since the problem started. The distributor is driven off the cam, so if the crank sprocket has slipped a tooth, your timing will be way off the 15° it should be when the engine's warmed up. That said, I'm not sure I'd want to run the engine long enough to warm it up if I suspected the timing belt was losing ground.

Driving with the hub unlocked shouldn't hurt anything. I guess you could've borked it in the five feet you drove with it engaged, but I'd be kinda surprised. Pull it apart, inspect for damage, and if it's good, grease it and throw it back together. The diff is just a bolted flange, so no worries there. The hub end doesn't hold the wheel bearing together like it does on some trucks (I think Dodge does it like that?) but it does have a seal for the back of the wheel bearing.

I haven't had a chance to tear into a manual (both my rigs are auto) but from what I've read, there should be a boot and a snap ring that come out to release the shifter rod, then the bushing should be on the end of the shifter.

Yeah, the light under the hood came in really handy one night when my headlights quit unexpectedly and I had to troubleshoot on the side of the road! I ended up improving on the design for my '93 with LED strip lighting--a strip under the leading edge of the hood and one under the fender flange on both fender walls. Really lights up the engine bay.

IIRC there's a plastic bushing at the bottom of the shifter that can go bad. I'd start by checking that.

Sorry, I meant the mile markers. And I only used the router for the plastic hub caps, not the rims--or are your center caps alloy? The bit I used was a flush-cut, straight sides and a bearing on top the same diameter as the blades (this kinda thing). Meant for trimming up overhanging parts on wood projects. I found a larger bearing in my box-o-random-crap, slid that on over the stock bearing, and added washers top and bottom to hold it in place, and that spaced it out how I wanted it. It went through the plastic quite easily. I have not tried using a router on aluminum, though I'm sure someone out there has. I can see it working in theory... not sure I'd be first in line to try it though, especially not on a part I cared about.

I ran one of those in my '95 for a while. +1 on the light output, it was actually too much for me--opening the door at night made my eyes hurt! It ended up under the hood as a trouble light, and I downgraded the dome lights to smaller warm-white LED panels.

Nice work! Looks a whole lot nicer than the modified barbeque my MIG calls home.

Sorry to hear they didn't fit your rims properly. Same kit fit my WDs just fine, though I did have to trim the hubcaps. I used a router table. Flush cut bit with a big bearing added to the top so it would ride around the inside of the hubcap at the depth I wanted. It actually worked really well. I did consider doing it freehand but quickly realized that I had neither the patience nor the skill to get that right.

The parts list sounds reasonable to me from what I can see in the picture. Just the coil packs are about $100 each on FactoryNissanParts.com, and I'll bet Nissan wants an arm and a leg for the harness, so I doubt the price is far off. If I'm fixing my own rig, I'll take a chance on wrecking yard parts, but a pro mechanic won't want to gamble on it--a bad part means taking it all apart again, and that adds shop time to your bill and takes his time away from his other jobs. Also, I don't know about the wrecking yards where you live, but the yards around here like selling motors whole, not just a few parts off of them here and there.

Sounds like the mechanic doesn't want to do it LOL. Can't blame him, I've been putting mine off (not that bad yet). If the manifold is cracked you could probably get one at a wrecker or through a part-out.

Not sure how burning pine needles in the HVAC would make the engine quit.

It would be the first worn out rear end in one of these I've heard of. More likely the brakes are hung up. If you can't find aftermarket parts, you could try factorynissanparts.com. If you want an exploded diagram of the rear end, the PD section of the '94 or '95 service manual should show you what you're working with and how it all goes back together again.

Reconnecting the ground might've helped the sensors read more accurately but probably didn't have anything to do with the other stuff the truck is doing. Stalling in gear isn't uncommon when the engine's not running well anyway. I would check the wiring for the fuel injectors, could just be a bad connection that intermittently craps out (or goes in and out, explaining the power surging feeling). The reverse issue unfortunately is probably inside the trans. From what I've read these things have a seal in the pump that goes bad and reduces the available pressure to lock up the clutch packs, and reverse needs the most pressure to lock up, so it's the first to quit. That would also explain why revving it made it engage for a while (spinning the pump faster, making more pressure). Heat on the floor suggests the trans might be working too hard. That would make sense if it was stuck in 4x. The transfer case lever doesn't actually push the transfer from 4x to 2x, it just lets a spring inside disengage 4x; I assume this is so you can't muscle it out under torque load and chip the engagement splines or something. Under torque bind, it can stick. I had a lot of trouble with it sticking in my '95 until I changed the transfer case fluid. Is the gear noise you're hearing like the sound of someone failing to drive a manual (grinding it) or more like a whining noise? I had an auto hub crap out on my '95 that tried to either engage or disengage while I was driving (I never knew what those hubs were up to) and it chattered and howled like shifting with no clutch until I got it to disengage. It was loud, too, I thought the wheel was falling off or something.

Yikes. Looks like it could've been much worse than it was, though. I would start digging into it before even trying to start it. Look for lines and hoses that could be burned up, or could've caused the fire. You don't want to turn the fuel pump on with a gas line burned through! I would be very suspicious of the wiring in the area of the fire and check it closely for burned insulation. Hopefully it's just the taped loom cover stuff that's burned; hard to tell what's just burned plastic from the silly plastic cover melting and what's actually damaged in the picture. You don't want bare/shorted wires when you go to start it. It looks like the fire wasn't going for long, so hopefully the damage is limited. Once you're confident that everything's hooked up right, make sure you have an extinguisher handy, then try starting it. If the hoses and wiring in that area are intact (or replaced), I would expect it to start up like normal. Unless that fire was way hotter than it looks I doubt the engine's internals even noticed. (VQs do have metal valve covers, right?) Then once you can get it out of the parking lot, get that oil leak taken care of!

I haven't heard of a knock sensor failing only when warm. Also, however much the ECU detunes the motor when the knock sensor thinks there's a problem, it shouldn't be making it sputter.

I think I remember one other thread where a resistor or something burned out in the computer. Certainly not common though. I would take the cover off the computer and look for anything obviously burned. If it is burned out, I would be inspecting the harness for short circuits before putting a good ECU in its place.

Also check your U-joints while you're down there.

Doesn't sound like KS to me. Sounds more like a bad O2.

How are your front diff bushings? Long shot but that's all I can think of.

I wouldn't count on Nissan to stand behind it, sadly. They're not good at that. If you managed to get any of their "not in the TSB" replies in writing, you might be able to rub their noses in it, but I'd still be surprised if it got you anywhere. When my dad had an '07 Frontier, they (not sure if it was the individual dealer or Nissan corp) actually advised him about the issue and suggested he bypass the stock cooler and run an aftermarket one. They refused to pay for the job, however. It was still in warranty then and they were still on the hook if it crapped out, but they were willing to gamble that either he'd pay out of pocket to fix it before it broke or the trans cooler would hold on long enough for the warranty to run out. I guess if they fixed one defective product, they could be forced to fix them all. Hopefully you can find a good used trans in your price range. The only other budget option I can think of is to try and rebuild the trans yourself, but that's probably not realistic unless you have a whole lot of time to devote to this and/or mad skills you haven't mentioned. Also, from your description, it sounds like there might be something of a horror show waiting inside.

I carry a Hazard Freight 750w inverter and a Homeless Despot 120v air compressor when I know I'll need to air up tires. Not built in and certainly not quick (the compressor was meant to run an air nailer or something) but it gets the job done eventually. I actually used it today to help a friend air up all eight (!) tires on his RV. As for where to mount the tank, I would look at the floor underneath the rear seats. The driveshaft goes through the middle obviously but there should be some room on either side of it. I've also heard of people plumbing tube bumpers for on board air.

Good to hear! My uncle welded some plates on my '95 to buy it some time but the more I looked, the less solid metal I found. Even if I pulled the body off and plated it I wouldn't have trusted it to tow. Then I found a '93 with a good frame and a tow bar for cheap and the '95 became a parts car. The frame on the '93 is good and solid and I'm hoping to keep it that way. Washed it out, wire wheeled/painted what I could, just need to decide on what kind of rust prevention to spray in there next. I'll probably end up mixing some kind of ATF-based special sauce in a weed sprayer and do it that way.

Good thinking. My dad had one in his '01 but I don't remember the brand. It was a different design, looked like somebody chopped up a shopping cart, and most of what I remember is trying to get it to quit rattling! Looks like the one you ordered should do better with that.

My plan for mine is to keep it clean, paint what I can, and oil what I can't paint.