Slartibartfast

Power mode on my 95 is a switch on the far left of the dash. Do you have the owner's manual to check where (or if) it is on yours? Flooring it should put it into power mode, so maybe try that, see if it shifts right with your foot to the floor. Not a solution obviously but it might shed light on something else.

I run OEM bulbs... and a set of 55W driving lights with the high beams.

It would be interesting to see how the guy in the vid did it... if the firewall's different enough for it the Z31 engine to drop in, perhaps part of the firewall could be transplanted from a JY HB to a Pathy? That, a fake cowl hood for top end clearance, and a body lift, and the z31 engine wouldn't know the difference, right? Sounds like a fair bit of work but still less than trying to move the engine forwards. Or, yeah, use a stock intake and forget the whole issue. Speaking of that fake cowl hood... seems like you could cut a hole in the hood and mount a real cowl to it, and then mount an intercooler on top of the intake (so it would stick up through the hole into the cowl). It could save a whole lot of tubing vs hanging it out the front while still (probably, I don't know jack about intercoolers) having enough air blowing past it to make it worthwhile. If you custom built the intercooler or had it done you could position the inlets as close to the turbos as possible to further limit the amount of tubing you'd have to work around. I'm getting all kinds of ideas I can't begin to afford.

Yeah, mine's got a middle belt too. My clips busted off because my friends couldn't figure out how to grab a belt buckle and lift. I tried putting wire hanger things in their place but they sort of met the same fate... lol one of these days I'll redneck rig something more durable. And what are those hinge covers even for?!?

Hopefully the right fluid will make it work right. Mine's stalled out on me on cold starts a few times, but I didn't think much of it except that the engine needed to warm up.

I ghetto tested the EGR on mine by sucking on one of the tubes, pinching it off, and then seeing if it made the valve open up. Some kind of vacuum pump would be good for this because, as I quickly discovered, EGR components don't taste very nice.

Cool that it outperformed a humvee! Better tires might take care of the understeer. IIRC Mr. 510 blew out his his strut rod bushings with a front LSD in a WD21. Maybe the R50 front end is better suited to handle the force, or maybe Mr. 510's bushings were about shot already and wheeling with LSD just finished them off.

Same place mine did it!

I can't imagine how the torsion bar would slap anything short of it being well and truly buggered (like snapped in half or bent to hell).

Almost sounds like a heat soak thing... I dunno how cold it is in MN but around here my gauge usually sits right about in the middle once it's warmed up. You might double check the engine temp when it's acting up.

First thing I'd do is disconnect the door chime just to make sure it's not that. I can't imagine it would be, but still. Maybe your AC idler is bad? If it started when you had the work done, maybe something is binding in the distributor? I'm running Hella 500s with no noises so it's not that.

My understanding is that you drill out the stock bushings, then get two-piece poly bushings and press those in by hand.

I've never noticed noise from the vents on mine. In fact this is the first I've heard that they do anything at all, I always figured they were about as useful as the little vents on the hood! I had a whine in a certain RPM range a while back that turned out to be a failing timing belt tensioner. You say it's the same in different gears though so that doesn't sound like the problem. How's the weatherstripping on your sunroof look?

IIRC the diffs are all the same, make sure you get one matched to your rear diff ratio though.

I would also reset the ECU just so that it's not running on old info.

I'd be suspicious of the inhibitor relay. IIRC it's the grey one in front of the wiper fluid bottle. The contacts inside might be getting sketchy.

Topped up the brake fluid, thought about flushing it, and fixed my leaky washer fluid reservoir with some rubber cement on the rubber fittings.

Check the coolant temperature sensor. When it goes bad it causes all kinds of trouble.

Do you have a camcorder? Try mounting it under the truck somewhere, then drive over a bump and see if you can tell what's moving around. I'd bet on a bushing rather than the frame. That said mine makes a crazy knocking/rattling noise when I go over bumps, and it's because my tire carrier bushings are shot. Slam your tire carrier shut (or have someone else do it while you're inside the truck) and see if it makes the same noise.

Yeah, I doubt the OBD1 computer would know what to do with the VQ. VGs have a single coil and a distributor. VQs have coil packs. VGs have cable throttles, VQs are drive-by-wire. I'm not saying it can't be done, but it seems to me like this project will be difficult enough just on the mechanical end. Unless you have leet hax, probably best to get an aftermarket system or adapt the factory stuff.

It shows both as 27.5mm and then has one inch different in standard. I'm leaning towards typo... then again the part # is different for some reason.

Nice work! I love redneck fixes. I lol'd at the grille, it actually looks pretty good.

If you have an auto trans car and a manual trans car, I see no reason you couldn't interchange parts between them. Your manual trans truck probably has mounting points for auto trans components, and you could pull the wiring from the donor car. I'm not saying it would be an afternoon project with a beer break in the middle but it should be doable. That said, oil consumption is a common issue on the VQ, something about the design of the PCV valve (or so I've read). They get scummy inside and start sucking oil. IIRC some people put a moisture trap sort of thing in with the PCV to catch the oil that gets through. They can be replaced (might not be an option for you) or cleaned out with solvents, and I see no reason why a better-designed PCV couldn't be integrated (for a whole lot less than buying a donor, which would likely have similar issues anyway). If the donors you're looking at have automatics and climate control, there's a good chance they'd have an auto transfer case as well (which I'm assuming yours doesn't). Again it could be swapped, or you could see if there's anything else in your area that Nissan used the same case on. The WD21s use the same (as far as I know, don't take my word for it) TX-10 manual transfer case as the R50s, so if you can find a wrecked WD (or a transfer case rebuild kit for one) you could probably use that.

IIRC a guy on another forum gave it a go on a WD? I don't remember seeing the project finished, and I can't seem to find it again. I think it's referred to here: http://www.4x4parts.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=451079&an=0&page=17

From the measurements on Swayaway's site it looks like only the 2wd hardbody has the shorter torsion bars. I think a few people on here run Energy Suspension bits with no problems. I've never heard of AutoExtra though.