Slartibartfast

Manual or auto? If auto, when was the fluid last changed? This sounds more like a transmission thing than an engine thing to me. Other than that, plugs/wires/MAF clean are probably about due anyway. And welcome to the forum!

Does it do this with overdrive on/off?

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So you're running ether mixed with premium? Even if the mileage is as good as you say, I can't imagine that being cheaper than regular fuel.

The lock timer is behind the driver's side panel in the cargo area. It's a little grey box and it should even be labeled 'lock timer.' Huh... my lock seems fine mechanically, but I'll have to check out this little tab. Could be worse, a friend of mine drives an Astro with a busted driver's door handle... he crawls in from the passenger side every time he gets in!

IIRC a VLSD would be more or less worthless for trail use, because they don't really kick in except at high speeds.

You might pull it out and check for bad solder joints on the back. $1k to get it replaced is insane. I'm sure a junkyard would sell you one for much less than that.

Sounds like the Cedric engine is a VG30. It would drop right in (once you put your old intake/accessories on it). But for just a little more work you could have a little more displacement with the VG33. I usually figure, if you're putting that much time in, don't just fix it, make it better. But either way would leave you with a functioning truck, assuming both engine swap candidates are in good shape. And if you're having a mechanic do the work, sticking with the VG30 would probably be cheaper.

Idle should be a little low once it's warmed up. But if it's running like crap and idling lower than before, sounds like the shop didn't count teeth right on the belt.

Welcome to my world, man. The first thing to do is to get a spare key. I don't think it's the security system. Some solder joint somewhere, probably in one of the doors (perhaps for the actuators) is cracked, or the little sliders around the lock are shot, or something. I've tried pulling the lock timer out of mine and re-soldering it (worth a shot if you've got a soldering iron, and dead simple to get to) but it didn't fix the problem. Blowing powdered graphite into the door locks from the outside makes it trip out worse. Don't do that. (This is why I think the sliding contacts that tell it to unlock everything when you twist the key twice are knackered). I tried that on mine... now the lock actuator actually fights me sometimes when I go to unlock it. Then again it acts up more when cold, so it may well be a solder joint issue. I'll let you know if I ever get mine figured out!

All I can think of is to take it apart and clean it out. The volume pot (probably not a real potentiometer) could probably use a shot of contact cleaner, and the rest of it could probably use a shot of compressed air/new oil/hairs and dust cleaned out. Yeah, with a new deck (on the WDs at least, not sure on R50s) you'll have factory amps to get rid of. I'm running a Sony Xplod head unit and I haven't gotten around to bypassing the amps yet. There's a little hiss, the beeping sound it makes is horrible (luckily it can be switched off), and I can't really turn it up past 10 without making myself deaf. One of these days I'll get round to fixing it. Or try this:

Nah, class clown would be buggering it to where the windows rolled down when you turned left or something. Good on you for figuring it out. But actually this gives me an idea... if I wired my key light to my brake lights, I wouldn't have to search around in the dark with the key.

Rust is like cancer... hack out as much as you can and treat with toxic chemicals! That said, we didn't bother on mine. We ground the surface down to metal and blasted out the inside with water, but we didn't hack out the thin metal. I would've preferred to cut it out and do it that way, but I wasn't the one doing the welding. We don't use road salt around here and I wash it out occasionally, so I'm not too worried about further corrosion.

I think there's a setting somewhere that you can change to fix this. The forum has a 'helpful' feature of not showing older topics unless you tell it to. I don't know where to find this setting though.

Underbody as in the frame? The pickup (Hardbody or Navara or whatever it's called where you are, and yes some are 4x4) frame is similar, but the rear suspension is different (and of course the body mounts will be in the wrong places). IIRC it's the same situation with the first-gen Xterra. Check out the frame rust repair thread, you can do a lot to save the old frame. And yeah, you can totally leave the VG33 cams in. VG30 cams apparently give you a bit more power, but the engine will run just fine with the cams that're in it.

I've wondered this myself... could work if you keep everything straight. Reverse cut gears shouldn't be necessary, you could just flip the diff housing over and drill/tap new drain and fill holes as needed. It would be a hell of a lot of work to get everything lined up... and move the diff out of the middle... and so on. So, doable, yes, but there's probably a reason nobody's attempted it yet.

Give this thread a readthrough. He went a little over the top with it (ported heads and bored to 3.4l), but it should give you an idea of what else is involved. If you can't find a VG33, you might see if you can find a TD27. It's a diesel engine that Nissan put into Terranos and Navaras. It would be a much more challenging swap of course (it probably would require a different transmission), but as they were factory equipment, parts should still be available. (Maybe not in Iraq, though.)

I don't imagine seafoaming the intake would do much of anything to the injectors. A fuel system treatment might though.

You have the coolest toys.

Did any of the idiot lights come on before it died? IIRC it'll light up the A/T temp idiot light (if you've got an auto), the battery light, and the brake light if the alternator's not charging. But yeah, I'd check all the connections to the alternator (including grounds) before assuming it was bad. Hopefully it's just a corroded contact or something.

Sounds like a good way to get tazed.

I would suspect that the inverter just shuts off if the ground plug sees power, like the ground fault outlets for bathrooms.

People laugh at you when you go around town in it?

Sounds like normal exhaust condensation. You know how water condenses on a cold glass? I imagine the water in the exhaust condenses on the cold exhaust system in much the same way until the tubing heats up properly. Whatever water vapor doesn't condense on the pipes comes out with the rest of the exhaust and freezes in the air (like your breath on a cold day), making the white smoke (fog). If it does this in July, you might have a problem. Given that the truck was sitting for three months, and was freezing cold when you started it, this seems entirely normal. It is possible to bugger an engine by not having enough antifreeze in the coolant (the water freezes and expands and something has to give), but I can't imagine it would start up and idle and hold water if this was the case.

I'd check the connections on the wiring going to the transmission and its computer, maybe something got torn into there. The FSM http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/pathfinder/1995_Pathfinder/ should have a test procedure and breakdown. You want the AT section.