Slartibartfast

Boxed, except it's sort of open at the top IIRC. Road dirt gets in, can't get out, and holds water against the metal. If there's any salt in that water, it'll eat the frame. You can tell rust vs solid by the sound. Tap it on the top (should be solid there)... it'll make a sort of ping. If you hit rust, it'll go thunk, as what's left of the metal gives a little. For reference, here's where mine rotted out. As you can see, it was full of dirt. You can't really look into the rail without removing the bumper, which is a real PITA. A flashlight wouldn't hurt, but the hammer's still your best bet. If you can put the rear axle on a jack and pull a wheel off, you'll get a much better look at the frame! Also check the driver's rail above the exhaust in the back, mine had what looked like a crack, turned out it had about a foot-long rust hole. And this is on a car with almost no body rust. Sounds like the one you're looking at is really clean, hope everything works out.

Any chance it's a California truck?

Make sure it's not just a clog in your tranny cooler, that could reduce the pressure enough to screw with things. A new (clean) cooler might help. Though, if you've been driving it for a while like this, it might well have buggered the clutches.

... I have to ask. What happens when you have 68 PSI at the injectors?

If you plan to reuse your factory flares/mud flaps, eyeball the mounting holes to see if they're the same. I know the mounts in the back changed between 93 and 95, because the 93 flare I picked up won't fit my 95... They should be the same, but it can't hurt to check.

Mine was an Idaho car. Definitely check for rust, maybe even pull the rear wheel off. (I didn't notice mine until I tried to clean the rail to undercoat it.) The price does seem a little high, but if it's as nice as you say, it's all about what it's worth to you. I figure resale value only matters if you're looking to flip it. If you end up paying full price, though, make sure you inspect the holy hell out of it.

I wasn't thinking IFS, I was thinking the ends off a solid front axle. And are the knuckles mounted straight up and down? I don't understand all the steering angles and stuff very well... especially if it was locked straight on-road, and used on the trail, I guess it wouldn't be an issue. With the offset diff, wouldn't the angles put more strain on the U joints and cause more vibration? LOL I know what you're talking about. after someone asked about making one amphibious, I was staring at my truck for weeks thinking about where to put ducted water jets, and where to tie them in... If nothing else, 4WS would be great in tight parking lots! edit: derp

I don't figure you'd need to mess with the gears, just flip it over. Of course, the steering angles would be all weird, but you'd have to mess with them anyway (as it would be essentially running backward). And then there's the offset driveshaft... My dodgy and generally dangerous idea is to take the ends of a front axle, with the knuckle mounts and all, chop the ends off of the stock Pathy rear axle, and fit the front axle bits in their place. That gives you full control over the angles, the mounts are there already... adapting the shafts would likely be a PITA, though. Or, swap in axles from one of those crazy long missile transport trucks or something... try calling the local jy with that one. Edit: word salad

Pretty sure the tbars are the same for the d21 and the wd21. There's a thread on reindexing them. If you look under the car, they're the long rods going from the frame crossmember to the lower front steering arms. I'm sitting dead stock on 31x10.5s, and my bars might have sagged a little, but it doesn't rub at all. Then again, I've got the full-width rims. Do you have junkyards in Hawaii? You might get a set of proper wheels there, or try Craigslist. The tire place was able to mount a 31 to my spare wheel, which I think is the same size as what you've got. I've never had to use it, so I don't know if it would rub. For the cheap lift, from what I've read, you just replace your UCAs (fixes alignment), re-index up the torsion bars, install a panhard drop bracket, and swap out your stock rear springs for springs out of a junked Jeep. Then comes the fun of beefing up your steering!

Didn't touch the steering. IIRC it's a matter of rolling it to the side just enough to get it past the lines and whatnot. Also, it's a PITA!

Nissan owner's manual, page 3-11, 4-wheel drive model: Automatic Transmission model: below 30 mph, less than 40 miles. If speed or distance must necessarily be greater, remove the front and rear propeller shafts beforehand to prevent damage to the transmission. It also says not to tow backward. Auto transmissions have a lot of parts, I imagine it needs a spinning engine to keep everything lubed up. Then again, I don't know why they'd say to pull the front shaft, so long as the hubs are unlocked it shouldn't be moving at all. Then again, it also says to only put tire chains at the back, for some reason.

The deal with the cooler is the trans needs pressure to engage the clutch packs. When the cooler clogs up, there's no pressure, and the clutches don't engage. With a new cooler, you restore pressure and you're good to go. The problem IIRC is if you keep driving it with a partial clog, and the clutches half-engage and grind each other down. Also somebody on here used the stock cooler out of a Ford Exploder, he said it was $5 or something at the junkyard.

+1, that shield over the wires gets in the way. My dad left it off when we did mine (the second time!) and that was a year ago... no problems since. That's my shield. There are four holes where there should be two... first time we replaced the starter we had to re-drill it, because the new starter's mount holes were different. The second time the holes were different again and had to be sort of between where we already had holes.

I think your novelty horn is stuck on. Looks like a pretty solid set of plates.

Holy crap Kyle, think you've got enough backspacing in there! How's it do with the fenders?

When you turn the key, the solenoid pushes the gear out to mesh with the flywheel. At the end of its throw it completes a circuit to the starter motor itself. So, yeah, the starter won't run if the solenoid's not moving. I've heard you can beat on the solenoid and get it moving sometimes, but it's more of a 'get me to the parts store' thing than a fix.

Don't see how the computer would get wet, unless he's got some serious rust issues! Does sound like water got into a plug or sensor... pull apart whatever plugs you can, shoot some WD-40 in there, and see if that helps. Try reading the codes, might tell you which connector to focus on.

Where did the cable break/come loose? Any chance you can snag the end and pull from there? Otherwise you're looking at trying to reach in through the grille or something. IIRC someone else had this happen a few months ago, but I don't remember seeing a resolution. Might help to have a go at the hood release in a truck at the junkyard, just so you can figure out what's supposed to move.

Well, calculated my milage the other day... 14. Not unexpected though, most of that tank was spent in 4x, and I had some fun in the snow.

Sorry, but... why? To make sure the rope's still there?

Nice work TME. Looks like you might need a back up camera soon. Speaking of which, what's that hooked to Kiwipete's rear window hinge?

If you're going to repaint, I'd go black... not much white to tie into on a PF.

Try section PD of the Factory Service Manual: http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/pathfinder/1995_Pathfinder/ That's for the stock setup though, I assume you'd have a few other steps putting in different gears... did you get any info/instructions with the parts? Props for doing it yourself, but do make sure you do it right. The PO (or somebody) of my dad's Triumph botched the mesh of the ring and pinion, and the ring spat off a tooth with enough force to punch a hole in the casing.

Pulled the air conditioner belt off, hoping to kill my 2k rpm squeaky sound... nope. Filled 'er up.

Spare tire aired up, check the lights, and yeah, the general maintenance stuff. Can't hurt to check strut mounts etc for rust.