Slartibartfast

The Xterra trans is normally used because they're stronger, not for a gearing change. From what I've read, it bolts right up, but may need the wiring extended. If the donor was supercharged you'll need the flexplate and torque converter to go with it. If you're cruising 55 at 3000, something's not right. Sounds like it's not going into overdrive. Check whether the overdrive switch on the shifter is turned off. You may need to lift off the gas for a moment to make it grab fourth, especially if it's in power mode. The trans looks at pedal position and vehicle speed to decide when to shift, so if you're having to give 'er to maintain 55, it's not going to upshift, because there's no point (if it's working that hard in third, it won't keep up in fourth). The service manual says at half throttle it won't grab overdrive until between 64 and 74 mph (varies by final drive gearing). These aren't rocket ships, and, again, higher gearing doesn't make it faster if you don't have the grunt to push the taller gears. I turn my overdrive off entirely when hills are involved because it's got bugger-all power in fourth. It'll cruise in fourth no problem if the road is reasonably flat, but on anything with grades, third works much better. Better engine braking for descents, too. I haven't noticed any difference in fuel economy lugging it in fourth vs revving it in third, and I don't get passed by motor homes in third. You might be able to swap enough bits around to make a 2WD trans work, not sure on that. I'd hold out for a 4WD trans unless you're looking for a science project.

Good luck!

Looks pretty good for aftermarket! Great use for wasted space.

Sounds like you've covered most of what I'd check. I'm assuming you've also gone over the vacuum lines. If you can borrow a timing light, that might give you some idea--not as much what it's set at (unless the distributor somehow moved on its own), more seeing if it's jumping all over the place or missing beats. I've read you can replace the transistor on the early systems with the later version from the multiport, might be worth looking into if you decide to fire the parts cannon. If it runs well at high RPM under load, I doubt it's fuel supply, though of course that doesn't rule out the computer or injectors doing something weird. How's the idle?

Man, that sucks. I would've expected what you did to work. Seems like the chip key reader on the used ignition would read the code from your key, which was matched to the computer already. The thieves tearing it apart when they didn't need to makes me wonder if something else went wrong and they were trying to get around it. Or they might've just been tweakers who tore into it for no particular reason, and they damaged something else that you haven't found yet. From what I've read, the security system is pretty much baked into the R50s, so you don't have much choice but to work with it. You may need to have a dealer get in there with their special Consult computer and reprogram it to work with your key. The service manual should have some explanation of the process, though of course it won't be that useful without the special scanner. It might have some wiring diagrams and component checks you can do to rule out physical problems, though.

RE the hood light, I stuck LED strips under the hood of mine a while back and wired them through the anti-theft hood switch. Hood up, lights on. Honestly one of my favorite mods I've done to the truck.

You've got a rare critter! Most two-doors had the TBI (VG30I) and the four-doors had multiport (VG30E), so that's why they're marked as two-door and four-door. The actual body shouldn't make a difference, AFAIK they're only different from the B pillars back. The smog controls are different between the two engines, which I assume is why there are two styles of header available. Unless Nissan did something really weird, I'd expect yours to take the '90-'95 headers to match the engine.

You can often get away with re-using copper washers, but, yeah, it's not ideal. They deform a little each time you tighten the banjo bolt on them and there's a limit to how many times they'll do that before the copper work-hardens or gets too thin. I doubt the steering banjo nuts have been tightened enough times to kill the washers, so if you don't have replacements ready to go, I would check that the washers and the surfaces they seal against are clean (no chunks of sand or dirt holding one of them cockeyed), maybe clean up the washers on a flat piece of fine sandpaper if it looks like they need it, and see if that does it. If not, or if the washers are obviously hashed when you get them out (dents/cracked/squished), cut your losses and order new washers. I bought an assortment of metric washers online a while back when I couldn't get them locally. If you're not sure which line is leaking, don't feel around for it with the engine running. High pressure hydraulic leaks can mess you up.

The climate control head is right above where you were working, so I would start by pulling the radio back out and looking for damaged wiring or anything obviously loose on the back of the HVAC head. Failing that, I'd check the EL section of the service manual for the wiring diagrams for the heated seats and HVAC to see what they have in common that could've taken both out at once (shared ground point, shared fuse, something like that). Hopefully one or the other leads you to it!

That seems to rule out the bearings. Check that you have the auto hub clutches stacked right. It's been a while since I messed with auto hubs (and it seems unlikely you would've messed it up on both sides), but I would check the exploded diagram in the service manual against what you've got and make sure everything's as it should be. I downloaded an '89 manual ages ago and can't remember where I got it, so I've got it on Dropbox now. The hub assembly is shown on FA-16. Another dumb thing to try, do the auto hubs fit over the ends of your axles? There are 27 spline and 28 spline axles for these, and I've been told '89 was the cutoff year. I wouldn't expect the spline count to change where the snap ring groove is, but it's something to check.

Ah, that sucks. A friend and I did a bunch of screwing around on his S10 trying to track down a belt squeak. Finally we realized he hadn't gotten the steering pump pulley lined up quite right when he replaced the pump. It was some kind of press-fit BS IIRC and it just wasn't seated all the way, or it was seated too far, I don't remember which. I'm not sure if the edge of the belt was squealing against the PS pulley or the misalignment was causing it to ride sideways across an idler or what, but it did not sound happy, and it took us an embarrassingly long time (and a few blasts from the parts cannon) to track it down. If you don't have a mechanic's stethoscope, you can fudge it with a long screwdriver. One end to your ear, other end to the bolt holding the idler pulley, see if you hear more of a grumble from one than the rest. Obviously look out for the fan and belts while doing this. You can also try wiggling pulleys with the belt off to see if any of them flop around or feel crunchy. And yeah, having everything on one belt makes it tough to work out which one is making the noise.

That Ford Patrol is hilarious. Yeah, just slap a badge on it, nobody will notice it's not really a Ford. Maybe pull the side cladding off, too. Yeah, there we go. Totally different. At least the Guangcurysan Quilladong isn't insecure about being a minivan.

If it's not the usual ignition suspects, either it's the distributor like Adam said, or it's not spark. If having the EGR disconnected made it run better, I would check that the EGRC solenoid is hooked up and functional and the EGR valve isn't leaking.

Sucks about the title and the hoops! The front brakes are harder than they should be, but not, like, Jaguar-inboard-brakes difficult. They're captive rotors, meaning you have to take the wheel hub off to get to them. They're bolted to the back of the hub. Good time to repack your wheel bearings and do the seals. The rears are conventional and should pull right off, unless they're rusted to the hubs, in which case they'll fight you and you'll need some heating and beating to get them off. They're disks and drums in one, drums for the parking brake, which you might need to back off to free it up if the drum is worn. The parking brake drums aren't self-adjusting, so you'll have to do that manually afterwards. I bought a new set of shoes for mine but discovered that the originals were still in good shape, just not adjusted anywhere near right. If you're just bleeding the brakes to flush the fluid, it's not that hard, provided the bleeders aren't stuck. Gravity bleeding is pretty easy (just keep an eye on the res!) and if you use a clear tube on the bleeder, you can see when you've got fresh fluid coming out. Do not get air in the system or you may have a fight on your hands getting it back out. I got air in the rear circuit on mine and it turned into an ordeal that made me want to burn it and buy a horse. I have more time than money and a shop to work in, so I'd DIY it. If it's cheaper to have it done than to get fined by your nosy neighbors because hell is a place we pay to live in, have the shop do it.

That's an odd one. Sounds like something in the front end is loose and when the front wheels are pulling, one of them (probably right front if it's pulling left) is moving forward in the wheel well, screwing up the camber/caster/toe on that side and making it pull left. In 2x, it's loaded the other way by drag, and sits closer to where it should be. Normally I'd guess at bad LCA bushings, but if this started after you did struts etc, I'd check your work there first. Maybe the strut top is shifting around? Seems like you'd have a hell of a racket if something was just loose.

Ah. Yeah, there's no buggered like buggered off. Short of making your own you may be stuck until you find another one at the wreckers.

If you've got a code scanner that'll do live data, plug it in and check the throttle position sensor. Press the gas pedal slowly, see if the percentage changes in proportion to where the pedal is or if it jumps all over the place. If you've got a dead spot where the reading jumps around, that could be why the computer is reacting to inputs you're not giving it. IIRC the R50 has the same blinky-lights trans diagnostic system as the WD21, should be spelled out in the AT section of the service manual. Worth running those codes too on the off chance the computer has any idea what's wrong.

You could pull the spark plugs and see if one looks richer than the rest (darker soot deposits or, in an extreme case, wet gas), but if it was leaking that much I think you'd be chasing symptoms other than a fuel smell in the oil. IIRC the injector rail and injectors come out together (been a while since I had my intake off); if this is the case, you could run the fuel pump with the injectors where you can see them and look for which one is dribbling (or just pull the upper intake, run the pump, and see if you smell fuel from one of the runners). You might get away with just cleaning the injectors. I haven't had to try that myself but it sounds like there's not much to it. If you do have to replace one or more, check the color of dot on the injectors (under where the electrical plug goes IIRC). Should be black or blue, and ideally you want the same dot color on your replacement(s). That said, my '93 has five of one and one of the other (was like that when I got it) and it doesn't seem to mind. Again, though, do the fuel pressure test first to be sure you're not chasing ghosts. Also, are you sniffing the leak or the dipstick? If the dipstick smells like oil, there's gas in your oil--if it smells like gas underneath, but not on the dipstick, something else is leaking.

Clean rig! And yeah, I hear you on the carrier, they do get in the way sometimes. I've hitched up a trailer and gotten it all hooked up and then realized the carrier's open and won't shut because the trailer's in the way.

Weird that the antenna fuse takes out the stereo, I would not have expected that. Shouldn't surprise me too much, though, as these are the same engineers who mounted the control amp for the WD21 power antenna back by the tail light. Fixing the power antenna on my '93 was probably more effort than it was worth for the two or three times a year I actually use the thing, but I do enjoy how much engineering went into something so unnecessary.

How buggered are the pieces you have? You may be able to repair the clips if you can't find new assemblies. I busted the clips on some trim on mine and was able to put it back on by gluing on some spare interior clips.

Sounds like an adventure! On the trans fluid, make sure whatever you go with is GL-4 rated, not GL-5. The bronze synchros don't like GL-5. I've heard good things about Redline MT-90, but it's not cheap from what I remember. There's a TSB (and a thread here) about overfilling them to keep the countershaft bearings happy. There's a factory rear tire carrier on some of these, might find one at the wreckers, and a few threads on here about installing one on a truck that didn't come with it. Sounds like getting the nut plates in behind the sheet metal is the hard part. And yeah, these aren't exactly quick, even when the EFI is happy. Good luck with the Weber kit. We've got a Weber on our snowplow ('63 IH Scout) and it's been great.

Check for vac leaks and check the condition of the plug wires, cap, and rotor. I had a bad plug wire (chewed by rodents) and it created an intermittent misfire, mostly when cold/wet. Whenever it flared up it would be gone by the time I had the hood up.

Have a look at the exhaust the next time it's running like crap. If it's blowing black smoke, check the temp sensor and connector too. There are two sensors on the upper rad hose neck. The one with one wire is for the dash gauge, the one with two goes to the computer. If it thinks the engine is dead cold, it'll inject more fuel, and a bad sensor or loose connector can tell it the engine's colder than it is. A failed oxygen sensor can also cause issues, but AFAIK would only show up when it went into closed loop (warmed up and cruising, not idling or heavily loaded). If it's not blowing smoke, does it smell different than usual?

Exhaust leaks shouldn't be the issue, mine leaks too. Doesn't seem like there should be any connection between the flasher and the engine running like crap. The intermittent nature of the problem does point to an electrical fault. Checking timing's not a bad idea. Sometimes the dizzy craps out and it gets worse as it warms up, which could explain the issue worsening. Did you do anything else at the parts store, anything under the hood? I'd take a look at the MAF wiring, just see if it's obviously wiggly or corroded. Look around where you installed the flasher, make sure you didn't knock anything else out, though I'm not sure what/how that would be. Also try running codes, on the off chance the computer's got some idea of what's going on.