Slartibartfast

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say you like blue! Hopefully the frame's getting some attention too, that second to last picture reminds me of my '95. Yesterday I pulled all the junk out of the back of mine and had a go at cleaning the manky carpet. It didn't come out looking like new, but doesn't look like I slaughtered a pig on it anymore, so that's an improvement. Then I started looking at the ammo can console I made a while ago and never got around to painting, and decided to upholster the thing. Apart from the vinyl being way too light and the squishy foam making it feel like Grandma's toilet seat, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Oh, and I picked up little pieces of blue plastic from pretty much everywhere after leaving a lighter on the dashboard in direct sunlight and 105° heat. Pro tip, don't do that. They explode.

Sit in the back while someone sprays it with the hose, and see where it comes in, or if it comes in faster when they spray a certain spot. If the seal seems fine, check for rust around the hinges.

I haven't dealt with this myself, but I'd climb into the back and see if I could get the plastic panel off of the hatch. It may just be held by pop clips. If you can get it free, or free enough to get your arm in behind it, you could disengage the lock or just open the latch mechanism directly, depending on what's crapped out. Worst case, cut the plastic trim panel rather than the hatch. I doubt it'll be fun, but with a little swearing (and possibly some blood) you should be able to get it open without cutting the sheet metal. If you can't see what you're doing, try and find a picture of the rear hatch with the plastic removed so you've got a mental map of what you're up against. If you can't find a photo, there's a diagram in the service manual (which you can get here). I haven't downloaded the '01, but the body and trim section of the '03 shows the lock, latch, actuators, and associated linkage in a line drawing on BT-17.

Unless the plugs happen to be the same, which would surprise the hell out of me, you'd have to cut and splice the WD21 harness plugs into the R50 dash harness, which would leave you with a rat's nest, a cluster that doesn't fit the dash, and no way to install the right cluster if you find one later. If you're good with wiring, and very lucky, you might get some of the dashboard working. More likely this would turn a truck that needs a cluster into a truck that needs a cluster and a dash harness. The '98 manual (which you can get from Nicoclub) has some checks for diagnosing cluster issues, as well as the wiring diagrams (EL section). I'd start there. Check it out, see if it's just got a popped fuse, a bad connection, something like that. If the cluster is actually buggered, AFAIK the cluster from between a '96 and an '01 (any 3.3 R50 Pathfinder) should plug right in without having to butcher anything. Look for someone parting one out.

The electrical connection on the master cylinder res is actually the float switch (to warn you if the brake fluid is low). If you've got an auto trans with cruise control, you'll have two switches on the brake pedal, one for the lights and one to cancel the cruise control. I think the manual trans rigs have the cruise cancel switch on the clutch pedal instead. I haven't dealt with this issue yet myself, but from what I've read it shouldn't be too tough to bodge something in place of the plug that's let go.

Weird. Yeah, if the marks lined up with #1 at TDC, that suggests the pulley's on the right way. I see why you suspected something wrong with the light. All I can think of is that something might've gone wrong with the key between the crank and the balancer, but if that was wrong, then the mark shouldn't have lined up with #1 at top dead. (How did you determine TDC?) I'd be surprised if it ran well if the timing was truly as far out as it sounds like your light says it is. That suggests that either the light is screwy, or the marks are in the wrong place, which is why I'm thinking about that key. It is entirely possible to set timing by ear. That's how my dad and I set up the 302 in his hot rod, because the guy who put the engine together didn't bother to install a crank pointer, and we haven't bothered to fix that. It runs great. That said, given the weirdness with yours, I'd want to track this one down just to make sure something isn't damaged. With how few vehicles on the road have mechanically adjustable timing anymore, I guess the timing light is going the way of the dwell meter. I still used it on mine after I had the dizzy out. I guessed and tried it until it started, set it with the light and the engine cold (just to get it somewhere close, and because I was curious how much it would actually move when it warmed up), let it warm up, then adjusted it back to 15° (spec for MPFI trucks). The service manual for the TBI trucks calls for 12° +/-2.

I'm all for preserving the stock harness if possible, but it sounds like that ship has sailed--and I've had trouble getting stereos back into dashboards because there wasn't room in the dash for the added bulk of an adapter harness. Given that the harness is already hacked, I'd be inclined to skip the factory plugs and adapters and just solder the plugs for the new stereo right into the harness (assuming the adapters aren't set up with modules or converter boxes or something that are required to make the thing chooch). Either way, the best info I can point you to is the service manual on Nicoclub. I think the Nico FSMs are all for US-spec models, so they may well be different than what you're looking at. If you haven't hacked out all the PO's butchery yet, see if you can work out what some of the wires go do based on which wires they connect to in the stereo pigtail. The color coding on the aftermarket stereo pigtails is pretty standardized (at least on the ones I've seen), and sometimes they're even labeled right on the insulation. If your new head unit has similar features to the cheapo you're replacing, that kind of color matching might be enough to work out how to connect the new plugs. If your new unit ties into a bunch of stuff the PO's didn't (sounds like there's plenty to tie into if it's got that many plugs going on), you may still have a bunch of mystery wires to sort out, but even a partial list of what color wires in the harness went where on the head unit might help you identify the correct diagram. Good luck!

Jesus, yeah, that's steep. Have you tried adjusting the brakes themselves? Looks like the R51 has the same drum-in-disk setup as the rear disk WD21 for the parking brake, and AFAIK it's not self-adjusting. There should be a slot on the backing plate that you can stick a screwdriver through to adjust the parking brake shoes to where they grab again. I'd back off the cable adjustment first, then you can get the brakes roughly adjusted and have some room to adjust the cables to dial it in.

Like Mr. Reverse said, it's possible to install the crank pulley in the wrong position on the balancer. The right way to deal with this would be to correct the orientation of the crank pulley (unbolt, re-clock, bolt it up again). That said, I'd try putting the timing light pickup on the plug wires for other cylinders until I found one that matched up with where your marks are now. The pulley goes on six different ways (six bolts), and there are six cylinders, so logically there should be one cylinder that the marks are true for.

Nice! Looks like they'd fit the WD21 switch holes, too.

Z is the engine family, 24 is the displacement (rounded up 2389cc -> 2.4l), and the last letter tells you how it gets fuel. I is throttle body injection, E is multiport injection, and I'm pretty sure S means it's got a carburetor.

I was surprised how much power my '95 got back when I cleaned the gunk out of the throttle body.

Before dumping a bunch of money I would take a close look at the frame over the rear axle. The frame on my '95 looked fine until I started tapping at what I thought was surface rust. Past that, "worth it" really depends on what you want from the truck and what you're prepared to spend on bringing it back. Paying for someone else's labor does make that math more difficult. Given the mileage and issues with your current engine, I'd consider a VG33 swap instead of putting a bunch of money into a tired VG30.

It's been done! Should be some info in that thread as to what he used/how he made it work. I think someone on here swapped in a 4.3, too. IIRC he had the Chevy trans/transfer and a solid axle swap.

I kept the stock rear cups on mine, with the blue poly bushings, and haven't had any trouble with them. I don't know if it's necessary, or even advisable, but I used a little synthetic grease when I put everything together. This was both to head off any potential squeaking issues with the poly and to prevent rust from festering between parts.

That writeup looks like a good way to go. On mine, I replaced just the front cups with L68111 bearing races (left the back sides alone) and it's been fine, but doing front and back is probably better. Make sure the rod still has its full range of motion before bolting it back up. Another writeup I saw showed using the cups only (no washers), and just welding up the worn part of the hole in the frame bracket to bring it back to the right size, making sure the hole is about 1" wide and between 1" and 1.25" tall (big enough to let the rod pivot, but small enough that it can't wiggle around). The holes on mine weren't too badly wallered, so I left them alone. Your alignment may need a little tweaking when you're done, depending on how wallered they were and how well you center them up. I didn't know those cups existed! Not a bad idea, especially if they're mild steel. The bearing races work, but they're high-carbon and hardened, which isn't the best thing to weld to. One of the cups my uncle welded to my '95 cracked away from the welds. When I did my '93, I welded the cups all the way around with as much heat as my 120v MIG would supply, and that's held up without issue.

Sounds like a battery cable issue to me too. The trip odo and clock should be on constant +, not switched by anything, so I doubt the relay had much to do with it. Could be the shock of the hood closing shook the cable back into place. If the battery terminal clamp is loose or corroded, it can work well enough to light up the dash until you turn the key, at which point the additional load burns out the spot that was making a connection and everything goes dark. If the terminals are tight, pull them off and make sure they're clean inside, they can corrode in between and cause the same issue (happened on one of my dad's trucks once). If the terminals are clean and tight, and the cables feel alright, check any big fuses in line with the + cable for any obvious looseness or corrosion.

If the other parts are still in good shape, I don't see why you couldn't replace just the one piece. Looks like you'll need a new gasket for where that pipe meets the resonator, and you may end up needing new bolts too (check beforehand and see if they have any interest in coming loose). Might as well pick up the gaskets for both sides in case you need to drop the muffler assembly down a little to weld over the top where the pipe meets the muffler.

They probably offer that style of bumper for various makes, each with their own dimensions/mounting points. The commercial bumper they show is mounted to a Mazda.

I'd expect a loss of power at lower revs, and possibly a pissed-off computer as well.

If you find the VIN plate under the hood (near the hood hinge, facing the wiper motor), the second line from the bottom should list the engine and its displacement.

Check the frame. They tend to rot over the rear axle. I didn't know my '95 was rotten until I put a screwdriver through the frame. If you've got the VG30, you can swap in the VG33 from an R50 Pathfinder, an Xterra, or a Frontier (Navara) without too much screwing around, so consider that if you decide to save it.

Now that you mention it, I remember finding a little white crap in the vac lines on my dad's '03, too. Looked kinda like salt. No idea what it was or how it got there, but good to hear that blowing it out cleared up the fault! Hopefully it stays gone.

I haven't been into an R50 dash, but it looks like it's laid out similar to a WD21. I tried to open that box on mine and couldn't, I think you're supposed to take the whole box out to get it apart, and taking it out would mean letting the gas out of the A/C, because the evaporator's in there. Looks like you could drop the blower fan and reach through there to scoop out the big chunks, or maybe get a shop vac hose in there (though obviously be gentle about it, there is an evaporator and probably some tubing in there too). Get the drain open, get the big chunks out, rinse the rest out through the drain if you can so it doesn't clog again in a month when the crud shifts.

I haven't looked through it but I've seen this one linked here before, looks like it should cover the process pretty well. Good luck!