Slartibartfast

That does look like a fair bit of stuff that shouldn't be in the oil, assuming the drain pan was clean to start with (there's usually all manner of bugs and whatnot stuck to mine). Hopefully your drive went alright. I haven't had a rear axle to bits, but a few guys on here have had theirs apart for diff upgrades and whatnot. You can download the service manual from Nico for free as well, looks like the PD section covers the rear diff.

If you remove the starter, can you get to the flexplate bolts through the starter hole? I haven't pulled one of these engines myself but I don't remember hearing about anyone removing the sump to pull the engine. IIRC dropping the diff does help for getting the engine out, though.

That is odd. I'd be surprised if a rubbed wire was giving you a high-resistance short rather than a dead one, unless maybe it was shorting through some other circuit (or like you said, somebody tapped the remote start into the first hot lead they found). I chased a mystery high-resistance "short" in the headlight circuitry on mine that turned out to be the high-beam indicator on the dashboard.

Bet it's nice to have it rolling! How's it handle?

I was about to link you to Hawairish's thread until I saw you'd just commented there. IIRC RainGoat's running a Coastal, he might have some pictures up somewhere.

They'll idle higher when cold. Mine idles up 1500ish when it's cold, then drops once it warms up (FSM says 750 RPM +/- 50). The EF&EC section of the service manual does have a procedure for adjusting the idle speed, but it assumes that the truck is running properly to begin with--don't adjust the IACV to try and mask some other issue. What's yours doing? If you don't have the service manual, the '90 manual from cardiagn is probably as close as you'll find for your '92. Nico has a '94/'95 manual that is mostly the same, but I keep finding out about weird little things that changed around '93.

Johann's rig is extensively modified, and his front brakes (his whole front axle actually) are from something else. If the caliper pistons are bigger, that'll be why he needed a bigger MC to match. Brake pedal feel and travel (assuming everything is in good shape) are determined by the ratio between the MC pistons and the brake caliper/wheel cylinder pistons, so if you modify one end of the system and not the other, you'll make the pedal harder/softer. On a stock rig, I'd go with a stock replacement.

You can download the '90 manual here: Were the '80s HVAC heads different? Or does the donor have the push-and-pray climate control? Having had one with levers and now one with pushbuttons, I honestly prefer the levers for their simplicity. The pushbutton HVAC strikes me as an overengineered solution to a problem I didn't have.

Some fluids last a lot longer than others, but all eventually break down or get contaminated by wear material, which accelerates wear on the components that depend on them. IMO "lifetime fluid" is sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Good to hear yours was an easy fix!

33x10.5 R15. Height/width/rim.

I think you'd have more time into trying to hybridize harnesses than you would just swapping the lot, especially when you have a full running donor. A complete harness would also be easier to troubleshoot after the fact. The EL section of the service manual has the harness layout/pinouts/etc that should come in handy if you decide to make a science project of it. Do you have an FSM for '88? I've got an '89 PDF that should be close, let me know if you need info from that. I hear you on not wanting to take the dash out, I've got a whistle in my vents that's not gonna fix itself (hasn't so far, anyway) and I am not looking forward to taking the dash out for what will be the third time.

I've considered messing with the seat mounts in my '93 for a little extra legroom, just never got around to it. At 6'4" another inch or so would be nice. Probably easy enough with a welder and some strap steel. My dad found a bolt-in kit for my mom's '13 CRV that budged the seat back a few inches and made it much less painful to drive.

David Carrol on Youtube (was Mr. 510 on here) ran what looked like a dryer hose from his TBI intake back through the firewall to the cowl (the open space under the wipers). It was meant to function as a snorkel for water crossings, but would also function as a cold air intake, for whatever that's worth.

I haven't had an R50 wiper linkage apart, but assuming it's like the WD21, unbolt the wiper motor. There should be some way to disconnect the linkage from it. It was a while ago that I did mine, IIRC it had a nut that let me remove the crank arm from the gearbox, but that was a while ago. Hopefully all becomes clear once you can see behind the motor. And hopefully that nut gives up easily, that sucks.

Ouch, that sucks. Good to hear you got it the second time around at least. One of the guys on the FB page just finished his frankentrans (VQ trans mated to a TD27) and seems pretty happy with it so far. IIRC he had a converter custom made for it. Were the flats just not engaged far enough or was there some other issue?

Nice haul! What did that voice repeat switch come out of?

They're cheap enough you could just order one and see if it fits. Worst case if it doesn't fit or looks like China threw up on your dash you're out $12.

EL-34 of the service manual.

The body of the switch you linked to looks a lot like the Niles switches in mine. The measurements don't match any dimension of my spare fog light switch, but they don't show any diagrams of where those measurements came from, so they could've measured the box for all I know. Amusing that the their image for an SUV in the last picture appears to be a two-door WD21. I went with OE fog light switches when I did the driving lights and rear aux lights on mine. Simple enough to wire up and they can't help but match the interior. If you've got the blank spots on your dash for them, that's what I'd use.

Good luck!

The trigger wire for the alternator (what tells it to power up when the ignition is on) goes through the idiot light in the dash. No bulb, no charge. Some vehicles won't charge with an LED bulb in that spot. Nissan included a resistor in parallel to keep the alt working if the bulb burns out, but it's no help in this situation because it's in the cluster too. Page SC-12 of the '98 manual has diagrams of the circuit and the two cluster plugs. Looks like there's a white/black wire in one of the plugs going to the cluster from key-switched + and a yellow/black wire in the other plug going to the alt. Rig up a temporary idiot light with a 194 bulb or similar with one wire to pin 12 and one to pin 43, and that should get it working until you get your cluster back. Don't just jumper the two without the bulb! That would create a dead short when the bulb is supposed to be on (key on/engine off, so, every time you go to start it), which would probably pop the 10a fuse (which powers quite a few other systems as well), and might not make the alt happy either. I didn't know that Nissan split the starting/charging systems off from the electrical section in '98. I was looking for the alternator wiring in EL and it just wasn't there. I thought I'd left a few marbles somewhere!

Mr. 510 (David Carroll) posted on the NPORA FB page recently offering a new batch for sale. Direct link to that post: You may need to be a member of the group for the link to work.

Sounds like it's time to take the hose off and see what you're up against. My guess is either a corroded thermostat housing or a damaged hose.

For small non-critical gaskets, I like to cut my own using thin cardboard from Coke boxes and a hammer like this guy. I think I've got a Coke gasket behind one of my locking hubs and a Canada Dry gasket behind the other. I like to rub a little grease and oil on the uncoated side so it can't absorb moisture.

Sorry if I missed this earlier, what transfer case is that?