Slartibartfast

I've got a drawer for that. Right chock full of bolts taken out of various things. It's saved me so many trips to the hardware store.

The D21 was available with either the KA24 or the VG30. Given that the VQ35DE fits the later R50s, I'd expect the R50 engine bay to have much more room for activities, but you'll still be fighting for space. This guy got a VG30DETT into his '95 WD21, he might have some tips.

+1 on it being a tooth off.

At least you found it! I did notice mine needed retensioning a while after I did them. I assumed they'd just kind of settled in, or I hadn't gone quite far enough the last time. I didn't set mine to a specific torque, I just go hand tight to seat them, loosen off, then finger tight until there's no end play plus whatever it takes to get the lock screws to line up. Was the bearing obviously damaged when you got it out?

There aren't a whole lot of diesel guys on here, unfortunately. Hooking a smoke machine to the intake (if you can make or borrow one) could help track down a boost leak, if that's what it is. From my limited knowledge of diesels, I'd also want to check the wastegate in case it's sticking open or something, and maybe check the fuel filter and any water trap the fuel system might have. I'm not familiar with how EGR works on a turbodiesel but I know it'll make gas engines run like crap when the valve (or the solenoid controlling vacuum to the valve) sticks open. I've temporarily blocked off EGR for testing purposes by just bolting a sheet of something between the EGR valve and the intake manifold where the gasket should be. Might be good to start there and see if it resolves the issue or just pisses off the computer (if it has one?) before committing to pulling the whole thing apart. Your best bet, if you can get ahold of one, is the factory service manual. NicoClub is a great resource for manuals, but I think most if not all of what they've got are US-spec, so that's no help for your ZD. I've got a fragment of a service manual for some kind of van that covers the mechanical side of the ZD30DD, but it's non-turbo, doesn't include much troubleshooting (just "name that rattle"), and looks like it's for some kind of van. Hopefully you can find something better than that. Good luck!

Wow, that's bad. Good thing you checked out the noise before it collapsed! Funny how Firestone didn't notice the gaping hole. This thread's got a lot of good info and pictures. Nissan's "repair" procedure is probably the most half-assed thing I've seen written up. The reinforcement panel splints over some of the damage and the fiberglass hides the holes, but at best it's a band-aid, and yours is well beyond band-aid territory. This guy had a body shop fix it properly (new panel welded in) for $300. The body shop can probably recommend a good undercoating if you're concerned about a repeat performance.

You remove shims if the camber's too positive, add them if it's too negative. If you lift the front end with the stock UCAs (T-bar crank only), you end up needing a fat stack of shims to get rid of the negative camber. My understanding of the lift arms is that they're a little longer than the stock arms to reduce the number of shims required. If your truck isn't lifted (or isn't lifted much) and you've got lift arms on it, you may need to lift the front end before it'll align. Mine is pretty near stock ride height, with stock arms, and it didn't take many shims to align. I'd have to check but if I remember correctly one side's got no shims at all. If I fitted longer UCAs, it would not align unless I cranked the ride height up to what the lift UCAs were designed to work with. If you're running a 3" lift and no shims behind the driver's UCA spindle, and it's still got positive camber, I'd measure the arms against each other (from the ball joint to each of the bolts going into the frame) to see if one was built wrong. And no, you don't adjust one torsion bar to change camber. That'll just make it crooked. Adjust both bars to get the height where you want it, get it level, test drive and readjust as needed because they settle, then adjust your camber.

The one customer image on that doesn't inspire confidence! Hopefully your mice don't like spicy food. Strangely (not that I'm complaining!) the mice here seem to leave wiring mostly alone, with the exception of the one spark plug wire. Otherwise I'd be skipping right over the hot pepper tape and looking for something infused with cyanide or mouse ebola or something.

The only way to get more lift on an R50 front end is a subframe drop (SFD). A few people have made kits in the past, and a couple guys on here are working on a better version. It's simple in theory (spacing down the subframe and the strut tops), but it looks like getting the angles right so you can align it afterwards is a bit tricky.

The cluster itself isn't too difficult to get to, just some Phillips screws around the surround and then IIRC four around the cluster (surround comes out first, then the cluster). Pull the cluster and make sure that the speedo cable is still clipped into the dash behind the speedo and the square drive end is intact and turns when the truck moves. I haven't had an '88 dash apart, but on my '93, each instrument is pretty easy to unscrew from the rest of the cluster for inspection. The mechanism's pretty simple. The cable spins a gear and a magnet. The gear spins other gears that spin the odometers. The magnet drags at the cup around it, pushing it against its spring, and that's what makes the needle move. There's also a little reed switch next to the magnet on mine (not sure if '88 had that yet) that sends a speed sensor signal to the computer. I don't think just the gears are available. If the assembly is buggered, I'd look for another cluster of similar vintage to either swap in or rob the required parts from. Also, if you find that the cable's damaged, check the odometer and its gears before replacing the cable. If it was just the cable that went, it should've all gone at once. One then the other makes me suspect that the odometer or its gearing bound up somewhere, overloading the cable and causing it to fail soon after.

The bearings wouldn't be sealed and the axles wouldn't be retained properly, so I wouldn't trust it very far (or through water or dust), but I'd expect once or twice around the block to be alright. I don't think the axles could slide out of the hubs enough to get loose, though I'd want to check that before going for it. Given that you already know the axle is junk, though, I'd be inclined to just replace it and get it over with.

If it's clapped enough to pop in 4x, I'd be surprised if it didn't make some noise the rest of the time. If you want to be sure, you could remove the drive plates (or unlock the hubs if you've got manual hubs) and try it like that. If the noise goes away when the CVs aren't spinning, there's your problem confirmed.

Your understanding is correct.

No cabin filter. I did add a screen over the opening from the cowl into the fan a while ago to keep them from getting in that way (after they did and crapped in the fan). They've eaten through cabin air filters in two of my parents' cars, both of which we screened off after the fact to keep it from happening again. They still find other ways in. I'm pretty sure the mice around here would crawl up your pantleg and start hollowing you out if you stood still for too long.

I did letters out on mine. Looks good IMO.

That's why they're called rockers, right?

Turned on the vents and shredded Kleenex came out. Lifted the rear seat and found a mouse staring at me. I suspect the little bastard got in through the (formerly) rubber part of the transfer case shifter boot, then ran up into the dash through the floor vents. Long story short, there's one less mouse in the world, the truck got a good vacuum, and I made a surprisingly decent-looking shifter boot from part of an air mattress. (Probably would've looked better if I hadn't used the part of the mattress with the inflation instructions printed on it.) Hopefully that keeps the rest of them out.

The WD21 engine bay is pretty short. Measure from the firewall to the rad, compare to the length of the engine. That's talked me out of any V8 candidate I've looked at. V8Path put an LT1 in his and the front of the engine was so close to the radiator that he had to mount the fans in front of the rad. I think he got away with keeping the IFS, been a while since I saw his pictures though. I've seen LS-swapped D21 trucks, but they're 2WD, and they either hack up the rad support or relocate the rad into the bed. If you can make it fit, then you'd need to figure out an adapter between the 4.7 and the stock trans. I doubt it exists currently, but you could probably get one made. Or you could run the Dodge trans/transfer, but then you'd have to modify your driveshafts. Then you've got the fun of wiring it all up, and getting the Dodge ECU to work without all of the other crap it was tied into on the donor.

I can't remember the last time a repair project took less time than I expected! Sounds like we can rule out the pistons seizing up, or a problem with the heads. Did you put anything on the bearings, or were they completely dry? If the reman crank went in clean and dry, and the bearings were dry, then I would be concerned about possible corrosion between the bearings and the crank. When steel is oily it keeps just fine, but bare/dry metal can rust up pretty quick depending on conditions. Hopefully that's not it, but if you can't get it to budge, you may need to pull the pan and check those over. Hopefully a little lube and at the worst a light polish is all it needs. I'm not sure I'd want to start it up with a dry bottom end anyway, and there's no way to pre-oil these (some engines have oil pumps you can spin up with a drill before the first start, no such luck with the VG's crank-driven pump). Check the dizzy first, on the off chance. They do have the odd bearing failure, though I don't think I've heard of one seizing hard enough to lock the engine. If it's not that, you may need to open up the bottom end again.

I read one time about a bike motor seizing up because the guy had tried (and failed) to start it with ether, which washed all the lube off the cylinder walls. He let it sit like that and it seized. Seems unlikely in this case, especially if you've had oil down the plug holes this whole time. I doubt a bearing seized while just sitting there (you put some kind of oil/assembly lube on them, right?). How much of the engine was together when it still turned easily (when you did up the TC bolts)? Is it stripped back to that point now?

The only upgrade I'm aware of is that Nissan moved the fill hole up a bit around '96 to raise the oil level. The oil level in previous years was too low, which tended to starve the countershaft bearings, leading to a whine in every gear but fourth. You can accomplish the same thing by overfilling an older gearbox through the shifter hole, but yeah, if you've got the option, the newer box would be easier to fill and less likely to come with bad bearings. Also make sure you put the right fluid in it, the synchros do not like GL-5 oil.

Cleaned out my headlight switch again because the marker lights were getting finicky. I tried to fit the switch I'd saved from my '95 and discovered that the round dash switch has a different electrical connector and a different turn signal cancel mechanism and won't even bolt up. No worries, original is back to working after a light sanding of the contacts. I also remounted my 12v power and USB outlets with actual fasteners this time, because apparently 3m tape doesn't stick to dashboards as well as I'd hoped, and blocked off the hole for the power light in the USB outlet. I'm not sure why it was so bright, but the light coming through the sockets is plenty on its own.

The maxi-fuse style does seem like a better way to go, though I doubt I'll mess with mine until I manage to smoke one. Any idea what amperage the stock links are rated for?

At least you're closing in on it! EF&EC-25 of the '95 manual has a diagram of the timing marks, showing four of them (TDC, 10, 20, and 30). The crank pulley on mine has additional marks in between those (TDC, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30). Either way, the timing should be set to 15° +/- 2, right in the middle. Warm it up before you set the timing.

I think I broke mine the same way, and just plugged the spade back in. I'm not sure what the fussy plastic thing was supposed to accomplish. Good thinking on the mounts.