Slartibartfast

Sorry, what I'm saying is that I doubt the small amount of power that's keeping the dome light dimly on would be enough to trigger the relay. It takes a certain current through the coil to close the contacts, and if the smart entry thingus is leaking so little power that it barely does your dome lights, I doubt it would be enough to keep the relay engaged and the undercarriage lights on when they shouldn't be. 9W at 12v would be 0.75A, x2 is 1.5A. If you've swapped the rest of the circuit to LEDs I'd be surprised if you didn't have the headroom for that. The reason I'd tend towards relaying them is just to keep the circuits separate, so that if the lights below the vehicle got damaged and shorted out, the blown fuse wouldn't take out your dome light as well. Does seem overkill for those tiny lights, though, unless you're going full Fast and the Furious under there.

I don't know the R50, but yeah, if you've got rear drums it should just be a cable tension adjustment. Mine's got rear disks so it's got its own little miniature drum brakes tucked inside for the parking brake, with their own star adjusters. There's also a cable tension adjustment, but it's under the truck on mine, where the cable from the lever meets the cables to the rear end. I thought the shoes were whupped until I took everything apart and found that they had just as much meat on them as the replacement parts, so I just cleaned/lubed/adjusted (having found the adjusters and realized that they were a thing!) and that brought them back to life. I like how the R50 moved the cable tension to inside the cabin. That's actually a really good idea!

IIRC on the round-dash trucks it's the light in the power/EAT switch that flashes. Been a while since I had my '95. I think it's the power light on the dash in my '93. Anyway, yeah, something should be flashing LOL. The big bulbs in the cluster are 194s. I don't remember what the little guys are, though.

A relay is either on or it's off, so you wouldn't get a dim glow out of the ground lights. If it's not enough power to light LEDs properly, I'll bet it's not enough power to keep a relay engaged. And having the relay coil giving that trickle of current an easier path to ground might clear up your dim dome light glow at the same time. I'd want to test both theories before drilling holes and running wires, of course. The lights I bought weren't name-brand, but the Amazon ad did claim an IP67 rating. And it was wrong!

Seems like you could relay it off the dome light circuit easy enough. If your dome light comes on when you unlock the doors, then yeah, there you go! I installed LED reverse lights on mine a while ago and made a video on it if you want to see how I rigged mine. Great mod, though I can't entirely recommend the LEDs I used, as the housings weren't sealed at all and required a "the bigger the gob, the better the job" application of RTV silicone before they'd keep water out.

The trans computer's in the driver's rear quarter panel (remove the lower cargo area trim to access it). Closest box to the front IIRC. If you think that's a weird place for a trans computer, the box that controls the power antenna's mounted in that same cavity, back near the tail light. Between them is the audio amp for the front speakers (also the one for the rears, but that one makes sense). I have no idea what Nissan was thinking when they laid out the harness. +1 for checking bulbs first!

I don't remember if the TD27 shares a bolt pattern with anything else, but they came in WD21s, so just find the trans it came with and you should be good to go.

My understanding is that the auto ECU doesn't notice or care that the auto trans is gone. (It doesn't control the trans, the trans has its own computer, which is located in the passenger's rear quarter panel for some reason.) You shouldn't need the donor harness, though you will need to mess with yours a little to get your reverse lights working and deal with the starter interlock (either by rewiring it to the clutch safety switch or by bypassing it). Let us know how it goes! I've been gathering info for if/when my slushbox decides it's seen enough.

Tonight I took my cluster apart to try and track down a buzzing noise it's been making at highway speed when it's cold. The speedo looked alright but I gave it a little grease here and there anyway. I also appreciated how simple the speed sensor is--it's literally just a reed switch sitting next to the rotating magnet that makes the needle move. The cable end had some black schmoo in it, so I suspect it may be the culprit/on its way out. I oiled it anyway, I'll see if that's shut it up the next time I have it up to speed. Also it snowed, so of course I had to get it sideways while taking the trash out. I am pleased to report that my e-brake works a hell of a lot better since I bothered to adjust it. Best I could find is between 6000 and 6450, with all hell breaking loose if you manage to get past 6500. Seems like an easy thing to test.

Might be worth checking the main body ground (where the ground strap to the engine bolts up between the battery and the engine), but if that was the problem I'd expect it to cause more trouble than what you're seeing. I'd be less surprised to see a flaky fuse link or something, but again I'd be surprised if your weird dash light issue was the only symptom of that. Might be worth just having a look around the brake pedal for anything loose/damaged/rewired by a tweaker with a handful of crimp connectors and a vague idea of what they were doing and left hanging to rub against the brake pedal. I have an '89 service manual but it doesn't have the full wiring diagram, just individual diagrams for each separate system, so that makes it a bit tricky to track down where the two systems might meet up. Let me know if you get stuck and I'll have a look at the full diagram for the four-door and see if anything jumps out at me. One thing you might try in the meantime, pull the 10A fuse for your brake lights (looks like it's fifth from the left on the bottom row, should also be marked in the fuse box though) and see if the idiot lights still come on when you hit the brake pedal. Does your '87 have cruise control?

That's probably for transmission diagnostics. There's a different procedure to read codes from the transfer case. That starts on TF-62 of the '03 manual (Trouble Diagnosis Without Consult-II). Should be similar in the '98 manual.

There's an odd one. So the idiot lights are coming on, not the backlight? I'd have to have a closer look at the wiring diagram but all I can think of is that you've got a weak ground or something that's limiting power to the dash when the brake lights are on and making it revert to the bulb check when you first turn the key. Do your brake lights work?

It's not just new cars not having gauges. My '59 Triumph just has the speedo and the gas gauge and three idiot lights (and it's all in one unit). The '63 Scout I plow snow with has a speedo, temp gauge, and gas gauge, and a couple of idiot lights. They didn't really need more than that for what they were designed to do. (Don't get me started on the simulated oil pressure gauges in some vehicles, though. That's just lying to your face.) I'm not looking forward to self-driving cars. I don't think the tech is ready, and even if it was, look at who is trying to implement it. Automakers have enough trouble building systems that function with a human calling the shots. Toyota: remember how our code was so bad that our cars randomly accelerated, and we tried to blame it on the floor mats? Now we've given the computer control of the brakes and steering, too! Or GM: Remember how we couldn't build an ignition switch to save our lives, and then pretended there wasn't a problem? Good news! We had the same guys build the system that steers for you! The lifespan on a self-driving car will likely be short until something goes wrong. But that's no problem for the manufacturer. They can just brick it for safety reasons (or make it prohibitively expensive/risky to repair) and make you throw it away and buy another one. Or maybe they'll do it via subscription service so you never really own the thing, and it's never paid off. (Clean install, elcocko!)

Looks like Hawairish has you covered! I hadn't thought of putting lights in the hatch, that's a cool mod. +1 for making sure your wire's big enough for everything you'll end up hooking to it. The fusebox in the first post looks just like what I've got in my engine bay. I used the same 12v outlet as Hawairish used for his rear outlets and it does the job, though I have noticed the cap seems to pop off from time to time.

There actually was a pillar gauge pod made for these. Looks like it's third from the bottom here. Sounds like the fitment isn't 100%, but not terrible either. I'm cheap so I'd probably try knocking something together with PVC end caps like what ahardbody did for his tweeters a while back. The early dashboards (87-92?) have voltmeters and oil pressure gauges. I mounted a volt gauge from a 720 in my '95 just by drilling a hole in the dash. It worked great, but looked a bit out of place and never really told me anything I couldn't have guessed.

Damn, that sucks. Some aftermarket bearings are oversized to fit a crankshaft that's had its worn-out journals machined slightly smaller to clean them up. I'd expect the bearings or the package they came in to be marked somewhere if this is the case. If the old bearings aren't wallered, and the clearances check out alright with plastigauge or whatever, I'd be tempted to just run those. No idea on the oil pump, sorry. I'd try a wrecking yard first for the hood. Worst case you can get a new primered hood for $185 on Rockauto, assuming you're looking for the one without the vents.

I've heard of oil leaking from valve cover gaskets dripping down the back and looking like it's the rear main. Probably worth doing anyway if you haven't yet.

I'm no trans doctor, but yeah, that doesn't sound promising. It sounds like first gear didn't engage properly and the computer saw the clutches slipping, which made it lock into third gear (limp home mode) to prevent further damage. The flashing light when you restart it is indeed trying to tell you something. I had a look at the '03 manual (haven't bothered to download the '04, I assume it's about the same) and the instructions for how to read the flashes without special tools begins on AT-48 (the actual codes are on AT-52). The manual shows a stupid little dance you can do to run the test at any time, but unless it's an electrical issue, you may have to replicate the problem to get it to fault, then turn it off/on again to get it to tell you why it's going into limp mode. If that's the case, record the flashing light with your phone, that way you can watch it again and make sure you've got it decoded right. The manual should have some troubleshooting steps for each code to help you track down what's going on. Good luck! The manual's available here if you haven't gotten it yet. +1 for checking the fluid level and condition as well. Warm it up, shift through all the gears, then check it. On a side note, Nissan calls the flashes "judgement flickers." I can't help but think that a judgement flicker must be a small woodpecker that grumbles about how this is all your fault.

Lots of good info here as well. He bored his out while he had it apart, and he's running the earlier style of EFI, but it's still a good read for a 3.3 swap. My understanding of the VG33 swap is that you use the VG30 intake manifold (including injectors, TPS, and idle controls), and IIRC also the oil pan (may depend on what the engine came in), which may require oil pickup mods as well. Then there's the crank pulley. The VG30 V-belt balancer and pulleys won't fit the VG33. There was a factory balancer that would fit the VG33 and take the V-belt pulleys, but it sounds like those have dried up; the guy who wrote the thread I linked made an adapter that replaced the balancer, but I think he quit selling them a while ago. You can swap the VG30 crank into the VG33 (sounds like a PITA, especially given that the crank in yours is probably shot) or you can deal with the VG33 balancer and use the serp belt accessories. More on that here.

I can't see much in the picture, but it looks like those fenders may have been trimmed, and the edges cleaned up and painted after the fact. A friend of mine put some "universal fender flares" on his S10 Blazer... by which I mean he used lawn edging. It honestly doesn't look too bad.

The FSM procedure for checking fuel pressure has you hook up the gauge between the hose coming off the filter and what looks like the rail, so yeah, I'd say that's your high-pressure supply side. The engine wouldn't notice. The fuel lines are not what limits fuel pressure to the engine. The fuel pressure regulator regulates fuel pressure in the injector rail and sends the excess back to the tank. And that's not limiting power, that's just making things easy for the computer so that however many milliseconds of injector pulse equals however much fuel injected into the intake manifold. IIRC the guys who've turbo'd these used higher flowing injectors and pumps to keep up with the increased fuel demand. I don't think the hard lines would become a limiting factor unless you were running the twin V8s from the Immortan's Gigahorse or a Boeing jet turbine or something.

The rear window on mine is roughly 20" tall, 55" along the bottom, 47" along the top. The sticker might just fit if you scoot it down a little, but it might be obscured somewhat by the spare tire, not to mention blocking your view out the back. I also imagine the rear wiper would chew it up eventually. What about the rearmost side window on the driver's side? No wiper, no tire, and it's not blocking your view of anything. Edit: Side window's way too short, nevermind.

My '93 has it too! So did my '95. Both SEs.

Yeah, skip the salt, unless you want them to rot out faster. Best thing for getting the water out would be heat IMO. I'd probably just stick them in the oven at its lowest setting for an hour or so, then maybe shoot something through the holes to coat the metal before sealing it up. I'd be inclined towards spray paint or some kind of oil, depending on how you're planning to seal the holes.

The brake fittings are M10x1 invert flare. I used these, if that helps. Hopefully the copper/nickel stuff flares better than the steel line I used.