Slartibartfast

I changed the fluid in mine when I got it, just because it was a little dark and probably hadn't been touched since it left Kyushu. I think I just sucked out the res with a turkey baster and refilled with fresh ATF, so it's a partial change, anyway. I don't know if it was needed but it sure didn't hurt anything. Either way, get it up to the line and see if that helps, seems like the easiest thing to rule out. If that doesn't do it, take a look in the res after it starts whining again and see if the fluid still looks normal or if it's got a bunch of bubbles in it.

Might be a mobile thing? I've also had videos play back looking like crap because they weren't done processing yet. Looks like it's working now!

I can't think of what else would be causing that kind of fluctuation besides a flaky alt or loose connections, though I'd probably screw around with a voltmeter on the battery and see if I could witness the fluctuation on that for confirmation. Of course, the refresh rate on a digital meter or inertia of the needle on an analog meter might make this tricky. If you've got a rebuilt alt on the shelf, you might as well chuck it in and see. I'd also be interested to see if eliminating the electrical noise of a failing alt from the charging system resolves any of the Scangauge's issues, though it doesn't sound like the two problems started at the same time.

Nice snow pictures! And man, I've seen wasted but "get someone else's truck stuck in the lake" wasted is a new one. Hopefully it didn't get screwed up too bad. The wrecker tank looks like fun, though.

Jesus, that's a motor! He did a really clean job on it, too. I showed my dad the exhaust routing, that's something we'll need to tackle pretty soon on his. Seeing builds where you guys go all out on suspension makes it seem like our simple engine swap should be done by now. I did a search and Hawairish (forum axle expert) says in this thread (near the end of post #2) that the R51 has an R200/R200A rear end--looks like your Skyline rear is also an R200, so unless Nissan did something bizarre, your gearing swap might just work.

IIRC the speaker holes are different on some rigs (not sure what the cutoff was between round and oval speakers), no idea about the regulators and locks. I'd be surprised if Nissan made an entirely different stamping. I'd just get a picture of what your doors look like with the interior panels off, then check and see if there's anything different in the wrecker doors just to be sure.

If it's going into position, but not catching anything, there's definitely something wrong internally. Possibly the last guy panicked and went full gorilla on it trying to get it out of the water and broke something. I wouldn't waste money putting new fluids into a box that needs to come apart anyway.

Hmm. No reverse after flooding is an odd one. Does the stick not go into reverse at all, or does it slot in but nothing happens? I'm guessing you would've noticed if the fluid you drained had chunks in it. My first check would be for something simple/external, like a stick jammed between the trans and the body binding up the shifter, or a loose trans mount allowing the trans to budge sideways until the shifter's hitting the body (especially if the guy who manual swapped it cut his own shifter hole). If there's nothing external binding it, and it just won't go into reverse, I'd bet that the last guy let it sit for a while with the trans full of water and something's corroded and stuck inside.

Nice build! Looks like a lot of work went into the suspension. My dad's is a '67 TR4A, at least from the doors forward--some nut hacked off the back end and spliced in TR6 sheet metal from the B pillars back. We're not entirely sure why. But since it was "wrong" already, we figured we might as well go crazy with it. Same Mustang 302/T5 you went with, though we're leaving the suspension stock for now (and hoping the rear axle can take it). We've studied a few of the builds on Triumph V8 for ideas! Dayton's a little far but we're hoping to make the all-British field meet in Seattle one of these years. I've made a few videos of the build process so far--lots left to do!

Cute gang you've got in there! Hopefully they don't get carsick. My dad and I took an Aussie Shepard camping in his Xterra... once. Looks like a clean rig!

The exploded view in the '05 service manual shows a two-pinion open diff, which another illustration shows dressed up with a finned diff cover. Perhaps that cover is where your source got the idea that there was something else going on inside. Have a look for yourself, I didn't bother reading through the whole thing and may well have missed something. I don't think there are many R51 guys on here, so if you want firsthand info, you may need to try other forums. Also, I have to ask... does 302MGB refer to a little British car with a Ford V8 in it? I ask because my dad and I are in the process of shoehorning a 302 into his Triumph. Should be ludicrous once it's back together.

Hmm. Might try resetting the computer (just unplug the battery for a while) to see if it just needs to forget what it thinks it knows about the injectors. Hopefully that's all it is--having torn my plenum off a couple of times, I totally understand not wanting to do it again.

I was in the same position with my '95. Lots of clean frames in the wrecking yards around here, but I started thinking about how much work and how many new parts it would take to get everything swapped over and decided I'd be better off finding a cleaner rig with a blown motor or mushed body and build one out of two. I ended up finding a very clean '93 (apart from the smoker interior and the dead rat) and parted out the '95. I would've liked to save that truck but I just didn't have the resources at the time.

Rockauto shows the spare rim as 15x5, compared to Legos at 15x7.

The factory spare for WD21s was also smaller in diameter (if the truck came with 31x10.5, anyway, never checked against the smaller tire size because mine didn't come with those). A 31x10.5 fit my spare rim just fine. That said, I've seen different stock steel wheels on the 2-door rigs, so maybe the spare was different too.

Hmm. Two cylinders rich and the rest lean sounds like either two injector leaks (and it shouldn't be that if you just had them checked) or vacuum leaks on the other four. Maybe bad injector O-rings, or could be the plenum gasket--the first time I had mine off I put it back with some BS stamped steel Victor Reinz crap Rockauto said would fit and it didn't sit flat (the other side was held up by the EGR), didn't seal, and ran like crap. I redid it with Felpro and it's been fine since.

Hmm. That sounds a little more like electrical gremlins than a plug issue to me. I'd open up every plug I could find in the engine bay and inspect for corrosion/blow out the water if you haven't yet. Hopefully the compression test doesn't show an issue.

Looks nice and clean under the valve cover. Cleaner than mine, actually. I'd be surprised if gunk in the sender was enough to throw off the reading, seems like more people would have trouble with senders if they were that easy to screw up. Good thinking checking with an external gauge to rule out wiring issues. Hopefully it's something external.

Good thinking, hopefully it's that easy to deal with. I think the trans computer forgets the codes after spitting them out--so you shut it off and start it again and it flashes whatever it was unhappy about last time, then forgets and moves on.

You might find more info for the 2.4 on the minitrucking forums. I did a little poking around and it looks like the starter mounts differently between the two, but not necessarily on all applications. I'm sure someone out there's done the swap.

Ah! That makes sense.

The flashes are how the TCU tells you what it's upset about. Basically it's running through each circuit. If the circuit is good, it makes a quick flash. If it's not, it makes a longer flash. Note which flash is longer than the rest and then decode that with the service manual (page AT-40 has the patterns and what they mean).

The rear hatch switch is built into the latch itself. It's a crap little wedge thing that gets pushed up by the striker, and it's not really built to come apart for cleaning or repair. I've read you can fix the problem by shimming the striker up with a couple of washers. I came up with a much more involved fix on my '95 (abandoned the stock switch and tied the dome light into the idiot light switch for the tire carrier, which I don't think older models had) and while it worked in the end, it did take a bit of screwing around. I'd try shimming first. Edit: crappy video I made years ago showing what I did to my '95. Should give you some idea of what you're up against with the switch. Ignore the rest of it if you don't want to try my bass-ackwards wiring bodge LOL.

Crappy tools are always fun. But the plug that he's been trying to run it on should show fuel pretty much immediately if it's getting fuel but not burning it. I'd be inclined to stick a boreoscope down that hole and see if anything jumps out. I don't know how much carbon buildup you'd need to make a misfire (shrouding the plug?) but it's something else to check, anyway.

I don't think long winded was the problem--I can't speak for anyone else of course but I just don't know what would make that noise inside a transmission. I'd start with that solenoid code. Check the wiring on the off chance it's that easy, drop the pan, drop the solenoid, look for any obvious problems. If the solenoid jammed up while extended a little, maybe it's sending a little pressure somewhere it shouldn't and an accumulator or something is fluttering and making your baseball card noise? Hopefully fixing the problem the computer's complaining about fixes the noise as well.