SchizophrenicMC

That reminds me: My cruise doesn't work at all. I'm hoping it's just a switch. I really don't want to try and find a working cruise module.

Because my Jeep is comfortable, but the Pathfinder is cheaper to drive and wheel.

If it's an old Sentra with a cable clutch, you probably have a stretched cable. Clutches have a lot of resistance for a cable to fight to open. Over some years, it'll stretch. If it was a hydraulic clutch, that'd be a bit tougher to diagnose. Lot more parts.

I can't tell if you're at me or the dude who was cussing me out. Also, why am I the negative-rep bad guy? That's harsh. Anyway, the truck still drives, but it's pulling everywhere, now, and making more noise. I think the wreck broke something back there. Great.

I'm goin' to my friend, Scott's, place. We were gonna go to Fry's and look at some graphics cards for the machine my cousin gave me. I'm into his neighborhood, and I see this 300ZX down the street before his, so I go and look at it for a second, then I turn around to go back to his street, but I turned one street too early, so I'm shooting back around, and this guy in a Blazer is backing out of his driveway as I'm going around. I couldn't have been going more than 35- any more and I would have rolled the truck on that bend. Besides, immediately after the bend is Scott's street so I was slowed up to turn onto it. Anyway, I park across the street from Scott, get out, walk to his door, and am crossing the street again, Scott behind me, and the douche from the Blazer starts cussing me out about my driving. And this dude's a drunk Mexican, beer-stained shirt and all, cussing me out. So I fskcing snap, tell Scott to get in the truck, and I peel out in reverse. Ain't no one behind me, so I figure it's not gonna matter. In any case, this asshole's parked in the middle of the street to cuss me out. Well, in my fit of rage and, frankly, feeling threatened, I didn't realize the wheel was crooked slightly right. So I get to about 15mph before hitting the front end of this guy's F150. Nothing too bad for him. A bent bumper, smashed grille, bit of a bend in the hood. Nothing insurance won't cover. Well, fskchead starts cussing me out again and calls the &^%*ing cops. So instead of handling it civilly, between me and the Ford owner, it comes to 3 cops showing up in Chargers, the douchehead still cussing me out from across the street, and so I get a ticket from the asshole Sergeant in the '11 Charger (They give the new models to the cops with the most traffic citations under their belt) for "Failure to maintain proper control of a vehicle" on top of my premium bound to increase, and the damage to the back of my truck. The hatch is smashed, the tire carrier's smashed, neither will open, the bumper's screwed, the body work under the hatch is screwed, the spare wheel and tire got ruined, and the rear wiper's stuck in the middle of the rear window. And Progressive refused to cover my truck against collision when we got the policy, so I only have Liability. The repairs I already needed to the front end, added to the stuff for the rear end, comes up to about $1200, including the body work to fix the radiator support and the back, which is more than getting a newer Pathfinder. Or, for that matter, an older Z or a 240 or something. Hell, maybe an automatic Saturn or something. I just fskcin' got this truck, man... And I'm unemployed so what the hell am I gonna do to pay for any of this @!*%?

Wrecked it. Based on the damage, I'm writing this pathfinder off. It needs more repairs now than it'd cost to buy a new one.

Kasane Teto Fukkireta -Ron

I'm calling 1994SEV6 out. This guy talks out his ass more than I do. Anyway, what Tungsten (dense metal) said. Simplicity of design reduces cost significantly. The major cost of automatic transmissions is not the additional mass they carry, but the complexity of manufacture. It requires far more in terms of design, tooling, and training to get an automagic into your car, than it does to do a manual transmission. Even more so for a TCVT, which has 4 moving parts. Even a 5-speed has 20-something gears, dogs, and linkages. When you consider the 5-speed requires small gears with high strength, and have a relatively high complexity of design, you must note how expensive it is to produce. The TCVT has a small number of parts that don't rely on anything more than friction to create difference. The servos to actuate the friction plates are cheap, there is no need for linkages, minimal need for lubricants and their circulation mechanisms. It falls to friction material and electronic controls to make up the rest of the way to completion. There are a number of friction materials available for this application, so that leaves the computers. This is the fun part, but also the least expensive part. A college computer science major could write the algorithm to control a transmission that simple. Frankly, there is no cost to justify massively expensive TCVT prices, so they will be sold as cheaply as automatic transmissions, and only because they are a premium addition, otherwise, profit could still be made at lower price points.

He wouldn't. What he would need to know is cost of production versus demand. If the projected demand price doesn't exceed the cost of production, he won't authorize production. If it does, however, he'll do what he can to profit.

I'm not even gonna keep going with this. I don't have to defend my ideas about my car, they're mine. Now we're way off the topic of Pathfinders, talking about sbcs in old Corvettes. Anyway, topped off the tank before gas prices went up this morning. Screw oil speculation.

Doctor Who Theme -Can't bloody remember

I tried to pull the bent radiator support back out, but since I only have a hand winch and the back of the GMC, I didn't get anywhere with that. If only I had a buddy and could find the ratchet tiedown straps. Also a tree. Now, neither of my headlight assemblies, nor my grille, are attached, and the bend in the rad support is all the more noticeable.

DDD INITIAL D (My Car is Fantasy) -Mega NRG Man

Maybe I'm just fascinated by square displacement.

Find a Pet -Odyssey Eurobeat

Local to me, I can't find any 33s, but more 30s than I could ever want. Not a one of those 30s is more than $200 and all of 'em are running. I guess there's just a different density of the vehicles that carried them down here. Everyone and their grandma has a 300ZX here. (I almost bought one from a grandma, actually, but it was trashed) Not to mention more WD21s than R50s, and a bunch of 3rd-gen Maximas. I'd have to do some serious looking to find a 33, and for what? Better-flowing heads and 5mm more bore? Port the 30 heads and stroke it 4mm. It's more expensive, but I feel like it's more elegant. Anyway, I'm gonna go screw around in and with my truck. See you guys later.

No replacement for displacement, except when a bigger engine is cost-prohibitive, and modifications to bring it within the desired parameters are more so. I know a bunch of intact VG30s around me for cheap, off the top of my head. I look and I look and no one has a VG33 anywhere near me. And why bother? I'm not doing an expensive build, I'm doing a fun, cheap one, that I can toss around until I blow something up. The most prevalent reason not to get the bigger engine that produces (15, only 15) more power, stock, is it's expensive. It costs money. If I buy an M30, it's got a VG30, free of charge. That's better for me. Don't get me wrong, I respect the VG33. I've considered, when Sammy's engine inevitably dies, finding a 33 and building a VG34ER. Because the VG33 does what I want in a truck. Its power band is right where I want it in a truck. But it's not quite what I like in a car, and it's more money than I wanna spend on a cheap sleeper. It's a hobby car, not my pride and joy. I could throw away the M30, for all I care. I'm thinking of finding a tree and using a ratcheting tie-down to try and bend the radiator support back forward a bit. It's starting to bug me.

I take offense at that. Completely condescending post. You speak as though I have no legitimate reasoning behind my decisions. The VG33 is just an up-bored VG30. Same block, water jackets moved to accommodate the bigger bore. Same stroke. If I wanted to increase displacement, I'd use stroke to generate more torque. It's more expensive, but "if I were to build one I wouldn't care about how much it's going to cost." Let's say, then, money is no object. I'd probably upstroke it to square, in that case. Not much, only up to 3.1L but it's something. I'm not looking for the biggest, highest-boost turbo, I'm looking for something with more boost than a T25, with comparable spool time. If I cared enough, I'd use a T25 and T34 in sequential arrangement. Because I bloody well can. For that matter, let's do that and push the top-end boost to 20PSI, and drop compression on the pistons. While I'm in there, do something about that interference valve train so it can handle higher revs. (Square displacement means higher revs means higher exhaust pressure means increased responsiveness) Increase to bigger injectors to handle the fuel issue, run 93 octane. Didn't I say R200? You know, the Z31 diff with the CLSD? Yeah, put that in there, because you know, it's the only good diff on this drivetrain. Since money isn't an object, put the whole thing on coilovers (AGX comes to mind for some reason) and skip the Z32 brakes, go with Q45 brakes. Those buggers are massive, I've seen 'em stop an S12 on a dime. Of course at this point, I should have bought a Z32 TT and done some upgrades with what was left over in the money. And that's why I'm not swapping and building the whole engine, and using a small turbo. Because I'm not working with a lot of money here. I can get a rebuilt T30 and a Z31 manifold for a couple hundred dollars, an FMIC for a hundred, fix up the exhaust for not too much, and a tranny for $200. On top of a $500-1000 car in my area. The other odds and ends finish me off at about $2000 total investment. Basically, I'm making a Z31 that doesn't understeer like mad. I think the ignorant comment is the one stating I should use an engine that was only used in trucks, SUVs, and Minivans, as a street performance engine, instead of spending the money I'd need to make it properly streetable on upgrading the engine that's already there. VG33s are good for supercharging and make great Pathfinder engines. But there is no way I'd put one in my sleeper. And what's this about VG33'd Z31s? I don't know any. I've known a good number of Z31s in D/FW, and not a one was a VG33. A couple of LS, a few RB, even a VG30DE, but nothin' VG33. *Ahem* Back to Pathfinders.

Screw the 33, that's a truck engine, no two ways about it. Keep the VG30E in there, T30 it, 10PSI intercooled, R200 diff, but I do agree about the Z32 brakes. Of course all that bumps the cost way up, and is still before considering suspension stuff, but it IS a luxury car...

I want an M30. 5-speed swap that. Sport Luxury for under 2 g's. Ugly, but stable as hell around the corners. Also rides nice. You know. For the ladies. Anyway, I'm still having trouble with the door, and the driver window is ever so slightly down. Gonna have to fix that and rain-x my windows. Looks like window stuff has to come before front-end stuff.

Looks like I'm just gonna have to put up with it until I can afford new window regulators and motors. I don't wanna take the door apart too many times. Already broke the polyboard on the driver door panel, trying to free it.

That doesn't look particularly appetizing in that shape.

I stumbled upon a new issue. The passenger door doesn't want to stay all the way shut. I know the problem with the driver door is it's loose and misaligned, but the passenger door is nice and tight and slides into place perfectly, except it doesn't stay all the way shut. It's on the redundant latch, like if you didn't close the hood all the way. Any ideas? Maybe the latch needs to be regreased?

A lot of it depends on your insurance provider, though. For example, Progressive won't even provide collision insurance to my Pathfinder (sight unseen, I might add) just because it's 20 years old and only worth a couple hundred dollars according to them. I asked to see the highest provided coverage, and they still would not cover it for collision. Some insurers won't cover modified equipment, if the base vehicle is below a certain monetary threshold. Personally, I don't plan to ever use my insurance, and I only keep it in case I get pulled over, because it's required. I suppose it's a good idea to carry liability, so I don't get my ass sued, but I don't think I'm ever going to carry collision. I don't ever plan to buy a new car - no justification for the expense - so there's no reason to insure against collision anyway. If my older car gets smashed, I'll have to fix it myself or get rid of it. The rest of it is just accident avoidance. Quick reaction. Use as much of that as you can and use your insurance for when you run out of luck and reflexes.

... See if someone had told me that earlier... All the gas stations local to me measure Imperial. Says right there on the pump. Which is why my bone-dry tank won't take more than 17 at the pump. -__- Anyway, SE, don't tell me what my gauge does and doesn't do. It certainly doesn't move on ACC switched. I've watched it, like so much drying paint, and it doesn't move until the engine is actually running. Even on Ignition, with the engine off. Dunno why. Don't really care. I trust Tungsten that it's an anti-slosh system that makes it move slowly. I know the GMC gauge sloshes, which might explain why it's immediate. Still, there's probably an issue with some wire or part of the gauge that's exacerbating this issue. As I said before, check that your sensors and gauge work properly, and replace what doesn't.