01Pathmaker

:0 lookin real sweet! Can't wait til my skid get here! These teasers are killin me!

01-04 have timing chains and coil-on-plug style ignition, so no timing belt, distributor cap/rotor/wires to replace. They also come with very high quality NGK Iridium plugs that are good for over 100k miles (did mine at about 120k and still looked great). Good idea to do a transmission service (fluid and filter), transfer case, front and rear differentials and fuel filter. Coolant can wait another 10k or so as long as it checks out good. Keep up on oil changes every 5k with quality oil and filter of your choice (the dino vs synthetic battle will never end, this day and age it's more of a personal preference). Also a good idea to check your engine air filter and in-cabin air filter, replace with quality filters as needed. Tires are very dependent upon how you use and what you expect to do with you Pathfinder, a good tire shop will be able to point you in the right direction. Welcome and enjoy the ride!

Woohoo! Mine is on it's way!!!

Looks awesome! Those rims are 10.5 wide? I'd think the sidewalls would look funky (kinda like the ones up against the wall in your garage) if the rim is the same as the section width of the tire.

Some ebay gimmicks out there, but no real plug n play tuners available.

Ahhh, you're killin me!!! Can't wait to see!!!

Had a plugged ac drain on mom-in-laws 01 LE, did exactly what you're describing. The tube is very hard to see, but if you look up in the area Kyle described, that's where it is. Once I finally found it, I used a wire hanger (straightened out of course) and gently fed it up into the tube. It was not fun, especially when I cleared the clog and got soaked (be prepared for that). The line had gotten clogged and the condensation that typically drains out behind the rf wheel backed up into the hvac box, leaked at a seam close to the firewall.

Hmmm, sounds like a few fairly simple checks are in order. First, if you're also losing coolant I'd start with a pressure test of the cooling system, then do a compression leak down test on each cylinder, if no coolant loss, than go straight into the compression test. A quart of oil every 600 miles or so is pretty serious. You say you get noise when oil level is at 3/4, meaning only 1/4 below full on the dipstick? Unless the motor is extremely tired, noise with only a slight amount of oil reduction is a big red flag.

Are you sure those numbers are correct? If you were leaking that much (or even half that) you'd certainly know it. You'd be marking your territory every where you go, if it was from the valve covers, you'd be getting an unbearable stench (and would probably smoke enough to look like it was on fire every time you stop. I think if it was burning a quart every 600 or so miles, you'd be smoking pretty noticeably. As for tightening the screws on old valve cover gaskets, I don't recommend it, as over that much time the rubber becomes very brittle and I've seen many of them crack (which makes the small leak into a big leak).

Cherokee sport (boxy looking one) has rain gutters therefore the lightbar most likely is a gutter mount, no Pathfinder has gutters, so direct bolt-on, no, but depending on its design it might be easy to chop it to the correct length and fab up mounts to the cargo rails. If its cheap enough, and you (or someone you know) are handy enough, could be a fun, easy and rewarding project.

Sounds like you're heading in the right direction! All the mods you have listed are very practical, easy and smart. The only thing I'm not 100% sure of is if 3.44" will be enough backspacing to clear the coil bucket of the strut, hopefully others might be able to say if it will be enough or not (everything I've seen and read says at least 3.75 to clear 31's on facelifted R50's). As for intake and exhaust, (again I may be wrong) I haven't been able to find any direct bolt-on stuff, several guys have made their own, but anytime you can increase the airflow into and out of the engine, it's a good thing (as long as it's kept within reason). The 3.5 is a very good motor, so both of these are on my wish list for my '01 also. The Silent Armor tires are very good, I had a set of progrades on my Titan, like em so much I put em on my '01, got about 52k out of them, great on the highway, beach, snow/ice, dirt/gravel roads, and can handle light mud, didn't do very well in the gooey stuff though. Shame they discontinued them, though I've heard the Adventure AT that replaced them are just as good, only more pricey. Be sure to keep us posted on your progress. EDIT: Definitely check out good skidplates (can't wait for the one I ordered from Steve (4x4design)), build a "missing link", change all your fluids and check breathers (may want to relocate them to higher ground as well) for proper operation.

Very good to hear! I'll taking the hub plunge myself after a bit more research. It seems great results are had across the board on this upgrade, just don't know if I'm going to go for the Warns (I've only had great experiences with them on many other vehicles) or MileMarkers as they're almost half the cost. It just seems when I try to save a few bucks by going with cheaper parts, I'm rarely impressed with the end result.

Replacing the front struts is quite easy with the appropriate basic hand tools. If you have another vehicle available, after you remove your old ones you can even take the old and new to most big-chain repair shops (pep boys, mavis, sts, firestone, discount tire) and for a small fee they'll swap the springs to the new struts for you. Using a spring compressor can be a bit unnerving for a novice (and potentially dangerous) but certainly can be done, just be careful, take your time and follow instructions. Oh, and no matter what, you'll need an alignment when you're done.

^^I agree 100%. Wouldn't be the first time I've seen that.

Looks good! Looking at picking up a set myself, but would like to find them with black trim (going for a purely black on white look).

Does seem a bit odd for sure. Can't wait to see them on!

Yes, got the Bosal kit from rockauto. It's ok, but I can see why it's cheaper than others. Fitment leaves a little to be desired, I really had to fight a bit to get the front pipes to connect, had to tweak the heat shield above the muffler cause the rear hanger was rubbing against it, the connection between the muffler and resonator didn't line up to well (still need to massage it a bit, even with the new o-ring gasket there is a small leak), and the tailpipe is only about 1"-1.5" under the bumper (hasn't been an issue yet, but I may somehow try to tweak that a little too). In retrospect, I probably would have been better off paying a little more for the Walker or doing a custom system.

So it's taken a bit longer that I'd planned (thanks to 2 jobs, wife, kids, house) but I have finally done most of the maintenance and repairs, so I went to DMV and she's finally on the road. I've got a few more minor things to fix and/or check up on, but overall everything has gone fairly smooth. I'll get to these things as time allows, then hopefully start some well thought out mods. Saving a "final tally" for after phase 1 (maintenance/repairs) is complete, but so far even including the purchase price (excluding dmv fees & insurance) I'm still well under $1000, so I'm still very confident that, barring any major hiccups, I'll be able to keep the entire project under $2500. I'll continue to update as bigger things happen, and for those who ask, with the time constraints I face, I haven't taken any pics along the way (all pretty boring, standard stuff) and since no mods have been done yet, I really don't see a reason to, still looks exactly the same. Stay tuned though, pics will come as mods do.

Awesome! Going to pm you as to stop thread jacking the op.

So you're running a total lift of 3.5" in front and 3" out back? How are your cv angles and front wheel alignment? I'm very interested to figure out the least expensive but practical way to run my almost new 285/70/17's I have on Titan wheels. I know it'd require spacers to clear the struts, but since I already have them sitting in the garage (and they're paid for)...

Glad to hear you got it sorted out.

Sorry to the op for the thredjacking, but nocojay, please keep us updated on how you make out with that combo and 265/75's, I'm running the .5" AC springs and haven't been able to decide on which of his spacers to get.

Been using synthetic in my '01 since the first oil change, changing with a Bosch or purolator filter every 5k miles, got 140k on her now, still super smooth and clean. I've primarily run Castrol, but a few times here n there used Mobil1 or Pennzoil due to availability, all ran pretty much the same but seems a touch quieter with the Castrol.

Good write up Pat! Thanks for sharing your pain with us. I know Murphy quite well also, he sure is a big pita and always shows up at the wrong time.

Hey Steve, if there's a spot left on the second order, shoot me a pm please, I'll jump in on this.