Mr. Pickles

No worries guys. They say those of us in the NW will have by far THE BIG ONE when isht hits the fan. According to the geology types, not only are we due, but we should be good for similar to the type of Anchorage, Ak back in the 60's. Somewhere along the 8.0-9.0+ range, basically total destruction. The little 7.0 a couple years ago, along with some recent volcano activity (St. Helens) is just a cheap preview.

Man, wouldnt' it be nice to find a cheap place, then have like 20 rigs lines up ready for the swap. I want bigger tires! Only, I don't want to afford the gas. :sniff:

You guys just need a 5sp. I'll take most any WD21 auto (short of a supercharger... or something crazy ) in a race with my stick. These little motors lug down low, but they get fiesty up high. Only, I bet a lot of auto drivers don't get to play in the high RPM's much in general. A nitrous kit would be fun though if it could be reliable and cheap. READ: not blow up my motor, but give a monster pull. By the way, I've wondered what the thoughts were on if its feasible to run a small amount in duration. Rather than only active full gas at full throttle, is it possible to run a small amount at say half? I just ask cause I do quite a lot of long hill climbs out yonder west where I'm down in power, and fighting to keep the RPM's up high. I'm sure its way too much stress and heat to keep a long slow burn going, but figured its in my head, so why not ask people's thoughts.

If the engine runs fine, doesn't smoke, leak, etc., I wouldn't mess with it above normal maintenance. It most likely will continue to do so. If its still going fine at this point, its comforatble with its age, so why open a can of worms? If it develops a bad habit or blows at some point, then its time to start pouring the money fountain.

Maybe try applying lube one at a time and test driving inbetween. I think it was Bernard that suggested this, but I could be wrong. Process of elimination. But if one set is toast, it wouldn't hurt to replace all anyways. BYW, I just noticed lots of cracking and slop in the PS UCA ones. Good thing the new ones are due to arrive tomorrow. Good luck, and if you need to get replacements, I've had good experiences with Central 4Wheel Drive for cheap Energy Suspension bushings.

88, did you and/or has anybody else relay'd their headlights? I was just in there this afternoon wiring and installing a relay for the PIAA's on the roof, adn was thinking it would be nice to do everything right and strong.

I got Moog parts in a kit on Ebay including upper, lower, as well as inner and outer tie rod ends, for $100 plus shipping. Who knows on install though, as I'm too busy to do it. Good luck!

I passed one of those speed things on I5 near Shasta and it pegged something like 100mph. Lucky it wasn't a photo one I suppose. I run about 3K rpm's about 70 mph and get roughly the same mileage from say 45-70, depending on terrain. The mileage goes down around town, hilly areas, and over 75 or so when the rpms go up a bit. 3K rpms isn't extraordinarily high, its not like your running a V8 or something.

You absolutely DO NOT want to use alcohol to clean it prior to applying Herculiner. The Herculiner will not bond to the surface after it has been cleaned with a product containing ammonia or alcohol. They recommend using Xylene, but Acetone works as well. Fair enough, good call. Thanks for the heads up, by the way, as I was thinking about maybe playing around with that stuff some day.

Thanks again JJ. Mine was in a minor accident in Jan 2004, and I had checked a few months after and nothing was on Carfax. Now it is noted, but at least they even say that it was it was minor. They have a disclaimer that says it may take a while for stuff to be reported, so I'd imagine if you wreck is older than say 6 months and doesn't show, you should be good to go.

And the designing, fabrication, completely building from scratch...

Happy Birthday, I'll join you in 6 mo. Isn't this the part of life where we start to look around, realize we're adults, and start cussing???

Well, you better just keep on keepin on, cause us NW US peeps were expecting your visit.

You could buy something like diamond plate in a reasonable size, but you'd be looking at a pretty expensive solution, into the couple $100's. Are you set on a kit, or up for putting something together?

Um, "easier"?!?! Nothing is easy there.

Bye the way, that's awesome. 1/2 a million miles. They better offer you some free toys or something. Time to cash in hopefully! Just don't take free maintenance, you're obviously doing fine on your own.

I've been getting slow and lazy lately with only 9K miles in the last year to carry me to 142K or so. But I'll pick up the pace now, as we just signed on a house a half hour away, so its back to the &*^%^%$%^$# commute.

Looks like a possibly decent rig. Depends on condition and location. Out of curiosity on seeing yours, my 94 at 142K miles still pulls Kelly Blue Book value of almost a $7K dealer value, and a bit over $5K private party in the Seattle area. The deal depends strongly on area, mileage, overall condition, etc. obviously. If you're in a weaker market like the east coast or particularly the rust belt, that may be a bit rich of a price. Out here, that's probably a decent price. Do some research on the vehicle up close, as well as price trends at sites like www.kbb.com, etc. As for the other stuff, the studs would be a decent investment regardless, and if they're not already broken and you replaced them, chances are it would be easy and pretty cheap. The frame rust issue is pretty straight forward, either it is or it isn't. If it is, you probably want to move one. As for the timing belt, no the engine is in no way destroyed. Its not a matter of overall engine health, but instead a wear item that should be replaced at recommended intervals. But if you don't take care of it and the belt breaks, the engine will be severly damanged because the engine is an interference type. This means the distance the piston travels overlaps the distance that the valves travel, so if the timing goes to hell, those parts collide (valves vs. pistons) and get very expensive to replace, not to mention the motor rebuild. Been there, done that. Its worth even the high prices quoted to replace the timing belt by far, cause that's much cheaper than replacing part or all of an engine.

Yep, shop around again. It took till the 3rd time at the 2nd shop (Firestone) for me to be happy. Most likely, they don't know how to solve the problem of tough alignment, so they make up an excuse instead.

Search works for me too. By the way to others, you can't expect a generic search like "lift kit" or "body lift" to work too well in practical terms. Its going to pull anybody that has mentioned lift kit or body lift, even if they were doing the same thing as you in asking for help. It helps to be specific with manufacturer, specific part, year of truck, or anything to narrow the search down to what you're really after. As for the clutch, good luck getting that Z24 one to fit. Sure in my old 720, and you'd get beer. Now, I'd just stare in disbelief.

That's some tough stuff. People use it for coating the interiors of Jeeps and stuff too. I've seen it in use and its very durable. I've heard that prep work is half the battle. Make sure you do a good surface scuff and run over with some alcohol or cleaner to remove any wax, grease, tar, etc. Then you should be good to go.

I'd ignore whatever the doorjam sticker or dealer says, and go by what is recommended on the tire sidewall. There may be a few "stock" tires, depending on the trim level and options selected. After all, they tire manufacturer is who designed the tires in the first place, not Nissan. Within the specified range, the softer you go, the more comfort you get at the expense of mileage, and the harder you go, the better mileage at the expense of a stiffer ride.

Ditto and ditto. If I remember right (its been a few years since removal) you still just pull and remove the metal grill on the overhead speakers in mine, a 94 (should be the same as a 95). After the grill, you can access the screws to the speaker. Not sure if that carries over to the older trucks, but its a shot. By the way, a quick tip if you have grills with small circular holes and you're having a tough time removing them, is to take a small screw and gently thread it into a hole in the grill, then gently pull to remove.

Just don't go speeding around corners like me, and ease up on the sudden movements. Slow down and take it easy, and you should be fine. I'm the opposite, not only do I leave the sway bar, but I went to poly bushings to stiffen it up. Nothing a quick wrench couldn't fix if the wish presents itself For you other lifted guys, how is the roll without the bars? Mine already mildly leans at close to 6" (2.5-3" susp., 3" BL).

Try Ebay, Summit, Central 4WD, etc. websites. I don't know necessarily about full kits, but I've ordered the full swaybar kit (links and bushings, as well as frame mount bushings) and tension rod kits in poly bushings by Energy Suspension (from Central 4Wheel Drive) for like $20 each. You could probably wrap the entire front suspension in quality stuff or around $100-150-ish.