Mr. Pickles

Hmmm... that'll be a "nope" for the big race.

I've had serious sticking issues on 2 sets of caliper/pads where both pulled to the passenger side, although I really wouldn't know what to check. Unfortunately, both sets were pretty spontaneous (or not- Midas sucks!) and died on the spot. Could also be alignment, and that's a simple and cheap fix.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! I'd like for you to tell a couple guys around here that is "really no big deal." A frame of reference might be in order. "No big deal... for an experienced fabricator." "No big deal... if you happen to not drive your rig on the highway." Please, dump the grandiose claims, or throw in some pics to back them. Nobody is going to run out to the garage over the weekend and be able to chop and hack a SAS into a Pathy with anything approaching reliable and civil results. I'd love to be proven wrong. PLEASE.

Blackpath is smoking some good stuff, curiously while I'm watching a bio on Jimmy Hendrix on VH1. :Magic: A body lift is a body lift, separate body from frame. No Tcase drop, no suspension anything, nada. All you're doing really is sticking some big chunks of plastic between the body and the frame at the mounting points. Obviously, there's a bunch of work to be had, but still.

REDNIFHTAP -alcohol- "Redrum, redrum, REDRUM!"

I also vote no-flush. At this point in your Pathy's life, things have seated themselves in their way and some of that gunk you're trying to get rid of just might be sealing a leaky gasket or something. Its one of those "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" type scenarios. By the way, I'm also curious about the ATF method 88 mentioned. What's the reasoning for this? Never heard of that before.

Ah, well mine is about 4-4 1/2' tall, and sticks about half its lenght above the roof. That would explain things then. Go big or go home.

Isn't there a site out there about switching intakes on 300Z's in favor of Pathfinder ones for more torque? I remember reading something about it, including the year the guy used, but couldn't find it just now. I coulda sworn they were talking about a 90+ model like 88 said, if I remember right.

I find it kinda amusing that the discussion has gone from 1 guy using off the shelf parts to try and fab up a turbo install, to some random pro's stepping in talking a bunch of isht about how easy it is to do in their pro shops with custom parts, years of experience, and endless budgets. Don't you think you've kinda stepped away from the original idea of a guy swapping in close to free 300ZX turbo set-up on his own in his own garage with no real experience in the project?!?

I can't talk for the quality of the supplier, but I have an aftermarket bumper chrome bumper installed by the body shop after the front end was mildy crunched, and the fit wasn't that great. Then they found a different chrome end from a different aftermarket supplier to replace a rusted one that wasn't damaged, and they said they did this as a favor without letting the insurance company know. But it is a horrible fit. If you're going to replace a piece of the bumper, especially for rust, I bet the rest of it isn't far behind. I'd say replace it all at once that may not line up perfectly with the stock one, but at least will all fit together decently.

I belive bored motors have been done, ala Mr. Jim. Don't know about stroked. SAS- see Statikuz.

Foam stuff? Does it look factory stock? I don't have this. I just have that dense fabric/foam padding/sound deadener stuff like is beneath the carpet, and you can just pull it up to see my rust spots. Hopefully the rust will go away soon with the help of a welding family friend.

Um, dude, I hate to state the obvious, but are you sure you didn't just inherit the puddle of coolant from the last car that parked there? How is your coolant level? There's no way you're driving this truck if its screwed up enough to be dumping coolant out the back. On a 2nd thought, run it around, then park for the night in a spot you make sure is clean and clear. You may even spread out some paper towels or newspaper underneath, as they'll collect anything that falls and will shrivel up at the point of contact/leak.

I saw these so called "internal bead locks" in this month's Petersen's 4Wheel & Offroad. In the US they go by the brand name Staun Bead Lock, but they are Austrailian products normally known as SecondAir. Its really a slick idea, I thought. They use a very low profile inner tube that sits way down inside your normal offroad tire, and it pushes directly on the bead from the inside to force it onto the rim all the way down close to or at 0lbs pressure. It seems to be a sound enough idea to keep things in place, and they say an added benefit is if you manage to pop or tear a tire, you could limp a short distance to safety or the road on that inner tube type deal.

Heh heh heh... its called I'm fed up with it, I'm handing the mechanic the parts, and having him call me when its done. He checked it out this afternoon after I limped the old girl over to his shop, and said it should be no biggie. Good deal, as he's got many years in body work and general shop, including 15 years as shop manager at a local F*rd dealer. So... after that, I'm good to go. Works for me. All in all, its been an experience for sure. I thought I knew the truck pretty well, but now other than physically inside the engine, I've seen just about every angle there is to see. Now I'm ready to play. Although, soon to come are ball joints, tie rod ends, some front shocks, hopefully a set of headers...

Question: why on the passenger side? Install dude put mine on the driver's side fender. It works well, just wondering.

I know, I'm stuck between the 2. If they had 32x12.5's... hmmm... Don't know if that would even fit, but still. What do you think the loss of mileage would be only jumping up 1 " in diameter? I'm barely content with the power as it is, and I'd be bummed if I lost much pull as well as mileage with the swap. On another annoying but sweet note, I've got the start of another manifold leak, although this time its not at the head but below. I showed it to the GF and told her how it would be a much better idea to just swap to headers, since she remembers me cussing up a storm while paying the bill for the manifold repair 2 years ago. :contract:

I didn't have to notch the floor, but I'm gonna need to either get a hardbody transfer case shifter, a new and smaller boot, or a combo of both. I can shift just fine, bit you really have to push that boot to get it to 4L, and the boot on the tranny shifter sits way up and is mushy feeling, slowing the movement down. Oh well...

I'm gonna try a suggestion and cut up an inner tube to use as gap guards. We'll see...

Ta-da. I like the stance even though there's a lot of fender clearance. I think I'm gonna look at 31x11.5 Kumho M/T's when I retire these BFG's, just go wider but not any taller, either spring or summer. That way they'll be beefier, I've got the clearance for what I want to do, and I'll maintain the mileage as I take this truck on some pretty long hauls on camping trips all summer, hundreds of miles at a time.

You have 2 different keys?! Must have been a replacement somewhere down the line I guess. As for that Bic picking, yeah. They ran a big piece on that in the Seattle PI like 6 months or 1 year ago. Its a huge issue, as there are so many health nuts that commute via bike, as well as all the students at UW and the other universities in town. They were a bit embarrased to have been pushing those locks on people as the ultimate solution. By the way, the U-lock style can also be easily beat in another way. Many cars have the scissor type jacks, where they extend like a giant accordian. Apparently people were grabbing the slimmest versions of those jacks they could find, probably from a Geo or something, and slipping them inside the U of the bike lock, then just extending it like you're jacking up the car. Apparently the various brands of U locks couldn't handle the force from the inside and would break. Good times.

Crank the bars like 88 said to eliminate any sagging they may have these days, and take a look at where you have rubbing. Chances are, its just the edges of the plastic flare which you could trim cleanly and still look stock.

Crank+trim= you're good to go

*bump*

And mine has taken probably 4 full days so far, but I'm working alone with no specialty tools and have run into several annoying issues. I think the time depends on a lot of factors: your experience if you've even done a BL before, your tools, your work space, help, condition of the vehicle (rust, etc.), luck, etc. etc. I had heard of quotes somewhere around $400-700, but I have no idea if that is truly the case or not. You may also want to contact a local off-road shop if there is one in the area, and see if they do it or can recommend any shops they have worked with before.