hawairish

Can't say it's something I'd ever consider doing. That guy seemed to do a great job of figuring out where that hole needed to be. You're going to hate it if you miss the mark, though. Maybe if you're able to cut a large piece from a donor truck to use as a proper cover. This idea doesn't sit well with me. Your truck, of course. I'd sooner buy the transmission jack and drop it all down. Especially if you already have a leaking RMS. Changing the RMS is a bigger pain in the...

Dude...your reply struck a total déjà vu moment...except it really happened! In fact, exactly one year ago, I replied to a thread on the Club Frontier forum about this exact same issue where ATF was unbelievably dripping from wiring insulation. I had forgotten all about the leaking through the insulation, only recalling the general nature of the failure. While I was typing my reply there, the topic starter had posted that he found the same issue on the Club Xterra forum. All these trucks use the same transmission, of course. This post shows the failure at the tip of the sensor. So, my money's on that sensor. Unfortunately, if it is that sensor, it's not cheap and not easy to replace. Unfortunately, part two, I decided to crawl under my truck to see what plugs are visible to confirm if I could see what you see. I see that my harness also shows a layer of grime on it...which is highly unfortunate because I just had the transmission down in 2023 and didn't notice it.

Given the saturation, I'd say it's probably a sensor atop the transmission. There are no fluid lines in that area, so it has to be travelling down the loom. Guessing that's the only sign of saturation. There are two sensors on top. Hopefully it's the revolution sensor at the rear end of the transmission and not the turbine revolution sensor at the front of the transmission. Older/OE turbine revolution sensors had a rubber/plastic boot that can crack at the top and allow ATF to be expelled; replacing it requires dropping the transmission because the sensor is ridiculously long. The rear sensor is much shorter and more accessible, but also just uses an o-ring to seal. Keep in mind your transfer case uses ATF, too, and is in that area. Since you have the LE, you have the full-time ATX14A transfer case and I'm not sure what sensors exist there. Doubt it's the breather on top of the rear section of the case, but wouldn't hurt to inspect (it points in the wrong direction of your leak and likely not a factor unless you regularly park on an incline). If the ATX14A is like the TX10A at the tail of the case, the fluid line is relatively low in that area when the truck is level, and there's a baffle plate inside that prevents fluid from being slung directly into the tube. Of course, usually helps to power wash the area as best you can and try to see if/where a new leak/drip develops.

I need to be super clear that the level of work I've described so far was specifically to service the crossover pipe. That means I need to pull back most details about my experience because they will not be the same as yours if you need to replace your RMS. My apologies for not realizing or stating this earlier. That said... Replacing the RMS on this truck requires a SIGNIFICANT amount of effort and equipment. In my case, I had zero intentions of replacing it because I knew the amount of work it required. I intended to apply RTV to the exterior of the RMS to seal a minor leak I was aware of. If you're losing that much oil, this is surely not the option you'd take. To replace the RMS, we're talking about pulling the transmission, draining coolant and motor oil, dropping the front axle, slinging the engine, lowering the subframe, and splitting the engine. The factory service manual assumes you have access to a 2/4-post lift, a cherry picker/hoist, and a transmission or trolley jack. To your point, pulling the engine could be the home mechanic way to do this job...but not the best way. In essence, you need to support the engine from above while the subframe is lowered to provide space to drop the upper oil pan. I'm trying to finish a straight axle swap and for the last 10-11 months, I'd been using an engine support bar to suspend the engine, which is really all you need to do here. I thought I had a better pic, but you can find these at Harbor Freight or on Amazon. I got mine from Amazon for about $80 I think. I can tell you firsthand that slinging options on this engine absolutely suck. The factory sling points are in the dumbest locations, and you basically need factory slingers to even use them (one point is behind the power steering pump, which must be removed to access, but the points are tucked in an obscure spot...can't just put a bolt in and use it with chains; the driver's side spot is a little more accessible but also not usable with the support bar. There are no exposed bolt holes, no clear paths to wrap a strap around without compressing against coolant hard lines/pipes or wiring, nothing to chain to...it's absolute crap. In that pic, I made a plate that bolts where the power steering pump goes, but I eventually replaced it with one that attaches to the brackets that hold the motor mounts. My slingers are basically permanent fixtures on the engine at this point for future use. You could potentially make a sling plate that bolts onto the intake manifold (i.e., the actual manifold on the engine underneath the intake plenums), but frankly, I didn't like that option at all. You can drop the transmission without slinging the engine. And you probably should do this first to determine what part of the RMS is actually leaking. But with the engine slung, you can do all the work necessary to lower the subframe. You'll also avoid having to disconnect engine harnesses, detach the exhaust system, split the A/C, and many many other things...it will still be a lot of work, but it will save a lot of time and possibly money (recharging AC lines). If you're not familiar with the Factory Service Manuals, get familiar: https://www.nicoclub.com/nissan-service-manuals Drill down into Pathfinder > 2001 or 2001.5 > Engine Mechanical. In that chapter, start at with page EM-15. You'll quickly see the major steps that are involved. If you start with EM-37 you'll be very disappointed that Nissan makes the procedure look like it's 6 easy steps. Re: 2001 vs 2001.5...2001 was a split year. Your exact manual will depend on your truck's manufacture date (I don't know the cut off) but the procedures here should be the same. I recommend opening each link in a new browser tab, then clicking the "Click here to download a copy" link below each PDF inset on the page so that you can save all the PDFs to a local folder and reference later. I like to keep mine on a Google Drive share so I can pull them up whenever. The FSM site does not load well on mobile devices, if at all. And yes, the transmission must be removed to access the RMS. As is separating the upper oil pan from the block. The RMS is actually a seal within a housing ("retainer"). The seal cannot be removed like a conventional RMS on the truck because it is installed from the backside of the housing. As mentioned earlier, the seal itself does not tend to fail, but instead a seal on the perimeter of the housing. The housing uses both a paper gasket (engine block) and rubber strip/seal (upper pan) in addition to a bead of RTV all around. Given the volume of oil you're leaking, the rubber seal is surely compromised. I bought the Ultra Power set from Rock Auto because it include the rubber seal; I don't think the other ones (which only show the gasket) include the rubber seal. (If you need a replacement, send me a message and I'll send you the kit I have...I don't have a need for it at this point.)

That's a very helpful explanation! Honestly, I've never heard of a pull-type clutch like that. And very typical of Nissan to make this truck an absolute bastard in one more way (we already know this is the case with the R50...it shares practically NOTHING with any other VQ35DE model, except the exhaust manifold gaskets basically). Looking at pictures on RA for 02 R50s, I see what you mean. "Diaphragm style". Wild. I never knew. But yeah, that makes a lot more sense now. And that clutch literally only cross-refs to 01-02 R50. How stupid... Lastly, welcome to NPORA! Great info for an early post. As far as image hosting goes...there is none. If you want to post pictures here, you'll need to use a 3rd party image host and then link to it in the post (pasting a URL in the text field should auto load the image, similar to how I posted the RockAuto pic above).

You can access the water control valve and crossover pipe and gaskets with the transmission removed. That’s how I did it. It’s still a little tight, but you can tip the engine forward a small amount…as long as the mounts aren’t toast and it wants to just fall forward. However, there’s the RMS itself and a seal around the plate that holds the RMS. The failure point is usually the seal around the plate and not the RMS itself, which is what requires separating the upper oil pan (the black pan you see is the lower pan) from the block. To separate the upper pan and the block there’s a lot of other things that need to be loosened or removed. When I was in there to address my leak (not nearly as as bad as yours), I just slathered some RTV along the plate seal. As for pulling the engine instead and leaving the transmission in…I think pulling the transmission (and t-case) down is the easier route. That way to don’t have to disconnect all the electrical and exhaust stuff. Pulling the transmission just needs detaching the driveshaft, unplugging the harness pigtail, and detaching the ATF lines. Get a transmission jack.

16 mpg on a misfire...I'd be happy to see that on my truck! But ultimately, a misfire will absolutely affect mileage. Since cylinder #4 (the "04" in P0304) is easily accessible on the engine (driver's side), you could at least swap the #2 and #4 coil packs to see if the problem travels, and pull the #4 spark plug to check its condition and replace if warranted. Those two actions would at least rule out spark issues. Air and fuel you can't really check without tearing down the top of the engine a bit, but maybe a borescope might show something. In tracking down my own engine issues in recent years, a smoke machine proved super valuable in finding leaks. Maybe run a fuel system treatment for a tank or two in case it's something with the injector. Unlikely the code is tied to clogged cat. Two other cylinders exist on the engine bank, so you'd throw a bank-specific cat or O2 sensor code instead.

Honestly, that's not a terrible idea and I'm sitting on an absurd amount of unused water bottles. I took a quick look at universal and other OEM bottle options, but the R50 has this stupid gooseneck design that might complicate tucking another bottle in the same spot...and there's no space under the hood for a different option. I may just pick up some fiberglass stuff or a plastic welding kit and see if can be repaired...not that I use washer fluid all that often anyway. And yeah, shopping for shocks was enough of a challenge, but spring choices and unknown variables (like what's my new sprung weight?) were something else. Just finding options that aren't $80/ea ($320 for the whole setup!) complicates things, since that's apparently the going rate for most springs. BUT...on that note, I did order springs last night from Summit and they should be here next week. After mulling on it some more and seeing what was actually available and from where, I went with 9" and 12" springs at 300 lb/ins each. So 150/300 will be the resulting rate. Even better was getting costs under $250 before tax (free shipping at least) if I didn't mind using different brands and different colors. In this case, Summit house brand in silver and Aldan American brand in black. Considering I have a silver truck and practically everything else will be painted black, not to mention the Fox shocks are chrome and black, I'd say it's going to work fine. Never heard of the latter brand, but I presume a spring is a spring is a spring, and they're both made in USA (not that that's much of a factor for most of my purchases). At this point, the coilover setup ends up being a big dent on the project budget at around $1100, or about 25% of what I've got into the project so far. I admittedly had some buyers remorse buying the 1st coilover. In hindsight, sticking with leaf springs would have been a fantastic option for this project both for costs and effort...I surely could have been done months ago had I gone that route. But, no real regrets at this point aside from not putting more effort into it last year. Anyway...this week's been too busy with work to touch the truck, but hoping to jam on stuff over the 3-day weekend.

After polling some other SAS'd Pathfinder and Xterra owners on a Nissan SAS Facebook group, seems they stick with convention running 200 or 250 over 300 spring setups, yielding 120/300 and 136/300 dual rate setups, respectively. They (all 3 of them so far) seem to have good things to say about their setups, particular ride quality and the transition to the secondary rate. Of course, it's the coilover that does the work of ride quality. It may very well be the case that real-world experience beats number crunching. So if that's the case, I guess I'm rethinking (surely overthinking) the spring setup. Maybe Calmini's 300+300 setup is the way to go, since the R50 is a little bit heavier than the WD21 and WD22, and I presume most of that is due to VQ vs. VG.

Bonus post! (Long post...) Figure I'd keep this one separate from my last post since it's a pretty significant aspect of the project. Enough to warrant its own discussion. So, I bought a coilover. Just one, though. Going with a Fox 2.0 emulsion coilover. 10" travel (9.25" actual), 7/8" shaft. Fox seemed to be the best overall option...cost, parts availability, service availability (local). The thing I've learned is that each additional "feature" or upgrade on a coilover adds $50-$150 per shock. My "budget" Fox option was just under $300/ea, while the piggy back reservoir ones I wanted ran almost $500/ea. I'm seeing about 7" of vertical travel; 3" up and 4" down. Squeezing more up-travel would require lifting the truck more, and beyond the usefulness of using radius arms. Ride height should amount to about 7"-8" of lift from stock, which is still another 2"-3" above what I was running with the SFD. Numbers-wise, things are pretty much on target for my needs. Springs are the next thing I need to order (well, and another coilover...they only had one in stock at the site I went through at the time). I'll have a dual rate setup, which uses two springs, though it'll be unconventional setup I suppose. Rule of thumb is: The lower spring should be equal or longer in length than the upper spring. The lower spring should be equal or higher in spring rate than the upper spring. In a dual rate setup, there's a primary rate produced by both springs being in series, and then a secondary rate...which is just the rate of the lower spring because at some point, the upper spring will stop compressing. Problem with the conventional approach is that the secondary rate is always, at minimum, double the primary rate. For example, Calmini offered a 300 lb/in + 300 lb/in 10" coilover setup for their Xterra SAS kit. (This is about as best of a starting point as any considering the 1st Gen Xterra has almost the same curb weight as the R50 and loses and gains pretty much the exact same parts). A 300/300 spring set produces a 150 lb/in primary (it's not an average) and 300 lb/in secondary rate. But, that's what I don't like...the primary rate seems perfect, but then there's a 150 lb/in rate spike. Just seems like too much. I set some target rates around the stock numbers (150 lbs/in), OME numbers (200 lbs/in), and also on a few dual rate springs OME offered for similar vehicles. OME's dual rate gaps are closer to 40-120, which I'd like to think led to a far more comfortable ride setup (I do trust OME in this department). The only way to lower the gap is to put the heavier spring up top. So, that's probably what I'm going to do. Currently planning on a 9" 350 lb/in upper and 12" 250 lb/in lower. That'll give me a 146/250 setup. Notably, the OME MD setup for an FJ80 is 170/260, and 150/260 for a Pajero/Montero, which are fairly similar vehicles (FJ being a bit heavier). There's some other math involved, but I should be within the range I need to be. Unfortunately, if this approach flops, I'll learn a pretty valuable lesson about coilover springs. They're not cheap, but Summit has some options that'll shave a few bucks off.

One year later and I'm basically back where I started and am deciding to go a different direction... Just kidding. But damn, it's been a year as of yesterday. Year+ being a leap year, too. Progress lately has been great, though. If you didn't notice in the pic, the engine is now resting on the subframes as of last night. Pretty big milestone. This is how they turned out. Not sure if I explained it previously, but the subframes use the existing subframe attachments, but both sides also have a 1/2" bolt running perpendicular through the chassis rail (tubed holes), between the front u-bolts, to hold the subframe tight against the chassis rail. Driver's side has an additional support bracket welded to the plate on the inner rail near to create a rectangular bolt pattern with the u-bolt. This is all to bear the push-pull stress of having the panhard mount. The long bolts shown by the bump stops will be for the limit straps. For now, I've added some additional weld nuts to the lower perches so that I can build some sort of missing link and transmission pan skid plate when the time comes. Chopped up the fan shroud last night. Months ago I was hoping to heat and shape the shroud around the steering box, but that turned out like dogshyt. Going to rivet on some ABS sheet, should turn out a lot better. CAD (Cardboard Aided Design) process... This should help things run as cold as the Rockies. Other things done over the last two weeks, in no particular order: Radius arms torn down for bushing replacement and painting. Need to install new bushings. Water pump changed. Old pump seemed ok, but with the mild cooling issues I was having, this was one of two remaining things I had not replaced... Radiator mounts moved over a little...except after doing all the work, it feels like I didn't move them over at all. So that sucks, but the radiator is in a good spot. New radiator in. Two of two things I had not replaced. Still sorting out the power steering lines, but I basically have all the parts needed. Not sure I'll be able to route the line how I wanted, but I have some options. Went with a PTFE fuel line kit and 6AN fittings. Figuring out all I need has been a bit of a PITA, but I think I'm 95% of the way there in terms of parts. Rebuilt the power steering pump. I thought the thing was black, but after cleaning all the sludge that had accumulated on it over its life, I realized it was silver aluminum. Whoops. Tore apart the Rubicon sway bar the other week. A little sludgy inside, but it'll clean up well enough. Need to order the pneumatic bits to finish it up. New headlights and corner markers installed. The other ones just needed to go. Yellowing, cracks, etc. New ones look great. Cracked my washer fluid reservoir...mistook it for something to grab onto when trying to get off the ground. Fluid spilled on my cheap digital caliper, which wasn't good for it. I was more bummed by that chain of events than a grown man should be. Need someone to explain why washer reservoirs are $100...or $200 on ebay. That's a junkyard trip I wasn't hoping to make.

Everything you want can be found here for free: https://www.nicoclub.com/nissan-service-manuals "FSM" is for Factory Service Manual, and you can find them all published there. Note that for 93 WD21, the files there are apparently some other sort of procedural docs, but if you use the 94 WD21 files, those are the actual FSM pages. Torque specs are shown on parts diagrams throughout the section. Listing all torque specs isn't practical, but the FSM does also have a torque table in the General Information (GI) chapter that's based on bolt specs. That'll be your best table if you just need generic numbers.

It's not a common swap mainly because manual transmission 2000+ trucks weren't common, at least not in the US. More common in Canada. That said, you'll struggle to find parts or a suitable donor...unless your 2000 happens to have the 3.3L? (Also not common, but Nissan did dumb things near model changes/end-of-runs.) Presuming you can find parts, probably wouldn't be difficult to do the swap. The ATs have a block-off plate where the clutch master would go, but on 00+, the center consoles integrated with the dash console, so if you want a clean look, then you're basically looking to bring over the entire dash, too. At that rate, might as well just look for an MT-equipped truck. As for the rebuilding/repairing the transmission...probably no shortage of donors out there, and pulling the transmission down isn't terrible with hand tools and a transmission jack.

Echoing 100% what Slartibartfast described and suggested. It would also help to know what voltage and/or resistance you were seeing at temperature because the FSM also specs a range. The table there only shows two reference points (3.5V/2.3-2.7kΩ @ 68°F, 2.2V/0.79-0.90kΩ @ 122F), but as I imagine NY is a bit colder than 68°F this time of year, you'll need to confirm resistance at ambient temp against the resistance chart, whether it's in acceptable range, and that the resistance decreases as the sensor warms up...measuring while submerged in tap water will suffice. I do suspect the sensor is fine, though, so you need to check resistance on both legs of the circuit as Slart described. FSM has the pin locations and troubleshooting steps. Good luck!

Agreed, if only a spring lift, any CV ought to be fine. The Trakmotives have been a reoccurring topic on a few of the Pathfinder FB forums, but a few guys have broken them, too, because they end up contact the bottom of the strut...but that scenario seems limited to guys who run spacers and take the "full send" approach to wheeling. The additional length doesn't really matter at all. The additional angles help if you run spacers.

Thanks! It's definitely been a challenge being a unibody, but not too bad...in some ways, it's been great, actually. Like being able to drop the subframe and everything's just ready to go. No luck on upgraded radiators. I spent a lot of time looking at potential units that might've opened up options for e-fans, or at least free up some space for the gear box. The WD21/22 units were on the radar because they share all the port sizes and similar enough dimensions, but the bottom port is on the wrong side for me. I settled on a OE-replacement CSF unit a few months ago, though. I'm waiting on a fan bearing assembly before I replace the water pump in hopes it's the last thing I need to sort the mild overheating issues I was having previously. Once that's addressed, I can start buttoning up the engine and then relocate the radiator.

Actually, it wasn't even on the radar until that night. I've thought about it in the past on a whim long before this project started, but that's about it. I was just content getting that regular sway bar to work, and figured next steps were disconnect links. Totally happy with this new direction.

Went down a rabbit hole last night to see what my options for sway bar end links looked like. It went like this: These disconnect sway bar options kind of suck. Oh look, Google Ads. There's a pneumatic kit that's somehow relevant. Oh neat, it converts the electric JK Rubicon sway bar disconnect system to pneumatic. Interesting. There's even a kit to make it manually operated? Cool, I guess that's convenient...but for $120? Yeesh. Wait...how does a Rubicon sway bar even work? Wow, I can't believe how dumb Jeep owners are when it comes to repairing things like sway bars. Hey wait...I installed a JK non-Rubicon sway bar onto the truck. So does that mean...? Damn, those pneumatic kits are $300 and the Rubicon sway bar seems to run around $500 used. Scratch that idea. I see that one of those kits uses a $40 air cylinder I can buy from Grainger, of all places. I could easily replicate that $300 kit for far less. Hmmm...there's a guy in town selling front and rear sway bars on FB Marketplace, and the front is from a Rubicon and already has the manual kit. He only wants $200 for everything?? It's 2AM but I'll message the guy anyway. The guy lives 3 miles from my house, so I picked it up and got to fitting it. I'm going to have a disconnecting sway bar from a Rubicon. The bar has the same dimensions as the non-Rubicon one, just all the additional mechanically pieces. Fitment is about as perfect as I can get it. So, the way this works the sway bar is two parts with a coupler inside a housing. A fork moves the coupler on or off the mating gears. The ends links stay connected. Normally there's a control module with an actuator that does the work, but when the part fails, you can't just buy a replacement module. So, manual and air kits exist. This is the manual kit. Super simple...just turn the knob and it moves the fork over. I'm just going to buy an air cylinder to replace the knob and bolt assembly to convert it to pneumatic operation. I'll need to modify the plate a tiny amount, which saves me time making a new one. Also need to make a rod to push the actuator. It'll end up like this off-the-shelf unit. The housing is normally held stationary by a rod and damper setup on one of the bushing brackets. I just need to cut the rod off and relocate it. All said, I'm stoked I'll have a setup like this. A little pricey, but a very nice-to-have feature. Also got some pics today doing a couple more turning clearance checks. The pic above is where that flat panhard bolt pays off. Now I can get both sides to have the same amount of turn. Notably, this is only in play when the axle is all the way up like it is in the pic. At ride height, this is not an issue.

Another awesome session with @TowndawgR50 in town to help with the project! A bit more brainstorming this time around than last time, but still super productive. It was great to have him around for a few days! He hand delivered the tone rings and we heated them up and dropped them onto the hubs. They're chunky! Old vs. new... Slapped the hubs on the axle, and for the first time a very long time put the wheels on the axle so we could do some turning checks. There's only so much we can simulate here, but mainly put the axle at full compression and just turned things back and forth as a starting point. Things were looking great overall, and with very few constraints fortunately. The panhard bar and drag link pairing is pretty solid. The WJ gearbox seemed to allow for more right turn than left turn due to the angle of the pitman arm when in a straight-ahead position, so we needed to maximize whatever we could for left turns. The bolt head for the upper panhard bushing was the most problematic item, since it would be struck by the tie rod on full compression and full right turn unless I limited turning with longer steering stops. I absolutely did not want to redo the upper panhard mount. We considered modifying the bolt head, but rather than shave it down, we lopped the head off, welded the rest of the bolt to a tear-drop shaped tab, and secured it with a countersunk screw to keep it from spinning when tightening it down. Looks clean and freed up several degrees on the turn. Next focus was the steering stabilizer and sway bar. The steering stabilizer options aren't great, so no progress was made there. We tossed a JK Wrangler sway bar under the truck and determined the only way to mount it would be behind the axle, but space is pretty tight. We found one specific spot where it looks like it would work. Towndawg got busy surgically cutting off the rear subframe pads (where the LCAs bolt to) and I got to designing something. We came up with this... Unfortunately, the only place I could make that work was to position the bar directly underneath the rearmost subframe bolt, so I'll need to find something a bit more low profile, but that shouldn't be a problem. Not shown (or really, not built yet) is that there will also be a layer of plate between the subframe pads and that sway bar mounting brackets that'll provide some other functions, including spacing the bar away from the bolt head. I will also have something resembling a missing link running parallel to the sway bar, which should also give me some provisions to do a skid plate for the transmission. I incorporated a few mounting points on the subframe plates that will may also be used to build some armor below the oil pan. The sway bar's elbows do consume some turning radius, but only at compression and full turn. If that becomes problematic, there's a backup plan. Also still coming up with some ideas for sway bar disconnects...I have a few ideas. The easiest options are to just use off-the-shelf options for JK Wranglers, since I'll basically be mirroring that setup. But, I'm holding out for a really special approach. Also painted the chassis rails, but no pics. Rattle can paint ended up being a pretty solid color match, so I'm happy with that. The real takeaway about painting is that it means I'm finally done with that part, so I'm getting closer.

I've been chipping away at things since @TowndawgR50 was in town...and am stoked he's coming back out right after Christmas for another session! Major milestone today: finished welding the radius arm brackets to the chassis! Didn't take time to get pics, but I will...though it looks a lot like the prior pics except with welds and painted black. Crossmember got welded up and painted, too. Turned out great. I'm awaiting some exhaust gaskets before I can really button the center of the truck up, but it's nearly there. After installing the LH subframe with the new panhard mount the other week, I realized the lower panhard mount was no longer in alignment with the upper now, so the lower got chopped off. I welded the bracket together today on the bench, and planning to stick it to the axle tomorrow. After that, still need to do the bumpstop pads, and figure out the coilover and limiting strap bracket, steering stabilizer, and sway bar brackets. I have no clue how I'm going to get a sway bar in there...it won't be easy. Towndawg machined down the wheel hubs to clear Tacoma/4R/FJC rotors the other month and I finally got around to mocking things up a little. The wheel stick-out is about as expected and desired. 1" wheel spacers installed, for now. In hindsight, I should've requested leaving a little more meat on the hub face to help center of the rotor. Centering rings will be required, but I couldn't find anything that adapts 3.5" hubs to the 108mm of the rotor and spacer. So, going to have to get creative and modify some off-the-shelf rings to work. For now, I can machine something out of ABS or wood when I'm getting closer to really diving into this. It looks like there's tons of working space... But then again... I may need to get creative with the bracket for the calipers, however, the easiest way to mount the caliper is a simple tab/bracket welded directly to the spindle knuckle. But, that tab/bracket would have to be 3/8" thick and welded to cast. While my little buzz box has been great for 3/16" stuff, including welding to cast already, I just don't trust it for this job. But, I know a guy! Towndawg has also spent the last couple days jamming on the tone rings. We were originally hoping another guy at his shop could crank them out on some super fancy multi-axis CNC mill, but his timing wasn't great. So, we scaled the parts to something that could be done on another mill, and the results are beef. The ring started as a CHUNK of plate steel, reduced down to a 5.5" OD x 3.75" ID x 0.75" ring, with the teeth going the full width to give me some wiggle room to mount the sensors. The initial version weighed 3 lbs., though! By comparison, the OE tone ring is about 4" OD x 0.4" and a 3 OUNCES. End mills were destroyed in the making of these. After some rethinking, we opted to take the teeth width down to 0.4", which got them down to about 1.5 lbs. each. It'd be great to lighten them further, but for now it's probably best to prove the concept first. I have yet to hold these puppies, but they look awesome. Towndawg really is a master of his craft. But anyway, brakes are still a little ways away in the project. Next big step is figuring out the coilover and springs set up. I think I'm decided on the coilovers, but need to figure out the spring rates and lengths to go with. I need a way to weigh the new sprung weight of the front of the vehicle. There are coil exchange programs where I could dial it in without first knowing the weight...but time, shipping costs, premiums on the coilovers and springs, and other risks make it really tough to go that route. Most shops use Eibach springs at nearly $80 each (needing 4!) so I really hope to go with JEGS or Summit or house brands for closer to $35-$55/ea. For now, I may just order up the coilovers and figure out the springs later.

Mine’s been fine, but yeah, don’t trust them alone. My carrier will be replaced eventually.

^FYI @Pattytyler@Nick.Holland78@ROBBASE@BCangler99@Shade_Slayer4603@ospetrus

Ha! I found one of those at the junkyard earlier this year and thought about keeping it just because...but then realized I'd have zero use for it.

Long time, no update! Project has had its typical slow point the last several months. Work and sports (youth & adult) took up a lot of that time, dealing with sports-related injuries, and AZ setting a new record of like 113 consecutive days over 100° or something...well, hard to get motivated to go outside, to say the least. I think the only notable thing I did for the last few months was order a new radiator...still sitting in the box because I've not gotten to relocating the mounts for it yet, but I still have other engine things to do first anyway. The past couple weeks I'd been figuring out how to mount the radius arms to the chassis. Went through a couple designs and finally settled on something I really liked. Got all the pieces cut out the other week and got them tacked together and temporarily mounted up. Pretty huge step right there, because it allowed me to start working on the upper panhard bar mount (the lower mount was done a while ago). Got all that tacked up, too, only to realize that the position wasn't going work and that it would need to be moved forward a little...meaning the lower mount will also have to be redone. Then this week happened...and I finally had a super productive week! I took the whole week off and also flew TownDawgR50 down from WA to help. He'd thrown the idea out a while ago and I finally took him up on it. He was only in town for 3 days, but it was great seeing him and jamming on the project. We focused mainly on the radius arm mounts and crossmember, but also hammered out the corrected upper panhard mount. He went to town welding up the brackets and steering links, freeing me up to CAD and cut out parts. Pics! Radius arm brackets welded up and bolted where the transmission crossmember existed. The bolts are just for positioning; the entire bracket will be welded to the chassis rail. A plate will also be welded to the inner rail with gussets. The driver's side inner rail is free of lines and wires, but there's limited clearance below the cats, which is why everything had to be mounted below the rails. Much more cat clearance on the passenger side, but with all the fuel and brake lines there, plus electrical and pneumatic lines I've added, there's very limited space to weld a plate on the inner rail. Passenger mount showing how the transmission crossmember will attach...front wheel studs pressed into the bracket. This how the crossmember started. I chopped the OE one and built a bracket to put new mounting provisions on it. On the driver's side, plan was to put a plate (shown) to extend the tubing rearward rather than try to build a hoop over the driveshaft (I prefer staying under so I don't have to remove it if I need to remove the crossmember). For this setup, there'd be a 2" square tube (similar size as the center section of the OE unit) offset about 3" and it'd give me the clearance I'd need. But then, I got to this point and didn't like my options on how to attach it to the other radius arm bracket because of all the little height differences involved. So, I ditched that approach entirely and designed a whole new piece. Worked on it today and just need to redo the center piece and trim up the ends on the inner supports, then tack it up and confirm fitment. This took a bit of time to plan out and make the bends, but came out pretty damn good, if I may say so. The driveshaft hoop portion is deliberately shaped to be narrower than the rest of the shape (1.5" vs. 1-7/8") to give just a little more clearance at the point closest to the driveshaft at full droop, but the base plate keeps a uniform width so it's still well protected and boxed in. The big advantage to this is that it keeps my mounting surface flat and low profile, and just looks a helluva lot better. Lastly, got the revised upper panhard mount done when TownDawg was here. Since this piece is entirely bolt-on and uses the subframe mounting hardware, I needed to retain access to hole. Moving the mount forward would block the hole, but I was able to box in a pocket to retain access. Unfortunately, it's not looking like I'll be done by the end of December which is when my tags expire. So, I'll be an outlaw for a while longer until I can get it rolling to get emissions done. But with the recent work, it's that much closer to having the axle attached and in the final position...next step: coilover shopping.

If you have a Nissan dealership nearby, you can get them shipped there for free via Nissan’s parts site (parts.Nissan USA.com). Mine’s super close, so it works out great. All the pieces in the clutch pack are friction pieces except the springs. I was given the option to wait for manufacturing lead time, but I think those orders also got cancelled. For the price though, could be worth finding out.