RainGoat

The following explanation is consistent with what the majority of information on the topic states: "Shaken" (Car Inspection) is a Japanese law that requires cars at year 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14 etc. to undergo rigorous mechanical and emission inspections at government authorized garages. (see Motor Vehicle Inspection and Registration Guide-Japan ). It is not uncommon that an owner will pay $1500 or more (general range $800-$2500) to get through the process. As owners faces yet another inspection and increasing costs to return their car to like new standards, they will decide it is less costly to buy a new one and will trade in their older model. Japanese owners trade a car much earlier then we in the U.S. do for this reason. Low mileage used cars are thus abundant in Japan and are shipped all over the world.. There are an excess of used cars in the Japanese market which drives the cost down. Cars which have minor body damage won't be repaired because it makes more sense to buy a new car. I can only imagine that the automotive manufacturers and the trade associations work very hard to keep this law in place to encourage more new car sales. Every Japanese car owner must pay for the frequent inspections and repairs every two years. On the average, they decide to buy new car instead of suffering the cost of the next inspection and unnecessary repairing, because it will be cheaper to buy a new car and trade the old one. To summarize the average Japanese car owner will trade for a new car between 60,000km and 120,000 km (40,000 mi. and 72,000mi). Therefore reputable engine importers will acquire engines in this range. None will be able to guarantee 40,000 miles on every engine.

That’s not a NEW engine, that’s a JDM replacement engine, supposed to be just under 50,000 miles.

Mine was $1,451 but things are usually ridiculously expensive here in the NW.

I thought I saw that Q70 in the background of one of your shots (Thanks to Infiniti’s mad Q scheme I had to google to confirm that was the old M). Funny how many of us are former Z & current G/Q owners. My first car, 34 years ago was a Z. Not counting my wife’s cars, it’s one of only 4 I’ve ever owned & I still have 2 (& just stopped driving my ‘93 Maxima SE MT a handfull of years ago). Excepting the GTR (& the 350/370Zs, which I’ve never driven but find attractive), I can’t say I’m a fan of current Nissan. I used to consider them 3rd in reliability (behind Honda & Toyota but with the best engines & handling of the 3. Reliability has apparently tanked & I was disappointed with the JX vs our 2nd Gen MDX. I think the Q’s are pretty but I was also disappointed with the Q50s usability & driveability so I went back & got a used G for a ridiculously good deal. Thanks for the detailing tips.

I’m jealous of the excellent weather you two had for your project weekend. It’s cold, grey, wet & miserable here.

I think I’ll wait until you’re here & we can talk it over with[mention=37543]TowndawgR50[/mention] before I buy the shocks. The rack, suspension & swingate are all on my winter ToDo List. Rack is in process. On our garage day,[mention=37543]TowndawgR50[/mention] & I reviewed the minitower concept, I left him a rail & he was going to fashion some. For the swingate, I’m all for reinforcing & I liked the bolt & washer approach the last guy used over the rivnut-that said,[mention=37543]TowndawgR50[/mention] hit his pretty hard this summer & it took it pretty well.

I haven’t used NuFinish before but Consumer Reports tested it & the paste form was the longest lasting (~1year) though they agreed it was a bit plasticky in finish-not their favorite appearance. I don’t care about the appearance as much as the longevity when it comes to my roof - which is what I’m focusing on. I had thought the new synthetics might be the way to go but they apparently look great but go away quickly (less than 3mo). Honestly, I haven’t waxed a car in 18years, possibly 28. This might be the last. I did store your regimen as I might use it on my G.

The air gauge & switch in that drawer is brilliant. That’s a pretty worthless space & putting your air controls where you don’t always have to look at them is perfect. Brilliant idea. Super happy to hear the 5165s worked well with those LR Springs as@TowndawgR50 & I were planning on doing that to my rig. Sounds like I know which ones to use now. Definitely need those other part numbers for the bushings. I’m definitely going to need@TowndawgR50s assistance with that. I want to keep my rear sways but it looks like I can use the OEM links for now but will need to figure out an answer for when we put the SFD in place. I see you kept the AirLifts. Was that just because you were already plumbed for them? Both@TowndawgR50 & I had them but he discarded them with the LR Springs & I was planning on doing the same. The onboard air looks great. I was planning on putting my breather bracket in that location so now I think I will put it elsewhere to leave that space open for that option. Thanks for the pix & write up. Man, that white & black sure looks good!

Welcome! I’m the self appointed Minister of Power Valve Failure Notification so read through the attached link & get it done. Mostly a problem for ‘01-‘04 VQs so it may not apply to you but easy enough to be certain. POWER VALVES http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/topic/17104-threadlocker-on-power-valve-screws-pics/?do=embed

Read @JoshRichards recent thread. It answers most of your questions.

Looking forward to hearing about those LR Springs & Bilstein 5165s

Okay, let me hijack a little as I’m in a similar situation. I’m particularly wanting to fix & detail the roof before I mount a full length Rola V-Tech Rack over it. 2 problems I’ve encountered: 1) Clear coat is flaking away on roof around rear rain gutter/roof rack rails on one side. Any way to protect that better? I don’t want to spend a bunch & I don’t really care if it looks great as you can barely see it when standing on the ground. I do plan to run this truck another 10+ years & it has to sit outside in the Pacific NW so I’m mainly just thinking about protection. 2) just behind the sunroof is a small area 1-2cm x 1cm where something must have hit it & it went through to the metal-it’s rusted a little. I’ve thought about steel wooling the rust off, using a converter & then factory touch up paint. Any recommendations? Once I fix those things I was going to use a Meguirs clay bar detailer & then simply apply NuFinish Paste wax as it’s supposed to be the longest lasting. Then the rack goes on & I doubt I’ll ever do it again.

Hoquiam, Gray’s Harbor is literally the rainiest area of WA outside of the Hoh perhaps. Reminds me of when I lived in PDX & mentioned Seattle & they would say @Oh, I could never live there, it rains too much!”. Sadly, by comparison, they were right!

For what it’s worth, until I get a front locker, I’m not 100% convinced I’m putting manual hubs on yet myself. I probably will do it but in the wet NW, I really like the AWD with an open center. In packed sand, non-deep snow & wet slick roads where you aren’t going to have to pull yourself down out of stuck, the open center avoids the understeer you get when you lock the center. I switch btwn 2WD & AWD daily here due to all our rain & moss covered roads. If/when I do put on manuals, I’ll pretty much have to keep it locked all the time anyway so the only real advantage I get is the strength of the manuals vs OEM, the existence of which I can only take on others theory. I’m also just a little terrified that if I leave them unlocked my Mom or my wife might drive it & pop it into AWD as they are accustomed to doing when its wet or I might even do it unconsciously due to 16 years & 106K of muscle memory. I wouldn’t get too wound up about doing it right away.

When I lived in PHX, I had a buddy in the Valley, so I’ve done that drive a few times. If you guys are ever putting together a joint UT Path trip & don’t mind a shotgun, let me know. For the past 3 years I’ve been flying down to SLC to meet my Mom for part of her Overlanding trips. SLC is an easy flight & super cheap on AK Air points from SeaTac.

I’m a former Phoenician & you see much rougher as well as longer washboarded roads in the SW. I’m also in the retain the sway bar camp as most of my former travels were overlanding in character. The SW has plenty of long, flattish washboard road, especially up in the high desert. In fact, it was cutting across BLM1025 from Fredonia to Wire Pass & behind the swell in UT where I fell in love with Toyota’s KDSS on my Mom’s T4R. That’s exactly the kind of road we’re talking about. Another infamous one like that is NM57/Navajo SR14 on the way up to Chaco Canyon. Oh yeah, the Mojave Trail West of the Kelso Cima road is an incredibly long run of moguls where you’ll feel the difference for sure. You definitely will be well served by those 5165s.

Well, it’s certainly possible that I’m the one who is confused. I thought I had trouble with uploading photos with the white App version (on iOS) & that was ultimately why I went ahead & paid for the Pro version (Black App on iOS). Perhaps I just screwed up?

Congratulations on acquiring such a well built & pretty truck. Also, really sorry to hear about that failure but you certainly know the repair was worthwhile even if a PITA. You are going to be right where I am headed with my truck (not a terrible surprise given I’m consulting heavily with@hawairish &@TowndawgR50 for guidance). Fantastically, you are about to definitively answer a question I’ve had.@TowndawgR50 has been VERY happy with his LR NRC9448s & Bilstein 5165s. So much so that last weekend he convinced me to go with the 5165s over the 5100s or 5125s. He, however, runs a 6” lift, whereas I’m looking at a 3-4” SFD. My research in the next week or so was to figure out the right part# for the 5165 for my rig. Let me know how that one (25-261400) works out because, if it fits & functions properly, I’m ordering mine as soon as I have confirmation from the two of you. Awesome timing & thanks for posting!

I don’t deny it but it is super handy to keep most of my forums in one place. Also, the ~$15 Pro fee or whatever lets me just upload photos from my phone which is a world easier than any of the hosting apps.

Yeah, I saw it on your recent trip posts@hawairish. I’m super jealous of@Jax99 with both you & the Sonoran. Thank heavens I’ve got a@TownDawgR50 Lucky Me!

Radio issues a little complicated if you have the Bose. Getting to the radio is easy. If you have a double DIN there are awesome options available for reasonable prices. BTW, fix your Power Valves POWER VALVES http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/topic/17104-threadlocker-on-power-valve-screws-pics/?do=embed

Seriously, check out Desert Rat https://www.desertrat.com/ same price, no tax, no shipping, no brand masking!

@John1984 Welcome. You’ve actually got some pretty good NF around you. Farther afield are KY, WV, Ozarks & the UP. Have fun! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Sourcing gear in MO will be tough. ARB OME price is pretty fixed no matter where you get it. 4WheelParts is one source out West. I think a good option for you is Desert Rat out of Phoenix, AZ. They have been around a long time and are reputable. Desert Rat will ship them to you free with no tax. I’m about to do OME up front & LR in the rear.

As an FYI, you might enjoy reading through stioc & Duke90 build threads on Expedition Portal. If you google mild R50 build you should find stioc’s thread & can find Duke90s from there.