beastpath

Here you go Tom: This is the alternative way to removing your transfercase from a WD21, and it helped A LOT with dropping the rest of the tranny too (as we were not allowed a jack at the junk yard): Just cut a giant hole in the floor and lift the transfercase out!!

a write up is the plan at the end of the saga yeah, im going to do the rear main for sure as i have a slight leak there. I'm also going to be doing the front and rear tranny and transfercase seals. Change of plan today. I didnt get anything done on my truck at all as I hit up the junkyard for some of those parts I didnt have. Now I have dark gray shift boots, master clutch cylinder cap, a manual trans brake pedal that has two brackets for switches instead of just the one, and the cruise kill switch for the clutch pedal. It poured rain at the yard and I got completely soaked, but it did give me practical experience of what to do when I put the pedals in. I'm pretty sure I've figured out a good way to do it. Only thing major I don't have is the lower part of the clutch hydraulic system. I tried getting it off multiple vehicles, but they were so rusted on there I was stripping heads. Decided I will pay new for these items. I'm still missing a console too! Anyone have one? Dark Gray with switch locations please. I dont need the lid.

Many of you will have read the tragic fate of my AT. After blowing the front main seal, and having some unexplained overheating issues (yes I had an aftermarket cooler) it finally blew. Just a typical auto-tragic. To be fair, it was the original tranny and had a long life of 220,000 miles. This at first felt like a disaster, and I was unsure on how to proceed. The shop wanted 2400+ to replace and install another one, but there was no way I was going to pay that. So, after many people on this forum suggested it, in particular Koveman, and a fair bit of research I decided to pursue a manual transmission swap. I found a MT at a junkyard and with the invaluable help of Koveman pulled it on thursday. It took a lot longer than we had planned (the junkyard does not allow jacks), but ultimately we got it out (the best part was cutting through the floor to pull the t-case). So I now have a manual tranny from a 1990 along with matching t-case and various accessories sitting in my garage waiting to be installed! And I paid just about $200 for everything!!! What I have: -1990 Manual Tranny (gear oil came out pretty damn clear when the seal broke) -1990 t-case for manual tranny, 1991 t-case for AT (probably will use the 1991) -Clutch master & metal line to dampner -Clutch dampner &metal line to connector -Clutch slave cylinder -flywheel - teeth are very slightly chewed but should be ok, will be resurfaced -exedy clutch - (what nissan OEM uses) $150 including shipping from www.importrp.com -clutch pedal -MT brake pedal - might just cut my brake pedal in half however -shifter plate -shifter -MT crossmember -hardware -Redline MT90 What I still need: (if anyone has these let me know!) -MT shift knob - leather one preferable -Dark Gray MT shifter boot -Dark Gray MT center console -ASCD (cruse control) switch for clutch pedal -connector, metal line from connector to bracket, hose from bracket to slave cylinder (and accompanying hardware - this is a VG30E specific setup, other engines just had a hose from the connector) -master clutch cylinder cap Had a little time today so got started on a few things. Things done so far: - center console & auto shifter removed - cleaned out master cylinder - clutch plate removed Tomorrow I am going to try to get the clutch pedal in (I'm really hoping I can get it in there without tearing the dash apart), and the master cylinder and dampener attached. If I have the time I'll jack her up and start removing stuff in the way of the tranny/t-case. Plan to have that dropped by monday at the latest. Questions: - Is there anything I can use to clean/prep the transmission & t-case? I dont want to damage it with foreign substances, but I'd like it to be relatively clean on the inside before I drop it in. - Any tips? Oh, and many pictures to come!

i dont know if a 5-speed swap would really be worth it if you dont do the labor yourself though. The parts would be cheaper yes, but a shop would probably charge more to retrofit the vehicle and then you would be paying just as much as if you had bought another auto in the first place.

oh gotcha.

labor is about 800-1000 +, so with junkyard parts that sounds about right. with rebuilt parts the couple of places I called wanted 2400 - 3000. why would you want to replace your transfercase? it should be fine even if your tranny has blown. you could always go to a JY and find the parts and install them yourself.... save you a hell of a lot on labor. If you have the time and patience that is.

fair enough. awesome, im pickin it up thurs.

weathertech makes them

snort... I like black on the outside. The white always fades here in the sun and dirt anyways.

should I replace my U joints? or is that not really nescessary?

oh, and I can use my original drive shafts right?

yeah, ill be getting a new clutch - probably the OEM one as its a decent price and I have read it is better than the expensive centerforce ones. probably going to just resurface the flywheel though.

yeah, i figured i couldnt do much. Koveman was just at the same yard pulling the 3rd member from this same truck and he said it seemed to shift fine too.

So I have found a junkyard transmission from a 1990 Pathfinder with which I am going to do the manual swap over. Before I get it though. Is there any way I can test that it still functions properly? Or is it pretty much hit and miss, or disassemble to find out? Thanks

must be nice not to need a/c. it can be done though, someone on nissanoffroad has a semi-writeup and pics, and there is a guy on cardomain who has pics of his dual alt set up. One of them is in the a/c bracket.

oh yeah, and last night it was red hot at the center console. not so hot this morning, but it didnt go very far. could this explain my engine temp issues?

hope you and your nephew get well soon. sucks about the pathfinder, i would be devastated too. but at least you guys were not hurt even more than you were.

Well, seems the shop was right. Bought a new seal etc, and Koveman was nice enough to offer to help, just needed to figure out a time to drop the tranny. However on the way home from work last night (was topping up with fluid everyday) there were some funny shifts going on, and once where it wouldnt shift out of 3rd). Then, on the way to my internship today it just refused to shift out of 1st at all. Tow truck home (the tow guy was a wheeler too, was excited to hear about all the mods) and she is sitting in the garage for now. So, the question is: should I get this transmission rebuilt, or get one that has already been rebuilt?

we only have the option of Pacesetters and Thorleys unfortunately (and NISMO, but youd have to be extremely lucky to find a pair). I put the thorleys on to avoid exhaust stud breakage.

so, i installed the Rancho's on my truck. It actually seems I have LOST some lift. They are supposed to be 1.5 - 2" lift UCA's, and I figuered 2" would be fine for me. Distance from the center of the wheel to the fender flare on both sides is around 20.5", like it said in the instructions. Ball joint angles are not bad, and distance from the UCA bumpstops to the frame is about 1". Alignment has not been done yet, will the alignment shims allow slightly more lift as they will move the bumpstops away from the frame slightly? Also, my rear end is a good 2" higher than the front, at around 22.5". I have the AC lift coils. Could it be that my lift coils at the back are giving more than a 3" lift? does anyone else with AC coils know what their distance from center of the wheel to the fender flare is?

the rancho one allows for camber adjustment too, although only to a certain extent I think, as the spindle braces have only so much play. YEAH they are beefy. Heavy too, especially trying to bolt them to the frame after a long day working on the car. Had to cut back a bit of the brake line bracket to mount them too they are so wide. haha, i totally forgot about calmini...oops.

heres a pic of me buring the lower bushings out. IDK why I didnt take any of the new ones. Too busy swearing at the truck i guess.... My finished Rancho UCA lift (almost finished, have to adjust the tbars again and get an alignment) Tips: put a cloth or something underneath the area you are burning the bushings, lots of nastly stuff comes out. big C clamp helps i didnt remove the bracket that holds the t-bar to the LCA, just one bolt at the bottom so I could slip the LCA over bushigs. Then I reinstalled the bolt afterwards. I actually reinstalled it backwards as there is room to get the nut inbetween the LCA and frame, but not the bolt, should work the same. wear a good mask when burning the bushings, rubber smoke is awful. Unbolt the tension bars before you drop the LCA. when installing the new bushings, put the new metal sleeve just inside one of the bushings, tap it slightly into the bushing hole, then connect the other bushing on the other side. Then clamp them together (use two big washers or something on each side of the bushing, i used the big metal washer things from the torsion bar bushings as I was replacing those at the same time). If you try to hammer one bushing it at a time and then push the sleeve in it wont work, the bushings will be slightly misaligned and will not allow the sleeve to pass through.

Here are a couple of shots of the UCA options that are/were available for WD21 Pathfinders: Top is AC, RC, Stock and then Rancho at bottom Top is AC, bottom is RC, Rancho and stock

alternator

I dont think the water pump would "cause" timing belt failure. But waterpump failure would cause massive loss of coolant and overheating. I replaced my timing belt a little while ago. Decided not to replace the waterpump at that time. A week later the water pump went out. I then had to do more or less the same amount of work to get to the busted waterpump, clean it all up, and install a new one. The reason people do them at the same time is that to get to the waterpump you have to take all the timing stuff off. The pump itself is only about 50 bucks, its the labor cost of scraping the old gasket off the block that causes the price to jump that much. Ask them how much a waterpump would be seperate from the timing belt? I bet it comes to more if they do them separately. Better in the long run to do both at the same time.