shift220

I already know mine are at least that bad underneath. That's exactly why they are staying on. Your Pathfinder is 5 years newer then mine too. Front fenders are easy to repair. Find a good pair and replace. The back, not so easy. I would probably cut off all the rust, paint the cut line and put the flares back on.

Sorry I didn't mean to start something. I do want to see a V8 swap done and how it works with everything else. I'm just a fan of reliable 300 hp and 20+ mpg V8's I mean if you have a solid engine and tranny to use, then by all means!

You could go with a set of stock replacement springs. Yours might just be worn out. A couple BMX bikes and a rack shouldn't make it sit that low. But on the other hand, just because it's sitting low in the back doesn't mean its to heavily loaded. When I go on camping trips, I usually have two people in the back, probably 300 lbs of cargo and a boat on the hitch. Sure its lower in the back but no where near unsafe. It's just how coil sprung vehicles are.

Oh wait you have to slip that block in as well. Yup, carefully raise the engine. You could also loosen the bolts to the blocks and let it hang a little depending on how long your bolts are.

If your going to spend the time and money to swap in a V8, why not swap in something worth it? Something with more hp and gas mileage then your current one?

Just lower the front diff? Goodluck and remember to post up some pics!

Notice any squeaking 180sx?

I'd be willing to bet everything is behind the metal to mount the tire carrier. Considering these are also unibody, there will be a little more beef to begin with.

I think there would be a few people on this forum wanting longer springs in the back and making one big order might be cheaper? Especially with more SFD's soon to be floating around...

Found it, http://www.safarioffroadpark.ca/ Its out by Sherwood Park

There is a place close to Edmonton. I saw a sticker on a Jeep once and went to the website. You pay like $40 and get to hit the trails all day long. I'll have to find the site again but it looked pretty cool. Set up for parties and stuff too. Maybe we need to organize a PF meet down there some time during the summer?

I didn't have to use limiter straps because the link bars hit the mount before the shock/spring fully extends. As for the spacers, I have no problems with them but they do limit upward travel compared to using longer springs. So flex might be a little less then stock, but the larger tires made the biggest difference. PMed you about the kit.

Thanks! I didn't replace the links in the back, but I will sometime in the future. The bushings are very soft and I can easily move the bars with my hands. I will probably make some adjustable ones to get the pinion angle back in spec. You will need a new brake line in the back, front ones were ok for 3.5" but no higher. Driveshaft (front and back) are fine at 3.75" lift, no need to extend. I don't have all the information in one file, but I do have some AutoCAD files. Everything you should need is posted up

Just use any free level app. I have one on my Android (HTC Magic) called bubble. It shows degrees. I would say they are accurate enough for use in a vehicle.

Are the coils the same ID as ours?

Will do. The nice part is having access to Titan I can get measurements off of. As for more SFD's "kits", PM me if you seriously want one and we'll talk. That would probably be the simplest way, but I'm not so sure it would be an upgrade The rear drums are actually quite large on the R50 but Titan rear brakes would be a very nice improvement over stock.

I'm not really sure about the LSV. Braking still feels like stock (except the larger tires) at normal ride height. It would probably make a difference when i'm loaded down with 4 people, camping gear and a boat on the hitch but the brakes were barely adequate to begin with. Once winter is over, i'll probably look into doing a rear disc brake conversion (titan ) ...but that's a whole other thread. And actually on that same kind of note, i'm really surprised how I don't feel like I lost to much pep out of the engine. I'm guessing my SE has the higher ratio gears which really helps. I hope to see some more SFDs in the near future!

You mean to say that the strut rod threads extend 1" above the nut? My KYB's extend maybe 1/4", but I suppose it depends on the manufacturer. Either way, the nut should be snug against the mount and not move. I would guess something was installed wrong and they bottomed out the nut on the shaft thinking it was tight. I would get it looked at ASAP.

Well another addition to the rear. I know it's not really significant to the SFD but I figure having all this information in the same place will help out better. I dropped the panhard bar 3.75" (the amount I raised the back). I left some material below incase I ever want to drop it even more. After the lift, the rear end felt like it was wandering on the highway. It gave me that bad gut feeling like the rear end wants spin out when i'm going 120 km/h. Now it feels just like stock and handles much better

90% of the time I use my air compressor with an impact gun. Other times I use a paint gun, powder coating gun and a 3/8" right angle drill. Your compressor will be fine with all these tools. I never use my air ratchet as it's to noisy and inconvenient when small bolts can be taken out by hand almost as quick. As for any rotary tools, I find electric ones much more convenient as others have said, it sucks waiting for the compressor to catch up.

Yea the steering rack has D-shaped clamps that hold it in place. I'm not sure how it sits on the subframe as I never removed it, so i'm not sure if it can be rotated with new clamps or not. I'm sure someone could machine pieces to fit in there to make a new seat. On the other side, I was looking at possibly rotating the 90 degree steering gear box. Things are sure tight up in there though so it would take some R&D. Just some things to look at... With a ~3.75" lift in the back, my driveshaft seems to be doing good. No funny vibrations and the angles don't seem to bad. I should really check them though and maybe look into some adjustable link bars. I AM getting a vibration in the front end while accelerating in 4wd. I'm thinking its my pass side CV axle and hopefully not the driveshaft.

Yup you could definitely do a 3". It should work better since the angles would be less steep. I'm curious how Alex and others did the linkage for 4"+ SFDs. Any further and it seems like mine would bind.

Here is the plan for the strut spacer positioning. I have the real Autocad file posted up back on page 3 to get the flanges cut out. The pipe I used was 4" ID and probably around 3/16" thick or so. I cut my pipe at 8.5 degrees and it seemed to work not bad. The alignment specs are within specifications. It didn't sit flat on body/spacer when I jacked the strut into place but the mount flexed and closed the gap. Time will tell how well it holds up. I can say I have put on around 2000 km since then (mostly highway) and everything is still good. The very "tips" of the pipe are what line up with the strut flange that you need to weld to the pipe (marked by the 45 degree line). It does take some thinking to get it all in line and positioned the correct way. I know I had to cut and re-tack a few times, so don't fully weld until your very sure you have everything going the right way

Here are the plans for the blocks. I recommend drilling these with high quality drill bits for accuracy and a drill press is definitely the way to go. As for hardware, I went with fine-thread grade 8 imperial bolts. (4) 9/16" x 1.5" bolts w/ washers & nuts (4) 7/16" x 1.5" bolts w/ washers & nuts (4) 3/8" x 1.5" bolts w/ washers & nuts

Thanks for the comments everyone. I'm very glad how it turned out and i'm excited to test it out off the road. The spacers consist of 4 main parts. The pipe was I believe 5" (I will check for sure) but it basically sat within the ID and OD of the spring. I welded the 1/2" metal rod on the bottom just to make it sit more like the spring did in the perch. The pipe could have just sat on the perch and it would have probably been fine. The reason it's in little sections is because 1/2" solid metal rod is quite hard to bend into a 5" diameter circle without a torch Third was cutting out a circle from some 1/8" flat plate with the plasma and welding it into the center of the pipe right up flush to where the spring would sit. This gave the spring more area to sit on and allowed me to bolt the spacer down like mentioned before. Then I welded some 1/8" x 1" flat bar around the spacer to keep the spring in place. I could have done it on the inside as well, either way is fine. And the wheels are 17" x 9" MKW Offroad M56 with 4.53" backspacing. You won't find them in black though The 255 width M/Ts clear the strut with tons of room to spare and I have only minor rubbing on some plastic drivers front. Some more heat gun will take care of that though. I will compile all the info and maybe make a PDF so it sticks around