dhardison

Are you going to leave off the converter(s) since you live in an emissions test exempt county? If it was me I'd be very tempted.

What's the old saying "Happy Wife Happy Life" or something like that.

While you're at it pick me up a Fairlady emblem. See non USA market names aren't always better - but TERRANO is good.

I had a dent in my hood that I wanted out and my body guy said I can replace the hood cheaper than I can fix the dent. I said WHAT, that little dent. Turns out a Keystone hood was $60 and either way my hood had to be painted.

Like precise says just take your time and walk away from the bad ones. There are still good ones out there if you keep looking. Don't make my mistake. I looked at 6 that turned out to be junk so when I ran across number 7 I bought it even though it wasn't the best, it was way better than the other ones I had looked at. Then I saw the one I own now on craigslist and it was exactly the condition and options I wanted all along. I bought it too and had to sell the first one I bought at a loss because I had already started fixing things that I couldn't get my money back on.

Saturday morning and here is my morning conversation: Her: Where are you going it's only 7:00 AM? Me: Back to Cool Springs for the ZCon car show. Her: I thought you went yesterday? Me: That was something else, today is the big day. Her: I thought you had to work? Me: I do but I'm going to do this first and work this afternoon and tonight. Her: I guess you're taking the Z? Me: No because it's supposed to rain some and the Z is spotlessly detailed in the garage and I don't want to mess it up. Plus new 370Zs are a dime a dozen out there, but a nice old WD21 Pathfinder with a Datsun front tag, that's the perfect truck to show up in. Her: So you're going to a Z show and not driving the Z? YOU'RE AN IDIOT Me: Yep, same idiot you've been living with for 10 years.

I ran out to the conference hotel and took a few pics yesterday afternoon. Here's a link to my website page of thumbnails. Friday ZCon Pics And a couple of pics I tagged as: Don't put the VG on life support just yet Gotta love the old original 240Z

Been looking forward to this for a few months and now it's here. I'm so busy I'll be lucky to spend a few hours tomorrow at the show. Much less all the stuff I'd really like to do, meet Peter Brock, go to the track, tour the Symrna plant, etc. Basically just immerse myself in Nissan history from the car company that I love. Events like this rarely happen in my own backyard. http://www.zcon2010.com/

Wait, I used my real age when I signed up, it was a mistake. And what a birthday it was. First thing that happened was the Pathfinder failed to start several times that day without twisting the key 3 or 4 times. Guess my rebuilt Pep Boys starter isn't going to make it past the warranty. Then we came home from going out to eat with my parents to a house that was 84 degrees inside because the ac had gone out on the hottest day of the year. The next morning woke up to find that the dryer quit working and had to haul a loadS of wet clothes to the laundromat. I'm counting this weekend as my real birthday by going to Z-Con, the Z car convention, which happens to be in Nashville this year at Nissan corporate headquarters to celebrate 40 years of the Z.http://www.zcon2010.com/

When I made my statement about the anti-theft device I wasn't thinking so much about on campus theft or even being parked in a dorm parking lot at night. I worked for the IT department of a college for 16 years and most campus security, at least where I worked, was very good. I was thinking more about parking on the outskirts of the college, the side streets etc., for all the extracurricular activities. Old Pathfinders seem to be like older Hondas and some other cars that don't have an ignition key security chip. Easy to steal, easy to sell the parts, stuff like that. Just reminiscing about some of my college student nights going out to the clubs and having to park 5 blocks away in an alley on an unlighted street.

UGH the Leaf, well whatever it takes to keep my fellow Tennesseans in Smyrna-saki working but I'm not feeling it. I could try bio-diesel and creep down the road in a clapped out rabbit on free used french fry oil.

I'm thinking that's probably what I need to do, buy a cheap car that gets good mileage. I just thought that X sounded cheap compared to what I usually see them go for, and I forgot most VQs aren't gas friendly. At least none of the ones I've owned are. Right now I'm just trying minimize the trips by rearranging my schedule, 4 trips a week total. 2 days in the Pathfinder, 2 days in the Z. I'd like to put 6000 miles a year on the Pathfinder and 6000 miles a year on the Z. That's my perfect world but making this commute I've got to get a third vehicle to take the rest of the miles.

I wish I had a simple answer for you but I don't. Your post caught my attention because I'm stuck in a situation of trying to use an older Pathfinder as a DD right now and it's not really up to the task without spending some serious money. But I am gonna make two points: The only notes you'll get on the Malibu are "Next time you go to Walmart take me with you" And if you keep the Pathfinder parked around a college campus make sure you put a hidden fuel cutoff or another anti-theft device on it.

That timer link has fixed a lot of Nissan and Infiniti door lock problems including mine. Mine was located exactly where it was supposed to be in the cargo area. I would have spent countless hours and dollars on the door lock switches and actuators in the doors if I hadn't found this link in NPORA. Just one more reason why this is my favorite forum.

Dang that's the kind of passenger lock I needed when I was 16 and dating. Seriously though the link or pic below might help with what's supposed to happen. Alarm PDF

I had a foxbody Mustang convertible that had a steering column ignition switch short out and melt down around 1989. Turned out to be a common problem on Mustangs back then and Ford issued a safety recall on a lot of them. Just throwing it out there since you mentioned the steering wheel positioning seems to have an effect.

Yep that's it, the perfect Xterra to make a 60 mile round trip commute on the interstate at 75 80 mph. Plus I've probably got way too many teeth to be living in Tennessee, we have one of the lowest ratio of teeth per capita, this would be a chance to rattle a few loose.

I like that idea and always have but I just don't have the cash to start spending like that. I need something that's new enough to have a loan value with no huge down payment. The motor's great in my truck now and I'm not afraid to keep the pedal down to keep up with 75 80 mph traffic. What bothers me the most is the 12 or 14 times during the trip that the tranny does that downshift to keep up the cruise set speed. If you drive an auto you know, first the lockup comes off, ugghhh, then out of overdrive, uggghhhh, then the tach's bouncing off 4000. Then the interstate levels back out and it's all upshifts. It's annoying. Then new rubber seals for the wind noise, the list goes on and on to make it comfortable at those speeds and the dollar signs add up quick.

So here's my problem. My biggest cash cow consulting job has been expanded and I'm driving 60 miles roundtrip, mostly interstate, almost every day, from the burbs to downtown Nashville. When the weather's been good I've been taking the Z but it's racking up miles in the process and like my other Zs I'm gonna keep this one for at least 4 or 5 years and I'm just not gonna mile it up like that using it for a daily commuter. When it's raining, and just to try to spread the miles out, I've been driving the Path but at 200k miles I hate to rack a bunch more miles on it. I never intended to use it as a commuter in the first place. It was always supposed to be just my nice old WD21 that I kept to drive a few miles one or two days a week and when I needed to haul stuff or extra people. If I keep driving it at this rate I'm afraid I'll drive it into the ground. Lately I've been looking on craigslist at some R50s and QX4s for around 9 grand thinking maybe I'd buy one for a daily commuter and the payments would be pretty cheap. Now I'll get to the guts of this post. In 2005 I helped a girl that was a co-worker spec out and buy a new 05 Xterra. On my advice she bought an 05 2nd generation SE with 4X4, auto, Rockford Fosgate and power everything. Now she wants to sell it and get a new Mustang convertible and said If I want it I could have it for what they want to give her for trade in, about 9500. This sounds cheap to me. She's put 74,000 miles on it. Never been smoked in and it's in perfect shape with a recent brake job and tires. So what to do? Buy her X I've known since new even though I'm not really an X guy, Keep looking for an R50 or a Q? Either way it's got to have a VQ for the kind of interstate driving I'll be doing. Or the third option just go ahead and kill my old Pathfinder by subjecting it to high speed, high mile commuter duty that it's really to old to handle without spending hundreds and maybe thousands in maintenance costs.

My 93's a California Path and I've got all the original paperwork and bill of sale from Concord Nissan in Concord CA. It does not have the pre cat and never did. I'm thinking it's more of a cold weather thing like has been mentioned. My stock 200k half worn out muffler combined with a new magnaflow free-flow cat gives me a sound I'm happy with on the cheap. If I had a blindfold on standing outside the truck idling, or just pulling away from a stop, it sounds more like my Dad's 350 Yukon than a v-6.

I've got a couple that are a little noisy and the thinner 5w-30w synthetic works best for me. Thinner oil circulates faster through my lifters which obviously are a little clogged at 200k+. Plus synthetics hold closer to their true 5w viscosity when cold versus dinosaur oils. Since my truck, like a lot of high mileage VG's, doesn't really burn or leak any oil between changes so I can get away with thin oil and it probably helps my gas mileage as a bonus. Just what's working good for me these days.

I agree I think it's there to smooth out an intake resonance, put there by the Noise, Vibration and Harshness engineers. Which brings up my 2 cents on the whole cone filter and Pathfinder thing. It's not for me, although I do have an oem replacement K&N filter in my Path. My truck like most stock WD21's is underpowered but fortunately a good, tuned VG30 isn't afraid to rev so it's unobtrusive to keep it in the power band. I don't need any loud intake sucking noises reminding how deep I've got my foot in it to keep up with fast moving traffic, especially if the AC is on. An occasional glance at the tach is all the reminder I want or need. I'm probably the only person in this forum who feels this way. Did I really borrow my grandmother's old 396 Caprice when I was 16 and take the air cleaner off so I could hear the quadrajet moan when I floored it. Yeah, and all it got me was a broken motor mount. The Z, a whole different story, intake noise, can't get enough.

And they're learning at the same rate your 1989 x386 computer running dos 5.0 and maybe Windows 3.1 or OS2 could learn. Which means it might take a while.....

And you don't have to worry about the frame it's already self lightening. Northern Pathfinders weigh less than sunbelt Pathfinders.

It's amazing, of the Pathys I've looked at including my own the lsd sticker is more durable than some of the frames!