Kingman

Took it to the beach yesterday. Nice trip, weather held up pretty well. I saw an XJ that was stuck up in the soft stuff so I gave him a pull. He lost his 4wd due to an air leak. He stuck his head out the window and got sprayed with my roost, it was pretty funny lol.

Looks good!

Yessir.

Plenty of info. It'll swap right in.

Pulled the plenum off and fixed the fuel leak on my '88. Also fixed the floppy door panel with a couple of black screws... Going to take it camping tomorrow and toutle around.

Ackerman is the caster angle of alignment. It's how far forward or back the wheel is on its axis. If the caster is suddenly off its because of an impact that pushed the tire(s) back a little.

A bad enough valve cover gasket leak can actually cause unmetered air to be sucked in through the PCV system causing the O2 sensors to read lean therefore causing the engine to run rich... as in poorer fuel economy. Horrible mileage? No. Maybe an MPG.

The water pump is a little guy. Cheap too. Honestly, depending on mileage, throwing a new chain and guides at it would be a good idea. Guides and tensioners do wear out as they're plastic or nylon. Usually accompanied by a rattle on start up. The Z24 was Nissan's emissions motor. Not much power is to be expected. The head is restrictive and open chamber. You may have noticed the 8 spark plugs... for optimal power and economy they all need to be firing. They're long lasting little turds though so long as one doesn't let a typical blown head gasket take out the bottom end.

'04 4wd auto transfer case. Comes up as RL4.

Camo!

Did a transmission service on it yesterday. Fluid was basically black. I used Castrol Transmax Import ATF, it does feel a lot better and it's helped the hard shift out of first on light throttle quite a bit. When it's fully hot it's really smooth. Was glad to see no metal particles in the pan... kind of alarming that an '04 with an RL4 has the same weird characteristics as the RE4s.

The reason is there is an o-ring inside the torque converter that is very easily damaged and when you do, you basically need to buy a rebuild kit just to replace it. It's also insanely more difficult to mate anyhow. You'll get it in there. Many times I've gotten fed up with it and came back the next morning and it pops right in. When you get mad you fight not only the truck but yourself too.

Manual or automatic? If manual make sure the throw out bearing and shift fork are seated all the way back. If automatic make sure you aren't installing the motor with the torque converter bolted to the flex plate. It needs to be seated on the transmission input shaft. A lot of times it's just the angle of the dangle. Needs to be just right.

Solid. Was the break-in done? Also the clutch pedal needs to be adjusted properly so there's no pressure on the shift fork at rest. A bad rear main seal leak can soak the clutch. Was the flywheel resurfaced or replaced? If not there's your problem.

I don't mean to sound like a dick but I see no additional bracing for load impact/twisting, missing large washers on the lower bolt heads, not even grade 5 hardware (8 minimum or 10.9), and a way over clearance drilled hole on the upper through-bolt that allows entire movement of the structure. Sorry but it freaks me out. Especially getting sold that way possibly to an unsuspecting buyer.

How will that handle a hard tire impact?

My '88 is at 237k now and my '04 is at 109k.

The older ones have a removable front pulley with the timing marks that can be bolted on six different ways. The crank pulley it's self can only go on one way.

It won't. KA24s use a 71c, VGs use a 30A. Best bet would be to swap the entire drivetrain.

A lot of early VQ owners had oil consumption issues. So far my '04 is doing well. 3,000 miles and the oil is perfectly full and hardly even colored. The engine has 102k on it. Of all the German stuff I tend to give BMW the most credit for reliability, second to the pre-90s Mercedes. My mom's '02 4.4i had 153k on it when she sold it and never once had a check engine light. She owned it since 102k. I had to replace the water pump, radiator, upper radiator spider hose, coolant level sensor, clean the washer fluid pump screen, the stereo amp due to a clogged sunroof drain which flooded the LR panel, brakes, factory battery after 11 years, LF LCA bushing, and the transmission did let go at 136k - a domino from the torque converter going bad which she ignored. In reality that's not bad at all considering every other manufacturer out there has the same issues and often at less mileage. It was also fairly easy to work on once you remove all the plastic covers and crap. You want a real pile of crap, go buy a Volvo.

Pop the NO.1 plug out and listen for the whistle when you come up to top dead. That should be on the passenger side anyhow.

If that's his price for the part alone that is WAY out of line. He probably hooked it up to a lab scope.

What car is that?

What a load of horse sheit!