Kingman

Everything you said times 10 only amounted to 285 HP at the wheels in a full on race car. Making big power NA with these motors is not easy. What these motors do well is handle boost, and a while lot of it. That's when you start laying down some serious numbers.

Could be a clogged pickup, bad pump, or bad pickup tube o-ring (not unheard of for those to shrink or crack over time). Could be a restrictor in the head has popped out. Or just a flat worn out motor. Warming the oil would reduce the oil pressure. Cold oil is thicker.

It's nice that the IFS 4x4 rigs with those motors are well clearanced for the front diff. Hopefully they clear ours. As far as power is concerned, lay on it. Seriously. You're not going to hurt the rear end or our manual tranny with the Vortec. Front driveshafts, likely.

Started old blue and quickly discovered an injector or the hose at the rail has sprung a leak. Poo.

It's already a super tight fit with the VG pan and diff. Go look.

Aftermarket support for a GM Trans is basically bar-none. 6L80E is where it's at.

No, not crazy. A lot of work I'm sure you're aware. V8path (I think) on here shoehorned a tune-port 350 in his with a straight axle swap.

Checked timing and/or the belt it's self?

Nooooooooooo!

Put new belts on it and deleted the intake resonators with soft plugs. You might be a redneck if...

Yeah intake swap is all. Valve covers too I think but not entirely sure.

Depending on your area it'd probably be easier to find a good used one and throw it in. Most of the aftermarket parts aren't built nearly as well as the factory Nissan stuff, unless you go high end which is money. When I rebuilt mine I used ACL bearings and Rock rings. Then again I didn't bend a rod. But the machine work plus the cost of parts was over $400. If the motor locked up chances are the crank is no good, possibly a bad cylinder wall too which means the block is toast anyhow.

While*

Adjusted the rear drums. DRUMS! The '88 has disks, and the '04 has drums. I don't get it. And exile doing so confirmed it had an open diff... Also tuned the stereo a little more.

UV die works wonders. Put a bottle in and drive around. Shine a black light on it and there will be no mistaking where it's coming from.

Wow forgot all about that guy.

Custom built modeled after a Yota bumper. Yeah I picked it up a few days ago.

Could you tell why it was there? Always a bummer to see rigs like that in the yard.

MAF wiring, poor ground. There's a fix for this that's worth a shot.

No real need to "test" the alternator. Simply unplug it and watch your volt meter. If the draw stops then there's tour issue. Are you doing the voltage drop test on the ground with the engine running and off?

Those boots are actually tune up items. They are the same in essence as changing the plug wires. With coil pack motors a tune up is plugs and boots instead of plugs, wires, cap, and rotor.

You should consider the heavy duty shift fork from zspeedperformance.com to go along with the clutch.

^ Which needs to be pointing up when it's installed.

Got it all muddy. Unfortunately the rain had washed most of it off already.