Kingman

Have you unplugged the MAF to see if it clears up?

Seal it up man. If you can't get a gasket use RTV.

I see some spotty fuel injector wiring...

Did you unplug the O2 sensor and see how it drives?

It stays plenty cool down there. I will say that under load it doesn't sound that good, but there's a real sweet spot in the throttle where the tone is smooth and sounds soooo good. Burbling right along, then you an incline and instantly it's obnoxious.... I drove past a few cops too, I wasn't even trying to be quiet and rapping it out a little. Didn't pay any attention.

O2 sensor, unplug it and see how it drives.

Sounds good don't it? I had mine out on the town yesterday, scared the hell out of a lot of people and got a lot of cheers. Blips under overpasses and rolling past people are the greatest. Needs exhaust baaaaaaddddd.

It's supposed to do that. The voltage regulator senses the need for more juice and ups the amperage/voltage a little. You used the starter and drew from the battery, so it's replenishing it.

The boot could have been loose before you removed the plug, and now that you've put it back in it's making a solid connection. Hopefully it's a simple issue like that. And no, a bad alternator won't cause any misses or crappy drivability unless the battery gets really weak from not charging. Yours is charging fine though.

Well the top mounting point can get stuck to the bracket pretty good but other than that it's as simple as it gets. Two bolts on the top side (one in front one in back), the tensioner, a plug and a ground. Make sure you unplug the battery too. I got tired of messing with aligning both top bolts so I drilled out the casing and put a long through bolt through the front with a nut and lock washer on the back. Much better.

Z31 MAFs are proven to be good till about 400-450WHP.

Check the resistance of the two CHTS wires from the ECU pins to the plug on the sensor. That'll rule out the CHTS wiring entirely. You can also dunk the new sensor in hot water and watch the resistance change. I wouldn't put much faith in the Autozone sensor though. Kinda weird the CAS code came up, there may be a ground issue somewhere. Have you checked those real well? The CAS, MAF, and CHTS I believe are grounded on the same circuit and Nissans are pretty finicky with their grounds.

I'm sorry but if that's the quote you got for a new engine you need to find another shop. That's bull@!*%. The engine has 230K on it so it's getting up there and may be a little tired, but should still have a lot of life left in it as long as it was maintained well and not raped. A new/rebuilt set of heads, or good used ones, should take y'all a lot further. A lot of that metal will hopefully have been cleaned out by the filter. A few flushes and you might just be okay.

Installed a KA24DE throttle body and ported out the intake manifold to match it. Should be a little snappier.

Those aren't codes. Red light is the first numeral and the green light is the second. Example 3 red blinks and 2 green blinks is code 32. Not code 3 and 2. The CHTS being unplugged making it run worse is a good sign, means it's doing something. A cold engine without the CHTS is almost impossible to start and drive, been there done that. Unplugged and warm/hot it's usually fine. That sensor is the main source of info for the ECU to adjust the fuel mixture, without it at all (cold) or a poorly working one creates all kinds of hell. The changes in the cylinder head temperature are relayed to the ECU via resistance. Too much or little makes it think it's in the Antarctic so it floods the engine out. I went through a half a tank of gas in 14 miles due to mine going bad. Fouled the plugs and clogged the catalytic converter too. That also brings up another thing that should always be checked along with the CHTS and that's its sub harness. If that's corroded, cracked, frayed, anything the ECU won't get the right signal regardless of what the sensor is putting out. Sometimes that's the root problem and not the sensor it's self. It would all make good sense but not if it's related to your tinkering with the throttle body. I think you've got a MAF issue or like was said above a leak in the throttle body somewhere. They don't run real well, if at all, without the air cleaner on.

No, a supercharged Xterra or Frontier will.

MAF sensor or wiring probably, it's attached to the driver's side of the throttle body. Try unplugging it and see if it runs any better, be warned it will hit a 3K rev limit (limp mode). Also make sure the connections are squeaky clean. Sorry to hear you wasted money on the O2 sensor, it will never make a TBI truck run bad enough to notice. They only operate above 2,800RPM and under certain parameters.

Someone here did this. I can't for the life of me remember who but there's a thread with pictures. Who was it...

I tell you what, I had a front sway bar link break while going around a right turn cloverleaf onramp getting on to the highway. SNAP twang and instantly the front dove to the driver's side and got insanely unstable. I thought the truck was going to go over for sure. I took the cloverleaf one more time without the bar then put it back together and did it again at the same speed. Needless to say I haven't ever thought of removing that sway bar since then.

87s shouldn't have a CEL? The TBI trucks run just fine without an O2 sensor, they're only used above 2,800RPM for cruising.

There's a pull-in winding and a hold-in winding in the solenoid. Pull-in engages the gear to the flywheel and the hold-in keeps it there during cranking.

Hopefully mine doesn't start chattering. I've only put 5 miles on the truck but it's been so long since I've driven it that I didn't even notice the clutch until a buddy asked me how it felt. Almost as smooth as the stock clutch. We'll see how she holds up after some miles.

If the injectors are fine test the CHTS and sub harness, probably need to replace those if you haven't already.

Drove it around off open headers

Made the sucker run!