slade420

When i bought my pathfinder i was trying to figure out how to change my taillights. I opened that little access panel in the back and there was a key, zip-tied to the wiring. the label said something like Jayco trailer. it was the key to the original owners camper. im not sure if i have that spark plug tool. i did get the owners manual tho.

thats a nice design, reminds me of the 80s and 90's style stripes. im not great with computer design, but i would like to paint my 93 4door. Its dark blue and i would like to paint flames from the bottom, half way up the sides with black spray-on truck bed-liner. it would help cover some rust spots aswell as help with scratches. plus the flame design to be different. Also Edicer2, the tercel 4x4 is still in the planning stage. mostly due to time constraints and vehicles being buried under a few feet of snow.

I found a gas leak on my '93. the previous owner changed the gas lines except for one spot that was hard to get to, lazy F*#^ers. it was about under passenger side door, there is a crossmember that it goes over.

Congrats on the good news, its nice to hear a positive story when so many ppl are losing jobs.

ugh, that takes a lot of effort... lol My hobbies include playing guitar, drawing, painting, and self-medicating. i love customizing pretty much anything i can get my hands on. Im learning more about mechanics slowly. My friend and I are planning our next budget project. An '87 toyota tercel hatchback on a 4x4 truck frame with a 318 c.i. dodge engine. im also painting my XBOX 360 lime green and matte black.

Thanks for the links Pezzy, there is a lot of information to digest. I'll be doing some homework this weekend.

I thought i would add some life to the eastern canada forum. I am from Marathon, which is in northwestern Ontario. Located on lake superior, we are surrounded by forest. According to the Ministry of Natural Resources, 95% of land in northwestern ontario is crown land. On their website they say they work with communites to designate areas of crown land for different uses including conservation and recreation like hiking, off-roading, bird watching, etc. Off-roading definately caught my interest. Being surrounded by forest you would think that we wouldnt really need a designated area, but the only real places to wheel are either O.F.S.C. (Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs) trails, Privately owned gravel quarrys, Hydro lines, or land owned by forestry or mining companies. Most of which DO NOT allow use by Off-road vehicles. Also some areas are not, in my opinion, safe. Getting back to the M.N.R., i recently sent them an e-mail asking them about establishing land for off-roading use. Im still waiting for their response but i personally dont see a reason not to allow it. I also wrote about using the land for Recreation/ Conservation purposes. My long-term goal is an off-road park that promotes conservation of the land aswell as promoting alternative fuels such as bio-diesel, Propane gas, and Electric. I'll post when i have more information.

Those warning signs can be programmed to say anything really, im sure they are easily "Hackable". Still funny tho

One day my brother backed his 2002 acura CL into my dads 2007 sierra, safe to say he felt like an idiot for a while. but the truck looks better now anyway so its all good.

i thought this was an event mainly in the places that get little snow, but when i lived to ottawa i realized it must be city folk that that are the problem. there are too many ppl on cell phones, but the biggest issues i noticed were the lack of skill (knowing what to do when your car slides), slowing down for the weather, and not having winter tires. Winter tires are over looked the most i think. Just because you have an F-350 or an all-wheel drive car doesnt mean it will take on everything the road will throw at you. all-season tires are garbage when it gets below freezing. I remember hearing a woman say she was gonna keep her kids home from school because of possible freezing rain... i couldnt help but laugh. I might live in the middle of nowhere but i can tell you the amount of ppl i see in the ditch is minimal.

I am also interested, i think the johnny joint style idea is awesome. keep up the good work.

or a D21 hardbody... but being different is cool. id like to see a removable hartop for the back like an old Blazer. It would great for those warm days off-roading.

i could post some pics of my "custom mounted" winch if you promise not to laugh...

great idea for a forum section In this time of financial hardships maybe some threads about budget builds and low cost fixes could find a home here.

i just seen a wrangler with the in wheel electric motors on tv, on the north American international auto show. it was combined with the small generator making enough electricity to go 400 miles on a couple gallons of gas. fixing the problems will take a little while but when they start using super-capacitor technology they will get 1000+ miles on a single charge. and the torque of electric... would be amazing for offroading

Another good reason to buy the Jeep brand is the EV (electric vehicle) Jeep they are developing. According to petersens 4x4 and off-road magazine, they have a small gas engine attached to a small electric generator to create power. it then sends the power to an electric motor with something like 275 lbs/torque. They mention that they are also researching in-wheel electric motors. that way you can reduce the power loss from the drivetrain. with this design you could have almost limitless suspension travel and articulation.

Welcome to a fellow Canadian.

Just a thought... I remember reading in my pathfinder owners manual when its really cold, below freezing that you should drive in 4wd for the first 5 -10 minutes or so to warm up the front gear oil. Im guessing to prevent wear.

In Northwestern Ontario your allowed to use snow chains from Nov. to like April. you can also get snow tires studded here. i dont know if its common anywhere else, like in the states. i havent tried the studded ones yet but they look like they work very well.

Im gonna go ahead and say no, a 2000 lbs is not big enough, im guessing thats an ATV winch. A pathfinder weighs a lot more than that... plus consider how much extra force is holding your vehicle when its stuck. Being stuck in mud can create a lot of suction, holding you in the mud. I personally have a 8500lbs Superwinch. it does the trick when im stuck. but most winches advise you not to pull over half of your winches capacity without a snatch-block(just incase it breaks). with extra cable and a snatch block, you double your pulling capacity. some people even use multiple snatch blocks. the only thing i had to do was strengthen the weak screw that held the cable to the drum. they are notorious for breaking, as mine did... when i was in a mud hole... You should always have a tree saver strap with you aswell. you should never hook the wire back on its self. it can cause it ot fray and break.

i know what you mean by sound proofing... or sound dampening to be more accurate. When i bought my 93' pathfinder, it had a damaged exhaust and rotten floor panels. i fixed my floor, but it isnt insulated. Ive made my exhaust whole again and there isnt exhaust leaks. it is still pretty loud tho. i Probably need a new cat and muffler or a full exhaust. But getting back on point, dynomat is pretty expensive, and i dont know how many layers you would need to make it quiet enough. Another thing to think about is how well it takes heat. Even with the stock floor, insulation, carpet etc. the floor gets hot. In my owners manual it actually says that the floor tends gets hot, and to always use your floor mats. Especially when driving bare foot. Id say look into the dynomat "specs" to see how useful it will be. If it can take the heat, it might be a good solution.

Im not too concerned about another 3/4" travel, it was just something i thought of while writing my post. Im gonna go with the rs5000's up front anyway and RSX in the rear. i havent taken any parts off yet ( sway bars... bump stops), im more or less waiting for my parts to arrive before i start ripping stuff off. Ive read that taking off the rear sway bar helps with articulation, but is it nessesary for the front to be removed as well? are the results noticable? Also, does removing the bump stops make a big difference, and dont they help when you bottom out?

Well then... we dont want that :S also... with the rs5214 being 14.99" ex. and 9.5" collapsed. compared to the RSX 17079 being 15.125" extended, 10.375 collapsed, that would be 3/4" less travel with the RSX right? so my search continues... ill probably go with the RS5000's up front if i cant find a suitable pair of RSX shocks.

back again with another update. After looking at almost every RSX shock on summitracing.com i found one with similar lengths. The Rancho RSX-17079 - extended length of 15.125" and a collapsed length of 10.375" The Rancho 5000 RS-5214 -extended length of 14.99" and a collapsed length of 9.7" On the Rancho site it says the RSX's are made for each vehicles specific weight. That being said, what would be the side effects of using a shock for a bigger vehicle like a chevy silverado? The RSX-17079 front shock is very close in length, but is ment for a larger vehicle. The rear ones, RSX17030 (26.375" Extended length, 16.125" Collapsed Length) say on summitracing.com that they are for ford/mazda... which would be a Ranger. that is closer in weight to a Pathy than a silverado. if anyone has any thoughts on the subject, please post away.

the RSX shock is the step up from the RS5000, it has self adjusting valves. The sales pitch from summitracing.com describes it better than i can. "Rancho's affordable RSX17000 shocks automatically adjust themselves to the terrain, providing a better ride--on or off-road. These shocks have a valve system that instantaneously reacts to shock compression. During more aggressive compression caused by rough surfaces, the valve automatically opens to reduce ride harshness. During lighter compression, the valve closes to give you tighter handling and a smoother ride. Other features include nitrogen gas-charged twin-tube construction, bright red urethane mounting bushings, and a red convoluted boot to protect the shaft." $61.99 each from Summit Racing.