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87 Pathfinder Engine Conversion?


YSO81G
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Hi,

 

I have a 87 Nissan Pathfinder 4x4 with a 2.4 carby motor in it. It has NO kahunas! I need to upgrade to an injected motor with reliability. The more simple the better. The cheaper the better. I'd like to stick to a nissan motor. But at the end of the day i'm definetly open to any ideas or past experiences.

 

Cheers!

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find a wrecked, bad frame or bad tranny WD21 with the VG30I or VG30E for a few $100's and search up my writeup on my MPFI 86.5 truck...a good bit of work involved but it was the easiest way I saw without having to try and fool the ECU and rework a bunch of harnesses

 

out of all honesty tho a nissan engine isn't going to pump out a whole lot of power unless you were able to squeeze a Titan V8 in or figure out the fitment of the VG30DETT

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Mine's 87 and its carby! VG30DETT isn't the only variant of the turbo V6, i'm looking for the VG30ET motor from the first 300ZX, the Z31. Its single cam, single turbo, same era as the D21's, a very narrow engine from strut to strut compared to the twin turbo with no need to cut up the internal guards. I've been doing some looking and all you need to keep the Pathy 4WD is to have the manual bellhousing and gear retaining plate off the 300ZX and it bolts straight up to the Pathy V6's gearbox! They're just hard to find for cheap, at least in Australia, don't know about America.

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I am wondering if this is just a difference in terms used on opposite sides of the pond?

 

In North America, as far as I know there was never a D or WD21 released with a carburetor sitting on top of the intake. However, a lot of times the early Fuel Injection version known as TBI (Throttle Body Injection) is mistaken for a carby, partly due to the round air cleaner sitting on top that is identical to what you might find on a carb'ed engine. Some people would even argue that it is just a glorified carb even though, other than in appearance they are different.

 

Is this what you have on the engines you talking about OZ? And is this what TBI is referred to down there? Or do you have true carburetors from the factory on D and WD21's? If that is the case, then more info on it would be greatly appreciated. Info such as the number of barrels, reliability and if it was used on any other engines and vehicle models?

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Australia's 2 door Pathfinders are 2.4 litre 4cyl carby's, single barrel quickly looking at it. Dunno what type of carby, i'll get back to you on that. I haven't had any problems with the carby's on either of my D21's, exept the throttle linkage on one of them bent under the strain of the cable. I don't think we got the injected version of the Z24, the Navara's (utility version leaf spring rear) got the KA24E and the 2 door Pathfinders were discontinued in 1990 i think.

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Hi,

 

I have a 87 Nissan Pathfinder 4x4 with a 2.4 carby motor in it. It has NO kahunas! I need to upgrade to an injected motor with reliability. The more simple the better. The cheaper the better. I'd like to stick to a nissan motor. But at the end of the day i'm definetly open to any ideas or past experiences.

 

Cheers!

 

Yep, I had a Z24 in a 1984 D720 king cab PU. Ultra reliable but with the power output somewhere between an electric toothbrush and a mortally wounded hamster; 106hp fresh from the factory, I believe.

The VG30e does just fine after driving a z24.

 

I'm pretty sure there was the Z24 and then the Z24i... :shrug:

 

B

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Another option to look into is a KA24 engine, which later D21's came with. A very reliable (and more importantly more powerful) 4 cylinder with plenty of aftermarket support due to it's use in the 240SX.

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  • 2 weeks later...

if it helps... my recent experience of trying [still ongoing] to do an engine swap is thus... you will need the wiring loom and ecu of the engine you are replacing it with. Also do not assume that manual and auto's share the same ecu and loom. Plus do not assume that similar engines will use the same ecu as their programs will be different. Final thing... if the engine you're swapping it with is a fly-by-wire type, you will need a throttle potentiator [?] - if that's what it's called. These are all things i've learned in doing my own... so in the engine you swap to, make sure it's local to your part of the world, otherwise like me, you'll have problems sourcing the parts to get the swap completed.

 

regards

Harv.

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