shift_love Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 (edited) So I've promised this thread and I'd like to start the story right. It was a Saturday afternoon. Bored at work and browsing Craigslist for cheap 240 parts. I grew tired of the hunt and decided to search for a new tow vehicle since I was growing tired of using my dads beat up Chevy. I knew I wanted a Nissan or a Toyota. So I began to search. Eventually I came upon a month old ad for a 1993 green Nissan pathfinder 4x4. Ecstatic I fumbled for my phone and dialed the number listed at the bottom of the screen. It was mine. I could taste it. Later that evening I picked up my new vehicle. Absolutely delighted, it was ragged and rough, but it had a certain quality that I just couldn't stop loving. ...this picture was taken by the current owner, but i couldnt find one of my own to contribute lol... We had some good times together, getting my girlfriend and i home in the middle of a christmas eve ice storm and following the dodge squad through the woods i was in love. Unfortunately every time it did its job of pulling my 240 drift car on a trailer it felt as if it was seriously struggling. Fearing for the worst I decided it was time to part ways. I needed something better. Something with a higher tow capacity made by Nissan that wouldn't fail. $2500 and a $500 replacement frontier later and I have my clean as fskc 2001 pathfinder. I had initially bought the old parts delivery frontier from work, replaced the much needed head gaskets, but it's 27x,xxx mile vg33e and tranny worried me enough to hawk it. Luckily though, I basically made $2000 off it when it went towards the trade for my r50. i was pretty proud of it when i got it, because i love the vq so much and now every vehicle i own has a vq35 in it lol. my s14=vq, my z33=vq, my r50=VQ hooray Edited April 19, 2012 by shift_love Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shift_love Posted February 3, 2012 Author Share Posted February 3, 2012 (edited) So after months of research and browsing of the npora forum I decided it was time to transform my newly acquired pathy from a van to a truck. So here we are......ill start this part with a set up of the build and the treacherousness I had to overcome. first up, for whatever repressed bizarre teenage emotions i had inside of my mid twenties body i wanted to install some clear corners on it, i really dont like the look of orange on these trucks and i think that clear corners would really make the grille pop, so i bought some off ebay for $30 and promptly installed them i also went ahead and buffed the headlights out by hand because the yellowing lens' right next to brand new clear lens' would have looked really tacky, besides, it was free maintenance and i can see better now too next up is some more repressed teenage styling cues, honestly people, i think i have pretty good taste in picking my accesories, but this one was a must, theres just something about the loony factory spoilers that i jus love, fortuneately i found one at a junk yard for about $10 with the factory hinges so it could be easily installed in 20 minutes or less, strangely enough, this junkyard has some pretty intimidating longhorn cattle guards that may or may not gore you if you try and slip a free part in your tool bag lmao to install the factory accessory spoiler all you have to do is start by opening your hatch, tape down the glass to make sure it doesnt slide off and break unexpectedly, remove the plastic trim from around the thrid brake light and losen two nuts and two screws on each hinge then screw the spoiler into place on the factory hinge pedastals yea it may be kinda goofy but i love it :roll: so here we are It was a Thursday night. I had to drop my dog off at my moms for the weekend because my band was booked to play a gig in Austin after a long heartfelt goodbye I left the little guy alone in the kitchen. I haven't been apart from my dog for longer than 12 hours in almost 2 years so it was kinda weird. I woke up to go to work that morning at 6am, worked until 3:30 and drove home to meet the guys so they could pick me up and promptly leave for our 4 hour drive south. It was a great show and we were received well. We play punk rock music, but it has a horrific twist, songs are usually centered around zombies, conspiracies, necrophilia, and pseudo cannibalistic acts with poppy backing music. we garnish the attention of a lot of psychobilly/rockabilly bands, so we fit right in. Unfortunately my drummer and bassist had to be at work at 7am the next morning so at 1:30am we set out to return home. I drove the first 150 miles and my girlfriend drove the rest while we all napped (possibly, but hopfully not including her lol) . We made it home at about 5am that morning and promptly went to sleep. You're probably asking yourself why this is important. Well this is where it gets hard. At about 12:30 that day I woke my girlfriend up and told her that even though I was deadly tired I wanted to take advantage of the day and install the lift kit and safari basket on my pathfinder. So we set out. Much thanks to Trevor cosette of Canadia (lol) I purchased a barely worn (yes worn, not used) princess auto basket for 175 shipped. It has a great design, is lightweight, is easy to install, and looks fantastic to boot. When it came in the hardware was all rusted so I replaced all bolts with stainless hex bolts from work as opposed to the black Allen bolts it came with. I also sanded down and reprinted the mounting u bolts that were pretty rusty so that the rack could easily survive another decade of Texas weather. All in all the assembly and installation took about 1 hour. i wish i had taken more pictures of the assembly and installation but i didnt, it was super easy so i didnt think it was necessary. this basket will come in handy to use as a spare carrier and a place to mount my hi-lift jack, so if i go out and have some fun i always have a backup plan that will save me as opposed to paying a wrecker to come out to a strange destination, or if carrigan cant come out in my old wd21 and pull me out somewhere lol this basket is great quality and super duper lightweight too, too bad for anyone now interested in it, its discontinued Next up was conquering the suspension. Edited February 3, 2012 by shift_love Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Towncivilian Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 (edited) Immaculate looking Pathfinder, and cool pictures! The junkyard cattle is hilarious. I like the look of the clear corners on your black PF. Not sure if you're aware, but a potential issue with our VQ35DE engines are the power valve screws backing out of their screw holes if no threadlocker was applied at the factory. It isn't a very common issue and nobody knows what specific years/VINs are affected. It's a wise idea to put red threadlocker on them to prevent this from happening - see this thread for a how-to and more details. I lost a way to mount my factory spoiler in the replacement of my back door (long story), so I'll keep have to keep an eye out for those hinges! If you could look for a pair next time you visit the junkyard, I'd appreciate it. That type of hinge doesn't quite look like the mounting method from the factory (the spoiler has even more clearance between the door with your type hinges), I'll post some pictures later since I'm not at home right now. Also, who still runs 56k in 2012? Edited February 3, 2012 by Towncivilian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1994SEV6 Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 Also, who still runs 56k in 2012? I didn't even get the reference until I read your comment and thought about it for a second. At first, I thought you found a Wd21 with 56k miles. Anyway, that's a good chain of events for you. Seeing how easily that spoiler bolted on was pretty cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nunya Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 Wd21 hinges work pretty well on r50s it seems... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick13 Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 Wow, that's awesome...from another 01 LE owner! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shift_love Posted February 3, 2012 Author Share Posted February 3, 2012 The whole 56k thing is just random forum speak for "hey this thread has an ass ton of pictures!" I see it more in the s chassis world and local stuff as there's still parts of Texas that don't have crap but 56k. The hinges came off of an r50, the factory mounted spoilers have cut outs in the hatch that it sits down into, the accessory kit that Nissan sold for a few years that doesn't even exist anymore used these hinges. It seemed like a way better idea than having huge holes that could leak into the interior...damn Nissan... Lol. Anyways, yea, the particular reason I bought this particular one was because it was so damn clean, had cloth interior (leather plus Texas heat...kinda too hot during the summer) and it was a really good deal...I wanted another 4x4 pathfinder but a vq r50 in my area would have cost me twice as much. I figure if I really decided that it was that big of a deal to me I'd find a donor in a junk yard and convert it possibly (yes let the flaming begin) but with my access to the correct part numbers that would be applicable and what not (since I work Nissan parts) so it would be a lot easier to make sure of what parts will or won't cross. That was a little rambly but I get carried away...anyways. I have a ton more pictures and a lot more to type up about my lift kit so stay tuned!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Towncivilian Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 (edited) This was my old door: This is my new door: I guess I didn't realize how the spoiler mounted or simply forgot about it altogether when I picked the door that didn't have the "grooves" for the spoiler mounting hardware. Edited February 3, 2012 by Towncivilian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slartibartfast Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 And I thought the jy here was redneck for being next to a cow pasture... that's epic. Nice mods, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingman Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 (edited) Haha! Cattle in a junkyard right next to an upscale neighborhood. That's awesome! my s14=vq Yo you got pictures of that? Edited February 3, 2012 by Kingman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
01silvapathy Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 We need to meet up and get some 2in lift vs sfd lift pics pronto! We only live like 15 minutes away from eachother Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shift_love Posted February 3, 2012 Author Share Posted February 3, 2012 (edited) Haha! Cattle in a junkyard right next to an upscale neighborhood. That's awesome! "my s14=vq" Yo you got pictures of that? theres pics posted of it in my intro thread here http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=32034 so the work for the weekend has been decided, but i still need to post my lift portion of the thread and then ill move on to the new upgrade, then ive still got...jack mount, spare mount, rubbing issues, and gas mileage/upsized tire calculations oh joy...i really hope that this whole deal hasnt hurt my gas mileage as much as im fearing it will cause i need to retain some of it...i guess winter is almost over and ill be able to daily the 350z again soon Edited February 3, 2012 by shift_love Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shift_love Posted February 10, 2012 Author Share Posted February 10, 2012 So now that yall have read some @!*% about rural internet speeds and the beginning of my thread here come part two, this time we are going to be filled with pictures, explanations, tips, tools, and more pictures of my beloved pathy, not to be confused with my old wd21 that carrigan now owns, which whenever i see it i hug and look at admiringly ON WITH THE PICS here it is all loaded up, i purchased 16x8 cragar soft 8 wheels with 4in of back spacing from summit racing for a meager $54 each, quite the steal seeing as how 4x4parts.com recommends you use 3.75in backspacing wheels but they sell them for around $95 each, i decided id take the gamble on this because if need be i had a set of 1/4 inch spacers lying around at work that i picked up for $Free.99, i also opted to buy used tires first because i couldnt make up my mind on either 32's or 33's so i picked up 2 bfg ta a/t ko's and two goodyear wranglers for $140 for now, i love the bfg's and how they look, not too crazy about the goodyears though :? so just as a comparison, here it is in the beginning, unloaded and parked at my moms, so we can see the final result i have taken a picture in the same parking spot for the end of the post, i started by taking off all four center caps, and loosening all lug nuts, but not too much, just enough to make it easier when the front or rear is lifted to keep the wheels from spinning the entire day before i was pretty stressed because i knew, just knew id end up having an issue, i love doing suspension upgrades as its my favorite area of vehicle modification and tuning, and last time on my z i ran into sway bad endlink problems, well heres a solution! my girlfriend had bought me a craftsman hollow socket rachet set, it looked cool in the adverts and boy did it deliver, when i first went to remove the first nut on the endlink it seized and spun on the ball joint, well luckily nissan tools an allen opening into the endlink and i was able to jam an allen wrench against the strut body and torque the nut off with the ratchet for an easy dissasembly, CRISIS AVERTED!!! i was so happy opposite side works in reverse... next, remove the abs sensor wire from its perch and heavily douse liquid wrench or pb blaster on the strut bolts and caliper bolts if you plan on doing some pads while youre here, it makes for breaking the nuts off even easier theres also a small 10mm bolt holding a random bracket on the abs sensor wire to the strut, above that is the brake line tab that you can easily force off with a big flathead, or plyers if you feel like it now that everything is off on the bottom, remove the three nuts on the strut tower and the strut should come down when you have the struts off its time to begin compressing the springs. i originally purchased just one spring compressor kit from oriellys (for about $30) and it worked just fine for dissasembly but since the lift is based off of the principle of a heavy duty spring with more coils you can tell that it wont be as easy to compress down to fit on the new (or if youre keeping the same ones old) strut assy's notice the nx4 1" spacer in the bottom right corner, this is to add an extra 1" of spacing to front because with the stock AC 2" lift it gives the vehicle a noticeable rake up front...and i want more frontal clearance to get over some hills or rocks or piles of dead bodies or whatever...lol...jk anywho... so HANG UP #1 i tried and tried and tried to compress the new springs with the one compressor but finally gave up and bought a second kit, i started by compressing the spring as much as i could with the one kit and then added the second kit to the furthest out coils i could reach and alternated, it ended up looking something like this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shift_love Posted February 10, 2012 Author Share Posted February 10, 2012 once you have your spring compressed enough, replace your upper spring seat rubber for an extra 3mm of lift HAHAHA... even if the seat is cocked sideways at first go ahead and place the strut bearing, bracket, and insulator on (in that order) and snug that nut on, as you decompress the spring it will eventually unwind into a favorable position and line up perfectly then place the nx4 spacer up top it should end up looking like this the insulator will no longer come out of the top of the strut tower with the nx4 spacer on top, i ordered the brakets with the longer studs welded in in stock size (as opposed to the 1/2" dia bolts offered) so i didnt need to drill anything heres the final product for the front with the new wheels and tires on next post is the rear, and future plans Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shift_love Posted February 10, 2012 Author Share Posted February 10, 2012 (edited) as soon as i got done with the gigantic task of trying to compress the front springs i knew that the rear would go by incredibly fast so i jacked the rear up...dont do it by the diff or when you drop the truck onto stands youll realize that the REAR WHEELS still arent off the ground (LMFAO) anyways, i took a look at it, unbolted the the shocks at the top on the body and then here at the bottom of the axle well...that was good enough to drop one side enough to pull out the stock spring, but not to put in the new super long one, so a quick bulk text to 01silvapathy, mudfilledvaynes, and the shop foreman at work and i had a solution, disconnect the rear sway bar and flex the axle up on the opposite side shown here next was somthing that i really struggled with, i wanted a little extra bump in the rear so i could get as much out of this project as possible, i searched high and low for a rear spring spacer that wasnt made by mr.fskcinggasket and wasnt an air compressed spring "helper" primarily made for towing, so i ordered up a set of the factory upper spring seat rubbers from work, they fit on the lower mount pretty well and provided at least 1/3" of lift in the rear, they were intitally 1" tall but i imagine after some smushing theyll settle out to anywhere from 1/3"-3/4" i thought id be happy with at least an extra third or half so i bought them, and at $10 a piece my cost it wasnt a bad idea heres the final assembly shown and now finally pictures of the completed lift!!! it was about 11;30 when we finally finished it and it was f'ing cold outside, we had been working on it since 2pm and had just done the show in austin the night before so needless to say we were tired, my girlfriend is quite the trooper and a pretty skilled helper, after years of her learning from helping me with projects and as a final tid bit, an alignment is absolutely necessary, i had insane positive camber and toe when this was all said and done, seeing as how im used to negative camber on my cars (and liking it) it looked awful, not to mention it was bouncy as all get out until i got it aligned, i went to oreillys and bought the alignment bolts, that brought it back into 3/10ths of a degree out of max spec, and then eventually when the springs settle a bit it will be perfect heres a pile of fill dirt in my moms front yard she was using to fill in a sinkhole next to the pool water filter and backwash system doesnt look that tall, but i didnt want to high center on it either Edited February 10, 2012 by shift_love Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shift_love Posted February 10, 2012 Author Share Posted February 10, 2012 (edited) heres a couple pics next to 01silvapathy's 6inch sfd le r50 on 35's...proud of my lift no more, mine looked pretty stock sitting next to his so now for the future plans the interior...and radio...i love it, its going to remain stock, the bose system (which was broken when i bought the truck) actually doesnt dissapoint, its kinda lacking in some volume for my blown out ears but it sounds super clean and crisp, i also love the woodgrain and since i had to search a junkyard for the top vent piece when i replaced the cd player im not gonna touch it again so my future plans at the moment are 1. figuring out a solution to mount my hi-lift jack 2. using the spare carrier off of a wd21 swing rack to mount a spare on my roof basket 3. picking either a kenmtn bumper, or a heavy f'king duty grille guard 4. mounting some hella fog lights on above mentioned modification 5. and starting and finishing my 4wd conversion 6. EXHAUST 7. and lastly possibly an intake now i imagine at this point yall are saying "what the frakin frak???" well thing is, my r50 is super clean, i got a great deal on it and bought it from a dealer in town that my dealership often does business with, i looked and looked and looked for a clean vq35 r50 but couldnt find one at the time for under $9k so i opted for the $4000 option, well truth be told it saved me at least $4000 because last saturday i picked up the following parts: front spindles with hubs, axles, brand newish rotors, and abs sensors front diff front diff mounting brackets front driveshaft manual tx10 transfer case tx10 shifter, bracket, boot and interior finisher in BLACK to match my interior perfectly (together $800) and then tuesday i scored an insane hookup through a wholesale account at work and bought a new 4wd auto tranny with only 32k miles with the same valve body and electronics as my pathy (crossed tons of part numbers in FAST at work) all for a slender $450 and then TODAY i purchased WARN manual hubs online for 168 shipped (had $10 coupon) so in total ive spent $1418 and will still need to buy new output shaft seals and front cv boots (just to do them while theyre accessible) and a rear driveshaft and ill be good to go, so ill estimate a high of $1600 total 4wd project...sure as hell beats spending an extra 5k on a truck just for its 4wd option so i leave yall with that, i have the plans, i have the desire, and i have the skill and know how to complete that project, it will probably start in a month when it gets a bit warmer outside and i can drive the z to work without fearing a cold rain with excessive winds or hail because after my 3k hail job body repair of last year i want to baby the crap out of that car...so thats all for now, when i figure out my jack mount and spare mount ill post some pics and how to's for whoever is interested in reading it Edited February 10, 2012 by shift_love Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Towncivilian Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 (edited) Nice! I'm looking forward to seeing pictures of the swap process. You may want to install an auxiliary transmission cooler and in-line filter once you've completed the swap to prolong the life of the transmission. What year did the trans come out of? 2001+ has the HD version of the RE4R01A. If any of your Bose components fail I've got a full set of speakers (including the front amps) and the rear amp I'd love to get rid of for cheap. No head unit/6CD changer, though. I've said this before, but have you put threadlocker on your power valve screws yet? There's been a couple people with QX4s on NICO who had at least one power valve screw fall out post about it this week. Edited February 10, 2012 by Towncivilian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shift_love Posted February 10, 2012 Author Share Posted February 10, 2012 nah, i haven't done it yet, but ill just run the vin on dcs and check to make sure if it hasn't been done or not yet...thanks for reminding me of the trans cooler set up, i intend on getting one when i get to the swap, my tranny was from 06/00 i couldn't go past 07/00 or else id have to do a bunch of internal and electronics work and that would make the swap out of question for me since I'm tired of that stuff...but i suppose if my r50 needs the power valve screws done ill just have to suck it up and do it...i hate those little buggers, but a few years ago they made me a lot of money when qr25 altimas were blowing motors left and right because of them and nissan ended up doing a total recall of the engine lmao gotta love em though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
01silvapathy Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Depending on what size hilift you have it may fit under the seat as some others have done. In terms of exhaust I think that you should just cut it off like mine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snow4me Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Nice writeup! I do have a question or two... did you reuse your original front upper and lower rubber spring isolators? I thought I saw some electrical tape around the top and bottom of your front springs. If so, do they fit the new springs the same as the old? Where does that red/orange gasket go, above or below the NX4 spacer? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shift_love Posted February 10, 2012 Author Share Posted February 10, 2012 Snow4me, I taped them because it keeps them on there better and reduces squeekyness later ok down the road. it's actually a part of a tsb Nissan released for cars that squeak like that lol. And I always just throw away the gaskets cause I really don't see the point of them. It's not like water is going to rot out the strut brackets because it's not a water tight seal in between the bracket and the insulator. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XPLORx4 Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 You got yourself an ambitious project vehicle, there! Lookin' good so far. Hey, do you happen to know the part number for the rear rubber upper spring isolator? I need new ones. Finally, correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like the pic below shows the stock front spring beside a new REAR spring. I assume you figured this out when you went to install it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shift_love Posted February 11, 2012 Author Share Posted February 11, 2012 Lol. On second glance you would be correct. They were all about the same length though. I don't have the part number currently though cause I'm not at work... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowTied Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Nice write up and pics! I've said this before, but have you put threadlocker on your power valve screws yet? There's been a couple people with QX4s on NICO who had at least one power valve screw fall out post about it this week. Indeed, a local fellow with a QX4 just contacted me about my write up - he was missing several plates which were found above the swirl valves, and that sucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shift_love Posted March 22, 2012 Author Share Posted March 22, 2012 So I know it been a bit since I've updated this thread, but I've been doing a ton of stuff. I thought that I'd do the entire end of the thread in one big giant mass of words and pictures and pictures and pictures, but I'm gonna break it down. First off let's start with some accessories for my previously installed cargo basket, these parts were my original purpose for getting the cargo basket because let's face it, I like my interior nice and clean and don't want any reason to accidentally smear mud on something if I don't have to. I didn't take enough pictures of this, but I installed my hilift jack on my basket, since my basket primarily uses square tubing I was at a bit of a dilemma. So I bought to locking brackets that were meant for the inside of a truck bed and installed them roughly 30 inches away from each other, put the dinky lock on one and never looked back. This was done hastily in the parking lot of my apartment complex along side of my friend Jon and his 2 year old son (who kept on trying to eat tools) and the banter and jeering of Andrew (01silverpathy) here's the pic of it that night I took for this thread Still has some mud on it from using it a few days before lol. Next up, making use of the interior of the basket I decided I'd go with the over played look (which I love) of placing the giant spare on the roof. I used a spare carrier bracket off of my original wd21 and bought some steel brackets, drilled 2 holes and was done...or so I thought. It seems that a low offset wheel sits wayyyyy to high on this bracket and basically just bounced around all effing crazy and eventually put a little warp in the center of my basket after just two days Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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