Longtime lurker.....

[Beatup96]

Been lurking for a couple years now , trying to absorb all the info here.....

 

My Pathfinder story began on 1/31/2000 , when I drove off in my "new to me" 1996 XE 4wd .

Times were good , cash was flowin' , and I beat down the salesman on the price so bad that his manager offered me a job selling Nissans.....

 

The good....

She had 34,000 on the odometer and had been bought new in '96 and traded in 4 years later on a new model .

Since then she's been my daily driver , and I don't drive a whole lot .

My job is close by and here in CT everything is within a few miles , she's just under 138,000 now .

Engine and tranny seem real strong , never beat on either of them .

I've changed an exhaust manifold , timing belt and water pump at 92,000 , new starter , distributor plugs and wires , MAF sensor (IIRC) and an O2 sensor .

Starts up and idles great , runs well and hardly ever see's over 3000 rpm's .

Everything except the A/C works and the interior is still great due to the covers and floor inserts she got right away .

 

The bad.....

Time for "new everything" , brakes , cat back exhaust , total suspension front and rear , axle shafts , etc...

She's had the struts and shocks replaced once at about 80,000 and they're toasted , I put 31's on shortly after that and I doubt the extra weight helped any , rubbing is minimal and only at full lock .

Have not (yet) been to the dealer for the check up on the strut tower (scary !) .

 

 

The plan.....

In the next few months I'll be in the position to pick up a new(er) daily driver , gotta get something with good MPG .

My job requires me to get in regardless of weather , when the state closes the roads as they did for the blizzard last week I'm exempt .

I must have a 4wd vehicle , plus the fact that I hunt a lot and it's way easier to just drive to the goose pit than lug all those decoys by hand .

Cornfields get kinda mucky....

 

First will be getting her checked out for the recall , looks good to me and a few friends but we aren't Nissan techs .

Fingers crossed and she makes it back home , I want to do the KRFABS 4" subframe drop with 2" coils , 33-35" wheels/tires , locking hubs , new exhaust , etc....

 

I'm not a mechanic and I'll just be buying parts , I have a great mechanic with a full shop who'll be doing the work for cheap money in comparison to having it done at regular shop rates .

He's a "thinker" , but I'll be trying to make things as straight forward and simple as possible when I hand him a box of parts .

Thats where I may be a potential PITA , asking for info on specifics I can't find with the search function.....

 

So thats my story and I'm stickin' to it.....

Great forum on a hard to find subject , thanks in advance !

 

[teixeira]

wow, that's a presentation, all that it's missing are some pics.

Have fun here, you'll fing everything you need and plenty of help.

[devonianwalk]

Welcome over man. Thanks for signing up. Looking forward to your input.

[Precise1]

Welcome Bud!

Sounds like you know what you want to do and are on the right track. Since this is going to be set up as a mud/foul weather truck, might I recommend a locker or at least LSD in the rear? 3 legged ponies FTW!

 

B