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easy/cheap performance upgades?


proudpathy
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Welcome!!!

Easiest things to try to restore some of the original power are to clean the MAF, replace your fuel filter, replace/clean your air filter, and make sure that your exhaust isn't super restrictive.

Unfortunately, the aftermarket-accessory support for the WD21's isn't stellar... no bolt on super chargers, turbo chargers, high performance headers or just about anything lol.

I'll tell you what others have told me: if you bought a WD21 Pathfinder/Terrano in hopes of having a lot of power or good gas milage, sell it now or get used to it. The VG30 is very torquey, but is a little lacking in the power department.

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Cheers for that CO_pathfinder, I'll get on top of those soon.

 

And it's not a big deal really, like it does perfectly fine offroad and can get through what I point it at so mabey an vg33 swap one day lol

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New filters and a good cleaning goes a good way. There are header but I wouldn't call it easy or a bolt on . You can build a snorkel, in theory get a ram air effect, colder air and the ability fort rivers. Exhaust "upgrades",muffler, high flow cat, bigger pipe, making a less restrictive passage.

cams,pod filters,bigger maf, turbo engine swap blah blah blah.

There are things you can do but cheap and easy are not words used.

But if it can be done to a vg30 someone on this forum has done it. Ask questions

Wd21 Nismo parts still exist, and 4x4parts is a good site to start,dream big.

 

And we love pics.

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Yea, what Stabworthy said is pretty much spot on. Technically, there are a lot of things you CAN do to make a Pathfinder more powerful; the catch is that many of them are not "cheap," so to speak. If a VG33 swap is possible, I would start look into it, especially if you like projects.

 

Some of the things that Stabworthy must be done with caution though. Upgrading your MAF to a larger one will require ECM modifications. Any exhaust diameter over 2.5-3" will actually result in a loss of power, as the VG needs scavenging for proper exhaust flow. If you throw a cone filter on instead of the box filter, or build a snorkel, it'll sound way nastier. Just don't do what the PO of mine did and throw a high flow cat and a raspy muffler on, because now every time I blip it above 3k rpm, its like the second wind of Japan is escaping from my exhaust pipe ;)

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The best power upgrade I've done to mine was cleaning out the throttle body. Seriously, that thing was gunked up so badly that taking it off, cleaning it out with gas and a rag, and stuffing it back in made a huge difference. I did the vacuum lines at the same time, so some of the difference could've been down to that, but most of the old lines didn't look all that bad.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Thanks heaps guys !!! Plenty of things to do now

 

And here are some pics. It's had a few different looks over the time iv had it due to stupid new Zealand road laws haha. but she's a vg30 manual.5f08145e701dd24e71e78531c842c0bc.jpg7f95b55969873d041049ba24ef32be71.jpg

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Haha thanks guys !

Iv got a little Instagram page of all the updates if you guys want to follow

It's @pathmaker_project

 

And CO_PATHFINDER it's been used very often with me behind the wheel hahaa I have a little too much faith in the old girl sometimes hahaha

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The best power upgrade I've done to mine was cleaning out the throttle body. Seriously, that thing was gunked up so badly that taking it off, cleaning it out with gas and a rag, and stuffing it back in made a huge difference. I did the vacuum lines at the same time, so some of the difference could've been down to that, but most of the old lines didn't look all that bad.

 

100% Fact! A good thorough cleaning goes a long ways. Just throwing in new NGK plugs got me a mile and half per gallon (13-14.5) and noticable oomf. Holds low end revs way steadier and have to actualy try to stall it. Plugs, wires, cap, rotor, coil maybe. Air filter upgrade, K&N stock replacement is awesome, and easy to clean and re-use. Clean the holy heck out of it everywhere you can. Throtlebody, O2, injectors. Run a bottle or 2 of Lucus injection system cleaner. Bottle says 1 per 15 gallons of gas I think, I always go heavy. You'll be driving a whole different truck.

 

Fast easy and cheap. Pick two.

 

That's so accurate.

The Cheapest are probably exhaust and air filter.

Have K&N, it's awesome, easy to clean, well oiled it catches all the dust. Easy, quick, cheap. The ONLY item for a VG30 that will ever fit all 3. You're also not getting 20hp from it either. So.. yeah.

Exhaust, Thorley headers, not cheap, but great. Walker catalytic converter, not cheap, sorta helps. I have 2.5 inch cat back with yota flowmaster, awesome! Sorta cheap, kinda easy, done in a weekend... should be.

 

OH! Is it an automatic or a manual??? If its an auto, get an external trans cooler!!

You'll be sooo sad if you don't.

 

 

Honestly, Spend a couple days rolling through these forums. These guys know just about everything there is to know about Pathfinder and Hardbody / Xterra interchangable parts. Possibly more than Nissan does. Make a list of things you think you want to change, search through and find out if you really want to.

If it's not already here somewhere, these dudes will tell you, how easy / hard it will be, best / most popular options, and time it will take and so on.

Figure out what sounds like it will work with budget, time and level of experience.

Then try to lump them into projects so you don't tear the same thing off 3 times. That really sucks to do. i.e, timing the distributor.

Pick a project, research each part on here so you know ahead of time what weird quirks can go wrong.

Last thing, call a buddy, have a fun weekend learning your truck, take notes and pictures and maybe add back to the community.

Which reminds me, I need to gather up my starter Pull / Rebuild / Install pictures and post that.

Edited by Bastrdgod
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Thanks again guys !

 

And cheers bastrdgod iv been thinking about that but no sure how the road worthy test will be here in nz ... they're anal about that stuff haha

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