TheRadBaron Posted October 9, 2015 Share Posted October 9, 2015 Hello everyone. New member from Illinois here. I just bought a very nice '87 Pathfinder. It's a 4x4, VG30E, 5-speed, SE-model. The backstory is that last year I decided that I wanted an older compact SUV and I started shopping around. I was originally looking at the second-gen (90-95) Toyota 4-Runner based on Toyota's reputation for ruggedness. However, last year I got a really rusty '90 D21 pickup in a trade and I was really impressed with it in spite of the fact that it was totally falling apart. This got me thinking about the Pathfinder. Plus, the 2nd-gen 4-runner apparantly came with a REALLY lousy 3.0 V-6 and in a stark contrast the 1st-gen Pathfinder's V-6 has just the opposite reputation. Chalk one up for the Nissan. I decided that I needed to stick with an older truck for a few reasons. I'm a avowed gearhead and I need to have an emotional attachment to my vehicles. I've just never been able to achieve that with newer autos. I've driven old stuff my whole life and I really can't get into anything newer than the early '90s. Also, I insist upon a manual transmission and the newer things get, the harder it is to find a stick. So that brought me to the 1st-gen Pathfinder. My mind was made up. Problem is, it's nearly impossible to find a good older truck here in the rust belt and I wanted a nice vehicle for once. After much searching on Craigslist and eBay I found this '87 in Baltimore. It has 150,000 very well-maintained miles and it was garage kept for most of it's life. It's mechanically very sound, the interior is excellent, and the body has very little rust. There's a bit starting in a few places but it's far from terminal and I'll fix it before it can get worse. I took a flight out to Baltimore and drove it home to Illinois. Boy, am I happy with my decision and my purchase. I love this truck. I admire the way it's built and I really enjoy the way it drives. It's pretty much all original but I'll be modifying things soon enough. Nothing radical but I'm a pathological modifier of things and I'll work in a lot of subtle improvements. I titled this thread "The Righteous Path" since that's what I named the truck. I like to give all my vehicles sarcastic or inside joke names. This way, when the wife asks me "What are we taking to the store, honey?", I can answer "We are taking The Righteous Path". Disclaimer: I don't mean righteous in the religious sense. More like "fighting the good fight" or doing the right thing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushnut Posted October 9, 2015 Share Posted October 9, 2015 one path one direction, just lock the steering wheel and go for it..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teixeira Posted October 9, 2015 Share Posted October 9, 2015 Looks good, have fun with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xterra Posted October 9, 2015 Share Posted October 9, 2015 Looks nice and clean. I'm always glad to see another 2-door being saved from the scrap heap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PathfinderJA Posted October 9, 2015 Share Posted October 9, 2015 welcome.. that was a nice write up. I'm looking forward to following this build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRadBaron Posted October 9, 2015 Author Share Posted October 9, 2015 Thanks all for the welcome. One of the first orders of business was to change all the fluids. Luckily I found this site and read the FSB about the transmission fluid capacity and fill level. This is a picture from the other night when I was filling the gearbox with Redline MT90 ($$$). I read about pouring it in from the top but it seemed like the shifter boot was going to be tough to remove due to the carpet so I decided that this way was easier. I found that if you jack the truck up to this angle (no less), the gearbox will take the full 5.1L. And don't worry, I didn't put my body under the truck when it was up like this. I had a length of hose going into the fill port so I could pour the lube in while standing next to the truck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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