Getting ready to rebuild the Pathfinder!

[Mblankenship182]

So I have a 95 Pathfinder that I'm getting ready to rebuild from the ground up practically! The engine gave out and the poor thing has been sitting for a couple years...

 

1. Replacing the engine with a vg33/vg33e

Best options?

Parts that need to be modified?

*i know some years of the 33 have the starter mounted on the same side as the vg30 but how will I be able to know before purchasing the engine from the shop?

Any complications in this option?

2. Best option for a lift kit? Was thinking a 3in suspension and 2 in lift so I can use 33s tires

3. Has anyone bought the calmini kit to fix the steering? What do you think?

 

I've read up on a lot of different sites and am just looking for more opinions, thanks everyone!

[Slartibartfast]

Lots if info here on all three if you look around. Also check out Nissan Nut's page, he's got a pretty good writeup on what has to be modded to get the 3.3 in there. Off the top of my head, you need the 3.0 oil pan, the oil pump pickup has to be modded to fit, the intake/efi needs to be swapped over from the old 3.0, and the balancer from a 3.0 won't fit, so you're looking at either converting all the accessories to a serp belt (IIRC the arrangement of accessories on an Xterra or Frontier means you can just swap engine and accessories at once and be good to go) or finding some way of putting a V-belt balancer on the 33. That means finding a one-year-only balancer (now unobtanium apparently), swapping the 3.0 crank into the 3.3, having the crank or balancer machined, or running a machined aluminum adapter instead of a balancer.

 

Lots of info on lifts out there. Some guys run 33x10.5 with no lift and minor trimming.

 

Calmini doesn't have the greatest reputation around here and IIRC they don't sell bushings for their idler arm separately. Between that and the price of their kit I'd be looking into other options. A few guys have used steering components from a 2WD Hardbody and seem pretty happy with that.

[96pathy]

I have a 94 Pathfinder and I did the 3" suspension, 3" body lift and put a 3.3 in from a 2000 pathfinder and run 33's with no problems. Do a search as there is a lot of info out there and was really not that hard to do, and is worth it.