1992 "Restoration" - Searching for Wheel Cap Info

[mike1305]

Hey gang,

 

Found myself a beautiful 1992 SE that I'm going to slowly revive from the brink. Not much needed - getting a ton of deferred maintenance out of the way, some rust prevention/mitigation, and lastly, searching for plastic bits and bobs (like the cowl inserts and center arm rest, etc)

 

I am replacing the badly worn 235's and want to jump back to the factory 265/75R15 tires. Figured I might as well clean up the wheels as best I can in the process. My truck has all five of the plastic center caps even, all in decent shape! 

 

I found this handy site that I'm about to spend way too much money on, and they have a page with all the wheel cap part numbers. Looks like there were a ton of variations depending on trim and build date. Some weird cutoff beginning 07/1992, any ideas what that's about? Either way, I want to either repaint the ones I have or get the correct ones.

https://www.nissanpartsdeal.com/parts-list/1992-nissan-pathfinder/axle_suspension/road_wheel_tire.html?Filter=(1=W;2=VG30E;3=SE;4=MT.F5;5=4WD;6=4D;7=FED)&PNC=40315

 

My current truck seems to have the fronts from 07/92 on, and rears from 07/86 to 07/92. Is it safe to say they all fit the rear wheels no matter what since there's no hub there? Is there any info on WTF happened in 07/1992, as tons of parts I'm poking around for seem to have this cutoff date. I can't imagine a truck built in 07/1992 would be a 1992 model year anyway, unless they did things differently 30 years ago.

Cheers,

[Slartibartfast]

Yep, looks like you've got a mix, though I think you've got early/late mixed up. The early caps have the fake lug nuts, the late caps are smooth. Unless you're building it for pebble beach I'd go with whichever style you like better. As far as I'm aware, any Lego center cap should fit any Lego wheel.

 

I sanded mine down where they were peeling and spray-painted them aluminum/silver. Worked pretty well, just take your time with the sandpaper.

 

7/92 was probably when they transitioned to the '93 models. '93 had a redesigned instrument cluster and AFAIK was the first year with the smooth hubcaps. Then in late '93, they went to the round dash and the round-tooth timing sprockets (among other weird little changes). They also changed the tie rods, knuckles, pitman arm, center link, and I think the fender flare mounting as well between '92 and '93. I don't think Nissan ever waited for the new year to change something, which can make having a transition-year truck interesting.

 

Annoyingly, there were also two types of Lego rim. Most of them have acorn lugs, but I found one on a junk Hardbody that took mag lugs. Different part number (cast into the rim). Might've been a first-year-only thing. I got it home before I noticed that one of these things was not like the others. Something to watch out for if you go looking for a matching spare. I think it had the same hubcap mounting tabs, though.

 

What color/style of console lid are you looking for? I may have one off my '93 on the parts pile, can't remember if I sold that already or not.

[Mr_Reverse]

Yep what he said. 93 model year is the transition year where you have to have the manufacture date as well to hope for the right parts. Lots of little changes. That is when they also changed the bumpers and lower front parts of the front fenders, fog lights, a one year only instrument cluster and even changed the O2 sensor type. I think it was the 87-89 that had the mag style lug nuts for the aluminum wheel. 90 was another big change year, they changed the VG30I to the VG30E, added a pair of doors, and dropped the 2.4 4 cyl engine for the US models. 

[mike1305]

Thank you so much for the wealth of information!!! I’ll take some photos tomorrow of the center arm rest / console and figure out the color code. I’m doing all kinds of fun work tomorrow. Got the brush guard off tonight, gonna take off all the black trim bits for a repaint and to do some rust mitigation. Cheers!

[mike1305]

Here's a photo! From what I gather, it's the "Grey" interior color code. There's some stuff molded on the inside that I googled around a bunch for.

 

Found this on fleabay but still for the life of me can't find a part number. this one also has giant studs on the bottom, mine doesn't. It just slots into the regular center console "bucket"

https://www.ebay.com/itm/87-95-OEM-Nissan-Pathfinder-Front-Center-Console-Armrest-Assembly-GRAY-PLZ-READ-/123741806977?nma=true&si=98fauQzKTkB0BXjP3KthLolwMSA%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

 

[mike1305]

NPD pretends like it doesn't exist.

 

https://www.nissanpartsdeal.com/parts-list/1992-nissan-pathfinder/miscellaneous/console_box.html?Filter=(1=W;2=VG30E;3=SE;4=MT.F5;5=4WD;6=4D;7=FED)&PNC=96910