engine

[Guest skier]

I have a 95 pathfinder and I like to go camping alot and during the winter I drive up skiing 3-4 times a week. It is a rough drive if any of you are from colorado you know that I-70 west is pretty steep. My pathy has a real hard time making it up. I was looking at the new xterras but I dont really want to buy a new car. I was wondering if anyone has and ideas on how to really boost the horse power I would even do an engine swap. I want to get out around 200+ hp thanks.

[Vsicks Pathy]

All Nissan Pathfinder engines are underpowered. Time for an engine swap.

[iLLlegal]

haha ya put a 350 SB chev in it.....If you wanna squeeze some more poneys out of it do what anyone would do to an engine...improved intake..exhaust..ignition..cams.etc... but that prolly wouldnt get you to 200+ or get a supercharger

 

but to be honest i would go with the engine swap like vsicks said.

[Precise1]

Cold air intake (snorkel is nice), cams, headers and a good exhaust will give you another 30 hp easy. That'll put you in the 180's, maybe more. Cheaper and easier than an engine swap I think. What are your local smog laws like ? Personally, I think the 3L Pathy motor is a good, reliable one, if a little wimpy, but I drove a Z24 for years so I'm fine with it.

 

B

[mws]

Oh yeah, you gotta do a swap. This is the same basic engine as used in the old 300ZX, and we all know what a hopeless slug that was....

 

* Removing tongue from cheek *

 

I believe this is a fundamentally "OK" engine with a lot of unrealized potential as tuned in the Pathfinder - it is tuned totally for a flat torque curve and low end power, and is very restricted at higher RPM. I think it needs a lot of help as well.

 

Swapping in a higher displacement and more modern higher efficiency engine is a great option for those who have the resources and ability, and live in an area where they can do that and still get it registered.

 

For those of us that need to comply with smog regulations, it is a bit tougher. I believe the most predictably legal approach would be to to borrow Nissan's lead and tune it like the 300ZX. Swapping the heads, CAMS, and MPFI/ECU/intake/fuel supply system plus a set of Thorley headers and free flow cat and exhaust would really wake it up, and should pass most visual and tail pipe smog checks. That combo has already been proven to be able to pass smog, and all parts look close enough that most smog check techs should not even notice. If it still passes sniffer tests with room to spare, boring it as large as possible would be the next step. Any more tweaking and passing smog gets pretty much impossible.

 

I drive around and cruise wrecking yards with one eye open for totaled low mileage non-turboed 300ZX's. It's going to be a bit more of a challenge for me as I currently have TBI and techs are not supposed to pass MPFI engines, but I should be able to get it OK'd at a referee station and re-classified to the year of the engine.