2001 R50 Pathfinder Build-up.

[Weekender41]

Nice job and I can't wait to see how it looks when finished. Good call on the center skid plate.

If you go the OME route I'd suggest the HDs for a bit more height... [slice] ...just a thought.

Thank you, holding off until this weekend to complete the drawers, the high for the week is only around 35 but the weekend will miraculously jump up to 65 somehow. This will give me the weather to be outside and not worry about moisture, particle board and snow don't mix at all. With the center plate, hopefully with all these mods I am doing (plus camping gear) I will stay under that gross vehicle weight limit. But I think the plate is a good idea with all the ruts/rocks and washed out areas I frequent.

For the springs, I have new struts and boots and will have either the OME HD's or the AC springs, the AC is higher with a rougher ride but perhaps with the added weight of the vehicle it will compress slightly to even out that ride... or the HD's which has a lower lift but will be comfortable holding that weight. After that choice is made if I need new rear shocks (hopefully not) I can also add some Bilstein's 5100 series. My shocks are old enough that the label that is on them is no longer used, now they make them with small black lettering around the bottom whereas mine have this giant in-your-face sticker with bright pink/red NITRO CHARGER. lol Time will tell.

Now if only Armorology would Email me back so I can get the bumper... :littlefriend:

 

[duckhunter71]

My aunt lives north of Denver, so she's feeling your pain on the cold weather! What part of Wyoming are you in? My cousin went to Wyo-Tech in Laramie, so I'm slightly familiar with the area.

Your build is looking great!

 

[Weekender41]

My aunt lives north of Denver, so she's feeling your pain on the cold weather! What part of Wyoming are you in? My cousin went to Wyo-Tech in Laramie, so I'm slightly familiar with the area.

Your build is looking great!

Ha oh its insane, I knew when I moved here it would be cold but... sheesh! lol Anyways I live like 2 miles north of Cheyenne. Yeah I have lots of buddies that go there! Its nice because Laramie is less than an hour away from huge expanses of trails. Many are closed off but after a call to forest service, they can clear you to head in. Anyways thanks for the compliment. There is still a big list though haha.

 

[duckhunter71]

Haha yes, cold and windy I'm sure! I'm headed out there in June (Colorado), such a cool area. Hopefully it warms up soon!

 

[Weekender41]

[slice]... I'm headed out there in June (Colorado), such a cool area. Hopefully it warms up soon!

They are saying mid-high 60's this weekend!! :wings:
Haha I'm cheering for 60's, I cant imagine what some of you warm climate guys are thinking lol. Anyways yeah Ill be in Fort Benning for most of June but towards the end of the month I have a trip down to the Black canyon of the Gunnison (sp). During that trip I'll be taking Imogene and Black Bear passes, hopefully get some sweet chances to test out new suspension components. Very exciting.
I hope you have a blast! With your new bumper and winch, maybe you can find a nice testing ground. Safe travels

 

[duckhunter71]

Unfortunately we'll be traveling in a minivan.. My whole family is going before my sister and brother in law move up to Iowa for him to go to med school this summer. Next year a buddy and I plan to visit southern Colorado, so hopefully the Frontier will be ready to go for that one!

Please keep us updated with your travels and all, we want to hit some trails and see the back country while we are there, too!

PS - we're going to be in the 80s this weekend!!

 

[Weekender41]

Unfortunately we'll be traveling in a minivan.. My whole family is going before my sister and brother in law move up to Iowa for him to go to med school this summer. Next year a buddy and I plan to visit southern Colorado, so hopefully the Frontier will be ready to go for that one!

Please keep us updated with your travels and all, we want to hit some trails and see the back country while we are there, too!

PS - we're going to be in the 80s this weekend!!

Hey well at least you will be very comfortable in that ride. Wow med school! that's pretty cool. Yeah SOCO is nice!! the off road options and the amazing weather! They are so much lower elevation than me though and the is all it takes haha. I live a good half mile higher (Altitude) than Denver!
Well when you go I sure hope you have fun. You certainly have the vehicle for it. I will bring my camera along for sure, my action shots so far are pretty weak. And as for that PS.... well ill just pretend I didn't read that and be happy with the 53 it is right now haha. Safe travels!

 

[Weekender41]

A little update;
Armorology bumpers start at 1100 buckaroos so I guess that will be the last thing I do this year. I took off my front grill guard and have cleaned up and repainted the tow hitch so that will go on as well. I will be getting the AC lift, all new bushings and the back and forth of the Bilstein VS Rancho continues to mock me haha. The center skid was taking forever so I emailed AC and was told the machine broke and is just now back up and running so that will be finished and shipped tomorrow. I want to know how to test the rear shocks so any input there would be nice (preferable to do so without taking them off)

OH! and Xplorx4, if you are out there... my buddy showed my a Flicker photo of your vehicle sitting next to a Calmini equipped 99.5-04 R50 with nice front and rear bumpers and a great lift, was just wondering if that was all custom built ...

As for the drawers, they are coming together nice and I found the perfect coating for them!!! It is called Rustoleum RESTORE. this is thick (like bed liner) and is elastic based (no chipping) meant for wood or concrete (drawers are wood) and the store Lowe's can make it in like 40 different colors so I got Carbon and it matches my interior to a T!!! :wings:

 

[XPLORx4]

Those pics of the Calmini Pathfinder are 10 years old. The bumpers and lift were all prototypes which never went into production due to lack of demand in 2003. Apparently there's only a handful of people (go figure) who want to mod the R50, and Calmini is a volume manufacturer, so they need a minimum of 25 prepaid pre-orders to put anything into production.

Their designs are a good starting point for custom builds, though.

BTW, go with Bilstein shocks. I recommend 5150's with 255/70 valving. Although they're a little pricier than the Ranchos, they're great. I actually had a pair of Ranchos installed before, and even on the max firmness setting they were too soft.

 

[Weekender41]

Those pics of the Calmini Pathfinder are 10 years old. ...slice... minimum of 25 prepaid pre-orders to put anything into production.

BTW, go with Bilstein shocks. I recommend 5150's with 255/70 valving. Although they're a little pricier than the Ranchos, they're great. I actually had a pair of Ranchos installed before, and even on the max firmness setting they were too soft.

25... hmm ok yeah I don't think I personally know 25 people that go off-road haha maybe that's bad. Anyways yeah those coilovers would be nice to get a little more back-room plus those tires looked about a perfect size. Okay well I can always look around on my next go around for custom stuff. As for the Bilstein shocks, that valving makes for a very firm ride I read, is it a good firmness or does the ride begin to feel more like the vehicle is on stilts? I mean you just gave them thumbs up so I would definitely believe them to be a good shock but I'm curious about them compared to stock? And with that shock, do you recommend the 12 or 14 inch travel? Sorry for all the questions but I prefer personal feedback rather than the overviews online.

 

[Weekender41]

Small update;
I guess you could say I got bored on my day off so I started goofing around and trying new things. Overall the day was good though. First off I made the rear drums look absolutely amazing! I used a wire brush head that fits on this electric drill and it pulled the rust off extremely well. Here are some before and afters

Before
View attachment 157742

After I took the brush thing to it
View attachment 157743

And after
View attachment 157744

Then like I stated earlier in this thread, I redid the trailer hitch using the same brush and recoated everything with bedliner (a couple coats) and put it back on the vehicle...that was actually pretty tricky to do by myself. At least gravity helped with taking it off.
View attachment 157745

So my dad's truck has a nice chrome tip on the exhaust (factory add I guess) and while I was there working on my vehicle, my girlfriend asked why didn't mine have one.. haha so I took that same beautiful brush thing to see... and voila!
View attachment 157746
haha ghetto... I'm not sure but hey it's free. Won't last but.. it's free.

Then towards the end of the day I went to work again on the drawers and got a bit done. Should only take a couple of hours to get everything put together and then the 32 hour process of rustoleum restore haha.
View attachment 157750
Taking up a lot of my laundry room but at least the glue dries well. I have to wood putty where the table saw cut but didn't go all the way through and then the next couple of pieces. Sunday I should have more photos
View attachment 157752

Safe Travels All!

 

[Weekender41]

Center Skid is on the way

 

[Weekender41]

Well it was nice again today so before I headed to work I started trying to get these drawers finished up but rushing I know will cause problems (found one and ill explain in a bit)
added the top and supports for the sturdy shelf. It will have a little secret (well I guess not anymore) cubby underneath the shelf to stash the sensitive items.
View attachment 158002
Overall though I think its going totally perfect .... right?
View attachment 158003
Haha oh how wrong was I! I found a slight issue that I guess comes with experience. Anyways what I should have done was cut a notch out on the side marked and placed the large top piece on top of the far right verticle support. Instead I attached it to the side. This causes this slight slight lean in the top. I can make it less noticeable with some fancy drawer fronts but that wont be till later. The red circle shows the top going into the side and the arrow points to what it should look like. Bummer

View attachment 158004

And this one shows the slight tilt I guess. It is hard to get a great perspective on a camera phone.
View attachment 158005

I will start putting the coating on tomorrow and the takes a good 32 hours before all the coats can be applied to all surfaces. Here we go

Safe Travels

 

[stioc]

That's turning out quite nicely. I wish I spent the time and attention to detail on mine. Good job so far!

 

[Weekender41]

That's turning out quite nicely. I wish I spent the time and attention to detail on mine. Good job so far!

Thank you, haha yeah mistakes is part of the process. I certainly do enjoy that process though. Now then, your vehicle will run circles around mine on the trails and that is one area I will soon be improving because that is where it counts! I was modifying to work with my budget to keep things tolerable and this ride will soon look really poseur-ish if I get all the expedition interior stuff done and storage stuff done and leave the rest stock. This will change soon though.

Cheers