bigreen505
Expedition Leader
Well after all the advice I got in this thread, I think I will be keeping my Pathfinder, Odie, for the time being and clean it up a bit. When I have money to spend on a new vehicle I think it would be prudent to spend it on a daily driver that gets really good gas mileage (something in the 50+ mpg range).
Since I have taken so much from this fourm, I decided to post a mod thread for my 1990 Pathfinder, in the hopes it might help some people in the future and give everyone else a good opportunity to laugh at me.
Background:
Odie is a 1990 Pathfinder that my dad bought new when he got tired of getting stuck in the snow. Saabs are great under 8", but beyond that they are pretty worthless. I acquired Odie from him about six years ago when he decided the truck was way too small and bought a Suburban. Odie has currently has about 325,000 miles and is showing some signs of age. The vast majority of my driving is on road and trip length is short, 3-10 days, so all the mods are geared to keep the truck basically stock while improving on- and off-road capability and reliability.
About the name:
For those who don't read comics, Odie is Jon Arbuckle's dog in the comic "Garfield." He is really dumb, but unfailingly loyal, and he chases his tail a lot. The Pathfinder is dumb, unfailingly loyal, and likes to chase its tail in snow. This name was coined when I spun Odie into the median on I-70 when I was 15 and driving up to early morning speed training at Loveland. The car next to me started to spin into me, I tapped the brakes and the rear end took off. (Pskaat -- I think this was the same morning that you discoverd filling a Big Gulp with coffee) Ten years passed before I discovered the cause of that fun was a right rear brake caliper that was defective from day one.
In no particular order:
H4 headlights from Daniel Stern Lighting. The lights are wired into the alternator with Bosch relays for high and low beam and have Focus thin shell rock guards on them. I opted for standard rectanguar lights so I could use the guards. Also, these lights are much higher quality that the Nissan H4 lights. To accomlish this mod, I needed to replace the grill with one from a 93-97 Nissan pickup. I bought the grilll from an aftermarket autobody supplier called Certafit. Cost was $20 and it is identical to the Nissan branded one (same tooling marks and everything) for $100 less. At some point I need to replace the sidemarker lights with ones for the pickup as well to complete the look. The are about $20 each. For anyone that spends a lot of time driving at night or in bad weather, good headlights are a must. Offroad lights come second. At the same time I replaced the headlights I replace the fogs with a set of yellow Bosch fogs that Dan scored for me. While acceptable, they are not in the same league as Cibies or more modern Bosch designs, so I don't have much to say about them. They will probably get replaced with Marschal or something similar.
Shocks:
The old shocks were starting to get, well, old, so I replaced them with a set of ProComp ES9000 shocks on recommendation from another Pathfinder owner. These were absolutely wonderful until I upgraded the springs, now they are painfully stiff unless the truck is fully loaded, when they are wonderful. I don't think these give any lift.
Springs:
The front torsion bars were replaced with stiffer Sway-Away bars. These added about 1.5" of lift relative to the sagging factory T-bars at the same angles. Rear springs are the Automotive Customizers 1.5" lift springs. They are both longer and stiffer than the original springs.
My aim was for the vehicle to sit at roughly stock height and behave like an empty stock vehicle when fully loaded. I got exactly what I wanted, but the end result is a very stiff truck when empty or only half full. On the other hand it handles very well.
Bushings:
All suspension bushings were replaced with Energy Suspension or Daystar poly bushings. This was a huge job (about 25 hours with two people), but the difference is significant. Most of the bushings can be pressed out, but the lower control arm (LCA) bushings are in the frame and must be burned out with MAP gas while a friend does his best to keep the flames away from the engine and suspension. I was told that the job would be "memorable" and it was. I never want to do this again. However, we took the time to do it right and no shop would do that.
Automotive Customizers idler arm brace:
The front suspension of the Pathfinder is a bad joke and steering components are the punch line. The idler arm brace was installed to keep the Nissan part from bending under load, and it is necessary for any Pathfinder used off road with stock suspension. Highly recommended.
NAPA Gold heavy-duty ball joints:
Expensive, but they can take the loads placed on the by a poorly designed suspension, plus they have a lifetime warranty. These units are actually rebranded Danas. Highly recommended.
Brakes:
Sometimes you just have to do it. The pads were worn and the original rotors were getting thin. After much research and head scratching I went with Brembo vented (but not drilled or slotted) rotors and Axis MetalMaster pads. So far I am very happy with both.
Synthetic fluids:
I replaced all diff, T-case and tranny fluid with Redline synthetic. MT-90 in the tranny and T-case, 75-90 in the diffs. WARNING: Nissan trucks through the past generation X-Terra require GL-4 rated transmission fluid. Running GL-5 will eat the synchros in about about 1000 miles.
NGK plug wires: Needed new ones and these work well.
Since I have taken so much from this fourm, I decided to post a mod thread for my 1990 Pathfinder, in the hopes it might help some people in the future and give everyone else a good opportunity to laugh at me.
Background:
Odie is a 1990 Pathfinder that my dad bought new when he got tired of getting stuck in the snow. Saabs are great under 8", but beyond that they are pretty worthless. I acquired Odie from him about six years ago when he decided the truck was way too small and bought a Suburban. Odie has currently has about 325,000 miles and is showing some signs of age. The vast majority of my driving is on road and trip length is short, 3-10 days, so all the mods are geared to keep the truck basically stock while improving on- and off-road capability and reliability.
About the name:
For those who don't read comics, Odie is Jon Arbuckle's dog in the comic "Garfield." He is really dumb, but unfailingly loyal, and he chases his tail a lot. The Pathfinder is dumb, unfailingly loyal, and likes to chase its tail in snow. This name was coined when I spun Odie into the median on I-70 when I was 15 and driving up to early morning speed training at Loveland. The car next to me started to spin into me, I tapped the brakes and the rear end took off. (Pskaat -- I think this was the same morning that you discoverd filling a Big Gulp with coffee) Ten years passed before I discovered the cause of that fun was a right rear brake caliper that was defective from day one.
In no particular order:
H4 headlights from Daniel Stern Lighting. The lights are wired into the alternator with Bosch relays for high and low beam and have Focus thin shell rock guards on them. I opted for standard rectanguar lights so I could use the guards. Also, these lights are much higher quality that the Nissan H4 lights. To accomlish this mod, I needed to replace the grill with one from a 93-97 Nissan pickup. I bought the grilll from an aftermarket autobody supplier called Certafit. Cost was $20 and it is identical to the Nissan branded one (same tooling marks and everything) for $100 less. At some point I need to replace the sidemarker lights with ones for the pickup as well to complete the look. The are about $20 each. For anyone that spends a lot of time driving at night or in bad weather, good headlights are a must. Offroad lights come second. At the same time I replaced the headlights I replace the fogs with a set of yellow Bosch fogs that Dan scored for me. While acceptable, they are not in the same league as Cibies or more modern Bosch designs, so I don't have much to say about them. They will probably get replaced with Marschal or something similar.
Shocks:
The old shocks were starting to get, well, old, so I replaced them with a set of ProComp ES9000 shocks on recommendation from another Pathfinder owner. These were absolutely wonderful until I upgraded the springs, now they are painfully stiff unless the truck is fully loaded, when they are wonderful. I don't think these give any lift.
Springs:
The front torsion bars were replaced with stiffer Sway-Away bars. These added about 1.5" of lift relative to the sagging factory T-bars at the same angles. Rear springs are the Automotive Customizers 1.5" lift springs. They are both longer and stiffer than the original springs.
My aim was for the vehicle to sit at roughly stock height and behave like an empty stock vehicle when fully loaded. I got exactly what I wanted, but the end result is a very stiff truck when empty or only half full. On the other hand it handles very well.
Bushings:
All suspension bushings were replaced with Energy Suspension or Daystar poly bushings. This was a huge job (about 25 hours with two people), but the difference is significant. Most of the bushings can be pressed out, but the lower control arm (LCA) bushings are in the frame and must be burned out with MAP gas while a friend does his best to keep the flames away from the engine and suspension. I was told that the job would be "memorable" and it was. I never want to do this again. However, we took the time to do it right and no shop would do that.
Automotive Customizers idler arm brace:
The front suspension of the Pathfinder is a bad joke and steering components are the punch line. The idler arm brace was installed to keep the Nissan part from bending under load, and it is necessary for any Pathfinder used off road with stock suspension. Highly recommended.
NAPA Gold heavy-duty ball joints:
Expensive, but they can take the loads placed on the by a poorly designed suspension, plus they have a lifetime warranty. These units are actually rebranded Danas. Highly recommended.
Brakes:
Sometimes you just have to do it. The pads were worn and the original rotors were getting thin. After much research and head scratching I went with Brembo vented (but not drilled or slotted) rotors and Axis MetalMaster pads. So far I am very happy with both.
Synthetic fluids:
I replaced all diff, T-case and tranny fluid with Redline synthetic. MT-90 in the tranny and T-case, 75-90 in the diffs. WARNING: Nissan trucks through the past generation X-Terra require GL-4 rated transmission fluid. Running GL-5 will eat the synchros in about about 1000 miles.
NGK plug wires: Needed new ones and these work well.
