Kwuneko's 02 Pathfinder SE build

[Kwuneko]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to this site but have been coming here quite often over that past few months in search of a good, reliable, and affordable 4x4 option mainly for backcountry adventuring and eventually some expeditions. I've been researching on which vehicle is a good base to start with and came down to the obvious choices for most; Pathfinder, 4Runner, Tacoma, Wrangler, Cherokee, and Xterra. After enough research and experience with jeeps (I was a mechanic for 6 years) I decided to not go with any American made products unfortunately, primarily due to their reliability. I really wanted a Toyota and will probably upgrade to either an FJ or 4th Gen 4Runner down the road, but for the meantime I decided on the Pathfinder mainly due to the fact (and I'm sure most can attest to this fact) that it's very hard to find a good Toyota (Tacoma or 4Runner) that isn't either beat up and wheeled to death, or has extremely high mileage but people still want 8-10K for it. I understand that Toyota's have legendary reliability and numerous aftermarket support for the off-roading community, but bottom line is most are just outright overpriced. My price range was about 5K with decent mileage and body in good shape, no rust, and little to no mechanical issues. So I searched online and eventually found this 02 Pathfinder SE in silver and automatic with 4 wheel drive, and not the AWD mode selector on the dash, I didn't want that. It had 162k miles on it, very clean body and interior, 2 owner vehicle, and the only thing I noticed about it was the oil cooler o-ring seeping a little oil. I bought if for $5200 and couldn't be happier.

I knew I wanted an R50 Pathfinder mainly due to everything being more updated looking in terms of body styling and interior and also because it had the 3.5L V6. Also, i've been following a couple members on here like Stoic and Allof75 and love how they've built their R50's up, so this gave me inspiration to get my own project. This is my first 4x4 vehicle that I've ever owned, not counting all the Subaru's I've had but AWD is definitely different, so I'm really just trying to build this into a good adventure vehicle that can tackle easy to moderately difficult off road trails. I'm not trying to build a rock crawler here. This build will be very slow as I am currently transitioning out of the Army and starting a new life but I will update this thread whenever I get new mods put on or have new pictures of adventures I went on. This is also my first online blog/thread that I've ever done so any pointers or advice will be considered. Hope you guys enjoy!


The day I bought her. I really like how the vehicle already had the hood deflector and window windscreens, I know some people don't like them but I do! Also love the tinted windows. Oh and those are newish (approx. 75% tread) Cooper Discover AT3's in 255/70/16.

 

[Kwuneko]

Curt Roof Basket

So shortly after I bought the Pathy I knew I needed a roof basket for hauling all of my camping gear. After much research, I concluded that roof baskets are freakin expensive! I really wanted an ARB or Baja rack but just could not pull the trigger on it. I found a youtube video of this Curt rack on a Jeep Grand Cherokee and it looked pretty good to me so after looking it up on ebay I saw that it was only $119 and free shipping, what a deal I thought. Now I don't know if anyone else is running this rack but according to most fitment sites it says it does not fit the Pathfinder with my style roof cross bars because they're too thick in diameter. After closely examining more pictures of the attachment system I concluded that it would probably work, so I bought it. I also bought the extension piece for $57 on amazon so the basket runs the entire length of the roof for maximum gear storage. Once I received it I quickly assembled it and mounted on the roof. Now this basket is only rated for 150lbs which is not very much, so we'll see how well it holds up. For anyone that is interested the basket is part number 18115, and the extension piece 18117.


As you can see, the basket runs the full length of the roof rails which is what I wanted. It was a pain in the *** to put on, which I'm sure is why they say it doesn't fit this style cross bars. The problem is that the threads aren't long enough for the nut to thread on but all that needed was a lot of elbow grease and some cursing. It would go on no problem if you were to use normal hex nuts instead of these quick release hand turning nuts that are recessed into plastic and barely bite once you start to get it on. Once it's on they thread fine though, it's only hard to get them started.





If you guys can also see, I added the little rubber duck antenna since mine was missing when I bought it. I'm pretty sure it's the same one as Allof75, it was $16 on ebay. I think it looks way better than the stock antenna that I've seen.

 

[bushnut]

looks like you are off to a good start.
check out NPORA.NET for more Pathfinder knowledge and good ideas.

 

[Kwuneko]

Will do, thanks.

 

[Kwuneko]

First Adventure - Olympic National Forest

So during Labor Day weekend I had my 4 year anniversary and decided this was the perfect time to do a 2 night 3 day camping trip with the wife and dog up in the Olympic National Forest in WA state. I've been fishing around the Skokomish River the past month and was set on exploring the National Forest area close by. After reviewing the forest roads on google maps I had a rough idea of the route I was going to take but was mainly going to just wing it and camp wherever we saw a good spot. This was also a good time to test how the Pathy performs off paved roads, though the forest roads were basically just gravel roads so it was no challenge at all, I was hoping to find some unimproved dirt roads. Here's some pics, enjoy guys!


A pic of what the Pathy looks like all loaded down with a couple hundred pounds of gear and stock suspension, I'm for sure getting a lift kit and upgraded shocks in the next couple of months.





This is where we camped the first night. We drove around the forest roads for most of the day and found this spot by the river. It was ok, I don't really like sleeping on a river bed because of all the rocks but it was already the afternoon and we just wanted to setup and relax. Unfortunately the river was too shallow for any fishing.





This was another area that we found off the road that was pretty nice, but we wanted to be near a water source so we kept looking.

 

[Kwuneko]

More First Adventure Pics






These three photos were on the way back home. Once you get out of the forest the road is paved.


These next photos are the campground where we spent the 2nd night. Great view of the mountains and there was a little waterfall stream about 50m off the road with crystal clear clean water. It was great, we will probably come back this way some time again. Best part, total solitude with no one around for miles.
















AAR:
All in all, we had a blast for our first adventure with the Pathfinder. It drove excellent, had plenty of power with the 3.5L, and the roof basket worked out very well. My makeshift awning also worked out excellent by using the Pathfinder roof rails as attachment points (though I do eventually want to get an ARB awning).

Improvements:
Really need to get a lift kit and upgraded shocks and struts. I was actually surprised that the vehicle sagged as much as it did, was not expecting that. As I do intend to be carrying a heavier load in the future this will be my primary upgrade concern at the moment.

All weather floor mats. Need to pick some up. I've looked around online and can't really find any new Nissan OEM ones, not sure if any of you guys know where to buy this at.

Upgrade headlight bulbs to Phillips Xtreme Power. Seen this in Stoic's build page and from the pics I saw it looks like this is a huge improvement over the stock bulbs, should help out until I can get my hands on some flood lights.

More upgrades will come later, but slowly. As I said before, I'm currently transitioning out of the Army so I'm getting prepared for that. For now, I'm looking into the lift kit and I'm kinda leaning towards the OME HD lift kit from Rocky Road. Seems to be pretty good for what I intend to use the vehicle for. Hoping to pick this up around October/November.

 

[wreckdiver1321]

Cool truck! I love those Pathys.

 

[Allof75]

Twins! :elkgrin: Anyway, welcome to the Nissan and R50 family. Those are some nice upgrades you've made, and between here and NPORA you've got a great community of people to help you with your future upgrades.

Cheers!

 

[Kwuneko]

Twins! :elkgrin: Anyway, welcome to the Nissan and R50 family. Those are some nice upgrades you've made, and between here and NPORA you've got a great community of people to help you with your future upgrades.

Cheers!

Hey thanks man! Good to hear from ya. Your Pathy and Stioc's have been my inspiration for this build. I actually just sold my 97 Subaru Impreza so now I'm going to order my lift kit. After reading through both build threads from you guys, I think I'm going to go with the OME Shocks w/GR2 HD Struts and the HD Springs up front with the leveling trim packer from RR. I have a couple questions about ordering from their website so I'm probably going to call them up tomorrow to clarify.

 

[Kwuneko]

New Goodies Today

Hey guys little update here, I just got my WARN manual locking hubs in the mail along with the End Of The Road Quick Fist Clamp Kit. I should be installing the hubs in the next couple of weeks here if I can find a break from all the rain that rolled in recently. I also ordered the EOTR Quick Fist Clamp Kit for when I get my shovel and axe so I can mount them to my roof rack. I've seen a couple Xterra's rolling with these clamps and they seem to hold up pretty well. From what I can tell out of the box they seem strong and durable, I figure they were a good option at $33 rather than spending more for metal clamps that may or may not work with my roof rack.