WD21 Overland build: Custom parts, various modifications and a lot of quality videos of the process

[RC000E]

Picked up our Pathfinder after selling our E350 van build. Got to Las Vegas, needed more capability and I love the 90's Nissan/Isuzu/Toyota/Mitsu trucks and SUV's. Found this Pathfinder for 1350.00 which spent its entirely life in Nevada (i.e. its like new truck underneath, still to this day). Zero rust, not even on the OEM muffler and tailpipes...damn I love the desert. Truck did so well on it's stock 31's, LSD and Lego wheels, I really didn't do much to it the first 6-10 months. The ONE thing I knew I'd face eventually though, was the tranny. Lots of bearing noise from day one, and yep...it up and bit me while doing a trail in the LeMadre Mountains. So the decision came...keep or sell...invest or unload.

Well...I love the styling and the fact you just don't see many nice examples out on the trails, Lace and I decided to go forward with it. Here is the intro vid, a vid featuring the truck, then a mod vid and the vid showing what's planned ahead. I'll document the process here. I have a lot of custom parts I intend to make and find that balance of maintaining an original exterior (lego wheels, carrier, flares, etc) but add some capability. I also intend to do an engine swap with an LV3 DI motor. First though, the Xterra tranny, small lift, new tires, idler brace, and some other things, adding to what I've got already. Lots of great content if you're interested.

 

[jonnyquest]

How very cool! I have a 95. I’m definitely following this thread.

 

[RC000E]

Got a line on some Xterra roof bars. Digging into the Pathfinder this week and some big updates coming in the weeks ahead. Big evolution for this truck. Next I'll be closely examining how to work out the sleeping/mode of use analysis. I really need this vehicle to perform a variety of tasks, in a capable way...so I'm considering these factors. I WILL be doing some custom mods here shortly, as a holdover to the full update, that I think people will like. Stay tuned to the channel!

 

[jonnyquest]

Subscribed to your channel too. A good video would be one that focuses on your drone. You have some great shots from that.

 

[SRN]

I had a '95 with a factory LSD and a 2" OME lift on it for awhile. It was a nice driving vehicle, but I felt that the axles where a little weak and the LSD was a bit lacking. That VG30E was a fantastic engine though!

 

[paulforeman]

Nice! Looking forward to seeing what you have got in store for this rig.

 

[RC000E]

Well, the truck is under the knife right now. Getting hung up on some passenger exhaust manifold studs. Have some new fab equipment and sponsors of the channel sending me some tooling. We're going to be stepping up the "custom" on this build. New TIG welder inbound!

 

[RC000E]

Also, most recent vid with an interesting mod concept

 

[LRNAD90]

Have a lot of good memories in my '89 2 door. These trucks were very capable out of the box. Unfortunately there has never been a lot of aftermarket support for them. Here is a post I made on another's thread detailing some of the modifications I made to mine, most of them custom fabricated. Kind of of miss her sometimes..

free is for me my 1995 wd21 pathfinder build

so a few months ago a friend of mine got into a fender bender parked his pathfinder and got a new truck. with a well timed question i asked "when you are going to give that to me?", he looked at me and replied "if you can get it out of here in less than a week, its yours." Now that Christmas is...

expeditionportal.com

free is for me my 1995 wd21 pathfinder build

so a few months ago a friend of mine got into a fender bender parked his pathfinder and got a new truck. with a well timed question i asked "when you are going to give that to me?", he looked at me and replied "if you can get it out of here in less than a week, its yours." Now that Christmas is...

expeditionportal.com

 

[RC000E]

Yeah, it's unfortunate as there are some really good and strong aspects to the design and platform, but there are some real arguments against it based on other things for sale out there, in the similar size with a bit more engine. It's the thing that bothers me most....the VG33 is the only real option or a 34 build but....my true desire is to try and make an LV3 swap happen but it would require designing an adapter. I have the means to design/build the adapter for sure, but it's unlikely there'd be much demand for me to recover time/investment. If I could get 300ftlbs of torque in this thing, I'd like keep it a very long time. I need something that can tow more and can climb the mountains doing the speed limit...that's the real issue I have.

That said, I have a roof top tent, which will only make the issues worse...lol. We'll see what happens. I'm hanging on to it for now...building onto it. It may just slowly move outside the boundary of my needs, at which point I may have to seek a true more longdistance overland type of build platform and keep this for local stuff.

 

[utherjorge]

I just picked up one of these for really cheap, in really good shape. Any progress on this build?