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Alright guys so bare with me on this, its 2 months of work put into one post lol.
Alright so the truck build has been going, for a lack of better words, well it hasn't been.
So I came up with the best damn thing i could think of. Started out as a radical idea, then
with a little research found out it could work. The plan was to find a running and in working condition
pathfinder. Found out that they are the same wheel base so jumped into the idea as soon as i
gathered up some funds.
So after a little drive we looked at the truck. Picked this baby up for 600 clams!
Paint needed work, interior was shot and there was a giant man eating clam in the back! But it was
all things that i didn't need for what i was using it for. The plan was to get a good running truck, then
cut the body off so it would be lighter and put my cab and bed on the pathfinder frame.
Here's a couple pics of the truck.
There were some obvious things that needed to be replaced, but at the end of it what do you expect for
$600. The important things were that it ran, which it made the 1-1/2 hour drive home. It stopped when
I used that middle pedal thingy, and the lsd works. Plus the pathfinder was basically stock.
The whole point of this was to A. stop putting money into a
KA that ***** me lol smdh. B. the pathfinder already comes with dual piston calipers and slightly bigger rotor
up front, a running VG30E mmmmhmmm, the rear brakes a discs, with a lsd rear end. Also the rear suspension has
a sway bar and is 4 link already so its all upgrades. Did i mention it was stock.
Started by striping the interior down, relatively straight forward except the 1/2" of syrup inside of the center
console that had me take a step back and contempt how bad i wanted it.
Got it down to basically a half dash at this point and just was doing a bit of archeology with the interior trash
(Que Mighty Car Mods Music)!!! haha
Alright so yes it was a auto and yes it was 4x4. But i got it for a reason, it being 4x4 would give me disc rear brakes
and a lsd rear. And i settled for a auto since it was 4x4 a 5 spd 4x4 would have a transfer case still built in so
might as well just a get a 4x4 auto then get a 2wd 5 spd within the next 24 hours hopefully! Also its got a nifty
tilt wheel!!!
The next step was to pull the truck into the driveway and pull everything exterior wise parts off.
That included doors, rear hatch, fenders, hood, bumpers, grill/headlights, etc. That all went into a scrap
pile. Next i went through and started labeling every wire and what the connectors went to, to make life easier.
Also went and took any and every A/C related object out of the truck, since racetruck, RIGHT?
CAT!
Also got rid of anything air related under the dash since dead weight cha.
Started pulling the harness out then once I got t through the firewall, pulled the steering rack.
Next thing was to start cutting the truck apart!!!
At this point went through a couple blades with the thick a** metal.
Then off came the top, like a fedora in a slight breeze.
At this point majority of the pathfinder body was gone.
Praying to the car gods
Next we cut the core support off, since the front of the trucks was basically rust and the pathfinder
was virtually rust free.
Then took the exhaust off, front driveshaft out, front diff, axles and the gear selector off so basically 2wd
The start of the scrap pile!
Sweet vin plate, says all the specs and asks the question "WHYD21"? HAHAHA
Pulled the intake, since its the only way to do valve cover gaskets.
Every item i took off got painted before going back on. Striping the paint off the valve covers.
Taped the intake up and primed and painted it gloss black.
Painted the valve covers gold, cuz im a sucker for gold. Replaced the old leaking valve covers
that were virtually hard plastic at the time of removal. Then replaced the old valve cover
screws with actual bolts. While in there i also did new injector o-rings and painted the bottom of the intake.
Timing belt is relatively new, and was replaced with a gates so its good, and still has the timing marks!
Primed and then painted the timing cover.
Replaced all of this ridiculous hoses that goes on this spaghetti of a hard line
Then the intake, timing cover, breather hose, booster some other things got prism cleared
Next big step was taking the cab off the truck frame. HEAVY AS F**K!
Got the cab on and it was a tight fit into the garage. Cab bolts straight up which is awesome!
Next step was throwing the harness back in which was staright forward since i took the time
and labeled everything.
Went and bought some pipe to make a header back straight pipe.
Also drained the tranny and put a new filter in it and paint the pan gold, duh
Finally used the pipe bender and got the flange welded on.
Got the truck to a half dash, got the grant wheel on, and gold things
Harness all got ran to its spots, modified the brackets off the stock air box and parts from the
4 cyl intake and made it so i can run a pod filter on the stock intake.
Also GOLD BATTERY TERMINALS! The also made a bracket for my tranny cooler and ran new lines [Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/ctUi0Qv.jpg?1)
AND THEN THE CUTTING COMMENCED! So long shitty ka, i ***** you
First time the driveway has been cleaned in 3 years
We kept the axle hoop since it would help once im lowered.
Also if you have a air compressor, invest in a air bleeder, makes life so easy.
Started sanding the cab to get it closer to paint
Then had to throw it out in the rain to wrap my buddies car the other day.
Well it runs and sounds awesome. We cut the bed out so it can fit over the rear crossmembers.
Have to make new mounts since nobody has ever put a bed on the pathfinder frame, we knew it more than likely
wouldnt bolt up as soon as it was thrown on. But mounts are easy to fab, so no stress there.
I have to grab a pic once i get some time of the bed siting on the frame. After the mounts are made
next big thing is going to be lowering it, then paint. Ive poured alot of time and money into this thing lately and
i am completely ecstatic on how well this thing has turned around in the past 2 months. Im sure i have completely missed some
info but its whatever haha. Also today took advantage of a black friday sale and picked up a 2wd tranny, crossmember
and driveshaft today on the cheap. snatched it up since i will eventually need one and going to seal seals and everything
down the road before i put it in. Huge shout out to all the people that have helped along the way. I will continue
this crazy idea i came up with many years ago and will see this through. More updates soon!!!
Alright so the truck build has been going, for a lack of better words, well it hasn't been.
So I came up with the best damn thing i could think of. Started out as a radical idea, then
with a little research found out it could work. The plan was to find a running and in working condition
pathfinder. Found out that they are the same wheel base so jumped into the idea as soon as i
gathered up some funds.
So after a little drive we looked at the truck. Picked this baby up for 600 clams!
Paint needed work, interior was shot and there was a giant man eating clam in the back! But it was
all things that i didn't need for what i was using it for. The plan was to get a good running truck, then
cut the body off so it would be lighter and put my cab and bed on the pathfinder frame.
Here's a couple pics of the truck.
There were some obvious things that needed to be replaced, but at the end of it what do you expect for
$600. The important things were that it ran, which it made the 1-1/2 hour drive home. It stopped when
I used that middle pedal thingy, and the lsd works. Plus the pathfinder was basically stock.
The whole point of this was to A. stop putting money into a
KA that ***** me lol smdh. B. the pathfinder already comes with dual piston calipers and slightly bigger rotor
up front, a running VG30E mmmmhmmm, the rear brakes a discs, with a lsd rear end. Also the rear suspension has
a sway bar and is 4 link already so its all upgrades. Did i mention it was stock.
Started by striping the interior down, relatively straight forward except the 1/2" of syrup inside of the center
console that had me take a step back and contempt how bad i wanted it.
Got it down to basically a half dash at this point and just was doing a bit of archeology with the interior trash
(Que Mighty Car Mods Music)!!! haha
Alright so yes it was a auto and yes it was 4x4. But i got it for a reason, it being 4x4 would give me disc rear brakes
and a lsd rear. And i settled for a auto since it was 4x4 a 5 spd 4x4 would have a transfer case still built in so
might as well just a get a 4x4 auto then get a 2wd 5 spd within the next 24 hours hopefully! Also its got a nifty
tilt wheel!!!
The next step was to pull the truck into the driveway and pull everything exterior wise parts off.
That included doors, rear hatch, fenders, hood, bumpers, grill/headlights, etc. That all went into a scrap
pile. Next i went through and started labeling every wire and what the connectors went to, to make life easier.
Also went and took any and every A/C related object out of the truck, since racetruck, RIGHT?
CAT!
Also got rid of anything air related under the dash since dead weight cha.
Started pulling the harness out then once I got t through the firewall, pulled the steering rack.
Next thing was to start cutting the truck apart!!!
At this point went through a couple blades with the thick a** metal.
Then off came the top, like a fedora in a slight breeze.
At this point majority of the pathfinder body was gone.
Praying to the car gods
Next we cut the core support off, since the front of the trucks was basically rust and the pathfinder
was virtually rust free.
Then took the exhaust off, front driveshaft out, front diff, axles and the gear selector off so basically 2wd
The start of the scrap pile!
Sweet vin plate, says all the specs and asks the question "WHYD21"? HAHAHA
Pulled the intake, since its the only way to do valve cover gaskets.
Every item i took off got painted before going back on. Striping the paint off the valve covers.
Taped the intake up and primed and painted it gloss black.
Painted the valve covers gold, cuz im a sucker for gold. Replaced the old leaking valve covers
that were virtually hard plastic at the time of removal. Then replaced the old valve cover
screws with actual bolts. While in there i also did new injector o-rings and painted the bottom of the intake.
Timing belt is relatively new, and was replaced with a gates so its good, and still has the timing marks!
Primed and then painted the timing cover.
Replaced all of this ridiculous hoses that goes on this spaghetti of a hard line
Then the intake, timing cover, breather hose, booster some other things got prism cleared
Next big step was taking the cab off the truck frame. HEAVY AS F**K!
Got the cab on and it was a tight fit into the garage. Cab bolts straight up which is awesome!
Next step was throwing the harness back in which was staright forward since i took the time
and labeled everything.
Went and bought some pipe to make a header back straight pipe.
Also drained the tranny and put a new filter in it and paint the pan gold, duh
Finally used the pipe bender and got the flange welded on.
Got the truck to a half dash, got the grant wheel on, and gold things
Harness all got ran to its spots, modified the brackets off the stock air box and parts from the
4 cyl intake and made it so i can run a pod filter on the stock intake.
Also GOLD BATTERY TERMINALS! The also made a bracket for my tranny cooler and ran new lines [Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/ctUi0Qv.jpg?1)
AND THEN THE CUTTING COMMENCED! So long shitty ka, i ***** you
First time the driveway has been cleaned in 3 years
We kept the axle hoop since it would help once im lowered.
Also if you have a air compressor, invest in a air bleeder, makes life so easy.
Started sanding the cab to get it closer to paint
Then had to throw it out in the rain to wrap my buddies car the other day.
Well it runs and sounds awesome. We cut the bed out so it can fit over the rear crossmembers.
Have to make new mounts since nobody has ever put a bed on the pathfinder frame, we knew it more than likely
wouldnt bolt up as soon as it was thrown on. But mounts are easy to fab, so no stress there.
I have to grab a pic once i get some time of the bed siting on the frame. After the mounts are made
next big thing is going to be lowering it, then paint. Ive poured alot of time and money into this thing lately and
i am completely ecstatic on how well this thing has turned around in the past 2 months. Im sure i have completely missed some
info but its whatever haha. Also today took advantage of a black friday sale and picked up a 2wd tranny, crossmember
and driveshaft today on the cheap. snatched it up since i will eventually need one and going to seal seals and everything
down the road before i put it in. Huge shout out to all the people that have helped along the way. I will continue
this crazy idea i came up with many years ago and will see this through. More updates soon!!!
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