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1987 Pathfinder Build? Restoration?

bgaidan

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Picked this little gem up today for the whopping price of $650. :eek: It's got some title issues, in that it didn't come with one, but it's old enough that I have work arounds for that. :dustin:

I've always wanted a two door and I've also lately wanted a beater than I can drive up to the mountains to go hiking and cruise down some fire roads.....my G37 isn't very good for that. :laughing:

The body is like 8 or 9 out of 10 - there's one slight shoulder size dent in the passenger door that I'm pretty sure I can pop out by inflating a ball inside the door cavity, one maybe dime sized rust spot under the rear passenger window and the every so slight start of surface rust around the door and hatch knife edges. Paint is also amazing - only place there's even the start of a little clear coat failure is between the windshield and sunroof.

But, like just about every single two-door I've ever seen, the pans under the rear seats are completely rotted through. Not a huge deal - just gonna hammer some tin in there, weld, seal and paint it. Doesn't have to be pretty since you'll never see it.


The bad? At a minimum, it needs a head gasket. Possibly a complete head. The guy I bought it from said it started blowing coolant out the exhaust and when it started mixing the oil he parked it. Oil is a little milky, but obviously wasn't run long. I see these at the local junkyard regularly so worst case I'll grab a head the next time one pops up. The VG is pretty bullet proof so I don't have much concern about it being completely toast.

I need to get someone to run a carfax to see how far back it goes. There are records in the glove box showing it's been local to me since about '02, but the body is way too nice to have been here much before that. Most of them are completely rotted out by now.

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Even had the original manual. :dustin:
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This is just a place holder. I won't have time to tear in to it for a couple weeks, but the plan now is to just get the engine back in shape, throw some 31's on it and cruise. Thought I'm half tempted to make it a little sleeper and throw a pair of lockers in it.
 
that fender/tire is giving me palpitations.
I did that last night trying to unload a big steel rack with the tractor forks instead of taking 3 minutes to go get a chain. :homer: It's not as close as it looks, but I should still probably fix it. :laughing:
 
Parked between the '94 HB and the '02 X really puts in to perspective how small a stock Pathy on 235's really is. :laughing:

That front driver's lean also suggests that I have a torsion bar issue to address.
 
Enjoy the fucked up electronics. Rear axles are beefy. There's some kinda jeep coils you can swap for a taller rear.

Really not much to these oldies. This makes the second VG30 truck sitting in my driveway, plus a VG33 and VG33ER.
 
Good deal for $650, be fun to beat it around after head gasket fix
 
I do know with enough keystone light, a Sawzall, and big ass sledge 37s can fit with no lift 😅 Iv always liked the pathfinder body style
 

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Obligatory Chev small block swap that ASAP. :flipoff2:

Had an opportunity to drive a 4 door version and liked it, save for the lack of power out of that V6. Durable body on frame SUV of them old days.

Always wondered what if Calmini were to build a Pathfinder vs hard body truck they did back in the day. That was a pretty sweet rig in its own right.
 
Finally rolled this bitch in to the shop tonight. There is definitely a path between the oil and coolant. Oil looks like chocolate milk....and so does the coolant. :homer:

First thing, pulled the plugs looking for the obvious holes. Not as obvious as I though it'd be, but pretty sure it's the driver's side:

Driver's:
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Passenger:
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I'm probably going to just go ahead and throw both head gaskets at it since I'll already be that far in to it.


Time for a rock auto order - head gaskets, timing belt/water pump kit, valve cover gaskets and a bunch of other little tune up things.
 
The tear-down begins....


Got the throttle body off and valve covers pulled. A little milky up there, but not horrible.
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Pulled the timing cover. I'll have to look through the pile of receipts in the glove box to see if there are any clues when it was done last. It's a tad loose. :laughing: Curious to see what the tensioner looks like when I get to the bottom cover.
AXYXf-0NDqHa3GlrAh_jIWI=w1249-h937-s-no?authuser=0.jpg


Cover was full of belt dust. Doubt this one had much left in it.
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Ran out of steam tonight. Hope will get the rest of the timing shit out of the way tomorrow and get the heads pulled. And then it's hoping it's just a gasket and no warpage or anything.
 
not too worried about the bearings being fuckard with all that milkshake in the crankcase?
Nah. The VG30 is pretty robust and I don't think it's seen that much water. If the the PO is to be believed, he took it off the road as soon as it started making the milkshake. I should probably drain the oil and see how bad it actually looks though. :lmao:


Worst case, I throw a "new" block in it. These things are a dime a dozen and the local u-pull it regularly does 40% off weekends. I can go grab a whole VG30E for a couple hundred bucks. It would be interesting though.....this is a very early VG30i (3/87 build date) and I know there were some differences in the early to late '87s, let alone to the VG30E. Obviously I'd have to swap over the intake/plenum for the TBI, but I'm not sure what else would be different.


Alternative - grab a VG33 and see if the TBI would bolt up to the heads....pretty sure it would as I think people have already done hybrid VG30/33 setups. Not sure if they even make a bigger injector for the TBI though.

Ooooor......a VG33ER (supercharged version from an xterra) and get a standalone ECM for it. :smokin: Pretty sure I'd have to cut a hole in the hood to clear the blower though. :laughing:
 
Those might be the worst factory wheels I've ever seen. :laughing:

2 doors are always cool.

They're known as "lego wheels". They were the "premium" basically from the first to the last year on Pathfinders and Hardbodies....'87 through at least '95. I'm second guessing myself on the '96-97 Hardbody....I think they got different premium wheels.
 
Alternative - grab a VG33 and see if the TBI would bolt up to the heads....pretty sure it would as I think people have already done hybrid VG30/33 setups. Not sure if they even make a bigger injector for the TBI though.

Ooooor......a VG33ER (supercharged version from an xterra) and get a standalone ECM for it. :smokin: Pretty sure I'd have to cut a hole in the hood to clear the blower though. :laughing:
Vg30i intake goes right on the vg33. The issue is accessories. There are three different options I know of.

1. Use 3.0 crank/oil pump/timing cover and still have 60k belt, use original accessories.

2. Use 3.3 crank, machine to fit 3.0 oil pump and balancer, use 3.0 timing cover and accessories, have 100k belt.

3. Use 3.3 crank and accessories, adapt connections.

I have a vg33i with option 2. Personally I wouldn’t bother with a 3.0 if it needed swapped, there’s a decent power difference.
 
Vg30i intake goes right on the vg33. The issue is accessories. There are three different options I know of.

1. Use 3.0 crank/oil pump/timing cover and still have 60k belt, use original accessories.

2. Use 3.3 crank, machine to fit 3.0 oil pump and balancer, use 3.0 timing cover and accessories, have 100k belt.

3. Use 3.3 crank and accessories, adapt connections.

I have a vg33i with option 2. Personally I wouldn’t bother with a 3.0 if it needed swapped, there’s a decent power difference.
#3 sounds like the winner since it also gets you newer shit you can more easily replace if needed.
 
Vg30i intake goes right on the vg33. The issue is accessories. There are three different options I know of.

1. Use 3.0 crank/oil pump/timing cover and still have 60k belt, use original accessories.

2. Use 3.3 crank, machine to fit 3.0 oil pump and balancer, use 3.0 timing cover and accessories, have 100k belt.

3. Use 3.3 crank and accessories, adapt connections.

I have a vg33i with option 2. Personally I wouldn’t bother with a 3.0 if it needed swapped, there’s a decent power difference.

Is the crank snout different on the 3.3? So the 3.3 timing gear won't fit on the 3.0 crank?

What about the harmonic balancer? I assume it's the same since several people have mounted the VG33ER balancer to a VG30.


Not sure it's really that worth it. This thing wont be seeing that many miles so a 60k belt will probably last 8-10 years. And the cost of collecting all the other parts would probably double what I paid for the thing. :laughing:

I'm really just hoping that everything on this one is fine and I can just slap in new head gaskets and send it.
 
Nah. The VG30 is pretty robust and I don't think it's seen that much water. If the the PO is to be believed, he took it off the road as soon as it started making the milkshake. I should probably drain the oil and see how bad it actually looks though. :lmao:


Worst case, I throw a "new" block in it. These things are a dime a dozen and the local u-pull it regularly does 40% off weekends. I can go grab a whole VG30E for a couple hundred bucks. It would be interesting though.....this is a very early VG30i (3/87 build date) and I know there were some differences in the early to late '87s, let alone to the VG30E. Obviously I'd have to swap over the intake/plenum for the TBI, but I'm not sure what else would be different.


Alternative - grab a VG33 and see if the TBI would bolt up to the heads....pretty sure it would as I think people have already done hybrid VG30/33 setups. Not sure if they even make a bigger injector for the TBI though.

Ooooor......a VG33ER (supercharged version from an xterra) and get a standalone ECM for it. :smokin: Pretty sure I'd have to cut a hole in the hood to clear the blower though. :laughing:
Vg30i intake goes right on the vg33. The issue is accessories. There are three different options I know of.

1. Use 3.0 crank/oil pump/timing coverand still have 60k belt, use original accessories.

2. Use 3.3 crank, machine to fit 3.0 oil pump and balancer, use 3.0 timing cover and accessories, have 100k belt.

3. Use 3.3 crank and accessories, adapt connections.
Is the crank snout different on the 3.3? So the 3.3 timing gear won't fit on the 3.0 crank?

What about the harmonic balancer? I assume it's the same since several people have mounted the VG33ER balancer to a VG30.


Not sure it's really that worth it. This thing wont be seeing that many miles so a 60k belt will probably last 8-10 years. And the cost of collecting all the other parts would probably double what I paid for the thing. :laughing:

I'm really just hoping that everything on this one is fine and I can just slap in new head gaskets and send it.
It’s been a while. IIRC, the 3.3 timing gear doesn’t fit with the 3.0 timing cover. The 3.0 timing cover doesn’t fit the 3.3 oil pump. The 3.0 oil pump has a smaller drive than the 3.3 pump. Have to machine the 3.3 pump drive down to a 3.0 size. The crank snouts are different diameter, balancers and therefor pulleys, don’t swap. I cut the 3.3 crank snout down half the difference, and machined the 3.0 balancer out half the distance. 3.3 balancer won’t go in the 3.0 timing cover.
 
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