Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Daniel Stojanovic wrote:I have a 98 Pathie and It goes the same places as my mates Hilux and 100 series cruiser. I have fitted a 40mm lift to the suspension the best thing I ever did to it. Its all down to the drivers ability to pick the line and negotiate the track. A big rock ledge will stop my Pathie but it will also stop lots of other 4WDs.

We are talking about the older Pathfinders. Hence the live axle he could do where as you can not.

G'Day. I fitted "Tough Dog" suspension after reading about it in a 4WD magazine, I bought it from Blacktown and fitted it myself. I fitted the shocks and springs in one evening (4-5hrs) pretty easy to do. I'm really happy with the suspension, no annoying problems at all.

I'm thinking about coil spaces on the rear and fitting a spacer to the top of the strut on the front. Not much else I can do. Bit worried about it though as one of the guys in a local 4WD shop advised against it. Anyone had any experience with spacers in a 98 Pathie.

Vsicks Pathy wrote:Go the Patrol smac, That way you have covered yourself. I chose the Pathfinder because I wanted something different from the norm. I know it sounds like I am bagging the Pathy, I am not, but I am just calling it as it is. The Pathy will supprise you on where it can go, I think a standard Pathy will go further than a standard MQ/MK. (If only the front end was stong???)

Did you read the last two links I put up? What happens to that Pathy is what happens to them all. That's the reason they have such a large aftermarket industry in the USA.

Now you know why I suggested that you only do a body lift. Lift the torsion bars and the front end will shit its self very quickly indeed.

For 10k you should be able to buy your Pathy and put a live axle in. You would then be close to unstoppable. You'd also have that little bit of luxury too.

Nah, that last 2 links didnt work man, just went an tried again!

I have to say - i would like a 'tough solid axle patrol' but honestly doubt that i will barely use it seriously off road, as ive said, most likely just warn tracks and beach work. That is why the Turbo Diesel Pathy is very inviting, but then the Patrol also has more rear room.

But now that you have mentioned that i could buy a pathy an install a solid axle all for under 10grand, you have me thinking man....hmmm. Also i was thinkin today, that a good engine swap for the diesel would be the newer Patrol 3.0 Diesel - light and powerful.
i think that i will have to test drive both and get the misses to test drive both and then decide !!

also what year did the 4door come in? (not sure if i already asked this, cant be bothered reading through it all right now)

The links aren't working??

The 4 door are from 90 to 95 here. I do not think a 3ltr patrol engine will fit into a Pathy engine bay. You would have to get the old tape measure out. There is nothing wrong with the Pathy diesel. There is a small mod you can do to the engine also. There is a guy (Pete) in NZ that can give you info on that.

If you are not going to do any real 4wding then get the Pathy. If, as I did, you fall in love with your Pathy and want to go bush in it, spoil it and yourself and put in a live axle.

This is all I could recover from the two articals on the Pathfinder. I can not find the 2005 one at all. Perhaps performancemag is down due to upgrades. I will keep checking back.

Nissan Performance Mag Dec 03 Re: Pathy front end.

Now that we have the sagging springs, excess lean in the corners, bottoming out, bouncy ride and high speed oversteer of Project Pathfinder taken care of, we now turned our attention to the front suspension in our quest to tighten things up and fix the weak points of the Nissan steering system.

[color=yellow]When attempting to align Project Pathfinder after last installments installation of parts we were frustrated because we could not seem to set the toe correctly. The toe settings would change every time we tried to check them whether we try to adjust them or not. The wife was complaining about loose and wandering steering as well. Having a friend move the steering wheel back and forth while we watch showed the Project Pathfinders steering linkage was seriously worn. The center link and idler arm had about ½â€

gee, sounds like they turned it into a sports car man!!
my eyes are saw from readin so much

so the 4door wagons are only available from 1990? when did they stop makin the turbo diesel in em?

Those links are working now. Look at the 05 one. You have already read the 03 one but if you look at it you will get a better idea.

I don't know when they stopped making the TD. I would suspect that the TD went into the last of the series.

The new Pathfinders would have got new everything. Too bad they no longer able to be modded like the old ones. All you can do to them is a suspension lift.

I would say the TD didnt meet pollution standards for many countries, which have got substantially stricter. The sales volumes for TD's here have been small anyway so we stopped getting TD's and also manual transmissions years ago.


If you want that stuff Nissan thinks, then bugger off or buy a Patrol.

No different to the attitude toyota has with the V8 and IFS on Cruisers either. We are a small volume market here after all.

yeah very small market and heaps of regulations - its a wonder they even bother.

for example the rear lights on the patrol

any idea what size tires would fit on a MQ with a 2" body lift an on 15inch wheels?

The first shape Pathfinders were only available in this country with either the earlier Z24 (4cyl) or VG30E (V6) petrol engines, and it was the grey import Terranos that have the Turbo Diesel. Hence why they were allowed to be imported to this country under the import laws at the time, along the same lines as the 4Runner and Hilux Surf.

smac wrote:any idea what size tires would fit on a MQ with a 2" body lift an on 15inch wheels?

33x12.50R15

ive decided to go the bigger patrol.
im gonna try and get a GQ if i can. not much will happen until new financial year sometime though

smac wrote:ive decided to go the bigger patrol.
im gonna try and get a GQ if i can. not much will happen until new financial year sometime though

Good luck. Good choise.