Wynona the wagon's resurrection!

[DRIVEN]

If you're going down the Ford rabbit hole, there are some interesting interchanges that will open up a bunch of options. I remember reading a Hot Rod or Car Craft about gathering misc parts at the wrecking yard for budget 8.8 builds. Point of interest; The 8.8 and 7.5 use 28 spline axles that can be interchanged. In most applications the L and R sides are different lengths. Therefore you could get, say, a Mustang housing with a 4 lug disc brake setup, a couple of RS Ranger axles, and a 4:10 Explorer Sport(somewhat rare) carrier and gear set. You'd then be able to narrow the housing and have the axles redrilled but end up with a relatively inexpensive narrow rearend using cheap factory parts. Of course that's just an example and you'd be able to mix and match to come up with whatever combination you like. Yet another option would be to keep the 5 lug pattern and convert the front to match.

[HRH]

Check out what's getting retrofitted into Gracie II! (The hardbody, but I didn't feel starting another thread was justified for a simple lighting project.) )

[HRH]

We sell these at NAPA now, very reasonably priced, 50 states legal, appropriate cut-offs. About 60ish bucks each regular retail.

[Laecaon]

Should help a ton over sealed beams.

[HRH]

Yep, sold them to Colin at Ag Enterprise, he installed a set on his Ford and sent me some pictures. WAAAY better. Can't wait to put them in.

[flatcat19]

Add some LED bulbs for a real kick in improvement.

[Laecaon]

Or dont, because LED "bulbs" are spotty, dont illuminate the bowl in 360 degree fashion (therefore doesnt illuminate the road as completely), and most LED bulbs barely put out any power.

IF you do LED bulbs, I can only suggest the Morimoto 2stroke from The Retrofit Source, as only their LEDs use the highest end CREE chip.

[Taterhead]

Had some of those in my last D21. Mine also had a small bulb hole in the housing that I put a purple bulb (truck is purple) in to illuminate the light with the parking lights on.

You'll like them.

[flatcat19]

I have a set of AUXBEAM LEDs in my Lexus.

Holy hell is it a huge improvement over the factory halogens.

I have no shady spots. Clear vision left to right. Would recommend making the swap to anybody.

[Laecaon]

Does your Lexus have projectors? Because that would help.

[flatcat19]

It does not.

I'm going to do the same to the 521 with some glass Hella housings.

[izzo]

Glad to see you here Matt

[HRH]

Indeed! Ratsun can suck a fatty bo batty cock. Lol

[HRH]

Got my parts back from the machine shop. Taking a vacation the tail end of January, Wynona gets a new heart and more power! Still debating dual sus vs. Fuel injection. More power out of dual sus, but way better mileage with the factory fuel injection, as archaic as it is.

[Dimester]

Hmmmm, mileage or more power... is this a trick question?

[DRIVEN]

Is the mileage that much different between the two? Honest question -- not sarcasm. I found the SUs on my 240z to be 100% reliable and got 25ish at freeway speeds with a 4spd. I don't doubt it would have gotten a couple more mpg with an extra gear. What does the Maxima get?
From my limited experience with the early Nissan EFI (Obviously, I only have to deal with them when they're sick) I'm not a fan. My vote is SUs.

[HRH]

The wagon gets 27-28ish on the freeway, depending on speed. It's quite nice. As high as 32 in some spots. I love the SUs for reliability and simplicity. The EFI would be easier to hook up, but then without modification, you're still sucking through that stupid flapper box AFM, which is fairly limiting. Considering 1 SU is the same size as that opening.

I tried posting these motor part pictures yesterday but they wouldn't go on the phone, but now we're at the real computer.

[HRH]

Yes, there will be ARP rod bolts and head studs in this when it's done. No factory weak con rod bolts for me! Or weak old head bolts for that matter.

[HRH]

Hmmmm, mileage or more power... is this a trick question?

[Laecaon]

Did you get the rod ends checked with the ARP hardware? Ive read some reports on other Nissan engines of the ARP bolts making the rod ends not perfectly round, though that was probably on applications where torque spec was increased.