The Nissan Pathmaker OneTon SAS Build – Part 9 – Fuel System and Exhaust
Now that the Pathmaker is sitting down on its own axles again it was time to deal with some of the odds and ends. The list includes the fuel system, rerouting the exhaust from drivers to passenger side, figuring out a brake master cylinder for my new 4 wheel discs, d300 shifters and finishing up my toolbox/rear seat and installing an invertor in my center console for charging duties.
First up was a new fuel pump. A high power one capable of running a 1000hp motor. More than good enough for me. I mounted it on the frame rail beside the new tank. The tank itself is something that I have a love/hate relationship with. It’s a plastic boat fuel tank. I had a West Marine catalog in my shop and the tank dimensions happened to fit PERFECTLY between the frame rails. I hate it because the fuel gauge has never really worked properly. I’m running a proper ohm’d Autometer gauge but because the tank is so shallow it never really reads right. With such a shallow tank if you run down less than half a tank and get off camber there is a good chance the pickup will be out of the fuel. It works for now but I’ll replace it with something different in the future.
Fancy
On the bright side the sender did line up with the old Nissan inspection port in the trunk. (Mine is all cut up because it was extremely rusty and I had to cut out and replace.)
Now that the fuel tank is installed. (And in the way of running my exhaust inside the frame rails at the back.) It was time to climb under and figure out my exhaust. I’ve had Thorley Headers for years and love them I highly recommend them. The problem for me was that the drivers side routing of the exhaust was going to get in the way of the front driveshaft. I have to replicate my best Jesse James techniques and flip the exhaust the other way.
A bit of cutting and welding later and it was out of the way. Of course as I mentioned the fuel tank was also in the way so I dumped the exhaust out right above the rear leaf spring. I then extended the tip a bit so the exhaust didn’t gather in the rear wheel well.
Brakes
Hearing that an E-350 master was the way to go I went to the parts store and tried to buy one. Unfortunately they do not come with a reservoir as you’re supposed to swap the res off your old master. I didn’t have a master to pillage so I had to go back to the drawing board and ended up with a 1968 Corvette Master Cylinder. It had a built in reservoir and was designed to work with 4 wheel disks and the best part, domestic price! Only $53! The holes were almost identical to Nissan just a tiny bit wider but a little die grinding and it slips right on the stock brake booster! I also picked up a Willwood Brake Proportioning Valve so I could adjust the power of the rear brakes.
Headed to the local tool supply and bought some cheap 15/16″ wrenches to make up some shifters for t-cases. I’m running a drivers drop Ford D60 front so my D-300 is upside down. Most people do cable shifters but I’m a cheap cunt so I made it work with a couple of pieces of 1 1/4″ flatbar. You need to have a bit of slop in the system if you don’t run heims for your linkage, but so far so good.
Almost done!
Last things on the list were to finish the rear seat/toolbox. I tacked in the rounded piece from the rear so I can actually hold a 42″ spare tire laying flat inside. (8 years and 20 trips later and I have never once put a spare tire in the back there. Good intentions but a trailer queen can always make it back to the spare sitting on the trailer deck it seems).
I took the old seat backs and used them for the new seat bottoms. I used them because they have the built in adjustment lever. Meaning I can easily access my rear battery and toolbox. (That said I did make the damn things too tall and the rear seats are only good enough for my dog or to ferry short people to the trail. I have since taken the padding off the rear seats and cut out the headliner to get a bit more clearance.)
I also figured out there was a bunch of room underneath the center console. So I mounted a Power Invertor under there for camera battery charging duties!
Next up its all about the exocage, time to put the JD2 to good work and get the 7 pieces of pipe I have glued onto my rig!
Check out
Part 10 in the next blog post here: Pathmaker Build Part 10 – Exo-Cage Time!
