1992 Nissan Pathfinder SE- "Uncle George's Pathfinder"

[Chuck Most]

When Mike Slaughter turned 16 in 2017, his parents Mark and Sherry asked what vehicle he'd like. They never expected "Uncle George's Pathfinder" to be the answer.

George Agosti bought the black 1992 Nissan Pathfinder SE from his boss in 2000, and used it as his "outdoor adventure" vehicle and winter transportation until 2012, when a workplace injury and the Nissan's budding transmission troubles put it to pasture. Mike had many fond childhood memories of riding in the Pathfinder to various hunting and camping trips, and felt like it deserved a second shot.

Mark and Mike got it running, and after thoroughly going over the braking system, discovered the transmission was still slipping. Mike used the Pathfinder as a subject for two Auto Mechanics I semester exams... The first time when he rebuilt the transmission, and the second when he and his buddy Cory Dufrene addressed the rust and refinished the SUV in Line X and olive Drab. A father of another student donated the driving lights and brush guard, which he'd taken off his '91 Nissan pickup before he'd sold it some 20 years ago.

By the time Mike graduated in 2019, he got a "hand me down" truck from his father as a gift. Said hand me down was the 2013 Raptor Mark had bought new. With that, the Pathfinder once again became the backup/beater/camping/fishing vehicle like it had been for George. A role it continues to this day. 

The model is the American Satco boxing of the Aoshima kit. Basically this was an LHD version with US market graphics. Satco offered a set of stock alloy wheels cast by Modelhaus, which this particular kit had. Satco offered a few different wheel and tire combos as extra cost options, and the kit was also available with a 1992 Pathfinder dealership brochure. The kit this was built from had the wheels and brochure, but not all of them did. The kit is 100% out of the box in that regard, then. 

Textured Krylon was used to simulate the Line X look. I scribed the door lines deeper so they wouldn't be lost under the textured coating. Then the entire body was hit with black primer, then Tamiya Olive Drab.

This was a quick, lazy Sunday project that was a lot of fun. I'm not 100% pleased with it but the enjoyment to time spent ratio is hard to beat.

 

Pretty soon Mike's Mustang will be locked away in the winter paddock, and the Pathfinder will be on full time duty.

[slusher]

Very nice Pathfinder Chuck!

[XYHARRY]

Cool Pathfinder Chuck, well done. 

Cheers, 

David. ??

[ncbuckeye67]

Very cool build, and story!

[ewetwo]

Nice build and nice story to go with it.

[Jim B]

Nice looking Pathfinder.

[espo]

Like the Off-Road look of this. I have seen guys do the Line-X paint job on a few 1:1 Wranglers that see a lot of tight trails and they don't worry about the scraps from the brush. The brush guard looks good along with the lights. 

[PappyD340]

Looks great Chuck!

[Rattlecan Dan]

Rugged and ready. Nice job.