1991 2-wd Nissan Pickup, mini truck heaven?

I have owned 2 nissan 2-wd pickups previously and knew that these were good little trucks. Both had over 150,000 miles and worked well when I sold them. They aren't really too complicated and everything just seems to work all of the time. And they aren't too expensive.

Anyway, I was looking around for one of these trucks when a co-worker told me of one his mom owned (a 1991) that had a bad engine. He told the truck was a 1994! I went out and took a look at it. They hadn't taken very good care of it (the mom had 2 teenage sons, need I say more). It looked as if they had let some of the fluids run out from under the hood - thus the bad engine. And the driver's side door was a mess (scraped along a telephone pole?).

Well, I bought it and then began searching for an engine. I found "Grandpa's" totaled 1994 truck with some front end damage at the mini truck wrecking yard. The engine only had 39k on it and was undamaged from what I could see.

I had a good repair shop put the '94 engine into the '91 truck (remember I thought it was a '94 truck). Luckilly, the mechanic said the '94 engine will work fine in this 1991 truck with a couple little adjustments. That was 4 years ago. Time has proved that the truck is a stalwart little thing.

The engine now has about 100,000 miles on it total, and it feels like it is just in mid-life. The temperature guage moves up a little when the truck is running, and a little more when I am towing something. This truck is simple and reliable.

It is the base model - 5 speed, no a/c and no power steering. It is handy for hauling dirt, motorcycles, and home furnishings. The truck is fine with going down the freeway at 65 or 70 miles per hour, which can't be said about all mini trucks (chevy luv, dodge D50 for example).

Does it ride like a honda accord or camry? No, it's a truck and has stiffer suspension, and without power steering it feels a bit like a muscle car. I replaced the door, sanded the body, and had the truck painted. I also grabbed a couple of nissan pathfinder bucket seats, removed the semi uncomfortable bench seats, and bolted these bucket seats in (they fit).

I had to replace the water pump shortly after getting it on the road. And the rear drive line a year or two later. I think the water pump was damaged when grandpa wrecked his truck and the driveline was damaged by those careless teenage boys using the truck to haul their house roofing supplies. I admit I loaded the little truck up with 3 full size motorcycles in the bed and also a full trailer when I moved 1400 miles (I did this twice). This may have strained the driveline, too (oops).

The little beast pulled all of this at 60 mph with no other problems (the temperature guage up to the half way mark on steep hills). These little nissan's strongest points are their engines, cost, toughness, and simplicity. They do what a little truck is supposed to do commute, transport people, and haul things without costing to much to buy in terms of initial cost and gas costs.