Hello all,
I am new to the hard body world, and have just bought a 1996 2.4 4x4 5 speed king cab hard body. When I purchased it the guy said he screwed the timing up doing a tune up at night with his buddies. I should have known that something was up but I bought it with high hopes. When I towed it to my house I fixed the timing which was way off almost as he did it on purpose. It ran but was rough I thought ok maybe he fouled out the plugs. So I do a proper tune up when doing so the oil smelled like pure gas. When i completed the tune up and started the truck it was knocking very bad. I called the seller he said he knew that and thought a tune up would fix it. The truck only has 145k miles on it so I am asking should I rebuild the motor? My intentions to do so are if it is able to is have the block tanked (cleaned), trued, bored .002 or as I say 20 over, honed, and replace freeze plugs. With that have the crank grounded and polished if possible. I have seen some rebuild kits on rockauto that come with new pistons, front seal, rear seal, rings, bearings, oil pump, and all the gaskets. I plan on purchasing new connecting rods and water pump. A master mechanic friend of mine said that he check/rebuild the head if need be to square away a friendly debt. I would have the head inspected to see if it needed to be trued and cleaned as well. So I basically would have a new engine. My question is any suggestions to this? I have rebuilt several engines So i am always looking for a project. Looking forward to all input.

Sorry for my vague timing description. Previous owner had plug wires in wrong order and distributor was just a little off. The question remains is that specific motor worth rebuild?
I have a decent know how always searching for more knowledge. I was a big chevy guy so those engines are like a cake walk for what parts to use and set ups to do for the applications I wanted. My next set of questions is this. What is a good setup for this truck? I don't do a lot of off road, but do love to play. I intend to put a brush guard, a winch, 3" lift, and 33's on it. I do want to have power for fun but not to bad fuel economy for it is my daily driver. Is the transmission, rear differential, front differential, and half shafts of good (decent) quality?

Does anyone have any suggestions as far as the rebuild goes? What kind of power and torque am I looking at for that small motor? I heard it is a solid engine just trying it out and hoping I fall into the new love of older Nissans.

For all those that have had to search the tool box, ask friends, search the internet, and still couldn't come up with an answer; I am going to give you the answer to this question. I bought several repair books, asked several part houses, and asked on forums but the size of the cam gear cog bolt is a 24mm. If I didn't give it the correct name I do apologize. If any one is looking for the Crank pulley bolt it is a 27mm. I hope this simple but yet frustrating information is helpful.