NISMO Nick Just Built A 501-HP Manual Pathfinder That Terrorizes Racetracks
Forty years after Nissan launched the Pathfinder, one Arizona builder is marking the anniversary with two SUVs that couldn’t be more different. NISMO Nick, the Scottsdale-based Nissan specialist and content creator behind last year’s V8-swapped PROJECT X Xterra, unveiled TRAILFINDER and TRACKFINDER at the 2026 SEMA Show in Las Vegas on November 2. Both start life as R51-generation Pathfinders, but one is built to disappear into the desert and the other exists to lap a road course in a manual-transmission three-row SUV making 501 wheel-horsepower.
The two builds share more than a starting point. Both wear Ruby Slate Pearl paint borrowed from the 40th Anniversary Nissan Maxima, protected with XPEL paint protection film, and both get an extensive front-end conversion using body panels from Nissan’s current D41 Frontier. Past that shared DNA, TRAILFINDER and TRACKFINDER head in opposite directions.
The D41 Frontier Conversion Is The Real Engineering Flex
The headline feature on both trucks is the swap of modern D41 Frontier bumpers, fenders, hoods, doors, and taillights onto the older R51 platform. NISMO Nick says the goal was bridging two generations of Nissan truck design without losing the Pathfinder’s body-on-frame proportions, and that meant extensive fabrication to make current-generation sheet metal fit an SUV that predates it by over a decade. Both interiors got similar treatment, with new dashboards, door panels, and center consoles pulled from the same modernization effort.
The result, according to the build team, reads like a Pathfinder Nissan might still be building today had the nameplate stayed on its original truck-based trajectory instead of moving to a unibody crossover platform.
TRAILFINDER Pairs V8 Power With 35-Inch Tires And A Throwback Interior
TRAILFINDER runs on Nissan’s VK56 V8 and leans into the Pathfinder’s original off-road mission. Z1 Off-Road handled a big brake kit, performance intake, snorkel, and Titan-swap X-Pro suspension components, while Hammerhead Armor supplied front and rear bumpers and rock sliders. Rigid Industries lighting in white housings gives it a distinctive look, and 35-inch Hankook Dynapro AT2 Xtreme tires finish the stance.
Inside, Katzkin built a red leather interior with a throwback burgundy dashboard and matching seat belts, while Bushmaster 4×4 supplied nostalgic graphics for the exterior. TRAILFINDER is on display at the Hankook booth, #80021, in SEMA’s Silver Lot.
TRACKFINDER Swaps In A Manual Gearbox And 501 Wheel-Horsepower
TRACKFINDER takes the opposite approach, starting with Nissan’s VQ40 V6 and adding a Z1 Off-Road supercharger system tuned through UpRev to reach 501 horsepower at the wheels. NISMO Nick says the build draws inspiration from performance SUVs like the GMC Typhoon, and the team ditched the stock automatic for a six-speed manual swap backed by a Centerforce clutch and flywheel.
A Seibon carbon-fiber hood, NISMO-inspired graphics, roll-forged wheels, and Goodyear Eagle F1 All-Season tires round out the build, with quad exhaust announcing the supercharger before it’s even heard. “TRACKFINDER exists because no one asking whether a supercharged, six-speed-manual, 500-plus-wheel-horsepower, three-row SUV makes sense,” NISMO Nick said. “Of course it doesn’t! I wanted something that would make people laugh, smile, and question everything they thought they knew about a Pathfinder.” TRACKFINDER is also displayed in the Silver Lot.
What Adventure Means Depends On The Driver
NISMO Nick frames the two trucks as answers to the same question asked differently. “Pathfinder has always represented adventure to me, but adventure means something different to everyone,” he said. “For some, it’s finding a trail that leads somewhere incredible. For others, it’s finding the limits of what a vehicle can do.” Pinnacle Nissan in Scottsdale backed both projects, alongside partners including Hankook, Goodyear, Hammerhead Armor, Rigid Industries, Katzkin, Bushmaster 4×4, Centerforce, UpRev, Seibon, and XPEL.
Related posts
Latest Post
No Comments