Project Flexicab. SAS'd and supercharged.

xEndlessfight503x

Bought an X
Hello all,

I just picked up my second Xterra and I figured this one is worthy of a build thread.

The first day I got it:

The distributor failed, so i swooped it up for a good price.
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32x11.5R15, 4.5"BS. no lift, not even a PML.
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Reason I need to install my sliders
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Soon(have, just haven’t installed):
AC adjustable shackles
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DNA headers
Federal pipes
Trail gear 67” sliders
Lokka front locker
PNP tie rods
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xEndlessfight503x

Bought an X
Thanks for all the kind words.

Progress has been slow, but a VG33ER swap is potentially on the horizon after popping the head gasket. Once I get it running again my buddy will finish up my tube bumper.
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I got the DNA (Amazon headers) installed without too much hassle as well.
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xEndlessfight503x

Bought an X
Thanks to all of @BenM 's help, my Supercharged conversion is nearly complete. Waiting on the crank pulley to arrive (hurry up FedEx!)

I will try to do a proper "how-to" with photos as soon as I can.


the goal is to get the little blower setup and running, then convert over to an M90 with microsquirt. I plan on going bigger tires and SAS before next year so i'll need the boost.
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xEndlessfight503x

Bought an X
Thanks man! This is my second X, and I have yet to drive a supercharged one so I am excited. I daily a 400AWHP Audi, so it was only a matter of time before I added some boost to the X as well ha.
 

HolyGhost

First Fill-Up (of many)
Excited to see how the supercharger swap turns out, I know a guy in Denver running a supercharger on his Frontier with the N/A ECU with no issues. I love the first gen X's but the lack of power is a major down side.

Are you going to run the supercharger on the stock engine with the 9:1 compression? Do you have an idea of how much boost you are going to be running?
 

Prime

Shut up Baby, I know it!
Admin
Location
Denver Adjacent
Thanks to all of @BenM 's help, my Supercharged conversion is nearly complete. Waiting on the crank pulley to arrive (hurry up FedEx!)

I will try to do a proper "how-to" with photos as soon as I can.


the goal is to get the little blower setup and running, then convert over to an M90 with microsquirt. I plan on going bigger tires and SAS before next year so i'll need the boost.
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This is a super exciting build.
 

xEndlessfight503x

Bought an X
Thanks guys! I’m happy to finally be adding some content to this message board, lots of solid people with tons of good info. I really enjoyed your first gen build, Prime, and I still refer back to it from time to time.


I am indeed running the stock, non-supercharged compression. The supercharger is stock, so I’m not sure what that will be yet. I’ll be running the supercharged Ecu, without the BCS. I agree with you, Holy Ghost, these things are slugs. Thankfully they are super reliable to make up for it ha.
 

xEndlessfight503x

Bought an X
I was actually able to get the truck pushed into the shop and slap the heads on last night. Hopefully tonight I will have the charger and the remaining ancillary items done tonight. I’ll post some pictures too because we all know those are far better than words ha.



Where I left off last night:
Heads bolted down, torqued. The Supercharged lower plenum fit great but does require one more nut and one less bolt (Front most left nut).
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HolyGhost

First Fill-Up (of many)
looking good! As part of the community I appreciate you keeping this documented. I know there have been a few of these swaps done but hard to find a documented swap.
 

xEndlessfight503x

Bought an X
thanks, @HolyGhost , I really wanted to help bring this swap to light as, like you said, there is little to no info. Thankfully Ben M has offered up a ton of info which allowed me to get this far.
 

xEndlessfight503x

Bought an X
Update:

A few hiccups, nothing too major.

-The booster hose can be modded to fit but don't cut it too far down as the check valve is hiding in there (don't ask how i figured that out haha)

-The PCV valve on the non-S/C is threaded into the upper manifold where as the S/C has it on the passenger valve cover.

-I decided not to run the boost bypass valve.

-I wish the S/C ignition wire set came numbered as they do on the N/A sets, either way its pain in the ass with the intake hose/ throttle body tube in, but possible.

Enough yapping, here is the current state. Don't mind the mess, it will be sorted after she runs.
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xEndlessfight503x

Bought an X
She is alive!
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Finally fixed the front end, too.
Old, Broken grill, missing brackets, saggy headlamp, etc.
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New,new
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Brake booster hose was different and the check valve was built into the Nissan hose. I went back to my BMW days and found an inline check valve using one from an E21

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Installed the "fed" Walker pipes, they don't fit great but works well as a bolt in. These in conjunction with the cat delete headers have made it a bit raspy, but its not too bad.

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Longer 02 sensor needed for the passenger side header.
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It feels a bit peppier, for sure but its hard to tell how much better considering my currently daily has 400whp.
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HolyGhost

First Fill-Up (of many)
Awesome work! Thanks for documenting this, first one I've seen fully documented hopefully this swap gets more popular. You can find these superchargers pretty cheap now. Do you mind sharing what your swap cost for the supercharger gear? I am at 1K on my turbo build not including the car I bought, need a cheaper hobby.

Any plans for a boost gauge and a wideband? It would be awesome to know what the computer is actually doing.
 

xEndlessfight503x

Bought an X
Thank you!, @HolyGhost. I really enjoyed figuring this out and it’s nice to be able to help the community. I was so surprised how many people between ClubFrontier/Xterra and here had bad info regarding this swap and of the VG itself. Thankfully, as always there were a few people to offer helpful bits along the way.


Yeah, I actually kept a spreadsheet as I was interested myself.

-Supercharger, plenum, lower intake manifold, injectors, and Ecu -$500 shipped from eBay.

-Crank pulley- $50 BnR autowrecking
-A/C compressor $34 BnR autowrecking
-Misc hoses, fluids and gaskets- $150


All in all I’m into it very little. I had to pull the heads when I blew the head gasket anyways and it’s actually a lot easier to reassemble in the supercharged configuration.

Next week I’ll slap a boost gauge in. I’m very interested to see how much boost it’s making. I don’t have plans for a wideband yet, but maybe down the road when I do a pulley upgrade and Z31 cams.
 

xEndlessfight503x

Bought an X
Update: Once again, thanks to @BenM i found out I had my by-pass valve hooked up incorrectly. When doing the “Boost drop mod” aka deleting the BCS you should leave the bottom port of the By-pass valve open to atmosphere and the top hose should be to the back of the supercharger.

After setting up the by-pass valve correctly and setting base timing to 10degs I’m pulling a solid 5-6lbs of boost and it’s great! I’ll be putting on a wideband and doing a smaller pulley soon.


I can finally say this conversion was worth it and it’s a lot of fun!
 

HolyGhost

First Fill-Up (of many)
Have you noticed a big increase of power with the swap? Little jealous of how fast yours went.

Wideband would be cool just to see how much boost the computer can keep up with before not being able to add more fuel. The z31 computer I am using with stock injectors is supposed to make it to 300 crank HP with 12-14psi of boost.
 

xEndlessfight503x

Bought an X
Have you noticed a big increase of power with the swap? Little jealous of how fast yours went.

Wideband would be cool just to see how much boost the computer can keep up with before not being able to add more fuel. The z31 computer I am using with stock injectors is supposed to make it to 300 crank HP with 12-14psi of boost.


Yeah! Now it's willing to spin the 32x11.5 tires like the old little 265s and it allow you to pass people on the interstate over 50mph ha. It just feels like a bigger V6 now, its how they all should have came. To be fair, mine was all bolt-ons and yours is far more work.


Agreed. I'd like to see how much room I have to play with as I would like to add Z31 cams and a smaller pulley now. I don't know where the efficiency range ends on those turbos but it's gonna be cool to see what you can do with stock injectors and meth.
 

xEndlessfight503x

Bought an X
Started in on the 3'' lift last night.

Front: 4x4parts UCA with Bilstein 4600s
Rear: Ac adjustable shackles with Bilstein 4600s
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With a lift the rear shackles took like 20mins to install. I disconnected the shocks and shackles then lifted the body while using the weight of the axles to pull the leafs down enough to slap in the shackles.

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xEndlessfight503x

Bought an X
Finally put the supercharger and the 3" lift to use last weekend on firebreak five. The stock LSD did pretty good but I would like to either re-shim it or just go ARB. Of course, bent a tie rod. All and all the supercharger really helped and I am stoked that I finished it up.

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Rovers doing rover things.

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Letting the engine cool down after shooting some fireballs out of the header to downpipe flange.

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xEndlessfight503x

Bought an X
I had my buddy build me a bumper over the weekend. There are still a few bars and some plates to be added but its a step in the right direction. we cut down and capped the frame horns allowing for better approach angles. My M8000 winch is tucked up nicely, safe from my driving ha.
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I now am more protected with room for 35"s
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67'' trail gear universal kit fit great!
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HolyGhost

First Fill-Up (of many)
Love that bumper and I usually hate tube bumpers. Your buddy does some great work.

Truck is looking great. Are you going to fill the open spaces on the bumper I vote for dimple die plate.
 

xEndlessfight503x

Bought an X
Love that bumper and I usually hate tube bumpers. Your buddy does some great work.

Truck is looking great. Are you going to fill the open spaces on the bumper I vote for dimple die plate.


Thanks! I agreed for the most part, tube bumpers look weird but I like how this one is progressing.

Yeah, I didn't think about dimple die, that would be really cool! I do plan on adding two bars then some plate to tie into a lower skid.
 

AlbatrossCafe

First Fill-Up (of many)
Location
Western WA
Did you make it up Firebreak 5? Did you need any winching/assistance?

I tried it in the fall a few months ago on a similarly wet day. I'm 2nd gen on 35's with Titan-swap, and granted I was by myself and could have desperately used some spotting, but I was having lots of trouble. Got hung up on big rocks a lot and had to winch myself 4 times (vid here)

That mud was giving me nothing for traction, even at 12 PSI. I'm wondering how your first gen and the others did!
 

xEndlessfight503x

Bought an X
Did you make it up Firebreak 5? Did you need any winching/assistance?

I tried it in the fall a few months ago on a similarly wet day. I'm 2nd gen on 35's with Titan-swap, and granted I was by myself and could have desperately used some spotting, but I was having lots of trouble. Got hung up on big rocks a lot and had to winch myself 4 times (vid here)

That mud was giving me nothing for traction, even at 12 PSI. I'm wondering how your first gen and the others did!



I would have made it up if I didn't catch fire ha. I was just about over the last section when a failed valve cover and a hot header had a disagreement. It did surprisingly well and when I switch over to 35'' tires I think it will do FB5 without much hassle. I'll hope over and check out your video , @AlbatrossCafe

That river of mud is no joke, so I am not surprised you weren't getting much traction. I was down to 9lbs or so.
 

xEndlessfight503x

Bought an X
Awesome build! the bumper looks really good too. for the rear lift did you only do shackles and shocks? will that fatigue the leafs faster?


Thanks Man! Its really starting to become something exciting. Correct, the lift is composed of Billy 4600 3'' lift shocks and AC lift shackles maxed out. I am unsure how this will treat the leafs long term but I am not too worried as they will be swapped at some point.
 

xEndlessfight503x

Bought an X
Thanks to @HolyGhost I am now running Calmini HD steering.

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Just in time for some 35x12.5 Cooper STT pros. Still no body lift, which means a lot of cutting to actually flex.
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Just a start of the cutting. I will soon have the arches brought up, cut and fold method.
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xEndlessfight503x

Bought an X
Nice! What did you end up doing for a pitman arm?


My buddy is a fab wizard and we were able to just cut and mod the factory pitman arm. We chopped it up, added the additional hole for the track bar/center link and matched the angle. It works great right now but I don't think the center link will like the 35'' tires for long.
 

HolyGhost

First Fill-Up (of many)
My buddy is a fab wizard and we were able to just cut and mod the factory pitman arm. We chopped it up, added the additional hole for the track bar/center link and matched the angle. It works great right now but I don't think the center link will like the 35'' tires for long.

Nice do you have some pictures of the pitman arm I am curios on how it played out. Do you mean the Calmini center link won't like it? My buddy ran about the same size tube for steering on his jeep on 38's and never had an issue. Less weight though.
 

xEndlessfight503x

Bought an X
Nice do you have some pictures of the pitman arm I am curios on how it played out. Do you mean the Calmini center link won't like it? My buddy ran about the same size tube for steering on his jeep on 38's and never had an issue. Less weight though.


I will have some photos of it soon. We are still testing it out and doing some cutting on the rear quarters. I thought we were having binding issues but come to find out its just a lot harder to steer at idle with the 35" tires. I am sure the center link will be fine at this time now knowing it wasn't binding.
 

Jwelch

Bought an X
Location
Michigan
I like where this is going. I am interested to see how the CV's hold up to 35's as I have heard of people snapping CV's on 33's and heard of people running 35's successfully but have never heard from someone who actually ran 35's.
 
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