Dave's build: Clara the XTerra (‘01 2.4L 5spd RWD)

David Ramsay

Test Drive
Location
NC
3BCA7C2F-CA7D-4E22-B699-85500E6544E1.jpeg The gist of this thread is “start small.” I got this as a daily driver, so I’m starting off with a few ease of use mods, changing and flushing every fluid, and figuring out a steering problem. Any advice or additions to the list are welcome!

I bought this for $3500 (with 138k), to allow me to sell a ‘12 Passat TDI SEL that I can no longer afford payments on. I showed up to check it out, test drove it, negotiated down to $3500, and bought it on the spot. I drove it home, and learned manual on the way (in a car at least, historically was a dirtbike guy)

It’s been 3 weeks, and I’m loving it. Its surprisingly good on gas (around 20 combined) and the seats and cab are very comfortable for a tall, beefy athletic build. I

Here’s the list at the moment (updated 3/16/21, 1 month after original post)

Done:
-50 mile oil change w/ Rotella 5w-30 (138230)
-Double Din BT Headunit w/wireless charging phone mount
-Universal fit weathertech mats
-rear seat cover for doggo
-Supply of aspirin, excedrin, bandaids, trauma kit, survival kit, 1 MRE, sleeping bag, pillow
-dog poop bags in map pocket
-Cooler
-Ice scraper, even though I'm in southern NC, you never know.
-“True North” little trees under drivers seat
-Flush and replace diff fluid (~138500)
-Flush and replace coolant
-500 mi oil change w/ Rotella 5w-30 (138680)
-exterior Plastic refresh
-Flush and replace brake fluid
-figure out service engine soon light (it was trans fluid. prev. owner put dexron in her.)
-added plastidip racing stripe to disguise paint peeling spot on front fender
-Remove nerf bars

Doing:
-Nilight Fog lights (switch in OEM fog light switch panel)
-Grill lights (switch next to fog lights, both on a 6-slot fuse panel being set up especially for lighting w/ additions in mind)
-Flush and replace tranny fluid, add Lucas Oil TRANSFIX just in case
-Flush and replace clutch fluid

To-do:
-DETAIL THE ENGINE BAY
-
-reverse lights / lasers
-steering squeals when fully cranked right
-Figure out steering issue (pulls right, “straight” is wheel turned ~1 inch left of dead center)
-1500 mi oil change w/ Rotella 5w-30(139680)
-4000 mi first Synthetic oil change (142180)
-fix paint peeling spots
-Undercoat frame
-put a 2nd gen xterra emblem on the rear hatch, old one is peeling and falling apart
-Cold air intake from 240SX?
8E50EFD0-225A-40D0-89B0-D6BAAAB73962.jpegDD11F15F-D8C7-4129-A6D2-D53BB83EAF31.jpeg DC2A81F0-69FB-4E81-831C-AFC02E21215F.jpegABF25506-C93B-46EE-96B0-D6B0163BD560.jpeg
 
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David Ramsay

Test Drive
Location
NC
Replaced the rear diff fluid today on my lunch break. I put some Valvoline High Performance 80W-90 Gear Oil (GL4+5) in that bad girl. I would've bought synthetic, but there was only the one option for 80w-90 The stuff looks red from the outside of the bottle, clear/blue when you're pouring it, and yellow once I put my blue blocking glasses on and cleared my vacuum pump, which freaked me out because at 3 separate points in time I had that jumpy feeling where I felt like I was accidentally putting dexron, antifreeze, and brake fluid in.

The stuff I drained was about half an inch below the drain plug, looked relatively new and didn't smell but it was definitely quite brown. Not a shred of metal on the magnetic plug, though.

A few bloody knuckles, one improvised breaker bar, and plenty of PB blaster later... She's done.

Next up is the tranny oil. I got Valvoline full synth 75w-90 for the old girl. Should be in the next few days here. I'll check back in.
 

kirk

Butterfly King
Moderator
Supporting Member
Location
Allen, Texas
I like it! Great color, and it looks like you are off to a great start!

Have you checked it for outstanding recalls? There was one for the lower steering joing on the Gen1. Worth a check, as my last two both needed it done.
 

David Ramsay

Test Drive
Location
NC
I like it! Great color, and it looks like you are off to a great start!

Have you checked it for outstanding recalls? There was one for the lower steering joing on the Gen1. Worth a check, as my last two both needed it done.
I haven't but thanks for pointing that out, I'll take a look at that, especially with the steering issue going on.

EDIT: just did the check by vin thing and it says none of the recalls are open. Is there another way to check?
 

David Ramsay

Test Drive
Location
NC
https://www.nissanusa.com/recalls-vin/#/#/Home

Nope. usually ill check by the vin as wel. Carfax catches it too if you ran one.

Yup, looks like I'm clear. I may have to swap for newer beefier steering components, I don't quite need those heavy-duty towing jobbers, but whatever I have now isn't behaving exactly how its supposed to. The real beefy ones looked like they were pretty pricey.

This thing is simple so I want to beef up what I can for a reasonable amount of money in hopes of keeping it for a while.
 

kirk

Butterfly King
Moderator
Supporting Member
Location
Allen, Texas
The Gen1 is a great platform. it responds well to almost anything you throw at it. You are off to a good start. The only real thing ill add about the steering thing (since im not real sure what its doing) jack it up and throw it on some jackstands, with the front wheels off the ground. get a buddy and have him turn the wheel while you look for movement that shouldnt be there. should be pretty easy to see if your tie rod ends or something need replacement.
 

David Ramsay

Test Drive
Location
NC
The Gen1 is a great platform. it responds well to almost anything you throw at it. You are off to a good start. The only real thing ill add about the steering thing (since im not real sure what its doing) jack it up and throw it on some jackstands, with the front wheels off the ground. get a buddy and have him turn the wheel while you look for movement that shouldnt be there. should be pretty easy to see if your tie rod ends or something need replacement.

Will do! I'm checking out nearby junkyards to see if there are any that I could pull parts from, especially non-base model seats, and idler/pitman/control arms could be something to grab too. then again, it may be better just to buy them online, save me the work and risk of getting them off something old.

I'm slowly learning that most of this stuff just boils down to having the patience, tools, and wit to do it right and figure out a way around the roadblocks. so far that "way" has been a left down PB Blaster boulevard and a right onto breaker bar rd.

By the way, the oil filter location is heinous on the 2.4. I've never had to work so hard to get to one in my life. Behind the passenger side Wheel well liner? really?
 

David Ramsay

Test Drive
Location
NC
Here's the pics of the refreshed plastics and paint damage. You can also see the hood, I have an inkling that I'll have to redo the clear coat on it entirely. Any recos on how to correct this stuff would be awesome.
IMG-2069.jpg IMG-2072.jpg
 

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Muadeeb

Nissan al Gaib
Admin
Location
Dallas
If you want to DIY the paint, https://www.automotivetouchup.com/ is likely your best bet. You can get your paint code off the door decal for the best match. If you want to pay someone, I've heard Maaco can do good work if you choose one of the better services.

As with any painting, prep prep prep. Removing the panel can make life easier, but I wouldn't do that with the doors (don't ask me how I know). Sand the area, remove more than just the bubbled paint; try to get to where the paint is still adhered well. I don't know if it's the picture compression or what, but it looks like someone has tried to repaint the fender already. The paint on the hood doesn't look too bad, so you may be able to just sand down the top layer, give it a coat of blue to even it out, then a couple coats of clear.

We've had owners of other blue X's that have said that color for whatever reason, just didn't adhere like some of the others. Lots of peeling around the top of the hatch and hard corners.
 

David Ramsay

Test Drive
Location
NC
I am invested but not working. I am about ready to retire from work altogether.

I see your intake mod! looks pretty sweet- I'd love some more in-depth info about how you did it, I was thinking about grabbing a CAI from a 240sx since they have the k24de in them as well, but what you have looks smarter and less like I'd have to cut holes in the hood.

Also, Where'd you get that American flag sticker? love it. Slightly patriotic US Marine here.
 

David Ramsay

Test Drive
Location
NC
If you want to DIY the paint, https://www.automotivetouchup.com/ is likely your best bet. You can get your paint code off the door decal for the best match. If you want to pay someone, I've heard Maaco can do good work if you choose one of the better services.

As with any painting, prep prep prep. Removing the panel can make life easier, but I wouldn't do that with the doors (don't ask me how I know). Sand the area, remove more than just the bubbled paint; try to get to where the paint is still adhered well. I don't know if it's the picture compression or what, but it looks like someone has tried to repaint the fender already. The paint on the hood doesn't look too bad, so you may be able to just sand down the top layer, give it a coat of blue to even it out, then a couple coats of clear.

We've had owners of other blue X's that have said that color for whatever reason, just didn't adhere like some of the others. Lots of peeling around the top of the hatch and hard corners.

I'll definitely check that out. Yeah, I've always heard that old Nissans have bad paint. I can always put stickers over those spots if I do a bad job fixing them up lol
 

Richard

First Fill-Up (of many)
Location
Oregon
The intake is just a 3.5" schedule 80 pvc then coupled using I believe 2.5 x 3.5" coupler from Amazon. Then wrapped with titanium heat tape. Amazon stuff. There is a hole left of airbox that fits the pvc almost perfectly. I just cut the sensor plug out of airbox and epoxied into pvc. This and my 3" exhaust from cat back made a pretty big difference in running. No mpg gain though. If I wanted mpg be driving a Prius.
The flag decal I found on etsy. Ex military here also. USAF, Army NG, USNR.

I see your intake mod! looks pretty sweet- I'd love some more in-depth info about how you did it, I was thinking about grabbing a CAI from a 240sx since they have the k24de in them as well, but what you have looks smarter and less like I'd have to cut holes in the hood.

Also, Where'd you get that American flag sticker? love it. Slightly patriotic US Marine here.
 

David Ramsay

Test Drive
Location
NC
Update 4/1/21: I finished the intake mod:


I've figured out a few things with Clara. The big one is that the last owner was a douche. He ripped the vacuum lines to the fuel pressure sending unit (pretty sure thats what its called, the thing on the fuel rail that requires vacuum.) and rearranged all the vacuum lines, so a few of them are missing. This could be causing bad vacuum to the EGR and recirculating too much or too little exhaust. That's why I couldn't find which vacuum line was supposed to be connected to the bottom of the air cleaner box, It's supposed to be run from the EGR solenoid.

Secondly, he removed the thermostat completely when it went bad. No thermostat at all. I'm in southern NC so it kind of makes sense, it's pretty hot down here, but it's also like a $20 dollar part.

Third, he put dexron in the manual transmission. This is fine in certain manual transmissions, I'm pretty sure the ranger and mazda b series, but the owner's manual definitely specifically says to use 75w-90, which is significantly more viscous than ATF.

Fourth, instead of ordering the proper shifter boot for $13 on ebay, he used one from another vehicle and zip tied it around the cylindrical inlet for the shifter arm. The OEM one has a rectangular bead that runs around it that locks in to a groove in the inlet. Here I was thinking that I had a transmission leak, and it was actually just a poorly sealed shifter boot that leaked oil out the top.

Fifth, he was running straight up water in the radiator. Fortunately I caught this quick. I've run prestone green through it and it's been fine, no rust has come up.

Sixth, he got a one-part MAACO paint job on the thing, and painted over a rust spot on the driver side fender without sanding it down first. That's why the paint sucks in those specific spots. I'm thinking about doing a jurassic park paintjob but inverted so that it's navy and black with white numbers.

That's all I've found so far, but I'm sure there's more. I wanna treat old girl right, and hope she'll treat me right in return..
 
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kirk

Butterfly King
Moderator
Supporting Member
Location
Allen, Texas
Added your link for you.

Good job on going through it so methodically. Gotta love a negligent PO. Sounds like you are starting off well, and these things go a forever on very little so you should be golden.

Keep it up!
 

David Ramsay

Test Drive
Location
NC
Added your link for you.

Good job on going through it so methodically. Gotta love a negligent PO. Sounds like you are starting off well, and these things go a forever on very little so you should be golden.

Keep it up!
Appreciate it! Yeah, nothing but minor surface rust on the frame, and with a fresh engine rebuild, I'm pretty hopeful that this thing will last for a while. The one thing I'm really worried about in the future is the clutch, it makes some sounds that I don't like when it disengages in reverse and 1st on a cold engine.

Cleaned out the EGR for what appeared to be the first time ever. What a job. The engineers for the 2.4 were pretty rude with the places that they mounted the engine accessories, especially considering how much room there is in the engine bay on the driver side. I had to go buy a 30mm wrench and a 32mm wrench, one to hold the EGR valve itself, and one to hold the absolutely massive rusted-in nut that connected to the downpipe. So much PB blaster. Also, my hands now look like I do meth with all these little pock marks from hitting sharp stuff in the engine bay.
 

David Ramsay

Test Drive
Location
NC
UPDATE:
Did the 50, 250, 1000 mile oil changes and the engine seized again. Autoworks, inc. in Wilmington, NC did a trash job. Looking back at the service receipt for the rebuild, they also did the thermostat. How you do a thermostat and have it get stuck again in less than 6 months is beyond me. The engine started knocking because within 100 miles of an oil change it burned so much that it was dry and threw a bearing. Took off the valve cover and saw that the timing chain hadn't been put on correctly and had worn throug hthe plastic guards that go around it as well. Also noticed that when they replaced the valve cover gasket, they didnt make sure it was seated correctly because there was oil in 2 of the spark plug sockets. all around terrible job and they wouldn't stand by their work, they even ignored the better business bureau completely. what a terrible experience. I ended up replacing her with a 2005 lexus gx470 that has treated me much better.
 
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