Excuses4excursions 04 Xe 4x4 Build

excuses4excursions

Test Drive
Location
Knoxville, TN
Hey y'all,

Welcome to my build thread. Whether or not this gets a lot of attention, my main purpose here is to document the things I've done so I can see the progress and keep tabs on my own build. I do love my pictures so hopefully y'all enjoy as well!

Bought my X for $2,500 about a month ago. It had 204,xxx miles, a couple previous owners, and was basically stock besides someone upgrading the tires from stock to 265/75/16.

Pros from purchase:
had new radiator and radiator hoses
paint was perfect
very few scratches or dings
everything was stock, means nobody tried messing with much
**undercarriage looked like it just rolled off from factory**:D


Cons from purchase:
serious fade in exterior plastics
mean oil leak out of the cam seals
check engine light for cats and knock sensor
hole in muffler
steering wheel is very worn
steering in general is like a boat


Build Plans:
My plans are somewhat simple, but starting with a very capable vehicle and an almost perfect body, I knew this was worth putting my money and time into for a serious build. Even if with the high miles, the perfect undercarriage and bones of this X would be worth putting in a new engine if it ever came to that. With that being said my goal is to use this vehicle as a daily driver and weekend overlander. Something that can handle some light-medium offroading and easy miles on the highway, all while being my daily driver.

Current mods:
-2006 Toyota Tundra 17x7.5 wheels with 275/70r17 BFG KO2's
-3" deluxe suspension lift with Bilstein 5100 front and rear and UCAs from 4x4parts
-HD tie rod adjusters, Moog tie rod ends, centerlink, and ball joints
-4x4parts idler arm brace
-ebay headers, catless mid pipes, and oem catback muffler pipe
-Smittybilt 9500 winch and winch carrier (STOLEN)
-Steel rear bumper with rear hitch
-Intake manifold spacer (removed after a few months due to headers and EGR pipe alignment)
-K&N panel air filter


What I have pegged for mods are as follows:
-offroad sliders, front winch carrier with winch (again), and tire carrier
-bluetooth headunit with rear view camera
-supercharger swap :cool:

Picture from day of purchase:

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Current representation:
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excuses4excursions

Test Drive
Location
Knoxville, TN
Within the first month of owning my X I had to get that oil leak fixed. My driveway was looking like a oil-change shop and I lost about a quart of oil in a month. Plus with it hitting 200+k miles I knew the timing belt service was probably due and to be safe it should be done. Which is a great excuse to get into the cam seal and have that replaced. After watching videos on doing the timing belt service myself, and reading a lot on forums about it. I decided to get a quote at a local shop just to see how much it'd be. I have an Asian Auto specialist shop right down the road so I figured they should have some good experience. Talked to the guy at the shop and he quoted me $550 including parts and half/day for labor. After weighing doing it myself versus having the pro do it, I decided to have the pro do it out of convenience and so if something went wrong he has a warranty for 12 months/12,000 miles and when it comes to timing on an engine that's worth it to me.

All said and done now I'm SOOOO glad I took it to him. First off, he was an actual pro with decades of experience and he owns his own shop where its only him and his wife, and he works on one car at a time giving it all his attention and expertise. Secondly the number of things he caught and fixed for me were astounding and many of which would have thrown me for a loop if I tried the work myself. Apparently the person who replaced the timing belt before on this Xterra, had the crankshaft off one timing notch, and then cranked the distributor timing to make up for it. Needless to say I had crap for engine power when I bought it and seriously thought that it was just how older Xterra's drove (heard a lot of complaining on forums about the lack of power in gen 1's).

On top of all that the previous "mechanic" gouged some scratches into the camshaft trying to get the old seals out which is why the seal was leaking. My guy said he's seen it before and had a trick up his sleeve by shaving the new seal down so it slid onto the shaft a little further back and hopefully behind the gouges so they no longer caused an issue. And then he continued on about how some of the bolts for the covers were missing or put in the wrong holes and some of the nuts for the pulleys weren't even tight. In a nutshell the previous "mechanic" did a piss poor job at a timing belt service and royally screwed it up.

Now after hearing about this over the phone and being told this half day job turned into a day and a half job, I was expecting a much larger bill. But being the actual honest local shop that he is, he only charged me what he quoted me and after all that work I walked out with $630 tax included. That was T belt, tensioner, water pump, cam seals, crank seal, and thermostat replaced. As well as the work on the crankshaft and seal to fix the oil leak. And now the X feels and drives so much better with actual get-up-and-go power (I mean nothing crazy but at least enough to get on the highway with a short onramp). Very pleased with the shop, the choice to take it in, and now my Xterra.

Now with the largest of the maintenance taken care of, on to mods!!:D
 

TheCrabby1

I Smell Fishy
Supporting Member
Location
Burtonsville, Md
Sound's like your well on your way and have a good plan for future mod's. I added some 265/75/16 wildpeak's a month ago and i'm really liking them. They keep good traction in the rain , just waiting for some snow to see how good the 3 peak/snowflake rating really is. They seem quit , but i have a flowmaster 40 so I can't HEAR $CHITT !!
 

excuses4excursions

Test Drive
Location
Knoxville, TN
Looking forward to seeing what you do to it!

Go check out my build thread on the Frontier forum if you get a chance. Looks like you may be trying to do about the same mods I've done. I try to keep it pretty well updated. https://www.clubfrontier.org/threads/babe-the-blue-ox.355755/

Good luck!
Checking it out now paulforeman02. I also saw your post on a thread here about toyota wheels on a nissan. That post really helped me out! Very surprised more people haven't talked about toyota wheels on our nissans as much.
 

reaver

Lockers Installed
Supporting Member
Location
Caldwell, ID
Welcome! Sounds like you not only got a good deal on the xterra, but found a great mechanic to tackle things you don't want to do yourself. Those are hard to find.

None of the pictures are showing up on my end, but I can't wait to see what you do with it.

I've been dailying my Xterra since November, as my truck has an abs issue that makes me uncomfortable driving it right now. I have to wait until it warms up (no garage) before I fix it. In that time I've completely fallen in love with the Xterra.

People on these forums know these rigs inside and out, so if you have questions, don't hesitate to ask!
 

excuses4excursions

Test Drive
Location
Knoxville, TN
First mod purchase for the Xterra... and it happened to be from a Toyota... ban me now I suppose lol. Can hear it now: "Blasphemy!!"

Found a killer deal on FB marketplace for these 2006 Toyota Tundra wheels. Bought em for $200, and they had 275/70/17 BFG KO2's on them. Tires have like 20% tread on 'em if that so they will last only a couple months once I get them on. But it'll be long enough for me to try them out and I figured if I don't like the look of these wheels I can get most of my money back selling just the wheels alone.

Did my research before buying and for those interested:

2006 Toyota Tundra stock alloy wheels are 17x7.5" with -18 offset and 5.0" backspacing (vs. my stock 16x7 wheels with -38mm offset and 5.5" backspacing). So I should get about 1/2" of poke over my stock's. Most Toyota wheels (including these) have a hub bore size of 106mm, where my X has a 100mm hub bore size. I'll be buying 106mm to 100mm hub rings to make up the space difference, even though Toyota wheels are lugcentric and I could probably get away with just the lug nuts centering the wheel on the hub. Which brings me to the lug nuts, stock lug nuts from the X are acorn shaped and the Toyotas are mag seat shaped. Crossing different lug nut shapes is no good and while I did get the Tundra lugs in the deal, they won't work because Toyotas have a M12 x 1.5 thread size and the X lugs are M12 x 1.25. Still no biggie, M12 x 1.25 mag seat lug nuts are orderable online. Also online I found replacement hub caps for the center of these wheels that don't have the Toyota badge glued on! So replacing those will hopefully avoid the puzzled looks I get of Toyota badged wheels on an Nissan lol.

The tires themselves being a 275/17/70 come out to about 32.2" x 10.8" tire which will give me about half an inch taller and wider of a tire (current setup on 265/75/16 or 31.6" x 10.4"). This might give me a little bit of issues over the tire size I have now, due to the backspacing pushing them out another 1/2". I don't think it'll be more than cutting some plastic, as I don't have any rubbing issues with the 265/75/16's right now. Plus with the 275/70/17's very worn that'll make the diameter help me out some. I'm gonna try putting them on soon, once I get the lug nuts and hub rings in the mail, but I also have a 3" suspension lift pegged for purchasing in the next couple of months. So I may do it all at once to save from cutting anything now that I might not have to cut after the lift.

Here's a few pics of the wheels sitting next to the X, not installed obviously. I was worried about how they would look, but I actually think they will look really good! I originally wanted some black steel wheels in 16" so I had a little more meat on the wheels. So many of the offroading Xterra's go for that look and I really like it, but when I saw these 17's they caught my eye for some reason. Hopefully they give me the offroady look while also staying somewhat "civilized" for my daily driving.

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harryron

The Grumpiest of Mid-Westerners
Location
ohio
You might want to look into a body lift. If you piece it together it can be done for under $100. I have pieced on together with a extended upper radiator hose for right around $85 but never installed it.
 

excuses4excursions

Test Drive
Location
Knoxville, TN
You might want to look into a body lift. If you piece it together it can be done for under $100. I have pieced on together with a extended upper radiator hose for right around $85 but never installed it.
I took your advice and checked out body lifts. I'm going to try the PML first and see what my fitment situation is. If its close I may just trim the plastic and not do the body lift. But at the same time I'm noticing the 275/70/17's are not a very popular size and going up or down to 285/70 or 265/70 are way more popular. Going down to 265/70/17 would give me the same size tire as what I have on now (265/75/16) so no fitment issues but less sidewall, and going up to 285/70/17 would give me a true 33" tire but then requiring the body lift.

For whatever reason I'm reserved to do the body lift. I know it's cheap and easy, but from what I've seen there can be some issues doing it with heater core inlets breaking and such and in all honestly I'm not a fan of the looks (mainly the more noticeably visible frame). If I keep my tires under 33" I shouldn't need to worry about a body lift and that would also keep my gas mileage reasonable and less wear on the axles/bearings/steering comps

I guess what it comes down to is do I want it to be more Daily Driver (with a set of 265/70/17's, and only a pml/susp lift), or get worse gas mileage but better offroadness (with body lift, 285/70/17's)

...decisions, decsions :confused:...

The good news is I don't have to decide soon. My wife and I are looking to buy a house which pushes some of my build plans back a little bit.
 

TerryD

Total Tease
Supporting Member
Location
Covington, Va
You're looking at about an inch of difference in overall height. What's the difference in tire weights for those sizes?

I say go with the slightly smaller tire of you don't like the body lift idea. If you are reserved about it and do it anyways but have trouble, you'll really be pissed imho.

You might try to find some used tires in the smaller size and see how you feel about them on the vehicle as well before you go all in on new tread.
 

excuses4excursions

Test Drive
Location
Knoxville, TN
You're looking at about an inch of difference in overall height. What's the difference in tire weights for those sizes?

I say go with the slightly smaller tire of you don't like the body lift idea. If you are reserved about it and do it anyways but have trouble, you'll really be pissed imho.

You might try to find some used tires in the smaller size and see how you feel about them on the vehicle as well before you go all in on new tread.

I'm looking at Falken Wildpeaks and the weight difference is substantial. Where I'm at now with 265/75/16 P tires is about 44lbs. Going up to LT265/70/17 is about 53lbs and LT285/70/17 is 59lbs. To go up 15lbs a tire would really slow down my X and kill my gas mileage. The more I think about it the more I want to go with 265/70's.

I got the new lug nuts and hub spacers in the mail so maybe this weekend I'll slap those wheels on and just see how I like them. Who knows I might not like them and sell them for 16" steelies

Stay tuned
 

excuses4excursions

Test Drive
Location
Knoxville, TN
Well slapped them on today, and I am loving the looks. Will definitely stay with these wheels, just need to repaint them and get new tires. The 275/70r17 size that came on them are actually a pretty nice size. Gives me enough sidewall for wheeling but doesn't overdo it so I can also blend in a little with the city-slickers at work. There's enough tread on them that I can run them for a month or so and make my decision whether or not to stick with this size or go up/down.

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Difference in lug nuts needed to pull this off:
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Hub bore adapter (106mm to 100mm):
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excuses4excursions

Test Drive
Location
Knoxville, TN
Sorry for the long pause in updates, finally bought a house amazingly amounst all this Coronavirus mess, got moved and somewhat settled in. Aanyways over the last few months not a lot got done on the build but I did manage to get some rear backup lights installed.
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I like em and they work great! I wired them up to a switch because I daily drive this and wanted control over when to flip them on.

I went with some cheap Amazon Nilight brand because 1. they were $20 lol and 2. the reviews made them sound like they weren't crap. I guess time will tell and if they need replaced or get hit by something another $20 to replace them wont break the bank
 

excuses4excursions

Test Drive
Location
Knoxville, TN
On the back burning but not for long is a PML, newer tires, upgraded steering comps, and then an alignment. But even before all of that I've got a local fab guy working on a winch plate for me!:D Very excited about that and he's also throwing in a Smittybilt XRC 9500 winch for a deal on the whole setup. Pictures will absolutely follow here soon...
 

excuses4excursions

Test Drive
Location
Knoxville, TN
I wanted a winch so bad since I do a decent amount of exploring solo, and for the sake of not relying on others to get me out of situations. But I couldn't bring myself to spend $1000+ on a full front bumper plus another $3-400 on a winch. So I had a local fab guy help me build a winch plate that worked with the stock bumper. Took out the silver piece and that exposed the two frame horns. From there he developed from scratch a plate and brackets that worked with the 3 bolt holes on each frame horn. He added some of his artist taste but at the end he had for me a sweet winch plate with recovery points and light pods mounts. He also had a Smittybilt XRC 9500 winch laying around that was used only a couple of times that he threw in for the deal. Best part about it all was that he only charged me $450 for all of this!!! That's custom winch plate, winch, and led pods all installed! I'll be working with him some more for thing like rear tire carrier and sliders in the future but overall very happy with how it turned out. Adds a little protection with the tabs that stick down, but also might have him trim those down some to get back some of my front angle.

Also I took out the foglight pieces, looking to hook up some pods in there as well.

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excuses4excursions

Test Drive
Location
Knoxville, TN
No pictures for this next install, but needed to do the drivers side valve cover gasket. Oil was leaking on my exhaust manifold and causing smoke and a terrible smell when driving. Plus its leaving oil spots on my new driveway and I can't have that. So while taking care of the valve cover gasket, I replaced about 90% of the vacuum lines that were all weather cracking and the coolant lines that I had to cut in the back to get the plenum out. I also installed a intake manifold spacer from Past Power Innovations. I'm not expecting much improvement but figured since I was in there taking the plenum off it was worth a shot at a little better performance. These 3.3l's just are boats for acceleration. For $60 it wasn't too bad of a hit if it doesn't.

Once I got down to the lower intake manifold, I was planning on taking that off to get to the knock sensor that's been needing replaced since I bought the Xterra. But after having to drill out two of the upper intake manifold allen bolts, I really didn't want to do that again on bolts I didn't have replacements for. Plus I heard getting the injectors seals to seal up again could be a risk, and at that point it wasn't a risk I wanted to take. Taking all of this back apart is something I never want to have to do again on this engine! So I scraped that plan and knock sensor relocation it is!

After getting everything replaced and back in place, the EGR tube took some readjusting to make up for the difference in the spacer height now. But everything's sealed up and running good! I notice maybe a slight improvement in throttle response but nothing to write home about. Overall the spacer will stay in for now.


On a completely different note: I just ordered 4x4parts 3" suspension lift!!! Can't believe I'm at the point in my life that I spent $1200 on suspension parts lol. But overall I needed shocks real bad and a IAB so it saves some money buying everything at once versus spread out over the next few months or years. Plus once and done for install work. VERY excited to get it all in the mail, stay tuned!!
 
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paulforeman02

Test Drive
Nice looking winch mount. Good idea to have one if you're adventuring alone. Plus in a group, its good to have a few winches to go around. I'm excited for you to get that 3" lift on. You'll like it. Good luck!
 

excuses4excursions

Test Drive
Location
Knoxville, TN
Had some down time lately and wanted to knock out some little things. Got the knock sensor relocated to the top of the intake manifold. Super easy job there. Put some light pods on in the foglight holes and in the ditch mount area. Not sure how I feel about the ditch mounts but loving the foglights. Wired them up to a auxiliary fuse box I mounted by the brake booster under the hood. Getting the winch solenoid box figured out with mounting location and throwing some dielectric grease in it to help with corrosion.

dtxTeik.jpg


Still waiting on suspension to get here...
 

excuses4excursions

Test Drive
Location
Knoxville, TN
Back for some updates today...

Had some issues with the local fabricator getting my bumper and tire carrier done. He did try to make me steel rear corners but he flaked out really bad on me. Ended up losing some money on him but I did get a finished rear bumper out of it so not a complete loss. That's what I really needed anyways because I wanted the hitch receiver for rear recovery and to put on my rear cargo basket for deer season. The guy also professionally bedlined all the plastic around the truck and that came out amazing!!

Since my last post I also installed the 3" suspension lift from 4x4parts. It took them 2 months to get it all delivered, and then another month for me to actually get it installed. Overall install went smoothly thanks to the undercarriage of this beast being rustfree! I still need to get my alignment done but besides camber I can tell it's not too far off. I've kinda been holding out because I want to upgrade the centerlink, tie rods ends, and adjusters before getting an alignment. And the tires on it currently are very worn so I'm not ruining anything running it without a perfect alignment for now.

Here's a little pic dump of the Xterra now:
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Next things on the TO DO list will be steering upgrades mentioned above, newer tires, alignment, and rear tire carrier. I've got a sweet idea with the rear tire carrier but I need a local fab guy to make my dreams a reality. I'm not going anywhere near the last guy so I'll have to go through the process of finding another fab guy. Anyways, we'll see what the next few months bring. I'm also to the point where I'm comfortable taking it out on some more excursions so I'll probably spend more time driving than modding in the near future. On personal news, baby #2 is expected to come in November so it might take some time to have money for mods regardless.
 

excuses4excursions

Test Drive
Location
Knoxville, TN
LOTS OF UPDATES!! Unfortunately not a lot of pictures but still worth the read:

First major update is my winch and winch "bumper"/carrier were STOLEN off my Xterra :eek:. I travel for work and some days I spend the night in a hotel. We rent vehicles for our trips and so my xterra was parked in the car rental parking lot overnight. Not something I like doing about but at the time it was what I needed to do. Next morning I came back and the entire winch and carrier were gone! Only things left was a plastic cover to the control box and some of the wires that they cut to get the winch unattached :mad:. Rental company says they have a policy that protects them from being liable for customer cars parked in their lot and they also don't have cameras. So now I'm out my winch and bumper, but thank gobble they didn't smash a window or something like that. I guess silver lining is that now I can create something even better and maybe make a full front bumper...

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Second major event, I noticed my lower ball joints had tears in the rubber boot back when I was installing my upper control arms with new upper ball joints. Figured I'd change out the lower ball joints when I replaced my steering components and that's what I did. New Moog lower ball joints, new Moog tie rods ends, new centerlink, and 4x4parts HD tie rod adjusters all went in at the same time. I had some play in the steering wheel before but now its much better. Install wasn't too bad and have I mentioned how much I love working on a vehicle that's not rusted to complete crap lol. How happy it makes me when a bolt actually turns and doesn't shear off. I did my own alignment with the string method (youtube it if you don't know what that is). It's definitely close but I'll have a shop check it soon.

Third major event is a complete exhaust overhaul. My muffler had some decent holes in it and my exhaust manifold was leaking. Plus the last CEL on the dash was for clogged cats. So in the first wave I replaced the stock catback with another OEM catback, and then the second wave I replaced everything from the engine back to the catback. Out came the stock exhaust manifolds and cats, in went headers and catless mid-pipes. The catback job was a cinch, and although the exhaust was the only thing really rusted on this truck, the bolts and everything had no issues turning and being removed. The stock exhaust manifolds and catted mid pipes I wish I could say were that easy. Passenger side was an okay job but the downstream O2 sensor had its wire wrapped around the transmission tube...? So instead of messing with the tube I cut the wire and then was able to get the pipes out. I struggled for a solid two hours with that wire because I didn't have replacement o2 sensors on hand and was really planning on putting them back in the new exhaust. But even after cutting and pulling the pipes out the o2 sensors were locked in the pipes. Nothing short of a jackhammer were gonna get them unstuck. So I had to order new o2 sensors and I ordered all 4 in case the other side had the same issue (good thing I did, more on that later). Installing the passenger side header and mid-pipe was easy. A little bit of moving big things in tight spaces but not too bad. I lucked out and didn't need to drill out any of the holes in the headers for this side.

Now for the driver's side, that took me a solid two days to get done! All of my bolts turned out fine but one of the bolts between the mid pipe and below the first cat is directly behind the downstream o2 sensor. Which if your o2 sensors are able to be removed while the pipe is still in place, it's not an issue. But like me, if your o2 sensor is rustwelded to the pipe you're SOL!! So I actually had to buy a Sawzall (which I needed a reason to get one anyways, everybody should have a sawzall) and cut the pipe--- to get the angle to cut the o2 sensor--- to have the access to get the bolt out---to be able to remove the pipe. After all that, the catless mid pipe was next to impossible to get in but thank the heavens above it barely squeezed by without removing any crossmembers or driveshaft. After that it was all downhill of putting bolts back together and such...UNTIL I CAME TO THE EGR PIPE. gobble almighty the IDIOT engineer that thought the EGR system was a genius idea needs to come back and work on his design. I am one of the unlucky soles that has this system and it's been a pain in my backside ever since I installed the intake manifold spacer. For those of you without the EGR system let me shortly explain it to you... it's a solid, yes solid, brass pipe that connects your exhaust manifold on the drivers side with a contraption mounted on your intake manifold, so that if you were ever to change either one of those it would be impossible to reconnect the EGR pipe. During my intake manifold spacer install, which raises the intake up about a 1/4", I had to basically bend to no recognition the brass pipe to accommodate the increased distance. Now my ebay header had an EGR bung, however it was about 10-15 degrees off to the side and not in the same position as the stock exhaust manifold... which led me to have to try and rebend the brass pipe again, this time it wasn't having it. So to help out I removed my intake manifold spacer (I didn't feel a difference in performance before and after install anyways) which brought the intake plenum back to the stock height and all I needed to mess with was the exhaust angle on the EGR pipe. Well the brass pipe by now was shot, so I ordered a replacement from Nissan. Couple days later I bent that sucker to get it close and its actually on now but still leaking exhaust unfortunately... at this point I'm ready to supercharge this engine just for the sake of removing the EGR system and never having to look at that dang pipe again :mad:. Needless to say the headers and catless pipes paired with the stock catback muffler actually sounds pretty good to me. It's not a deep throaty sound but it is throaty. And between idle and 2000 rpm it's stock quiet, so it's only throaty when I get above 2k which for me is perfect. And I'M CEL FREEEEEEEEE!!

Lastly some minor upgrades: put on newer tires (newer meaning used but has about 50% tread left versus my previous set of 10%), got a welder and am practicing to eventually build my own front and rear bumper and tire carrier, and am chasing an oil leak which I believe is from the oil pan gasket.
 

reaver

Lockers Installed
Supporting Member
Location
Caldwell, ID
Sorry for the loss of the winch! People that do that deserve a special kind of suffering.

Great update. Sorry your winch was stolen. Wam bumpers makes one a lot like the one you had for not too much money. Belated congratulations on the new house and baby#2.

Last time I checked, wam only made stuff for the second gens. Has that changed?
 

kirk

Butterfly King
Moderator
Supporting Member
Location
Allen, Texas
I missed this thread somehow. I really like the X. But that blows about the winch being stolen! ufcking thieves man. I hope they die in a real bad way.
 
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